The 2024 SAU women’s soccer team and coaches during media day at St. Andrews University.
Courtesy photo | St. Andrews Athletics
LAURINBURG —The St. Andrews Knights women’s soccer program is set to enter year two under Head Coach Ebony Campbell with some notable new names, both on the roster and the coaching staff. They are coming off a 1-13-1 season but have much bigger expectations heading into 2024 as Campbell looks to build the program with the help of Ingryd Lima, who played soccer collegiately at Iowa Wesleyan before the school had to close due to financial problems at the end of her junior year in 2022-23. Lima’s experience on the field is something Campbell has said is a real positive as a team with a lot of youth looks to take steps in the right direction.
“She’s a perfect fit for the program to help us move in a positive direction, she played NAIA soccer so I think she’s someone that the girls can relate to,” Campbell said. “I also think defensively her experience as a defender will give us a fresh outlook on how to develop our back line this season with it being such a young team.”
As for Campbell herself, she is not short on collegiate coaching experience, having started seven years ago in 2017. This is however just her second year at St. Andrews and admitted that adapting to various aspects of the NAIA game from junior college and the NCAA hasn’t been easy. That being said, she feels more prepared heading into her second year on the job and wants to put St. Andrews back on the map with a playoff berth in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC), which requires getting at least 10th out of 15 teams in the regular season.
“I just had to really learn how the school operated because this is my first rodeo at an NAIA institution,” Campbell said. “My first year was definitely observation and learning, now moving into my second year the goa is setting the tone for the program and being a bit more competitive so we can be a playoff team and a strong competitor in the AAC.”
As for the team personnel, there is a good amount of change from 2023 to 2024 because of a big senior class graduating, a big class of freshmen coming in and a few transfers that were added. Last year’s group had 11 seniors with them bringing in nine new freshmen and two transfers along with five returning players, according to Campbell. The youth movement is something Campbell thinks will be a positive as long as they carry over the culture implemented from her first year.
“I think the difference between this year and last year is last year we had the experience but lacked the overall technical ability and this year we have the technical ability but lack the experience,” Campbell said. “We’re kind of having to reteach the style of play with a new team and pick up where we left off last year culture wise. I think it’s a positive for us, we just have to find that knack and chemistry on the field so we can be consistent.”
Some players Campbell said she is excited to see this year include freshmen Diane Maillis and Anais Blanco as well as transfer Emma Hicklin. She also said she wants to win at least 50% of the team’s home games in addition to making the AAC playoffs. Campbell ultimately feels good about their ability to surprise people and make some noise this season.
“I think we’re going to be dangerous; we just have to find that team chemistry and be dangerous for the whole season,” Campbell said. “Last year we were the underdog, I think we’re going to shock a lot of teams with how we come out and play and just how consistent we are when it comes to our conference games.”
The Knights will begin their 2024 season at home on Saturday, Aug. 24 against Allen University with the game scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. The first time they will play against a conference opponent will be Sept. 7 at Reinhardt. Their full 2024 schedule can be found on the St. Andrews Athletics website: 2024 Women’s Soccer Schedule – St. Andrews University (sauknights.com).