Former A&M Soccer Star Signs with The Nationals

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Former Texas A&M Soccer sensation, Rachael Balaguer, signed with The Nationals, a professional soccer team based in Austin, Texas, the team recently announced.

Balaguer was a four-year letterwinner as a defender for Coach G Guerrieri's Aggies. She appeared in 94 of A&M's 95 games during her career (2008-11), including 89 starts. She started all 71 games in her final three seasons.

The Austin native appeared in 23 of the Aggies' 24 games during her freshman campaign, including 18 starts on the backline and as a midfielder. In her sophomore season, she was the only Aggie to start in all 25 games. The same year, she was honored at A&M's annual CHAMPS Awards Banquet as a Texas A&M/Verizon Athletics Scholar for maintaining a GPA of 3.0 over the calendar year. Balaguer was named team captain for the 2010 season and led a defense in that posted nine shutouts. She was named to the Academic All-Big 12 first team as a junior. In her final season, Balaguer started in every match as a defender as A&M went 16-6-2.

Founded this year by Anna Villarreal, The Nationals is a professional women's soccer exhibition team that is currently coached by Mark Carr. Balaguer and her teammates kick off their inaugural spring tour in College Station on February 16, as they open the season against Texas A&M at 7:30 pm at Ellis Field.

The Nationals are scheduled to play a number of collegiate women's soccer teams this spring, including BYU, Arizona State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. To see their entire 2013 spring schedule, please visit: http://thenationalwomen.com/about-the-nationals/the-nationals-schedule.