Position Preview: Defenders

This is Part Three of 12thman.com's four-part series previewing the 2023 Aggie soccer season.

The Aggies entered 2023 with very few holes to fill, but two of those few vacancies were on the backline.

The Maroon & White lost a pair of starting defenders, both team captains, with the graduation of Karlina Sample and Katie Smith. Sample, an All-American Third Team selection, anchored the Aggies’ backline for the better part of the last four seasons. A midfielder her initial season, Smith was a defender the last three seasons.

The Aggies have a trio of former SEC All-Freshman Team performers as top options on defense - Carolyn Calzada, Quinn Cornog and Mia Pante. 

Calzada started 17 games as a center back last season and was recognized as one of the top 100 freshman in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer.com (No. 61). Cornog played the majority of the 2022 season in the midfield after transferring from Vanderbilt. Playing as a holding midfielder early in the season, injury thrust Cornog into the backline—and she flourished. Pante, who plays strictly on the backline in her Canadian National Team stints, has primarily been a wide-playing midfielder in her first two seasons.

Three other returnees will play a huge role in shoring up the Aggies’ defenses, including Olivia Fetzer, Macy Matula and Lauren Geczik.

Freshmen Adysen Armenta and Margo Matula are expected to make immediate impacts as a pair of uber-talented newcomers.

ADYSEN ARMENTA

Armenta was a two-year letter winner at Klein Collins High School, earning team MVP recognition both years. She was selected All-District 15-6A First Team in 2020 and ’21. Armenta was selected District 15-6A Co-Midfielder of the Year as a sophomore in 2021 and District 15-6A Newcomer of the Year in 2020. She has experience at US Soccer Women’s National Team regional training centers in 2018 and ’19.

Coach G’s Take – “Adysen is a really special athlete. She’s got an engine to be able to run an entire sideline and that’s something that not many athletes on the Division I level can really do. She can go 75 yards and then get the ball and cause problems for the opponent. She has such a good sense for finding spaces and those spaces oftentimes are more prevalent in wide areas. We think that we can play her in a role of a defender but can impose her attacking abilities on the other team – using that athleticism to be more than just a single dimension in our system.”

CAROLYN CALZADA

Calzada appeared in 17 matches in 2022, all starts on the backline, as a rookie for 1,520 minutes of action. Identified as one of the top 100 freshman in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer.com, she was tapped No. 61 on the list and earned SEC All-Freshman Team recognition. Calzada helped the Aggies produce five shutouts – Clemson, McNeese, Sam Houston, Illinois, and Ohio State. A workhorse, she played 90-plus minutes in 16 matches—including 110 against Mississippi State—and notched two assists on the season (in back-to-back games against Auburn and South Carolina).

Coach G’s Take - “Carolyn was the Newcomer of the Year last year. She is our fastest defender of a very fast unit. She’s smart and really sophisticated in the way that she sees the game. She came out of a great youth system in the Atlanta area. She’s somebody who is really difficult to get behind. She’s someone that we are building our defense around. She was injured a portion of last year but was able to come back from that. We had her take the spring off to fully heal and she has now come back 100 percent. We’re really looking forward to seeing how she and Quinn will partner as our two center backs.”

QUINN CORNOG

Cornog owns 38 career SEC caps, including two starts, playing one season at Vanderbilt and continuing her career in Aggieland. Last year she started 19 games, logging five points on two goals and an assist in 1,440 minutes on the pitch. She earned SEC All-Freshman recognition her first season, at Vanderbilt in 2021, and owns 38 career SEC caps including 22 starts.

Coach G’s Take – “Quinn is another really special member of the team. She transferred in and immediately bonded with the girls on and off the field. She solidified herself as our defensive midfielder and earned midfielder MVP in her first year. We moved her onto the back line due to injury and it’s actually helped her in the way that she sees the game. It still has her on the field as a weapon along with her leadership, which is really important for us."

OLIVIA FETZER

Fetzer owns four Aggie caps, all off the bench. All four of her appearances on the backline were shutouts for the Aggies. Last year she saw action on the backline in a pair of shutouts, including a season-high 15 minutes against McNeese.

Coach G’s Take – “Olivia is one of those slash players that could play in the midfield for us. She’s been one of our most steadily improved players. She is really talented on the ball and does a great job in our build up phase. She’s done great defensively. She makes great decisions on when to tackle, when not to tackle, how to play the ball out of the back, and how to carry the ball out of the back. She gets better every single practice."

LAUREN GECZIK

Geczik missed the entire 2022 campaign due to injury, but she doesn’t lack experience with 34 Aggie caps, including 28 starts. He career numbers include 13 points on four goals and five assists. In 2021, she started every game on the backline for the Aggies. Geczik earned Texas A&M’s Most Improved Player Award and “Farmer’s Fight” Perseverance Award that season, logging six points on one goal and four assists. 

Coach G’s Take – “Lauren is such a perfectionist in everything that she does, so it was difficult for her to sit out last season. She’s a student of the game. She’s prepared in everything that she does, both in the classroom and on the soccer field. Lauren is somebody that tries to soak in whatever she could, even though she couldn’t be out on the field. Evidence by the fact that the team has picked her as a captain coming off a year that she didn’t play shows how much the team respects her leadership. They see her as a vital member of the team. She’s played as a forward, a wide midfielder, and as a defender. She’s not going to be in goal for us, but she’ll play pretty much everywhere else.”

MACY MATULA

Matula owns 34 Aggie caps, including 11 starts, logging 1,613 minutes. Her career tally includes eight points on two goals and four assists. Last year, Matula played in 21 matches, including eight starts, recording six points on two goals and two assists. She is one of the Aggies’ options on setting pieces. In addition to serving corner kicks, she was successful on a free kick goal against Florida last season.

Coach G’s Take – “Macy was our most improved player last year and is maybe our best one-on-one defender. We’ve seen teams think that they could isolate her as a way to try to get in behind us and fail repeatedly. She’s tough and fast. She’s got a very, very good left foot and can serve a great ball. She’s come up big and has scored a couple of important goals because she’s very good in the air and she just gets better and better and better. Now with her sister playing in the same line, it’s been fun to see how they interact with each other on and off the field.”

MARGO MATULA

Matula was a three-year letter winner at Houston’s St. Piux X High School, serving as team captain her last two seasons. She led the Panthers to their first TAPPS Division I State Championship title game. She earned TAPPS Division I All-State First Team in 2021 and ’22, as well as earning honorable mention as a freshman in 2020. Matula is currently in the United States Women’s National Team U20 player pool and participated a camp at age 17 in 2021.

Coach G’s Take – “Margo is a beast and one of the best pure ball winners that we’ve ever had at A&M. She’s somebody who reads the game incredibly well. She’s a great individual defender as well. She has an innate ability to judge play and to come and support teammates, but also to win balls and start counterattacks.”

MIA PANTE

Pante is a two-time All-SEC honoree, earning second team distinction last year and all-freshman recognition in 2021. She boasts 35 Aggie caps, including 33 starts, logging 2,343 minutes on the pitch. Pante has registered 23 career points on four goals and 15 assists. She boasts a wealth of international experience, including earning a bronze medal at the CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championship (2022) and a FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup appearance (2022) for the Canadian National Team. 

Coach G’s Take – “Mia is one of the best pure soccer players in the SEC. She’s passionate about the game. She’s very skillful, technical and gifted in her ability on the ball. She has a great sense of how the game can be played at a high speed. Mia wants to get better every day. She’s a real joy to be around in training because she’s always asking questions and always looking for ways to improve. She’s somebody that is out on the field and getting more touches on the ball, which is contagious for her teammates.”