Women's Soccer | 8/18/2016 2:32:00 PM
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State women's soccer team starts its 18th season on Friday at former Southland Conference foe Lamar at 7 p.m. at the LU Soccer Complex. The Bobcats return home Sunday for their first game of the year at Bobcat Soccer Complex against Prairie View A&M with kickoff set for 1 p.m.
Texas State is coming off a 2014 campaign that saw the program finish 12-6 overall and finish third in the Sun Belt Conference. Last season ended in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament at the hands of Georgia State.
Returners
Among the 25-player roster, 18 are returning for the Bobcats this season. One of the top players back is senior forward
Lauren Prater, who was selected as the SBC's Preseason Co-Offensive Player of the Year. She tallied a conference best 12 goals and five game-winning scores in 2014 while adding four assists to total 28 points.
Earning all-conference honors last season was junior
Chandler Cooney. She anchors the backline with seniors
Taylor Allen and
Ali Jones and fellow junior
Elizabeth Havenhill. Senior
Maddie Nichols, one of the team's captains along with Prater, leads the midfielders that consist of juniors
Rachel Grout,
Devin Hemker,
Brooke Ramsey and
Kira Zapalac and sophomores
Kelly Barbalias and
Jamie Brown.
Scouting Lamar
Lamar is coming off an 8-11-1 season but missed out on qualifying for the Southland Conference Tournament. The Cardinals return Jordan Mulnix, their top scorer from last season with 12 goals. Also back is Juliana Ocampo, who was credited with four assists in 2015.
In goal, Lauren Lovejoy started all 20 games last season. She made 162 saves while sporting a 2.21 GAA after surrendering 43 goals.
Texas State leads the all-time series 6-0-1 with the lone tie coming in 2010. Last season the Bobcats downed Lamar 4-2 in San Marcos. When playing in Beaumont, Texas, Texas State is 2-0-1 with the last meeting being a 3-0 victory on Sept. 5, 2014.
Scouting Prairie View A&M
Prairie View A&M finished last season 9-9-1 and return 11 players from the squad. Pacing the Panthers following a 12-goal season is Alicia Cooper. Both Clarissa Ledsema and Thalia Limon made two appearances between the posts in 2015 off the bench.
Sunday will be PVAMU's season opener. The team was supposed to start the season on Friday at McNeese State but the game was postponed because of the torrential rain storms that hit southern Louisiana.
The previous nine meetings between the Bobcats and Panthers has seen Texas State come out on top each time, including a 2-0 victory last year. The previous eight contests have all been played at the Bobcat Soccer Complex.
Live stats will be available for both games. Sunday's game will be broadcast on the radio in the San Marcos area on KTSW 89.9 FM.
Admission to all home soccer games are free of charge. For more information on the Texas State soccer team, visit the official website of Texas State Athletics at
www.txstatebobcats.com, like on Facebook at Texas State Soccer and follow on Twitter at @TxStateSoccer.
