Rosters and schedules are set, pre-season exhibitions have been played, and it is now time to dive headlong into the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer season. This season will see 37 Aussies take to the pitch as 348 teams chase glory in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the campaign. As has become tradition, the first weekly preview of the season will focus on the freshmen, and there are plenty of them, so it’s time for a country-wide road trip to visit these new players!
Taking Kacey Musgraves’ advice to “hang a map and throw a dart”, we start in Carbondale, Illinois where we find former Brisbane Roar goalkeeper Chantelle Symes at Southern Illinois. Listed as a sophomore after beginning her tertiary education in Australia, Symes joins a Salukis program in just its fourth year of existence after debuting in 2019. This season sees the team open its season against two other fledgling NCAA Division I programs. Lindenwood is currently transitioning to NCAA Division I after moving up from NCAA Division II, whilst Bellarmine commenced their transition in 2020, meaning the Salukis actually have more experience at this level than both opponents. However, Southern Illinois finished 0-15-1 in 2021, so these could be highly intriguing matchups. One of three goalkeepers on the roster, Symes certainly has the pedigree to start, but ousting an incumbent starter from their position is never easy, so it will be intriguing to see who lines up between the sticks on the opening weekend.
Working north to Springfield, Belinda Stojcevski’s Eastern Illinois side take on Valparaiso and Purdue-Fort Wayne in a pair of contests at home. The Panthers are a team looking to rise after some lean years, and Valparaiso in particular should provide a stern test even at home. Purdue-Fort Wayne will be no pushovers though, and should provide Stojcevski with a nice early challenge as she looks to help shore up the EIU defence.
Moving north-east to Ohio, Lua Suero and Kent State face two diametrically opposed opponents. Their first opponent, Cleveland State, struggled for much of last season in posting just five wins. However, Oakland are expected to be one of the strongest teams in the Horizon League this season. Suero, along with the rest of her teammates, Kent State ensure that last season’s 13-win record wasn’t an aberration considering the team’s lean seasons in 2019 and 2020, and a win against a side like Oakland will certainly boost the side’s confidence early in the season.
Heading to Loudonville in upstate New York, we find Iona Snape and Siena taking on a team that has seen plenty of Aussies in the ranks over the years as they travel to Central Connecticut State before facing Holy Cross at home. CCSU have been elite in the Northeast Conference in recent years, putting together records well over .500 in each of the last three seasons. However, Holy Cross are coming off a 1-15-1 season in 2021 and will be desperate to prove that that record was merely an anomaly and that they are a far better program than that. It will certainly be an interesting first weekend for Snape as the former Northern Tigers midfielder looks to make her debut in a highly challenging matchup.
Heading south to the Big Apple and St. Francis Brooklyn, another player with experience at Northern Tigers gets set to make her debut as Chloe Walker and the Terriers head on the road to Buffalo to face Canisius before returning home to take on New Hampshire. Canisius are coming off a winless 2021 campaign, but one of their two draws in 17 games was against St. Francis in Brooklyn, so it won’t necessarily be smooth sailing for the Terriers. Meanwhile, St. Francis also drew against New Hampshire last season on the road, but will host the fixture in 2022. As the Terriers look to improve on last season’s 5-win record, can Walker help them to an ideal start against two teams they split the points with last year?
At nearby Long Island University, Isabella Stein is preparing to face NJIT and Delaware State in the opening weekend of her college career. Long Island may be coming off a two-win season, but eight of those losses were by a single goal, so they were certainly in with a chance in the majority of their games. Facing NJIT on the road, the Sharks will most probably go into that game as underdogs, but will have every reason to consider themselves a healthy chance of defeating Delaware State at home, with the Hornets only beating fellow strugglers Hampton and South Carolina State in 2021. With some bigger names to come in the following weeks, an early goal for Stein this weekend could send her on her way as both she and the team look to build towards Northeast Conference play.
Just across the Hudson River in South Orange, New Jersey, Seton Hall duo Grace and Sarah Mitchell will take on the same Central Connecticut State side that Iona Snape and Siena will face. However, before that, they will take on another new Aussie addition to the NCAA Division I ranks in junior college transfer Courtney Butlion as they host La Salle. La Salle in particular will be looking to improve on last season’s six-win record, particularly after posting a 7-2 record in the Spring 2021 campaign and 11-8-1 in 2019. Meanwhile, the Mitchell twins will be hoping to play a significant role as Seton Hall look to continue their upward trajectory and use these early season fixture as a springboard from which to launch into Big East play.
Staying in New Jersey, Eloise Jones and Rider kick their season off with just a single game this weekend as they head to Staten Island to face Wagner. Neither of these teams had particularly successful seasons in 2021, but Wagner certainly had more to smile about, collecting eight wins to Rider’s five. The Broncs conceded the third-most goals of any team in the MAAC last season, so hopefully Jones can slot straight in to help shore up the defence and perhaps deliver an opening day win on the road against a more-fancied opponent.
