Washington State (1-0-0, 0-0-0)
at Texas A&M (0-1-0, 0-0-0)
Sunday, August 20 // 6 p.m. CT // 4 p.m. PT // College Station, Texas // Ellis Field
Television » SEC+ Network // Play-by-Play » David Ellis // Analyst » Jeff Given
Live Stats » wsu.statbroadcast.com

STARTING ELEVEN
    I.    Washington State makes its first road trip of the 2023 season, traveling to College Station, Texas to face Texas A&M, Sunday, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m. CT (4 p.m. PT) on SEC Network+
    II.    Last time out the Cougars rallied from a first-half deficit with three goals in the second half to defeat Eastern Washington, 3-1, Thursday night in Pullman
    III. Over 3,000 fans attended the season-opener against EWU, marking the second-largest crowd in school history (3,013) and just over 100 fans shy of the school record
    III.    Senior Margie Detrizio scored the opening goal to bring her career total to 19 goals, one shy of the program's all-time top-10 list
    IV.    Detrizio was named to the 2023 Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, the only player outside of the four California schools to be recognized on the 11-member team, as selected by coaches
    V.    Head Coach Todd Shulenberger returned for his ninth season at the helm of the Cougar program, holding the school's all-time wins record (90) and 10 victories shy of 100 wins
    VI.    Freshmen Reagan Kotschau and Naomi Clark each scored their first career goals against EWU
    VII.   Nadia Cooper picked up her 19th career win Thursday, moving her to 6th in school history
  VIII.    Freshman Nat Lewis earned her first career assist and point, playing Clark for her goal
    IX.    WSU and Texas A&M have met three times, with the Aggies holding a 2-1-0 advantage
    X.    The Cougars have never met the Aggies outside the state of Texas
    XI.    SoccerWire named WSU the 20th-best program in the country over the past five seasons

COUGARS VS AGGIES
WSU and Texas A&M have met three times in school history, most recently Aug. 29, 2010 when the Aggies beat the Cougs 1-0 in College Station. WSU holds a 1-2-0 record against Texas A&M with its victory coming in the programs' first meeting, Sept. 7, 1993 in Dallas.

DETRIZIO DOMINATION
Margie Detrizio began her senior season in similar form to her career-best junior season, netting the Cougars' opening goal of the 2023 season with the equalizer against Eastern Washington, Aug. 17. The goal brought Detrizio to 19 career goals and just one goal shy of Washington State's all-time top-10 list. Detrizio also tallied an assist in the season-opening win, pushing her career point total to 50 points and just one point shy of the career top-10 list.

DETRIZIO FIRST TO FIND THE NET
For the second-consecutive season, Detrizio was the first player to score for WSU. Last fall, she netted the Cougs' season-opening goal in a 2-1 defeat at then-No. 9 Michigan. The Arizonian ended the year as WSU's leading goal scorer with 11 goals, and entered her senior season as a Preseason All-Pac-12 selection and the Conference's top returning goalscorer.

COOPER RE-WRITING WSU RECORD BOOK
Junior goalkeeper Nadia Cooper is no stranger to re-writing the WSU record book, this season setting her sights on the career goalkeeping lists. Cooper sits sixth in several of WSU's career goalkeeping records. Most recently, the Houstonian picked up her 19th-career win to moved into sixth place. The junior netminder played all 90 minutes and also moved the sixth for career minutes between the posts. Entering the season, Cooper holds 12 career shutouts, 6th-most in Cougar history. She has also made 111 career saves and vaulted up to seventh on the top-10 career saves list.

SHULENBERGER APPROACHES 100 CAREER WINS
WSU Head Coach Todd Shulenberger earned his 90th career victory Thursday against Eastern Washington. Shulenberger holds a .630 winning percentage, which ranks 48th nationally among active coaches. Last season, Shulenberger broke the program's win record with his 89th career victory, defeating Utah, Oct. 2, 2022, surpassing Matt Potter with 88 career wins in Pullman.

