Women’s Soccer Opens Season Monday in Texarkana
TEXARKANA, TX – The Bethel Lady Wildcats open their soccer season Monday at Texas A&M- Texarkana. The match gets underway at 1 p.m. It will also be the season opener for the Eagles.
It will be the seventh meeting between the two programs. Bethel has a 5-1 advantage in the series. The Cats are 3-0 in Texarkana and 2-1 in McKenzie versus the Texas squad.
Live video:
https://www.youtube.com/c/KLFItvTexarkana
Live stats:
https://naiastats.prestosports.com/sports/wsoc/2022-23/boxscores/20220822_ja68.xml
Season Preview
The Bethel Lady Wildcats look forward to a bounce back season this fall. The Cats finished 6-10 last year but were on the cusp of a winning mark, losing seven games by just one goal. Bethel was 4-7 in the MSC.
The Lady Wildcats will have the task of replacing several key performers including seniors, Shanay Ricketts, Molly Flynn, Maria Fernanda Campos, Ashari Bowen, Elvira Martin, Jodi Butler and Sacha-Gay Brown. Brown was named to the MSC first team and later signed a professional contract with a team in Turkey. Ricketts and Martin were named second team all-conference. Martin led the squad with ten goals while Ricketts had 75 saves. Flynn, Campos, Bowen and Brown all played key roles in their Wildcat careers.
Bethel returns their second leading scorer in Ainhoa Chirivella who had eight goals this past season. She also led the team with eight assists. Chirivella is tied for seventh in career assists (13) through her first two seasons. She also set the school record for assists in a game with six last year at Pikeville. Other key returners include Elle Carson, Alicia Perez and Allie Chappell.
Bethel had another impressive off-season in signing several players who can help the program immediately. Some of those players include Natalie Rojas, Paula Pinilla and Ana Ramirez.
The Lady Wildcats face a challenging schedule for the 2022 season that includes nine home competitions, ten Mid-South Conference matches and seven games against 2021 NAIA national tournament qualifiers.
Bethel begins the campaign with a road match at Texas A&M-Texarkana on Aug. 22. The Lady Wildcats welcome Middle Georgia State to McKenzie for the home opener on Aug. 28.
BU travels to Brescia on Sept. 1 before returning home for a Labor Day game against LSU Alexandria on Sept. 5. A road match at William Carey, defending NAIA national runner-up, awaits the Lady Wildcats on Sept. 10. Next for Bethel is a four-game home stand as Missouri Baptist (Sept. 17) and conference foes Pikeville (Sept. 22), University of the Cumberlands (Sept. 24) and defending NAIA national champion UT Southern (Sept. 28) visit Wildcat Stadium.
The Lady Wildcats open October with a road swing to Cumberland (Oct. 1) and Thomas More (Oct. 5) before coming back to McKenzie for their final three home matches of the year. Bethel hosts Georgia Gwinnett (Oct. 8), Georgetown (Oct. 12) and Shawnee State (Oct. 15). BU concludes the regular season with three consecutive road games - at Lindsey Wilson (Oct. 19), at Campbellsville (Oct. 21) and at Freed-Hardeman (Oct. 29).