COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Preparations for Thursday’s Texas A&M soccer season opener at Lamar began about three years ago.
During that 2021 season, and the three seasons prior, the Aggie coaching staff-built bonds with then volunteer assistant coach Nathan Kogut, a College Station native on his journey through the soccer coaching ranks.
Come Thursday, the Aggies will make an atypical preseason road trip to a nonpower conference opponent for a 7 p.m. kickoff against Lamar. For those in the soccer program, it’s a chance to support one of their own, while also getting preseason playing time.
“We’re great friends. We were texting yesterday, and I was throwing him some formations that we probably weren’t going to play,” A&M assistant coach Phil Stephenson, who was in Kogut’s wedding, joked.
Kogut, an A&M Consolidated alumnus, has journeyed through various levels of men’s and women’s college soccer, before landing at A&M in 2018. In his two years in Beaumont, the Cardinals have won two Southland Conference regular season championships.
Kogut told A&M’s coaches when he left, he asked them to give him two years and they could start up a series that would keep the pair of programs close.
“That fact that not only did they want to come, but they wanted to kick off their year in Beaumont says a lot about how they view our program,” said Kogut. “They could have very easily just written a check and said, ‘come to us the next couple of years,’ but I think they know what we are about and so it’s a cool thing. It’s a privilege.”
A&M’s seniors are the last remaining players who have worked under the tutelage of Kogut, including forward MaKhiya McDonald.
“He was really pivotal with helping me grow as a player and also my teammates as well,” McDonald told KBTX. “So, it will be really good to see him in the head coaching role and to play against him, just to show how well we’ve been growing as players.”
The game provides the Aggies a chance to see how they’ve grown in attack, as well. The Aggies lost five attackers due to eligibility and the transfer portal from last season, including three of their top five players in points in striker Maile Hayes and midfielder Carissa Boeckmann. Hayes, who transferred to Southern Cal, registered four goals and three assists last season, while Boeckmann, a Florida State transfer, distributed six assists and scored two goals.
Sammy Smith, Laney Carroll, and Lauren Geczik all used the remainder of their eligibility.
Bolstering the Aggie attack was the biggest priority over the offseason, Stephenson said.
“We needed help there and I think we’ve done a pretty good job. I call it speed dating, because instead of watching these kids for years and years and being around them a lot, we get one day, basically, to make our pitch,” explained Stephenson.
A&M added five attacking players through the transfer portal, all with scoring on their resumes. Sophomore Kennedy Clark registered six assists and three goals last season for Xavier; graduate transfer Bri Severns has worked through injuries over the last two seasons, but had a prolific six goal, six assists 2021 season for Kansas; and Allison Lowrey tallied six goals and four assists for Rutgers last season.
Midfielder Leah Pirro was named to the United Soccer Coaches preseason All-American watch list Monday, after notching 13 assists and two goals for Grand Canyon last year.
Finally, former South Carolina forward Shae O’Rourke made the move to Aggieland, but will miss the season due to a torn ACL in the Aggie’s final game of the spring.
“They have a couple of kids that are handfuls that I think he can throw waves at us and we’re just going to have to be smart and disciplined,” Kogut revealed.
The Aggies will also return leading scorer Jazmine Wilkinson, midfielders Sydney Becerra and Mia Pante, as well as striker McDonald.
“We lost some really good players, so it was pivotal that the coaches brought in exceptional players,” said McDonald. “So, I think they did a great job finding people on and off the field. I feel like our chemistry is just constantly growing and you can tell on the field as well, you hear a lot of people talking, communicating and it’s just something good to see in the first two [exhibition] games and now going into our first regular season game.”
A&M tallied a pair of 1-0 wins over Rice and SMU prior to the start of the regular season.
Kogut will be a familiar face when the team rolls into town, but there will be a lot that feels similar in Beaumont to the Aggie soccer program. After all, it’s a program built on the lessons and relationships Kogut gained while working in Aggieland under this coaching staff.
“I’ve worked very hard to get where I am. I can’t get here if I didn’t spend four years basically getting a PhD in program building and running with [head coach G Guerrieri], Phil and everybody,” Kogut added.
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