Position Preview: Goalkeepers - Texas A&M Athletics

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

There is experience. And there is mature experience. Texas A&M soccer boasts a bucket of mature experience in the woodwork for 2023.

All three members of the goalkeeping corps have at least two years of playing experience, and they have combined to play over 100 collegiate matches.

For the first time since 2014, Texas A&M welcomes back a player who started over 50 percent of the Aggies’ matches in each of the last three seasons with Kenna Caldwell returning for a fifth year.

“Texas A&M has had some incredible goalkeepers come through Aggieland over the decades,” head coach G Guerrieri said. “After Cosette Morche graduated in 2018, all of a sudden we turned from a really experienced goalkeeper unit into a really inexperienced group. We had some really good athletes come in, but they were inexperienced. Kenna was one of those players and every day for four years she has been through the meatgrinder and fought off great competition to earn her starts.”

Jordyn Gunnarson, the Aggies’ top reserve each of the last two years, is also back in the Brazos Valley. Bella Lister, another backup player from a year ago, transferred to North Texas, but Texas A&M added Grace McClellan, with a championship pedigree, to the mix.

Now with a seasoned keeper corps, the Maroon & White enter the 2023 campaign with the intention of making marked improvement after finishing 9-7-5 with a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament.

“All three of them are very mature. They’re all twentysomething and they’re all older and more mature than the average goalkeeper you find around the country. I’m really looking forward to every single day of training. These three are going to make each other better. The goalkeeper position is next player up. Lightning bolts can strike and they have in the past. You never knew what’s going to happen. It feels really good to have three highly-capable players available. These three will compete for the position daily. I’m confident whoever is in goal for Texas A&M is going to help us win.”

G Guerrieri

KENNA CALDWELL

Caldwell started all 21 games in 2022, recording 52 saves, four shutouts, a 1.18 goals-against average and a .727 save percentage in 1,832 minutes. Among her impressive performances were recording seven saves in a season-opening shutout against Clemson as well as recording back-to-back road blankings of Illinois and Ohio State. Caldwell owns 55 career Aggie caps, including 52 starts, totaling 4,754 minutes. She owns a 27-19-8 record with 12 shutouts, 173 saves, a 1.16 goals-against average and a .739 save percentage.

Coach G’s Take – “Kenna is very smart and very athletic and has a really unique skill set, especially as someone who's kind of a converted field player with a good goalkeeper base. She has been a starter for us for four years. I think all the things that she's learned and all the different light bulbs that have turned on from her experiences makes it really exciting for what we're going to see in her fifth year now, while she's been gaining those experiences.”

JORDYN GUNNARSON

Gunnarson has made three career appearances for the Aggies. She owns a career clean sheet, making three saves in her 124 scoreless minutes. Last year Gunnarson played in two Texas A&M shutouts, including the entire second half against Sam Houston.

Coach G’s Take – “Jordyn has been Kenna’s understudy the last two years and she has really come along. I feel confident she would start for so many teams in the SEC and across the country. She can step in and be our number one at any time. Jordyn and Kenna have competed for a spot the last two years, but at the same time they’ve done a really good job of helping each other improve and move forward. I’ve been so impressed by how they can compete against each other, but at the same time be really good friends off the field. That is maturity, to be able to help each other and at the same time compete with each other. It is really unique and something that I know that I never could do when I was their age.”

GRACE MCCLELLAN

McClellan started 23 matches for Keiser University last season, leading the Seahawks to a 22-1-1 record, Sun Conference regular-season and tournament titles and a place in the NAIA Championship semifinals. She earned NAIA All-America Second Team and All-Sun Conference First Team. McClellan owns 52 collegiate caps playing at Keiser, racking up nearly 4,500 minutes in goal, posting a 45-4-2 record with a 0.60 goals-against average, 132 saves, a .815 save percentage and 28 shutouts. During the elongated 2020-21 campaign, she played the last 10 matches for Keiser, rattling off an 8-1-1 record and winning the NAIA Championship.

Coach G’s Take – "Grace comes in as a as a graduate transfer. She was a star of a team that's won a national championship at the NAIA level. She really gives us another package with experience and leadership that I think is going to help us a great deal. She is a student of the game and is always looking to learn and improve herself as well as make the people around her better.”