Aggies on the 2026 SEC Soccer preseason watchlist:

Bella Carapazza, Trinity Buchanan, Ireland Churchill, Riley Crooks and Leah Diaz.

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— Texas A&M Soccer (@AggieSoccer) August 11, 2026

the fing bevel needs to die a painful tortured death

Bella James played the full 90 minutes in Baylor's thrashing of Arkansas in their first game of the season. Happy for her as she struggled with injuries at A&M and seems like a genuinely kind person.

Others from last year's roster:

• Kaylee Noble and Hayden Wilson both played minutes in SMU's 3-4 loss at Vanderbilt
• Bailey Cate started for Houston in their tie against FGCU
• Savanah Hutchins played 22 minutes off the bench as Iowa whipped Milwaukee
• Reese Rupe played 35 minutes off the bench for USF in their loss to Gonzaga
• Maysen Veronda did not play in Santa Clara's first game
• Shea Ryan is out of the season at UTSA with a knee injury
• Tessa Lavender didn't play in East Texas A&M's first game
• Ella Goodwin announced she was playing for Queens University Charlotte, but I don't see her on the roster
• I think Kennedy Clark, Mary Torn and Erica Defferding decided not to play soccer somewhere else this season

mullokmotx said:

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I assume she will be enrolled for the start of the fall semester.

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Yes. She is already here on campus.

After the first few games, and formations, what players would you have their stock up, who has their stock down, and what are you hoping for that you haven't seen?

Also what are you hoping to see lineup wise/formation wise going forward after seeing everyone play a descent amount of minutes so far.

Stock UP for me:
-#55, great energy, a constant threat, our best attacker by a mile for far
-#8, a rock in the midfield, very calm, physical, does the hard running
-#16, the creator in the middle, does a lot of running too, so important for any success this season
-#2, her versatility will be huge for us as we shift between formations given the opponent and will improve as the year goes on. Very athletic and energetic.

Stock DOWN:
-#10, hasn't shown much output in terms of creating chances or hard running imo. #9 taking her minutes in the Baylor game said a ton to me.
-#18, was a starter last year as a freshman, and played very well before an injury ended the season. Hasn't seen many minutes so far this season.
-anyone playing out wide on the left side. Haven't found a threat to play left wingback, or left outside back depending on the shape. Easy to defend against when you can only attack down one side.

What I want to see more:
-#19 getting minutes as a 6. Either a double pivot with #8, or push #8 further up the field.

-#18 playing left back, or left wingback

-#55 and #9 playing together. Both high energy and are willing to take people on 1v1

Formation wise, I think he will shift between a back 4 and back 3 all season depending on the opponent. I like 5,11,6 as a back 3. Would like to see 18 and 2 as wingbacks, midfield 3 of 8 and 16 with that last spot up for grabs between 9, 19, 7 and 10. 55 up top with whoever she connects best with between 20, 9 etc

We can't play 3 in the back if we can't keep more possession, especially against better teams. It puts too much pressure on the backline. 16 had a nice run and goal against Rice, but if she is going to be our senior leader in the middle, she needs to do a better job of possession and not letting their mids go right by her defensively. Too often she chooses to over dribble and loses the ball when the better play is to make the easy pass. I hope she adjusts as she has tremendous skill and potential.

9 and 55 have a nice connection, making the decision for Bobby to go with 9 over 10 early against Rice an easy one. And it paid off in a nice finish off the run and assist from 11 all the way from the back.

I don't think any of our transfers have been very good for us so far, but maybe our new Finland "freshman" can make an impact.

Give the old staff some credit as I think several of the 2026 class recruited by them are very good. Obviously 55 as she is our best offensive weapon. I was surprised our freshman gk won the spot as I think Fuller is really good, but she has had a nice couple of nice saves. 9 and 6 have been solid freshmen too. Would also like to see more of 19 at holding mid, but probably hard to do as 8 has been good.

Hoping Jernigan is back soon and is able to give us another speedy threat on offense. I really want 2 to be that threat, but didn't see it vs Baylor.

I am not sure if both the Rice and Baylor forwards on the right side were really good or we helped make them look really good. The Rice player made several nice runs. The Baylor player led to their first goal and beat us up in the second half, especially after 14 went out with a leg cramp.

I would also like 18 get some playing time, but maybe she is still not all the way back from injury? I understand 4 was in concussion protocol last game, but she is another freshman that I think can contribute with her speed and aggression.

why this guy speaking in codes, like the players don't have names just numbers

MookieBlaylock said:

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why this guy speaking in codes, like the players don't have names just numbers

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Killing me, I am not going to talk numbers. I am only going to talk names.

weird that the announcers call them by name

how the do that?

It always puzzled me how we did not have a program capable of a bigger challenge but with new coach coming in (and expanded support team? ) keen to see improvement ... and was not disappointed this weekend. Admittedly SHSU were always likely going to be a step behind but it was great to see lots of ideas in the final third and the eye-catching performances from Trinity Buchanan and Ireland Churchill.

On that note it seemed to me Ireland has great positional awareness but is better when balls are played to feet...several times the ball was played in front of her and did not quite have the acceleration to make something of those passes into space in the final third. Ruiz and Mitchell showed a lot of energy with the press in midfield and to stop transitions. Stronger opponents capable of quick transition play could however cause problems for the team if they get too stretched.

Overall though, excited to see a very technical approach from the new coach, willingness to play through the press etc.

