In 1993 the Texas A&M Athletic Department unveiled a new varsity women's sport and some rather high expectations. However, no one dared to hope the debut of women's soccer in Aggieland would be quite as dramatic or that success would come so quickly in the program's first year. With a rag-tag squad made up of nine returnees from the 1992 varsity II team and 11 green recruits, Aggie head coach G Guerrieri set out to forge a successful program. The result was a 15-3-1 record and a top 10 South Region ranking. "We knew that with the extensive resources and drawing power that Texas A&M commands that we would have a strong team within three years," Guerrieri said. "But we never thought we would see this much success in our first season, especially since I didn't come on board until the May before the season began and almost completely missed the recruiting season. The final record is a compliment to the incredible drive and hard work of our young, energetic players." However, that final success was not immediately evident for A&M. The Aggies kicked off the inaugural season with two consecutive losses. Texas A&M dropped its opener, 2-1, in overtime to Arkansas and then suffered a 2-0 loss against Washington State. "Though we lost our first two matches, we were anything but disappointed," Guerrieri said. "Everyone who witnessed those two matches knew they were witnessing something unique – a freshman-laden A&M team dominating play against Top 20 powers Arkansas and Washington State. The fact that we were outscored in those matches was a testimonial to our youth. We actually could have still been considered high school players in those matches. The disappointing thing was that we didn't have an opportunity to play those two teams in October when we started to mature and reach our stride." The Aggies began that road to maturity at a tournament in Austin. They started a season-long eight-game win streak by recording a 1-0 victory over rival Texas. Texas A&M then knocked off TCU (4-1) and tournament host St. Edward's (5-0) en route to their first-ever tourney championship title. The Aggies' win streak featured five shutouts. "Anytime you win a tournament, either early or late in a season, it is a great feeling." Guerrieri said. "The fact that our first win came against Texas was fulfilling and capping it off with an impressive 5-0 win really got things rolling." After opening the year with seven road games, the Aggies began their home season in impressive fashion, blowing out Oral Roberts (11-0) and shocking perennial national power Central Florida (4-2). Texas A&M later flew to Chicago to upend Northern Illinois. However, the next day, the Aggies were upset by Detroit, 3-2, after holding a 2-1 edge with less than five minutes to play. The loss snapped the eight-game win streak, but it would also be A&M's last defeat of the season. The Aggies won seven of their eight remaining games and recorded a 1-1 tie in the other. "The Detroit game was a big eye-opener for us," Guerrieri said. "Our players learned the hard way that we have to concentrate on developing and maintaining our playing rhythm and not to be distracted by isolated incidents that occur away from the ball. That loss helped to harden our focus on team priorities, a characteristic that allowed us to finish the final eight games without a loss." The Aggies posted a 1-1 tie on the road against SMU, a consistent national force that was then ranked sixth in the South Region. Freshman forward Tina Robinson finished an Aggie counterattack with a 15-yard shot past the SMU goalkeeper at the 52:20 mark to put A&M on the scoreboard first. Freshman goalkeeper Sunny McConnell gave up just one goal 20 minutes later while stopping eight shots against the potent Mustang offense, which featured preseason NCAA Player of the Year candidate Kara Lee. The Aggies withstood a late SMU charge and then survived two overtime periods to preserve the tie.
Tina Robinson scored for the Aggies as they tied with traditional power SMU.
"In our preseason training, the players expressed a team goal of beating SMU," Guerrieri said. "At the time, I laughed it off and asked them to keep their immediate dreams realistic. A month later, in early October, I started to believe that we could give them a good game. And when SMU had to come from behind on their own turf to tie us, it made us realize that dreams of competing with a perennial national power can be realized when you work as hard as our players work." Texas A&M then blanked New Mexico (3-0) and Texas (9-0) to take the championship trophy at the inaugural Aggieland Invitational. Senior defender Rennie Rebe captured Defensive MVP honors, while freshman forward Yvette Okler snagged Offensive MVP accolades. In addition to Rebe and Okler, McConnell and midfielders Brittan Hlista and Sandy Edwards were named to the all-tournament team. "Winning the Aggieland Invitational was the crowning point of our first season," Guerrieri said. "The first round win over New Mexico was huge since both of us were 11-3-1 going into that match. Those marks were among the top records for first-year programs at that time. Then in the final, we had a chance to remedy some of the headaches we had in our earlier game against the Longhorns when we outshot them 40-5, but only won 1-0. In the Aggieland Invitational, we showed how composed our attack had become in just six weeks by beating our university's biggest rival, 9-0." Texas A&M then closed out the season with road wins over Centenary and Florida Atlantic to move to 15-3-1, a record which included a perfect 7-0 mark at home. The Aggies dominated their 1993 opponents, recording 73 goals to the opposition's 17 and outshooting them by a whopping 208-to-44 margin. In addition, McConnell, who had been ranked among the top 10 goalkeepers in all eight South Region polls, finished a season-high second in the final goalkeeper rankings with a 0.85 goals-against average. Freshman midfielder Jamie Csizmadia, who led the team in shots (66), goals (13) and points scored (30), finished No. 16 in region scoring. Despite the fact that Texas A&M's impressive finish was ignored by the NCAA postseason selection committee, the Aggies took consolation in bringing home a top 10 South Region ranking in their first year of competition.
Jamie Csizmadia led A&M in goals and points in 1993.
"1993 was a year we will never forget," Guerrieri said. "We overachieved in almost every way. Our players proved that if they believe in themselves and work their absolute hardest that anything is achievable. We had many highs: winning the St. Edward's tournament, beating national power Central Florida, being ranked as high as No. 8 in the region, tying SMU on their turf and winning our tournament – these stand out as our top thrills. "Plus even our disappointments proved to be great learning experiences. Taking an experienced Arkansas team to overtime gave us confidence against later opponents that on paper were stronger than us. The first win over Texas when we only converted one out of 40 shots was frustrating and, even though we won 1-0, you would have thought we'd lost by six the way the players left the field. However, that helped to mature us in future scoring situations. The loss to a very, very physical Detroit team helped harden us, and it taught us to keep concentrating on our game plans against future teams which didn't care to play creatively. Finally, not being ranked higher than No. 10 at the end of the season even though we had one of the region's top records has taught us not to depend on others. We'll have to prove ourselves on the field each match."