FRESHMEN SHINE IN CAREER DEBUTS
Five true freshmen earned minutes in the Cougars' season win over Eastern Washington. Reagan Kotschau and Megan Santa Cruz made their collegiate debuts in the starting lineup, while Naomi Clark, Nat Lewis, and Alena Watts all subbed on for their Cougar debuts.

COLORADO FRESHMEN PHENOMS NET DEBUT GOALS
The freshmen duo of Reagan Kotschau and Naomi Clark has a long history, dating back to high school state championships in Colorado. Thursday, Kotschau and Clark joined sides and each scored their first career goal to give WSU the win. It marked the second time under Coach Shulenberger when two true freshmen scored in the season-opener and the fourth time in program history. Kotschau, from Thornton, Colorado, and Clark, from Parker, Colorado, became the 18th and 19th freshmen, respectively, in program history to score in the season-opening match.

SEASON-OPENER DRAWS THREE THOUSAND
When the Cougars took the field against Eastern Washington, Thursday, they did so in front of 3,013 fans, the second-largest crowd in program history. Lower Soccer Field has become something of a fan-fortress for the Cougs. In 2021, the team drew an average of 1,238 fans per match, the highest season average in program history. Last season's home opener against Portland drew the fourth-largest crowd in program history with 2,408 fans in attendance. In 2022, Wazzu averaged 1,057 fans per game, good for 21st in the country.

COUGS NAMED TOP-20 PROGRAM OVER LAST FIVE YEARS
The Cougars were tabbed as the 20th best team in the country over the last five seasons, SoccerWire.com announced. The organization generates the standings based on each program's average position in the end-of-season rankings. Rankings are based on a combination of final United Soccer Coaches Polls and Rating Percentage Index (RPI) from each season, with bonuses awarded for NCAA Tournament qualification and College Cup victories. Stanford was the only Pac-12 ranked higher than WSU, named fifth on the list.

FEARSOME FOURSOME OF FIFTH-YEARS FOCUSED
WSU returns four student-athletes for a fifth season, including Grayson Lynch, Brianna McReynolds, Bridget Rieken, and Isabella Weaver. The quartet are utilizing NCAA COVID Eligibility Relief, which was granted to student-athletes competing during the rescheduled 2020 season in spring of 2021. Lynch and Rieken are the sole student-athletes remaining from WSU's historic run to the 2019 College Cup in San Jose and have combined for over 9,000 minutes played in a Cougar uniform.

PICKING THEMSELVES BACK UP
The Cougars went down early against Eastern Washington, before coming back to win, 3-1. During the 2022 season, the Cougars never won when trailing at halftime and only won once after conceding the opening goal.

RIEKEN'S RETURN
Fifth-year senior defender Bridget Rieken was welcomed back to Lower Soccer Field for another season, seeking redemption for a 2022 senior season which ended in injury and the Cougs outside of the postseason conversation. The Couer d'Alene native has played just shy of 6,000 minutes for Wazzu, including at the 2019 College Cup as a freshman, and centered a backline which has allowed less than a goal per game.

TRANSFERS MAKE NATURAL TRANSITION
Redshirt-senior Keeley Copper made her Cougar debut Thursday night, starting in the WSU backline for the first time. Fellow transfer Shevaun Judon came off the bench to earn minutes in her Wazzu debut. Junior Rajanah Reed played 40 minutes in her collegiate debut.

LYNCH BACK WITH A BANG
Fifth-year senior forward Grayson Lynch hopes to return to a strong run of form in her junior season. Lynch completed the 2022 campaign with four goals and three assists, bringing her career scoring total to 15 goals. During the 2021 season she registered a career-best eight goals. When she scored against Cal Poly last fall, Lynch became the 22nd Cougar in program history with a 3-game goal streak.

COUGS TABBED FIFTH BY PAC-12 COACHES
Washington State was selected in the top half of the conference for the fifth-straight season, falling behind the four California schools in the preseason ranking at No. 5.

