SLU Women's Soccer Thread

[courtside]

New 2026 SLU commit is Emma Naftanel from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Emma is an attacking third player who can play any of the front 4 positions effectively. She was a First Team All Conference ECNL player last season with Pride SC in the Northwest League. She switched clubs to Colorado Rapids 08 (Tom Poole) this season in the Texas League. She attends Rampart High School. 

SLU recruited and targeted several Colorado players from Colorado Rapids, Real Colorado, Colorado Rush, etc.. (Colleen Corbin works some of the camps there including Colorado Rapids, annually) And, SLU was also able to get several players from Colorado, Texas, Seattle, etc…elsewhere to attend their Summer Camp this year. 

It’s always a good time to receive a commitment, including at the end of a 3 week dead period, heading into a new year, while many are on vacation. 

[Pistol]

5 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

Any idea who this tweet from yesterday was about ???

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEdG6bCRL92/?igsh=MXhrM2VxOGFmZ3kyaQ==

[billikenfan05]

3 minutes ago, Pistol said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEdG6bCRL92/?igsh=MXhrM2VxOGFmZ3kyaQ==

I keyed on “worth the wait” in the post. I assumed it was a transfer 

[courtside]

Megan Link has emerged as a leading candidate to be the next Associate Head Coach at SLU.

Megan spent the past 4 seasons as an assistant coach at Michigan State under Jeff Hosler, one of the best coaches in the country. While at Michigan State, the Spartans won the Big Ten Title twice, and, they didn’t finish worse than 4th in any of the 4 seasons in the expanded Big 10. The Spartans made the NCAA Tourney in each of the past 3 seasons, achieving back to back Sweet 16 appearances the past 2 seasons. These were the first Sweet 16 appearances in program history. Prior to their arrival, Michigan State hadn’t had a winning record since 2015. And they hadn’t made the NCAA Tourney since 2009.

Megan has been involved in all aspects of the MSU program, including having coached a 2 time Big 10 Goalkeeper of the year at MSU. And prior to Michigan State, she coached a D2 All American at Grand Valley State. In her 2 seasons as an assistant for Hosler at GVSU, Megan helped the Lakers win the 2019 D2 National Championship. It was the 6th D2 national title for Hosler. The past 4 seasons, Michigan State has been successful with player development, tactics, as well as recruiting at a high level. 

Prior to GVSU, Megan was the Head Coach at D2 Southwest Baptist in Springfield MO, which is also her alma mater. She was a 4 year starter at goalkeeper. Megan also spent 1 year as an assistant under Dave Musso (current Lindenwood HC) at D2 Quincy. And she played professional soccer in Iceland. Megan is a St. Louis native, and she is a graduate of Lafayette High School.

[courtside]

For those that haven’t yet seen the Spring Schedule:

https://slubillikens.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule

[courtside]

3 hours ago, courtside said:

Megan Link has emerged as a leading candidate to be the next Associate Head Coach at SLU.

Megan spent the past 4 seasons as an assistant coach at Michigan State under Jeff Hosler, one of the best coaches in the country. While at Michigan State, the Spartans won the Big Ten Title twice, and, they didn’t finish worse than 4th in any of the 4 seasons in the expanded Big 10. The Spartans made the NCAA Tourney in each of the past 3 seasons, achieving back to back Sweet 16 appearances the past 2 seasons. These were the first Sweet 16 appearances in program history. Prior to their arrival, Michigan State hadn’t had a winning record since 2015. And they hadn’t made the NCAA Tourney since 2009.

Megan has been involved in all aspects of the MSU program, including having coached a 2 time Big 10 Goalkeeper of the year at MSU. And prior to Michigan State, she coached a D2 All American at Grand Valley State. In her 2 seasons as an assistant for Hosler at GVSU, Megan helped the Lakers win the 2019 D2 National Championship. It was the 6th D2 national title for Hosler. The past 4 seasons, Michigan State has been successful with player development, tactics, as well as recruiting at a high level. 

