RICHARDSON, TEXAS – West Texas A&M Women's Soccer was projected to finish 10th in the Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll as announced by the league office Wednesday afternoon. Junior Sienna Hurrell (offensive), sophomore Ryann Davis (defensive), and senior Franciezca Blancaflor were named the players to watch for the Lady Buffs.
 
The LSC Preseason Poll is voted on by LSC head coaches, sports information directors and media members. West Texas A&M accumulated 266 points to sit in 10th.
 
2025 LSC Regular Season and Tournament Champion Dallas Baptist took the top spot with 662 points and 38 first place votes. Their duo of McKenna Vela (offensive) and Kenzi Tufts (defensive) were named the Preseason Players of the Year at their respective positions while UT Dallas goalkeeper Melyna Martinez was named Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
 
2026 LSC Preseason Poll
1          DBU (662 points, 38 first place votes)
2          Midwestern State (583 points, two first place votes)
3          Texas Woman's (581 points, three first place votes)
4          UT Dallas (556 points, one first place vote)
5          UT Tyler (459 points)
6          St. Mary's (443 points, one first place vote)
7          Angelo State (434 points)
8          St. Edward's (338 points)
9          Lubbock Christian (336 points)
10        West Texas A&M (266 points)
11        Oklahoma Christian (240 points)
12        Texas A&M International (194 points)
13        UT Permian Basin (148 points)
14        Sul Ross State (97 points)
15        Eastern New Mexico (63 points)
 
2025 saw the Lady Buffs tally a 7-9-2 record with a 4-9-1 mark in the LSC in the first year of Head Coach Turk Ozturk's tenure. WT would finish 10th in the conference standings and miss out on the LSC Tournament.
 
Junior forward Sienna Hurrell was named the Offensive Player to Watch for the Lady Buffs. Hurrell enters her first season at WT after transferring from Louisiana. In her two seasons with the Ragin Cajuns, Hurrell played in 22 games with 10 starts in 1010 total minutes. The Kingston Upon Thames, England native totaled four points from a goal and two assists.
 
Sophomore defender Ryann Davis was tabbed as the Defensive Player to Watch for West Texas A&M. In a strong freshman campaign, Davis started in all 18 games a season for the Lady Buffs while leading the team in minutes with 1474 at the backline. She played all 90 minutes in 12 games in 2025 and recorded one point from an assist.
 
Senior Franciezca Blancaflor was named the Goalkeeper to Watch for WT. Blancaflor started all 18 games between the pipes for West Texas A&M in her inaugural season and logged 1401 minutes. She notched 70 saves on a 73.7 save percentage on the year while recording a 1.61 goals allowed average and two shutout victories. The Salado, Texas native currently sits in 10th place in career saves at WT and will continue to climb the leaderboard.
 
Captaining the Lady Buffs in 2026 will be senior Bailey Malone and junior Riley Sims. Malone enters her final season with WT after appearing in 52 games with 29 starts in the prior three years. Last season, Malone logged 662 minutes with two points from a pair of assists in the midfield. Sims begins her first season with West Texas A&M after spending the two prior seasons at Louisiana. Sims made 12 appearances with the Ragin Cajuns in her tenure while playing 250 minutes.
 
Other notable returners from 2025 will be seniors Michelle Velasco, Avery Putnam, Mollie Ferro, and Sarah Hernandez Lopez along with juniors Alicia Cohen and Jade Martinez. Velasco played 882 minutes with 14 starts in the midfield last season. She tallied three assists and five shots on goal. Putnam played in only two games last year but started in all 18 games in 2024 where she led the team in points (15) and goals (seven). She earned LSC All-Freshman honors in 2023. Ferro compiled 1250 minutes on defense last season with 15 starts and added one assist. Hernandez Lopez finished fifth in points last season for the Lady Buffs with five coming from two goals and an assist.
 
For the juniors, Cohen enters her second season with WT after making 14 starts and logging 956 minutes. She led the team in shots (37) and shots on goal (21) while tallying seven points from three goals and an assist. Martinez made nine starts with 697 minutes of action in the midfield. She notched four points from two goals.
 
2026 will see a lot of new faces for West Texas A&M with a total of 18 new players (nine transfers and nine freshman). The nine transfers include Hurrell, Sims, junior Bailee Ramirez (McNeese State), graduate student Blanca Negrete (Tennessee-Martin), junior Charo Rodriguez-Fortea (Navarro College), junior Rozlyn Rumsey (Navarro College), junior Naya Megnin (Miami Dade College), junior Sara Soto (Cumberlands), and sophomore Samantha Solorzano (San Francisco State).
 
The offseason saw WT bring in a strong class of nine freshman including Sofia Rogers, TaiLee Long, Izzy Blancaflor, Payten Novak, Kennedy Casello, Makenah Salas, Mary Valdez, Braely Martinez, and Karime Gallardo.
 
West Texas A&M will kick off their season on Thursday, August 27 at 3:00 p.m. against Western Colorado at The Pitch.
 
For all the latest on West Texas A&M Women's Soccer, stay tuned to gobuffsgo.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.