Lydia Sattler '21

Lydia Sattler '21 and her teammate, Zala Ule, from the Stephen F. Austin State University women's soccer team, participated in the U.S. Soccer Hackathon & 2025 World Cup Innovation Summit and brought home first place honors, representing the Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of Management & Marketing, Rusche College of Business, held May 19-20 in Frisco Texas. The summit, co-sponsored by Plug and Play Tech Center and the U.S. Soccer Federation, gathered innovators, executives, and students from across the nation from universities: Stephen F. Austin State University, University of Oregon, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, University of North Texas, York College of Pennsylvania, and Northeastern University, and others, to explore cutting-edge opportunities in sport business and sport innovation ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

After being given raw data sets with thousands of data points, students had 72 hours to analyze and create an interactive dashboard to recommend marketing strategies for U.S. Soccer. Lydia and her teammate used their business analytics skills to develop and present their visually compelling data-driven dashboard through the use of Tableau analyzing U.S. Soccer’s e-commerce datasets. Their poster presentation “The Starting XI,” delivered actionable insights across customer segmentations, product performance, and geographical fandom behaviors, which earned them top marks from judges representing U.S. Soccer and event organizers. 

Using purchase behavior, Lydia and Zala segmented U.S. Soccer merchandise buyers into four key customer groups (e.g., High-Value Repeat Buyers), revealing year-over-year performance trends and marketing implications. Their geo-segmentation heat map linked sales to regional fanbases, highlighting promotional potential in states like California, New York, and Illinois. And finally, and most impressive according to the judges' feedback, was the product analysis which identified and segmented product into "Franchise Players" and "Unsung Heroes" among the matrix to represent high-impact or undervalued merchandise, and more so specific marketing strategy for each of their segmented products.

'Their work analyzed the data in a unique way to show a new perspective of U.S. Soccer Merchandise which was no easy task given the type of data sets," said a U.S. Soccer Data Engineer Jeff Ota, during the award announcement. Lydia and Zala were even invited to share insights with additional U.S. Soccer staff to explore their findings at a future date.

'This win is a reflection of the rigor and experiential learning we prioritize in the Rusche College of Business," said Dr. Derek Walton, who advised the team. "Our students showed exactly how data storytelling can unlock real business value in sports. Their data was not only informative, but influential.'

The U.S. Soccer Hackathon is part of ongoing efforts to foster innovation and analytics in sport, with SFA students standing out among national peers.

Lydia Sattler graduated from Oakwood in the class of 2021 and was recruited by Stephen F. Austin State University to play Division I Soccer as a goalkeeper. After playing soccer for four years, winning regular season championship in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 2021, regular season championship in the Southland Conference in 2024, Conference Tournament Championship in the Southland Conference in 2024, and making a First Round Appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2024, she graduated with a Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) in Management with Magna Cum Laude honors in December of 2024. She is now working on earning her Masters of Business Administration (MBA) with two certificates, one in business analytics and the other in organizational leadership. While working on her MBA, she is currently a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Department of Management & Marketing in the Rusche College of Business. She will be earning her Masters in May of 2026 and plans to pursue a career in business analytics. 

One of the members representing the U.S. Soccer Federation at this event was Mr. Jeff Ota, Vice President of Engineering at U.S. Soccer and proud Oakwood parent. Lydia was thrilled to meet another Oakwood family, with the love for soccer and sports. A big takeaway is that no matter how big the world may seem, Oakwood has touched many.