The Lamar University women’s soccer team recruited five players in the lead-up to the fall 2019 season and adds skill in key areas according to coach Steve Holeman.
The five players include Erin Branch, Kaisa Juvonen, Paloma Martinez, Alisha Nesbitt and Meg Sheppard.
“Our staff is very excited about these young women who have chosen to continue their playing career at Lamar University,” Head coach Steve Holeman, said in a news release. “This is an experienced and talented group of players who have the ability to step in and contribute right away. With the loss of four key seniors who all received Southland Conference accolades, it was very important that we bring in a quality class for 2019 and we feel confident we have been successful in that challenge.”
Henry Zapata, associate head coach, said the new additions are a diverse class.
Forward Meg Sheppard is a Nederland native with amazing talent, Zapata said.
“We’ve known Meg for a long time, and she started coming to our college ID camps back when we first got here,” he said. “Meg is fast, knows how to finish and she’s physical, so we’re really excited to kind of see her potential where she might play and fit in the team in the fall.”
Midfielder and forward, Paloma Martinez, is a Beaumont freshman from Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School and was a familiar prospect to the coaching staff.
“Paloma is another left-footed player who also went to our ID camps,” he said. “She’s currently playing for the Houston Dash DA team. She’s a good player, very technical, so we’re looking forward to see how she transitions into the college game.”
Forward Alisha Nesbitt, Temple, Zapata said reached out to the programs and they staff liked what they saw.
“She (Nesbitt) is a very physical and fast player,” he said. “She emailed us some videos of her playing, and we went to watch her play live at the Austin Texans Showcase. We really clicked with her, so that was great.”
Houston goal keeper Erin Branch was added to the recruiting roster to be groomed by the Lady Cards veteran goal keepers.
“She (Branch) has a great personality, and we’re looking forward to see how she comes in and start pushing our two goalkeepers here and the effects she has on the team,” he said.
Defender Kaisa Juvonen, of Tampere, Finland, has a strong right foot, who previously attended the Tampere Sports Academy, Zapata said.
“She (Juvonen) played for the U-17 National team, and she played in the U17 World Cup for Finland,” he said. “We found Kaisa last year. Head coach Steve Holeman and I went to Lithuania for the European Championships U17 to watch her play live, and then we’re able to contact and continue to converse throughout the recruiting period.”
Zapata said the department looks at how the prospective players are when they arrive at the university, how they interact with other people and how they can add to the team dynamic on and off the field.
“They’re good people, they’re going to add to the team’s chemistry, and ideally, they’re going to make us better on the field and in the classroom,” he said.
Every year, the recruitment process starts with figuring out who the department is losing on the team, and what kind of players they need to bring in to fill the spots, Zapata said.
“The objective is to find the best player available, and it doesn’t matter where they’re from,” he said. “Once we find a player at a recruit-able age where we converse with via text or phone.”
Zapata said the recruitment process differs between international and local students.
“Usually with the international students, we do some type of Skype calls to show them around our facilities and let them know about our program and what we’ve done in the recent years,” he said. “With the locals, they come to our ID camps, so that always helps us because we can see them play in person, here at the university.
“Then, we would go watch them play at club games or high school games to see how they interact with their other teammates and how they play during a full match.”
Since soccer is a fall sport, the new players are thrown into the team once preseason begins in the summer, Zapata said.
“There is really not a transition period because we’re a fall sport and we start practices before school even starts, so they’re thrown right into the mix,” he said. “Some freshmen come in and adapt really quickly, while others can take longer to adapt, and at that point, it’s about training with the team to prepare for the matches in the fall.”
Zapata said the goal for the upcoming season is to be able to perform.
“We want to set a high standard for our program, so when the fans come watch us, we put on a good show and have them leave the game saying, ‘Man, that team was fun to watch,’” he said. “Hopefully, any win would be great, being better than we were last year and making sure we can perform to the level that we’re expected to perform.”
Women’s soccer is still in the process of recruiting more players for the 2019 season.
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