The Northwestern State soccer team goes the transfer route to round out the 2024 recruiting class, bringing in a pair of highly-decorated transfers, head coach Ian Brophy announced Friday.
After successful stints at previous stops, forwards Paige Baumgartner and Kassi Schoen bring their talents to Natchitoches as NSU continues its climb back to reach the top of the Southland Conference once again.
“We are definitely excited about adding Kassi and Paige to the team,” Brophy said. “Both are proven goal scorers at the college level who give us something different and will certainly add some firepower to our attack.”
Baumgartner, a transfer from Seminole State (OK), had a stellar sophomore season, scoring 17 goals and dishing out 15 assists for 49 points to earn National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Second Team All-American honors.
She helped lead Seminole State to a 20-1-1 record.
Baumgartner scored a hat trick in a 9-0 win against Eastern Oklahoma State, one of five games she posted multiple goals. She also recorded three assists in a 3-1 victory over Murray State, one of five games she finished with multiple assists.
“Paige is versatile and creative and coming off a very good season with Seminole State in Oklahoma in which they picked up 20 wins and she was a big part of their offensive production,” Brophy said.
Schoen, a transfer from Alabama State, comes to NSU for her final season after four successful years with the Lady Hornets.
In those four seasons, Schoen found the back of the net 16 times, including 11 in the last two seasons.
The Minnesota native started her collegiate career off with a bang, tallying five goals in leading ASU to the conference championship as a freshman.
Her best offensive statistical season came as a junior in 2022, recording seven goals and two assists.
Schoen was awarded SWAC Offensive Player of the Week twice, once each in 2022 and 2023 and was preseason First Team All-SWAC prior to the 2023 season.
“Kassi is a powerfully athletic player who is a proven goal scorer at the D1 level having scored a number of goals and received several accolades during her time at Alabama State,” Brophy said.
The pair puts the recruiting class at 11, nine freshmen and these two transfers.
