Positive culture: New women’s soccer coach strives to continue Jags’ winning ways

Published 5:15 am Friday, August 1, 2025

The University of Houston-Victoria’s newest women’s soccer coach describes herself as “relational.” She strives to motivate each player by first building relationships with the student-athletes. 

The school, soon to become the Texas A&M-Victoria, this week hired Kimberly Uetrecht after five years as an assistant under former Lady Jaguars head coach Adrian Rigby.

“Finding what motivates people, and then giving them the tools they need to be the best that they can be is the best way to move forward,” Uetrecht said. “That comes with creating a relationship and holding them to a standard. There’s going to be a standard, but there’s always that relationship aspect.”

Uetrecht has worked with both UHV’s men’s and women’s soccer teams since her arrival and will be the first women’s soccer head coach in the Texas A&M University-Victoria era. Prior to joining the UHV staff, Uetrecht was a head soccer coach for the North Park University women’s soccer program in Chicago, Illinois. She also served three seasons as the women’s associate head coach at Adrian College in Michigan.

Uetrecht takes over a Lady Jaguars club that went 11-6 overall last year and 8-5 in the Red River Athletic Conference. The Lady Jaguars have qualified for conference postseason tournament play in three of the past four seasons. 

In order to continue the program’s success, the UHV coach does not believe in getting players to conform to her specific system. Rather, Uetrecht stresses the importance in maximizing the unique gifts of each individual player.

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“I can’t say that I’m going to put a mold on a player. It’s not about me, it’s about the team moving forward,” Uetrecht said. “I want that player to thrive in their best capacity as themselves and to continue a positive culture will be my stamp on the program. It’s not necessarily about me and what I want to mold those players into, it’s about how can they reach their potential and how can I facilitate that.”

When asked what would constitute a successful first season as UHV’s head soccer coach, Uetrecht believes that building on an already strong winning culture will be paramount to the program’s long-term success. 

“I think that if we can build a quality team and continue to build a quality culture, then we will have the wins,” Uetrecht said. “What we do will result in wins. How we go about it, hold to our standard, and how we stay true to our culture, it’s going to result in wins. I am very confident in that.”  

UHV will open the season at home Saturday, Aug. 30 against the Oklahoma City Stars. Start time for that match is slated for 1 p.m.

Robert Brewer is a sports reporter for the Victoria Advocate. You can reach him at robert.brewer@vicad.com.