TRANSFERS ARRIVE IN PULLMAN
The Cougars welcomed five incoming transfers this offseason, including Keeley Copper (West End, N.C.), Shevaun Judon (LaGrangeville, N.Y.), Taylor McMahon (Manteca, Calif.), Bryana Pizarro (Valley Stream, N.Y.), and Rajanah Reed (Glendale, Ariz.).

INCOMING FRESHMEN READY TO MAKE A MARK
WSU signed eight freshmen as part of its 2023 recruiting class last November. The eight incoming Cougs are: Liya Brooks (Eugene, Ore.), Naomi Clark (Parker, Colo.), Elliotte Kortus (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho), Reagan Kotschau (Thornton, Colo.), Nat Lewis (Queen Creek, Ariz.), Megan Santa Cruz (Burbank, Calif.), Alena Watts (Marietta, Ga.), and Georgia Whitehead (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho).

BROOKS BACK FROM WORLD CUP EXPERIENCE
Incoming freshman goalkeeper Liya Brooks had a short preseason with the Cougs. The Jamaican-American recently returned from a call-up with the Jamaican Senior Women's National Team to the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. While Brooks didn't see action on the field, the opportunity provided an experience to work with the veterans of the Reggae Girlz' roster and be with the team as they advanced to their first every Round of 16 match.

MARGIE'S ASSIST STREAK
Margie Detrizio put together a 3-game assist streak last season. Detrizio went on her own 3-game assist streak, between the Sept. 1 game at Seattle and the Sept. 11 victory versus Cal Poly to become just the 12th student-athlete in program history with a 3-game assist streak. Beth Childs is the only player in WSU history to record a 4-game assist streak (10-21-01 to 11-9-01).

FINDING THE FRAME
Last season, WSU created more chances than almost every single team in the country, but failed to convert the opportunities into goals down the stretch with a 8% shot conversion. Wazzu scored 31 goals (1.63 per game) from 11 different Cougars. The Cougs outshot opponents 383-196 and the average of 20.2 shots per game ranked fourth nationally and second only to Stanford in the Pac-12. WSU put shots on frame at a 35% clip (134-of-383) and limited opponents to just 79 total shots on target (4.2 per game).

MARGIE RETURNS WITH ALL-REGION HONORS
Margie Detrizio, who earned postseason accolades from the Pac-12 and United Soccer Coaches organization last year, returns as a reigning All-Regional Third Team honoree and All-Pac-12 Second Team recognition.

STOUT DEFENSIVE LINE RELOADED
Defensively, the Cougars return three starters to their defensive core. Fifth-year senior Bridget Rieken anchors the backline alongside senior Jenna Studer, who moved into the backline after a holding midfield role last year. WSU must replace veteran leadership in Mykiaa Minniss, who completed her collegiate career with 92 career starts and over 8,300 minutes played. Coach Shulenberger turned to redshirt-senior transfer Keeley Copper to start on the left side. In addition, junior Reese Tappan reprised her role at right back for the 2022 campaign.

PRO COUGS
Establishing themselves among the elite teams in the nation has its perks, as the Cougs  have pushed their best into the pro ranks of the NWSL with nine recent draft picks. In two of the last three drafts the Cougs have seen their players go No. 2 overall with Morgan Weaver (2020 - Portland Thorns) and Trinity Rodman (2021 - Washington Spirit). In addition Averie Collins (2020 - Washington Spirit) and Makamae Gomera-Stevens (2021 - Houston Dash) have established themselves in the league while Ella Dederick was signed two a two-year deal by Houston. Outside of the five in the league, Brianna Alger who was selected by the Chicago Red Stars in 2021 heads to the league after completing her fifth season at WSU. In 2021, Elyse Bennett would go No. 7 to Kansas City while Sydney Pulver went No. 25 to new franchise San Diego Wave. Most recently, Mykiaa Minniss was drafted by Kansas City Current in the 2023 NWSL Draft as the 39th overall pick.

FOLLOW THE COUGS ON SOCIAL MEDIA ALL SEASON LONG
Get all the info, photos, and videos a Coug Fan could want by following the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @WSUCougarSoccer.