First season of Jaguars soccer builds excitement for 2022
SAN ANTONIO – Texas A&M University–San Antonio's athletic program doubled in size in the Fall 2021 semester with the launch of the men's and women's soccer teams.
The addition of men's and women's soccer also meant the university hosted varsity intercollegiate athletic contests on campus for the first time in history, as Jaguar home soccer matches are played on the competition field on the southwest corner of the existing campus.
(The university's softball team has the distinction of playing the first intercollegiate games in school history but have yet to play an official game on campus as its home games are currently played at Harlandale ISD.)
Though fielding brand new soccer teams in an established NAIA conference can be a daunting task, the players that donned Jaguar uniforms produced memorable first seasons and several highlights as they etched their name in school history.
Thursday, Sept. 23, marked the culmination of the student-led initiative to bring varsity intercollegiate athletics to A&M–San Antonio when the Jaguar soccer teams hosted intrastate (and in-system) conference rival Texas A&M–Texarkana. In front of a packed and an enthusiastic crowd that supported the teams throughout the season, both Jaguar teams recorded 0-0 ties against Texarkana.
The women's team went undefeated in their first three home matches as the Jaguars compiled a 2-8-2 record in their first season. (A third win was later awarded via forfeit to bring their final record to 3-8-2.)
The Jaguars tallied their first victory Oct. 7 when they defeated Paul Quinn College at home 2-0, with Rheanna Lopez scoring the match-winner in the 20th minute. Krystal Goytia added an insurance goal in the 56th minute.
Goytia also scored a goal in the Jaguars' first match of the season at Texas Wesleyan on Aug. 21. Her teammate Jessica Castro scored the first soccer goal in school history in the 68th minute at TWU.
Meanwhile, the men's team finished with a record of 2-7-2, having claimed their first win at Texas College in Tyler by a score of 3-1. Saeed Valdez was credited with the first match-winning goal for the men's team in school history when he scored in the 67th minute to break a 1-1 tie.
(The men's team's second victory came at the end of the season when a contest the Jaguars had lost was later forfeited to them.)
The recent hires of Fredy Sanguinetti (women's soccer) and Robert Jaramillo (men's soccer), coaches with ties to San Antonio, and southeast Texas, excitement is high as the 2022 soccer season approaches.