Women’s soccer hosting Oklahoma City for season opener

First-year head coach Kimberly Uetrecht is excited about Saturday's season opener for the Texas A&M University-Victoria women's soccer team.

The Jaguars (11-6, 8-5 RRAC in 2024) welcome Oklahoma City University for a 1 p.m. kickoff at The Cage this Saturday after what she felt was a strong preseason training camp.

"It's very exciting," Uetrecht, who is in her sixth total season as a coach with the Jaguars. "I think in some of our scrimmages, we've seen moments where practice translated into the scrimmage, and it was exciting for everybody there."

Part of that excitement is the experienced roster the Jaguars bring into the 2025 campaign.

While the Jaguars feature 10 returners from last year, including senior Rosa Reyes and All-Red River Athletic Conference Freshman team selection Yuvier Borjas, this year's roster features 12 players with 20 or more games at the collegiate level under their belt from NCAA Division I to the NJCAA.

"(Experience) has been pretty important," Uetrecht said. "The biggest thing is there's this sense of leadership for those student-athletes who have been in the collegiate game for a while. They're bringing a lot of leadership and maturity. It's been really cool to see the creativity they have and how they interpret the game, and us trying to put that together in our style of play."

Jessica Salkeld, Siobhan Scott, Belle Artley and Vanessa Bevalian are among the newcomers who have impressed through preseason training. The quartet boasts 131 combined games at the collegiate level.

The Jaguars also bolstered their attack by adding forwards Ayloni Garcia, a transfer from UTRGV, and Serenity Petaia, a transfer from Jefferson College.

Petaia was a two-time All-Conference selection and an All-Region honoree after scoring seven goals in two years at Jefferson. Garcia appeared in 21 matches for the Vaqueros.

"You have a lot of these good transfers who are going to come in and make a difference immediately," Uetrecht said.

Uetrecht is also excited about the depth between the posts.

The Jaguars' goalkeepers feature returner Abree Fry and newcomers Jamie Noriega (Trinity Valley Community College) and Mackenzie Carmickle (Gregory-Portland High School)

Noriega comes to A&M-Victoria after a standout sophomore campaign with the Cardinals, boasting a 0.92 Goals Allowed Average and 143 career saves. Carmickle earned First Team All-State, Academic All-State and three All-District honors during her high school career.

"It's awesome," Uetrecht said. "There's definitely a lot of competition in goal right now. It's fun to see them come out and compete, but then also to see them support each other back there. We definitely have a lot of options to keep the ball out of the back of the net."

Saturday will mark the eighth meeting all time between the Jaguars and Stars (10-7-1, 5-3-1 SAC in 2024) and first since 2022.

Uetrecht looks forward to seeing the preseason work in action.

"I think if we come out and execute all the things we've been doing in practice," she said, "if we follow the gameplan, if we pursue excellence with every pass and every decision, we're going to be successful."

Saturday is also Alumni Day presented by Crossroads Bank. Every soccer alumni are encouraged to attend, as well as any University of Houston-Victoria graduate, since it will be the final game played as UHV. Alumni Relations is providing giveaways to all alums in attendance.