San Antonio Athenians Soccer Club are looking to build from their national third-place finish and 2021 UWS Southwest Conference Championship. They have announced several key signings of youth national team players and strong returners from last season. The Juventus Academy San Antonio who took over the Athenians last season with a short leeway to season opener are looking to improve upon last season.

One big hole this season will be their club captain, Jamie Erickson. Erickson has joined Galway Women’s Football Club in the SSE Airtricity Women's National League in Ireland. To fill this hole the Athenians started building on the season with Winter ID camps in February. They have held invite only tryouts in April. They held a scrimmage against Schreiner College Women’s Soccer team on April 4th. You can tell they are building the chemistry early to pick up where they left off at the end of last season. Chemistry is such an important part of developing a cohesive unit. The short summer season does not allow much time to build it.

The first signing of the 2022 Athenians team was midfielder Helene Farris. In her first season with the Athenians, Farris had 9 starts and provided 1 assist. In 2021 she was named to the UWS Team of the Week in week 1. Farris is a member of the University of Texas San Antonio Roadrunners women’s squad. Farris was redshirted for the 2021 season but has been playing in Spring preseason matches against local colleges. Farris is set to play a big role for Road Runners head coach Derek Pittman going forward in 2022.

Mia Wildeman is a local standout with James Madison high school and with her youth club SA City. Wildeman plays college for D1 Nebraska Cornhuskers that competes in the Big 10. Wildeman is sure to use this summer to develop, fighting for her a position with the Cornhuskers. Meanwhile, with the Athenians she has solidified her starting spot. She is the anchor to the team, Wildeman contributed to 4 shutouts and made the UWS Team of the Week in week 5. In addition, she twice took home the Save of the Week award. Wildeman was selected to the UWS South Region Team of the Season.

Olivia Wright was the third player signed to the Athenians 2022 squad. Athenians Technical Director Leland Hammonds expressed his excitement at Wright’s return to the purple and white: “We are ecstatic to have Olivia back with our squad. She’s an extremely versatile player that gives us pace and threat on the wing and depth in the midfield.” Wright plays collegiately with D1 Texas State University in the Sun Belt Conference.

Those who saw her play didn’t just notice her skill, but her bright red hair streaking across the field anchoring the defense, Ashley Newland. Newland was named UWS All-Region second team Defender. Newland was one of the most consistent defenders in all of UWS last season, making 12 appearances, 10 starts, and participating in 6 clean sheets.

The fourth signing, but the first international signing is Australian Midfielder Emma Bates. Bates brings a wealth of experience at the national and club level. She has represented the Australians at the U17 level, called in to the Junior Matildas program in August 2019. She has played in the Football NSW National Premier League 1 for both Newcastle Jets FC Academy and Northern Tigers FC. She made the move to senior soccer in 2020, playing for the Adamstown Rosebuds in the NNSW NPL where she was named vice captain and awarded the Senior Player of the Year and Golden Boot awards. Bates remarked on her anticipation for the summer season ahead: “It is a great honor to have signed with the Athenians for the 2022 season. I am very excited to be a part of the club’s future and am looking forward to working hard for success alongside my new teammates.”

Canadian winger Eden Bretzer re-signed to the Athenians for the 2022 season. She represented Alberta in the 2019 Western Canada Summer Games, winning a gold medal with the team. Eden was a member of Canada Soccer’s Women’s National EXCEL Program from 2018 until 2020 where she worked with some of the top coaches in the country to improve her game, eventually earning a call up to the Canada U17 Youth National Team for a pair of international friendlies in Mexico in 2019. Bretzer finished the 2021 UWS season with 12 appearances (7 starts), 4 goals, and 5 assists.

One of the most exciting new signings to the Athenians is Enzi Broussard. Her list of accolades: former USYNT U17 standout, IMG Academy where she was twice named the league’s best Offensive Player, earning Player of the Year honors in 2017-18, Big12 Conference all-Freshman Team 2019, 13 games 3 goals and 5 assists in the pac12, former 2019 and 2020 WVU womens soccer player (a top 25 program) and 2021 WSU Cougar Soccer player. Originally from Dallas, Broussard developed her game at the U.S. Soccer Development Academy at the IMG Academy where she demonstrated her prowess with 27 goals in 24 games.

The Athenians have started the signings off strongly, setting a core of their team in place and adding new experience and talent to help move from third place to first. San Antonio Athenians first team competes in the UWS national pro-am league, and the Athenians II team plays against local competition during the summer. Their home opener is on May 15th.

Details were obtained from: https://www.sanantonioathenians.com/news-2