NACOGDOCHES, Texas-Tony Minatta‘s fourth season as head coach begins on August 17th at 7:00 p.m. in Stillwater, Oklahoma as the Lumberjacks open the 2023 season on the road against Oklahoma State.
Last fall the ‘Jacks finished with a 6-11-1 record with a 5-6-0 WAC record which landed them in seventh place just out of the conference tournament. With another tough non-conference schedule this season, the Lumberjacks look to build chemistry and earn some key wins before the conference slate. The conference slate will start with Tarleton State on September 21st.
SFA graduated nine seniors last year, and are welcoming nine freshmen to this year’s roster. While this roster is young, there is still veteran leadership on defense with Briana Beaty, Kyra Guhl, and Jamie Jezierski returning for their senior seasons. Beaty and Jezierski are joined by junior midfielder, Reaganne Crane as captains for the 2023 season. Senior, Mariona Garcia Dalmases joins Crane as the veterans in the midfield. Junior forwards, Jayme Bailey and Lily Hargrove will look to drive the Lumberjack attack.
Bailey and Hargrove each led the team last season with four goals, followed by Crane and Morgan Donohue who each scored two goals. Crane and Donohue also led the team with four assists last season. Bailey and Hargrove will be joined by junior Kamryn Jiles, and Jamie Ingrassia and freshmen, Shaley Lewis and Haley Roy. Jiles and Ingrassia each recorded one assist last season. Jiles started in four of 18 games played while Ingrassia started in three of 14 games played.
Crane, Donohue, and Garcia will lead a young midfield consisting of six freshmen. Top Drawer Soccer named Crane as a breakout candidate for the WAC and freshman, Ava Shannon was named one of the top freshmen to watch in the WAC. SFA’s midfield will be key to their success as they are the ones that create a majority of scoring chances for the forwards.
Beaty, Guhl, and Jezierski will lead the defense along with juniors, Avery Brandt and Kristen Fuentes (transfer from TJC), sophomore Ella Morgan, and freshman Caelynn January. Jezierski was third highest in minutes played last season and started every game last season for the ‘Jacks. Most of the starting back line last season were seniors, so this season will need a new starting back line but they played in a majority of the games last season. Beaty, Brandt and Guhl played in all 18 games, and Morgan played in 13 games last season.
Lydia Sattler took over as the starting goalie during the non-conference slate and will be entering her first full season as the Lumberjacks starting goalie. Sattler recorded a total of 74 saves last season which is just outside the top-ten in single-season saves.