A look into Texas soccer’s top-five recruiting class

Perla Paredes Hernandez, Sports Reporter

February 13, 2025

Courtesy of Texas Athletics

Texas announced the No. 2-ranked recruiting class in 2021, sporting names like Lexi Missimo, Trinity Byars and Holly Ward, among others.

That chapter of the program has now closed, and Texas has regrouped by signing the fifth-best freshman class in the country.

Texas is coming off a 17–4–2 overall record season that ended in the second round of the NCAA Championship tournament after securing the first Southeastern Conference title in Longhorn history in the program’s first year in the conference. In one of the most dominating seasons, Texas has lost most of its senior-filled starting lineup, including Missimo and Ashlyn Miller at midfield, Ward and Jilly Shimkin as forwards, Byars and Lauren Lapomarda on defense and goalkeeper Mia Justus.

To make up for its losses, Texas signed nine players, with seven being ranked 114th or higher, according to Top Drawer Soccer. Among the four-star recruits are forwards Ava McDonald, Audrey Bryant and Anne Gnidula, as well as defender Cameron Byrd, midfielder Ava Cashman and goalkeeper Mateya Dessieux.

At No. 7, McDonald is the highest-ranked prospect of the class and has participated in three U.S. Youth National Team camps at the under-16, under-17 and under-19 stages. She scored over 20 goals for her club team, FC Dallas ECNL, over her last two seasons and won the 2022-23 ECNL League Championship.

Adding further talent to the roster is Bryant, the No. 45 overall prospect, who was on the first-team all-state list three times. She also earned Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year twice. Joining Bryant and McDonald in the front line, Gnidula is ranked No. 80 and was a member of the U17 and U18 Polish Women’s National Team. She was also an ECNL All-Conference New England First Team selection.

In the backline, Byrd is ranked as the sixth-best player in Texas and was selected to play in the ECNL National Selection Game. In 2022, she won the Premier SuperCopa, Disney Cup, Vegas Cup, Dallas International Girls Cup and Dallas Cup. Completing the lineup is Cashman, ranked No. 94, who was a four-time conference champion with her club, the Slammers FC HB Køge.

Lastly, Dessieux is ranked as the No. 61 prospect and was in the USYNT under-17 domestic training camp in 2023 and U19 camp in 2024.

The three remaining recruits are three-star midfielder Sadie Hoch, midfielder Brooke Martinez and defender Pearce Groer.

Hoch is ranked as the No. 114 prospect and was selected to the U17 Southwest All-Conference First Team. Martinez was the 2022 United Women’s Soccer Southwest Conference Young Player of the Year and guided the San Antonio Athenians to the 2022 United Women’s Soccer Conference Championship. Groer is the 2024 Division II-AA East Region Most Valuable Player and is a two-time ECNL Ohio Valley All-Conference selection in 2022 and 2024.

Most of the team members are Texas natives, with the exception of Dessieux from Knoxville, Tennessee, Gnidula from Easton, Connecticut, and Cashman from Trabuco Canyon, California. The versatility in terms of origin and on the pitch is what head coach Angela Kelly is most excited about for the upcoming season.

“I’m really excited about this group,” Kelly told Texas Athletics. “They are from all four regions of the country, which is exceptional. There’s also a lot of variety within the positions, with three forwards, three midfielders, two defenders and one goalkeeper. I’m really excited about the versatility of the group and the competitiveness of the group.”