BEAUMONT, Texas - With the Nathan Kogut era set to begin, Lamar University will open their 2022 campaign Sunday when they welcome in the University of Houston. This will be the first of a four-game homestead for Big Red.
 
WACky Cards
 
Last season, LU posted a 10-8-2 record overall and a 6-2-2 record in their only year in the Western Athletic Conference in which they reached the conference tournament semifinals. Now back in the Southland Conference, the Cardinals look to recapture SLC glory where they won two conference titles in 2017 and 2019.
 
Sweet Sixteen
 
LU returns 16 players from last season's team. Among them are all-conference recipients Christine Kitaru (2nd Team), Nicole Panis (2nd Team) and Isela Ramirez (2nd Team, Freshman Team). Also back for LU are grad students Hollie Massey and Sarah Zimmer, seniors Abby Gemza, Kaisa Juvonen, Laura Linares, Paloma Martinez, and Meg Sheppard, junior Arely Alaniz, sophomores Vivienne Carr, Eva Karen, Sabrina Lopez, and Grace Richard, and redshirt freshman Isabel Bassa.
 
Fourteen Newbies
 
The Cardinals have added 14 newcomers to the 2022 team. They include three freshmen in Dahjah Lewis, Morgan McBride, and Yainn Zuniga. Ten new transfers are coming in including redshirt freshman Payton Joost, sophomores Kolbi Coleman, Annika Kassenbrock, Madison Rabideau, and Landry Worsham, juniors Alana Clark and Trinity Clark, seniors Cariel Ellis, Maddie Janolo, Crisely Pavon, and graduate transfer Miranda Urbizu.
 
Kogut Era Starts
 
Nathan Kogut begins his tenure as LU head coach Sunday. He arrives to Beaumont after spending the past four seasons with Texas A&M as an assistant. During his time in College Station, the Aggies went 50-23-6 (.671), appeared in three NCAA tournaments, and  won an Southeastern Conference regular season and conference tournament title.
 
Before A&M, Kogut had stops at Illinois College, Alderson Broaddus University, Glenville State College, Rhodes College and Alabama.
 
Early Honors
 
Kitaru and Panis have received early honors by the SLC as they both were named second team preseason all-conference. Kitaru had three games of scoring two goals and tallied 15 points while leading LU with 50 shots, including 29 on goal. Panis posted a 1.39 goals against average, nine wins and seven shutouts.
 
All-Time vs. Houston
 
The Cardinals and Cougars are both 1-1-1 against each other in three meetings. After tying 0-0 their first meeting in 2017, LU secured a 2-0 victory in 2018, but, the Cougars won last season's contest, 3-0.
 
Scouting the Cougars
 
UH went a program-best 13-5-2 last season only to lose in the first round of the American Championship to Memphis. They return 23 athletes from the 2021 team with 13 players having at least one goal.
 
This season, they are under the guidance of new head coach Jaime Frias, who previously was an assistant at Virginia and was also a head coach at the University of Nevada. He also was a former head coach in the SLC with Stephen F. Austin.

UP NEXT: The Cardinals will resume their homestretch against Texas Southern on Thursday, August 25th with kickoff being at 7:30 PM.
 

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