Texas A&M announces team captains for spring season

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The trio of Kendall Bates, Karlina Sample and Katie Smith will serve as Texas A&M soccer’s captains for the spring slate, head coach G Guerrieri announced.

“These three young women have been great teammates and have displayed tremendous leadership skills throughout their careers at A&M,” Guerrieri said. “I’m excited about their voices and actions being the catalyst for great Aggie achievements in the future.”

Sample was a carryover from the fall session while Bates and Smith serve as replacements for Jimena Lopez and Addie McCain who turned professional in January.

The trio were key cogs in a fall campaign that ended with a share of their third SEC regular-season title and an 8-2-0 mark.

Bates is an inspiration to teammates, battling through multiple ACL reconstruction surgeries since arriving at Texas A&M in 2018, to make nine appearances in the fall as a midfielder.

Sample was tabbed to the TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Best XI First Team last month. She garnered SEC Co-Defender of the Year and All-SEC First Team recognition after the league-only slate in the fall.

Smith was named to the SEC All-Tournament Team in November to cap off the fall campaign. This season, she has played all 900 minutes on the back line.

Sample and Smith star on an Aggie backline that leads the SEC in goals-against average (0.80) and shutouts (5) with three different netminders starting multiple games.

Lopez, who shared 2020 SEC Defender of the Year recognition with Sample, made her pro debut with Spanish club SD Eibar on Sunday. McCain, the 2020 SEC Midfielder of the Year, was drafted by Kansas City NWSL who started their preseason camp last week.

The Aggies start the spring portion of the 2020-21 campaign Thursday, February 18 when they host Louisiana-Monroe in an exhibition match at Ellis Field.