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With a new era under way at LU – under the direction of first-year head coach Pete Rossomando – players began arriving on campus Aug. 1 for the start of preseason camp. The beginning of a new football season on college campuses across the country, approximately 110 players moved into the dorms before breaking for lunch.
The afternoon was filled with team meetings before breaking off into position meetings during the evening and officially began workouts Wednesday morning, which will be the first of 21 scheduled practices before the first game. The Cardinals will take to the practice field each weekday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., with the first scrimmage coming Saturday, Aug. 12.
LU opens the regular season at home Thursday, Aug. 31, at 7 p.m. when they host Idaho, who has already appeared in several preseason Top 25 polls.
Through the offseason to date, LU’s soccer team has added 13 combined transfers and newbies to their squad for the 2023 season, but head coach Nathan Kogut isn’t done just yet with new addi- tions. The team added three more trans- fers to an already stacked team looking to repeat as Southland Conference champions.
“We are thrilled that we are adding not only three high caliber soccer play- ers to our program, but three incredible people and families into Lamar Soccer,” said Kogut. “Throughout the recruiting process, it was important for our staff to find not only the right fits positionally, but also fits for our ‘Championship Cul- ture.’ We had a lot of success in 2022 because of our transfer additions, and we were able to add players that have played a lot of college soccer to an already experienced roster, which will make us better every day in training and on match days.
“These three transfers are the type of players that can hit the ground running athletically and academically and will be such a huge presence for our team as we seek to win more championships.”
Joining the team are Taylor Conway, Kauany Sousa and Kaya Williams.
Conway (forward) played high school in Texas at Rowlett then for Tyler Junior College. She scored six goals in 22 games including three game winners.
Sousa (forward) is from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and played at Colegio e Curso Icaro/William Carey University. Over the last three years, she played 56 games with 47 starts, scored 46 goals including eight game winners, tallied 16 assists, and last year was named to the Southern States Athletic Conference First Team and All-Tournament Team as well as second team All-American.
Williams (defender) is from Lincoln, Nebraska, and played at Jacksonville University. In three seasons at JU, she tallied an assist in 42 games played while appearing in 2,353 minutes. She also had six shots with four of them being on goal.
The Cardinals welcome the commu- nity to watch the team play LSU-Eunice in an exhibition matchup Sunday, Aug. 6, at 7 p.m. at the LU Soccer Complex.