{"id":20509,"date":"2026-09-16T10:50:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/?p=20509"},"modified":"2026-09-16T10:50:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:50:40","slug":"former-soccer-star-dies-suddenly-at-30-while-pregnant-with-her-first-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/?p=20509","title":{"rendered":"Former Soccer Star Dies Suddenly at 30 While Pregnant With Her First Child"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The college sports community is mourning the sudden loss of Kayla Saager-Beckley, a former standout soccer player who died unexpectedly at just 30 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kayla, a Long Island native and former Binghamton University soccer star, was married to Tulsa football assistant coach John Beckley. She was also pregnant with the couple\u2019s daughter, Sawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Tragic Loss<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Tulsa head football coach Tre Lamb, Kayla had been working out shortly before she was found unresponsive at around 7 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe was working out, 10 minutes later she was found unresponsive,\u201d Lamb said during a press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her sudden passing has deeply affected her husband, their families, and the entire Tulsa football community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe was 30 years old. She was pregnant with their daughter, Sawyer,\u201d Lamb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A cause of death has not been publicly announced.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Remembering Her Soccer Career<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kayla was one of the most accomplished players in Binghamton women\u2019s soccer history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During her two seasons with the Bearcats, she:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scored 22 goals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Served as team captain.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Earned all-region honors twice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Was named the 2017 America East Striker of the Year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Graduated from Binghamton University in 2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The university remembered her as a talented forward with a gift for scoring and a deep love for her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKayla, you are forever and always a Bearcat. May you rest in peace,\u201d Binghamton women\u2019s soccer coach Neel Bhattacharjee said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Life Beyond the Field<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After college, Kayla continued playing soccer professionally overseas in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She later became a coach, spending four years as an assistant coach at Troy University in Alabama. More recently, she worked in college soccer scouting and recruiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She moved to Tulsa with her husband after he joined the university\u2019s football coaching staff in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Honoring Her Memory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Tulsa football team held a memorial for Kayla on Sunday night. Players will also wear a special helmet sticker in her honor during their next game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coach Tre Lamb asked supporters to keep the Saager and Beckley families in their thoughts and prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe just ask that you please pray for the Saager family, the Beckley family,\u201d Lamb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kayla\u2019s life touched many people through soccer, coaching, and her love for family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She will be remembered not only for her achievements on the field, but also for the person she was away from the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">May she rest in peace. \u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=hTshM5941Cw%3Fsi%3DiS5PgBHt6VaQWlg9\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The college sports community is mourning the sudden loss of Kayla Saager-Beckley, a former standout soccer player who died unexpectedly at just 30 years old. Kayla, a Long Island native and former Binghamton University soccer star, was married to Tulsa football assistant coach John Beckley. She was also pregnant with the couple\u2019s daughter, Sawyer. A &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20512,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20509\/revisions\/20512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}