COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Coach G Guerrieri and the Texas A&M Aggies welcomed a pair of mid-year enrollees, both goalkeepers, including Mia Hummel, a prep standout from southern California, and Danielle Rice, a transfer from Creighton University, who will be a junior for the 2015 campaign. The pair attended their first day of spring semester classes on Tuesday.
“I am very proud to have these two wonderful young ladies in our Texas A&M soccer family,” Guerrieri said. “By coming to us in the spring semester, Mia and Dani will be able to get a great acclimation into student and athletic life in Aggieland. I know they will be vibrant members of our team. Each of them is a highly accomplished goalkeeper and will benefit from a semester of training with me and our coaches. Plus, they will have the opportunity to represent Texas A&M in our spring exhibition matches later this semester.”
Familiar with the national scene, Hummel is a two-time Olympic Player Development National Champion with Cal South G97. She helped lead the So Cal Blues to a pair of Surf College Cup titles in 2012 and 2013, as well as two ECNL So Cal Conference crowns.
She was a standout in her three years at Canyon High School in Anaheim. She earned All-California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section First Team honors her last two seasons at Canyon and All-CIF/SS Second Team as a freshman. She was Century League Defensive MVP as a sophomore and All-Century League First Team as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
Hummel was a two-sport standout Canyon, earning all-league in track and field. She won Century League titles in the 100 (12.36), 200 (25.30) and the long jump (17' 7”) as a sophomore.
“Mia is a winner,” Guerrieri said. “She is very athletic, quick, and courageous, and is used to winning, coming from one of the best youth soccer clubs in America. Randy Dodge, and the rest of the Southern California Blues coaches, provided a great learning environment for her to become one of the very best young goalkeepers in America. She joins several other Blues alumni (Leigh Edwards, Janae Cousineau, and Ana Cruz) on our roster. She fits right into our tradition of having some of the best goalkeepers in America representing Texas A&M soccer.”
Rice started all 36 of her matches during her time in Omaha, notching a 1.36 goals-against average and eight shutouts. She earned Big East Goalkeeper of the Week on one occasion in 2013 and Big East Defensive Player of the Week once in 2014.
As a freshman, Rice tallied a 1.38 goals-against average, 104 saves and four shutouts. She started all 18 games for Creighton in 2014, posting a 1.34 goals-against average, 95 saves and four shutouts on the year in helping the Blue Jays to a 10-6-2 record.
Rice was a club teammate of McKayla Paulson on the Dallas Sting and played with Sarah Shaw at Keller High School.
“Danielle has already achieved great individual achievements as a starter and an All-Big East caliber goalkeeper at Creighton,” Guerrieri said. “Coming to Texas A&M gives her the opportunity to keep growing and developing while chasing championships with the Aggies. She was a great youth goalkeeper with one of America's most celebrated clubs (Dallas Sting), so she is already accustomed to playing and training at a high level. She is reunited with past teammates here in Aggieland, so, I know she will fit in well with our team's culture.”
The duo adds valuable depth for the Aggies who lost two-time All-SEC goalkeeper Jordan Day and fellow netminder Renee McDermott. The pair of departing seniors accounted for all 101 of A&M's starts in goal the last four years and combined to play all but 33 minutes between the woodwork over the span. Taylor Saucier, who will be a redshirt sophomore for the 2015 campaign, is the lone returning keeper. She played 17 minutes last season, not allowing a goal in A&M's NCAA Championship match against Houston Baptist, in her lone appearance.
Texas A&M is coming off a 22-3-2 campaign which saw the Aggies earn their first-ever College Cup appearance. The Aggies will be looking to defend both their SEC regular-season title and conference tournament crown, both of which they captured in 2013 and 2014.
Soccer Welcomes Two Mid-Year Enrollees
Texas A&M welcomed a pair of mid-year enrollees, both goalkeepers, including Mia Hummel, a prep standout from southern California, and Danielle Rice, a transfer from Creighton University, who will be a junior for the 2015 campaign.