I feel like they are connecting better offensively, but still haven't found the best 11. Maybe Coach knows what it is in his head, but their has been a lot of changing in the starting 11 at certain positions(left side of midfield, outside backs, even the center back partnerships). Assuming Diaz is healthy from when she hobbled off vs SFA, her and Churchill will be up top. Lacher is locked in on the right side of midfield, Buchanan at the top of the diamond, the left side has been Ruiz and Landry rotating, and Carrapaza has pushed Campbell to the bench at the base of the midfield. I thought Bell looked excellent at right back last game, but have also loved Hoang there all year as an extra attacker. Left back has been a mixed bag of players, still feel like it should be Landherr long term, and the CB duo seems to be Sexton locked in next to someone. Don't think we have played a single minute of any game so far this season with our best 11, but he seems to really value the players that he trust to play his way which is possession based. He consistently gets mad at players for sending the ball long wastefully when there are easy passes to make and seems completely okay resetting all the way back to the goalie. Not sure what to expect vs Kentucky lineup wise outside of Sexton, Campbell, Lacher, and Churchill to be honest, but they have been more consistent in connecting passes, and have a legit goal threat with Churchill which is more than we can say for last season. We will be able to compete in every game, just a matter of if we will score on our chances or not. I think even the games that have looked bad on the scoreboard, specifically TCU, were very even games in the flow of it. We just gave them better chances than they gave us, which is probably due to our youth everywhere on the field. Coach has consistently played 7 freshman pretty heavy minutes which will be great for the future, but will hurt in the now. That's not an excuse though, that's a choice he is making and he seems fine doing that. Churchill obviously gets all the praise, but Lachar has been outstanding, Landry is a very smooth player who can do a bit of everything, and I think Sexton has a chance to be incredible. You can clearly see when watching her that she is literally still growing into her body and getting used to it. She's still supposed to be in high school, and still has been the only consistent presence in the back line. I see a lot of comments trashing her but she will be an all time great if she's here 4 years. She plays great balls over the top to Churchill and has improved in her decision making on the ball. Still a ton of question marks in the starting 11, and I wish we knew more of what to expect going into conference play, but there is still so much rotation happening. The depth will help, but I think the lack of cohesion will outweigh that and we will take a few licks here and there. This year will let us know who he trusts and wants to build around, next year we can judge him harder in my opinion.

Yeah it's been kind of a mix up with the lineups but judging off the games that actually show who the quality players are like TCU this last week I'd say we have yet to see the best 11 either. IMO I'd say at Keeper they seem sold on August but as many have said not sure why? Fuller I thought had some great film from last year and deserved a chance to win the spot in non conference play. August has made some nice saves so hopefully she transitions to SEC play well. The back line should be Hoang, Sexton who play good soccer and keep the ball on the ground but can also open up a game over the top from time to time and either Harris, Crooks or Hughes. Crooks and Harris at CB play way too many balls over the top and give away possession too often with the 50/50 balls but hopefully that gets corrected Hughes does pretty well with defending and connecting on the outside. Landherr to sub for one of the outside backs as well could be an option. Midfield should be Buchanan, Ruiz, Lacher and Campbell. Not sure why they are stuck with Carapazza but they have moved her from the 10 to 8 to now the 6 and unfortunately this level of play might be too much for her as she has struggled at all positions and we haven't even started SEC competition yet so can't see how that would get better. Front two being Diaz and Churchill.
Hopefully they BTHO Kentucky this week and have some momentum going into the Vandy game

"The biggest problem for this team has been and will continue to be the coaching staff as they have very little experience." I took this quote from a post on the Vandy game thread as it seems most appropriate to discuss here.

I will start by saying that I think Bobby still has a good chance to still be successful at A&M. 28 full scholarships and, while there might not be much NIL money for soccer, the scholarship money alone puts the program ahead of most other schools. We also have an incredible school culture that is easy for recruits to fall in love with, including the support of women's sports. The 12th man is amazing and you heard Churchill speak about getting chills at Ellis on her recruiting trip that she got nowhere else. We have so much going in our favor.

That said, we have friends at Kentucky and at Vanderbilt soccer, and our coaching is now being laughed at by other programs (coaches and players). Others are actually mocking him now, for both the constant screaming and for the playing time he gives to some players over others. This may not impact high school recruiting or recruiting foreign players, but it could impact transfer recruiting as the college soccer community is small enough that everyone now knows the style. Additionally, he did himself no favors by hiring two of his long-time friends as the lead assistant and as the lead analyst that he listens to most, as neither appear to have any real coaching experience, and certainly none at the collegiate level or with women (don't get me started on the analyst never wearing shoes so he can be one with nature). It doesn't look like Alyssa is engaged at all on the sideline. There doesn't appear to be any defensive coaching; no teaching 1v1 defending or team defending, and no real strategy on defensive shape or even on defending set pieces.

Bobby has called himself "a relationship guy" on multiple occasions, stating that he wants to make sure the players trust him and that the staff care about them. He has mentioned it so often that it feels like it was part of how he sold himself to the administration to get hired, but his relationship with many (most?) of the current players seems to be pretty poor at this point (watch the interaction on the sideline/in huddles and it is clear). The girls also see how players like Fuller are being treated and it certainly doesn't make them think the coaching staff cares about the players (which by the way is fine if that is your coaching style, but don't try to sell something that you aren't). Beyond the evaluation of the talent that he has, the players that he cut and the transfers he brought in are definitely questionable at this point too. I am sure he will be more successful in the winter portal as there is always more talent available then, but are any of his spring transfers-in really SEC caliber starting players, or better than the players he cut like James, Knoble or Cate (and remember, he had all spring to evaluate those players)? I watched part of the SMU v Stanford 0-0 tie and Knoble was giving the Stanford defense trouble. Cate scored the game winner for Houston on Thursday. James plays full games for Baylor. All three of those programs are having better years than A&M. As someone else mentioned, last year's line-up with the addition of Churchill is better than this year's line-up.

There is still some hope and maybe some of this was expected with a first time head coach. But maybe some self-reflection by the coaches would be helpful.