Prior to GVSU, Megan was the Head Coach at D2 Southwest Baptist in Springfield MO, which is also her alma mater. She was a 4 year starter at goalkeeper. Megan also spent 1 year as an assistant under Dave Musso (current Lindenwood HC) at D2 Quincy. And she played professional soccer in Iceland. Megan is a St. Louis native, and she is a graduate of Lafayette High School.

Welcome Megan Link:

https://slubillikens.com/news/2025/1/17/megan-link-named-slu-womens-soccer-associate-head-coach.aspx

[HoosierPal]

59 minutes ago, courtside said:

Welcome Megan Link:

https://slubillikens.com/news/2025/1/17/megan-link-named-slu-womens-soccer-associate-head-coach.aspx

Great resume. She will be a fantastic addition to the coaching staff. 

[Cowboy II]

-guessing coming home is an aspect but I like to see us with a get from a power conf

-welcome coach

[OkieBilliken]

Stu dropped another great story this morning, regarding Hannah Larson.      She is returning for her final year at SLU which is excellent news.   I'm hoping she can stay healthy, have a monster year and get that NWSL opportunity she is looking for.   Seems like a really good kid too.      

[Cowboy]

4 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

Stu dropped another great story this morning, regarding Hannah Larson.      She is returning for her final year at SLU which is excellent news.   I'm hoping she can stay healthy, have a monster year and get that NWSL opportunity she is looking for.   Seems like a really good kid too.      

-thanks and that is a great story by Stu

-good luck and great health to Hannah and her teammates for a great season

[Lord Elrond]

7-1 exhibition win over Wash U (D3 champs). Hard to keep track with all the new players. GK time was split 45 min/45 min between Emma Parker (trans from Arkansas) in the 1st half, Nimu Kamani 2nd half. Goal was given up in the 1st half, looked to be a little confusion in the defense. Players who looked like they played very good to me: Rylee Howard, Hope Kim, Julia Simon, Hannah Larson, Audrey Smith, Jordan Gary, Camille Welker, Caigen Leonard, Sarah Sarnowski. Lots of good offensive pressure and good passing to score the goals.

[courtside]

1 hour ago, Lord Elrond said:

7-1 exhibition win over Wash U (D3 champs). Hard to keep track with all the new players. GK time was split 45 min/45 min between Emma Parker (trans from Arkansas) in the 1st half, Nimu Kamani 2nd half. Goal was given up in the 1st half, looked to be a little confusion in the defense. Players who looked like they played very good to me: Rylee Howard, Hope Kim, Julia Simon, Hannah Larson, Audrey Smith, Jordan Gary, Camille Welker, Caigen Leonard, Sarah Sarnowski. Lots of good offensive pressure and good passing to score the goals.

The only new player this Spring for SLU is Emma Parker. (Emma and Nimu have split every game this Spring.)

Generally speaking SLU doesn’t like to bring in 2nd semester high school Seniors as early enrolled players. It’s popular elsewhere. Katie prefers to incoming Freshmen finish their high school experience, and have them arrive in the Summer. One rare exception was made last year. Ten new Freshman will arrive over the Summer to play this Fall. 

Between the smaller numbers, some players banged up a little bit, and Freshman who have yet to arrive, that is why you saw Houck and Sawyer play a little bit late first and second half. SLU has 20 this Spring. Four didn’t dress due to injury. They were down to 16, not including AJ, who played well, but she hurt her knee a bit, late first half, and she didn’t play the 2nd half.

So there are a lot of players moving around and playing different positions, also experimenting with formations, etc…4-1-4-1 today.

Wash U has a good team, well coached, plays hard. They didn’t lose a game all season en route to that D3 National Title. 

[courtside]

NCAA announced:

Women’s NCAA Tourney will be pushed back to the 2nd weekend of December beginning in 2026. The playing season will extend two weeks. The Men and Women’s tourney will now be played on the same weekend. The 2026 and 2027 tourneys will be played at Cary, NC. 

Video review will now be required for all preliminary round hosts of the Men and Women’s NCAA Tourney. This will begin in 2025. Previously it was only required for the Final Four.

