POSITION PREVIEW: Forwards

With the ingredients available, the Aggies' corps of forwards have the recipe for a gumbo of goals in 2019.

The cupboard includes All-American Ally Watt, Freshman All-SEC Ásdís Halldórsdóttir and one of the Virginia Cavaliers' top scorers from 2016 and '17 in Taylor Ziemer. Blend in talented returners Abby Grace Cooper and Rheagen Smith along with highly touted freshman Ali Russell and the flavor is spicy.

The Aggies boast 54 career goals from their front line, including 33 for Watt and 12 for Ziemer.

Coach G's Take – "This is one of the strongest attacking groups that we've had in many years. We have a combination of international strength, youth national team experience, United States U23 National Team experience and players who have done it at a high level here in the NCAA. So this is an attacking group that is going to cause a lot of heartache for our opponents."

ABBY GRACE COOPER
Cooper has battled through injury her first two seasons at A&M, but has shown flashes of brilliance when healthy. The redshirt sophomore gathered a lot of playing time in her first two matches in Aggieland in 2017, before a season-ending injury. Last season, she played in 12 games, scoring the game-winning goal against Kansas. Entering the season-opener, Cooper is playing the best soccer of her career.

Coach G's Take – "Abby Grace is a very dangerous attacking force with youth national team experience. She was coming off an injury last year, but she finished the season strong. She had a great spring and came into preseason camp this fall in the best shape that we have ever seen her. We expect her to make a huge impact in our attack as both someone to set up goals and someone who finishes goals. She is very crafty and skillful

ASDIS HALLDORSDOTTIR
Halldórsdóttir earned SEC All-Freshman honors a year ago. The Iceland native played in all 23 games for the Aggies, including 19 starts. She racked up four goals and five assists and earned SEC Freshman of the Week recognition on two occasions. Halldórsdóttir spent this summer playing for KR Reykjavik, logging two goals in nine matches.

Coach G's Take – "Ásdís is one of the most exciting players on our roster. She has incredible range to go from sideline to sideline, from box to goal. She scored big goals for us in her freshman year. I'm excited to see her as a sophomore, because I know how much she grew in understanding of what the NCAA game is about, what the season is about and ways for her to use her strengths."

ALI RUSSELL
Russell was a scoring machine at Cinco Ranch High School. She ended her career with 120 goals and 51 assists. The speedy forward garnered 2018 VYPE Houston Player of the Year recognition, as well as earning her third Texas Class 6A All-Texas honor. Russell earned spots on U.S. Soccer youth national team rosters, including serving as team captain for U18 squads in 2015 and 2016.

Coach G's Take – "Ali is one of the most exciting young forwards to come into our program from South Texas. She is a lightning bolt of a player. She's got a tremendous attitude, personality and work rate. She's going to be an absolute fan favorite. For her to wear the number 12 for Texas A&M is not just because she comes from an Aggie Family, but because she is someone who is going to get the entire 12th Man behind her with the energy that the plays with and the attitude she shows every day.

RHEAGEN SMITH
Smith has played in 35 matches as an Aggie, including four starts. The junior has racked up nine points on four goals and one assist. Last season, Smith scored goals against Hawaii, Colorado College and LSU, as well as tallying an assist against BYU. Her most memorable goal came in the Aggies' SEC Tournament semifinal when she notched the game-tying goal in Texas A&M's 2-1 victory.

Coach G's Take – "Rheagen is a very dangerous attacking threat. She gets herself into good goal-scoring situations. She has scored some important goals for us in her first two years. Stepping into her junior season, we're hoping to see her finish off with an even higher percentage of scoring chances and continue to be an even greater goal scorer for us."

ALLY WATT
An All-American a year ago, Watt owns 70 Aggie caps, including 59 starts. Over her career, she has registered 71 points with 33 goals and five assists. Last season, Watt led the team with 15 goals and added three assists, earning her second All-SEC First Team honor. With a flair for the dramatic, Watt notched golden goals in the regular-season finale against No. 17 South Carolina and the NCAA Tournament first round win against North Texas.

Coach G's Take – "Ally is one of the most exciting players in American college soccer. She's incredibly fast, very dedicated and very professional in her demeanor and attitude towards her performance. She sees the game very well. She's developed tremendously from a tactical sense in her time here to understand her strengths and how to utilize those to a great extent."

TAYLOR ZIEMER
Ziemer played two years at Virginia, finishing third on the team in scoring in both 2016 and 2017. As a freshman, she scored 18 points on eight goals and two assists. She followed that up with four goals and six assists in 2017. Last year, Ziemer played club soccer for ADO Den Haag in the Netherlands. She racked up five goals in 21 matches for the Storks.

Coach G's Take – "Taylor is an extraordinary talent. She's smart, very technical and very skillful. She understands the game really, really well. She reads the game three steps ahead. She hits a very heavy shot and is one of the players our fans should be most excited about this year."

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Abby Grace Cooper

Ali Russell

Rheagen Smith

Ally Watt

Taylor Ziemer

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