[Lord Elrond]

5-0 SLU win in exhibition game vs Southern Indiana. Billikens were in control all game, outshot them 23-3, neither Billiken goalie had to make a save. Julia Simon, Rylee Howard, Hannah Larson, Hope Kim all look ready for big seasons in the fall.

[billikenfan05]

52 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

5-0 SLU win in exhibition game vs Southern Indiana. Billikens were in control all game, outshot them 23-3, neither Billiken goalie had to make a save. Julia Simon, Rylee Howard, Hannah Larson, Hope Kim all look ready for big seasons in the fall.

Great recap. 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

11 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

5-0 SLU win in exhibition game vs Southern Indiana. Billikens were in control all game, outshot them 23-3, neither Billiken goalie had to make a save. Julia Simon, Rylee Howard, Hannah Larson, Hope Kim all look ready for big seasons in the fall.

8-peat incoming?

[billikenfan05]

4 minutes ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

8-peat incoming?

I don't know what this team will look like on a national scale compared to previous seasons, but I certainly think they should be the unanimous favorite again. 

[Lord Elrond]

42 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

I don't know what this team will look like on a national scale compared to previous seasons, but I certainly think they should be the unanimous favorite again. 

The games I saw them in they were just so much the superior team it’s hard to describe.

[courtside]

15 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

The games I saw them in they were just so much the superior team it’s hard to describe.

SLU will be the heavy favorite to win the A10. They expect to be a similar level to the last 3 seasons nationally, meaning a top 25 level program. 

Some players will be moving around, changing positions. Many Freshmen will receive some playing time. At least one will be expected to start. They will definitely push some returning players for playing time. Depth quality will be at an all time high for the program this season. A few returning players will need to take on bigger roles next season in order to turn the corner.

The other three Spring games were much more competitive, a win, a loss. and a draw. It’s Spring. Everyone plays. It’s a time to experiment personnel, formation. positions etc….The offense is a little bit ahead of the defense at this time. Getting work in while avoiding injuries is the main thing. SLU only had one player essentially sit out the Spring with injury. Other players injured this Spring at least played somewhat. Lots of healthy competition within the team.

Last night’s game was a little bit of later start which allowed SLU staff to get to a high school game in the burbs for recruiting, and then back to the city for their game. 

SLU will explore the Spring portal as they do twice a year. SLU has added

Roster limits are an unknown for another 2 weeks, which makes that even more challenging. It’s looking less likely that the 28 limit will be enforced for 2025 season. But that’s the number for now. 
…………..

It’s helpful to SLU if the A10 is strong. it hasn’t been a strong Women’s Soccer league. And it isn’t expected to be next Fall. It doesn’t need to match P4 leagues but having a longer term goal to be closer to 5th than 10th best league would help. That puts extra pressure on SLU to get results non-conference. Scheduling roughly 4 top 25 caliber non-conference opponents, combined with a few additional top 75-100 programs, finishing off the 8 non-conference games with a few easier games. it would also help if scheduling would change. Men’s Soccer schedules non/conference games throughout the season, not just earlier in the season. Often times, programs like SLU are much better as the season progresses. 

Dayton stands out as the main competition for SLU next season. They will be solid once again. It took VCU 5 months to hire its Women’s Soccer Head Coach. Zero priority there. Disappointing. They had some good bubble seasons but they will drop off. Nothing against the coach they did hire, but she has zero college coaching experience. GW and GMU made solid hires last year. But it takes a few years to build something. Loyola’s new HC has a chance to make them more competitive in a few years. The Bonnies are a mess. 4 coaching changes in the A10 this cycle. SLU would like these other A10 programs to get better non-conference results. Unfortunately UMass, strong in both Women and Men’s soccer, is leaving the conference. SLU will pick up a new league opponent. Every bit helps with RPI. A10 needs more top 100 programs. And they need more bottom league programs to be top 200. 

[courtside]

2025 Fall Non Conference Schedule with 2024 RPI:

Kansas City 181

Penn State 7

Missouri 109

indiana 132

Iowa 12

Missouri State 86

SIUE 317

Illinois State 281

Exhibition: SEMO 330 and Evansville 286

https://slubillikens.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule

Some Highlights:

Fordham is the new added conference opponent, replacing UMass, who is leaving for the MAC. Davidson and Rhode Island replace George Mason and Richmond this season.

It’s the first season since 2019 that SLU isn’t playing Xavier. It has been a schedule highlight the past 5 seasons. All 5 games were won by the road team. Both programs had strong RPI’s. 

Indiana has a new head coach as Josh Rife (Ball State) replaced Erin van Bennekom who took an assistant position at Florida State.  An Bennekom’s top assistant Tim Verschuren, took an assistant position st Michigan State.

Iowa was a Sweet 16 team last season.

Penn State made their 8th straight Sweet 16 last season.

Missouri State made the NCAA Tourney winning both the MVC regular season, and, the MVC conference tourney last season. 

3 Big ten teams and 1 SEC team on the schedule. 

Johnny Klein’s dad is the new HC at SEMO.

[courtside]

SLU is adding 2026 Forward Gianna Harris out of New Orleans, LA. 

Gianna is a 3 time All State performer in Louisiana, and she is a New Orleans All Metro player at McGehee High School. 

She played club ball with USYS BVB 06/07 International Academy in Louisiana where she was named to the USYS U17 Best 11 team while helping lead her team to the Souther Regional Finals. 

She has also recently played with the BVB Girls Academy team out of North Texas 

[courtside]

This is in reference to the April national recruiting rankings update:

https://x.com/sluwsoccer/status/1922320937279779295?s=46

26 of the top 30 are P4 programs.
33 of the top 40 are P4 programs. Non P4 programs include: Big East 2, Ivy 2, WCC 2, A10 1. For reference, roughly half of the top 100 programs are P4. 

The 2025 SLU class has 11 players. The 2026 class has 6 commits so far. SLU is currently at the proposed 28 roster limit for 2025. (Men’s team is 1 over). Roster limits are expected to happen but to be phased in over time. 

There will be some slight movement after the Spring portal. Rankings include incoming Freshmen, and, incoming transfers of the same year. 

Recruiting rankings are a sales and marketing tool for programs. They are not an exact science. It has taken several years for SLU to get to this level. And there is plenty of growth opportunity to improve.

SLU won a lot of games over the years with very few nationally ranked players. None of SLU’s recent All American players were nationally ranked recruits. But in order to be successful long term, recruiting has to continue to improve and evolve. It can’t only be about landing good but under the radar players, develop and retain. Winning a lot of games over time also helps future rankings. This is another thing for SLU to sell. Recruiting is local, regional, national, international. The level of target and the level of commit continues to improve.

Recruiting is extremely competitive. SLU recruits against the best programs nationally for players. They win some. They lose some. SLU’s goal is to win the national title. This is despite being at a resource disadvantage vs some others trying to do the same. SLU will not be building a roster through the portal any time soon. And they will not be International player heavy. But those are additional growth categories where others are ahead of SLU as programs. You have to at least dabble and be competitive for complementary player pieces. Another example: SLU has yet to incorporate international trips as a program, something common with its competitors. Plenty of things to add.

Example: National power Penn State, whom SLU will face for the 3rd straight season, has a program budget roughly 5 times larger than SLU. In order to be successful. SLU had to do a lot more with less resources. As success has arrived, resources have improved, and, resources have become more competitive. But the above example explains the current distance between even some top 25 level programs. The key take away is that in order to be successful, SLU had to do more with less first, or we wouldn’t be here. Now the opportunity is there to take the next step as long as the support level continues, and increases. 

The 2027 grind begins next month. SLU has roughly 125 targets. That will get narrowed down to one third of the more serious targets. And, roughly a third of that will be commits. (The 2027 grind actually began years ago at club games, high school games. showcases, tourneys across the country)

*as always, disclaimer that I am a consultant with Top Drawer Soccer