Down in Alabama, it’s not an Alabama State player but UAB’s freshman Abbey Burns taking to the pitch for her first competitive games this week as the Blazers face Chattanooga at home before taking on Sun Belt side Georgia Southern. UAB find themselves in an interesting spot this season, as this will be their final campaign in Conference USA before making the jump up to the American Athletic Conference in 2023. Both games this week should provide solid tests for the Blazers, particularly the game against a Georgia Southern side that won 11 games last season. Burns has already seen solid minutes in preseason, and hopefully that can translate to playing time throughout the season.
Moving west to Louisiana, we find Emma Bates, fresh off a summer spent with San Antonio Athenians in United Women’s Soccer before returning to Lafayette to kick off her college career. Two home games await the Ragin’ Cajuns this week, firstly facing Florida International (the college home of Melbourne Victory legend Amy Jackson) before taking on Stephen F. Austin. Stephen F. Austin in particular look to be a tough proposition, but anything could happen with Louisiana under a new head coach in Chris McBride. For Bates, those matches with the Athenians will certainly give the freshman a leg-up heading into the season as she rolls straight from club play into the college season. Hopefully, that translates into solid playing time from day one.
Staying in the South and heading to Edinburg, Texas, Clayton State transfer Dani Rutstein and freshman Caitlin Webster will look to make their debuts for UTRGV against Texas A&M-International before taking on former Young Matilda Molly Arens in the South Texas Showdown against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Whilst Rutstein will be hoping to shore up the Vaqueros backline (a Vaquero is a Mexican cowboy, by the way), Webster will be looking to add to the UTRGV attack as the team looks to improve on last season’s 4-12-2 record. Last year, they secured a 2-0 win at home against TAMU-CC. Can they do the same on the road against the Islanders? Doing so would be a massive boost to the team’s confidence and morale, as there is nothing quite like knocking off your rival.
Heading north to Colorado, Isabella Chidiac already possesses an impressive CV and will now attempt to add to it as she looks to make her bow for Denver, one of the top all-round non-football schools in the country. A regular contender in the Summit League, the Pioneers will kick off their season with a match against WCC side San Diego. The Toreros may not be a contender in their own league, but they did knock off Denver at home last season, so look for Chidiac and the Pioneers to return the favour in the Mile High City this season. A potential banana-skin awaits in the second game of the weekend against a solid Weber State side that improved from consecutive two-win seasons to an eleven-win campaign in 2021, but a Denver side at their best should be able to secure victory.
Finally, we reach the west coast where we find Holly Furphy at Santa Clara, a team just two years removed from a national championship. Tipped to once again make a run at a West Coast Conference title, the Broncos haven’t had to look far for opposition this week, making the short trip to San Jose State before welcoming another Northern California school in UC Davis later in the week. Neither match is expected to be an absolute cruise for the Broncos, but if they are clinical, Furphy and her teammates should walk away with two wins under their belt, quite possibly by multiple goals on both occasions.
Of course, the freshmen aren’t the only players who could debut this week. We have already mentioned La Salle forward Courtney Butlion and UTRGV defender Dani Rutstein, but there are several others. Junior college transfer Asha McClurg could debut for Coastal Carolina, whilst Layla Lopez has a chance to see her first playing time for Oral Roberts after transferring from Utah Valley. We also can’t forget Talia Grossman, who has waited patiently behind a stacked set of goalkeepers at USC and can’t be far away from seeing her first minutes for the Women of Troy.
With 37 Aussies in NCAA Division I this season, the first weekend of the season is set to be an absolute cracker.
Full Schedule
(All Times AEST)
Alabama State (Madison Chambers, Grace Norbury)
This week: v Winthrop – 9am, Saturday August 20; @ Gardner-Webb – 4am, Monday August 22
Butler (Claire Farrington)
This week: v Western Michigan – 9am, Friday August 19; @ Michigan – 2am, Monday August 22
Coastal Carolina (Asha McClurg)
This week: v Jacksonville – 9am, Friday August 19; @ Charleston – 9am, Monday August 22
Creighton (Renée Pountney)
This week: @ Montana – 8am, Friday August 19; v Gonzaga – 5am, Monday August 22
Denver (Isabella Chidiac)
This week: v San Diego – 11am, Friday August 19; v Weber State – 4am, Monday August 22
DePaul (Katie Godden)
This week: v Oakland – 7am, Friday August 19; @ Arkansas – 3am, Monday August 22
Eastern Illinois (Belinda Stojcevski)
This week: v Valparaiso – 7am, Friday August 19; v Purdue-Fort Wayne – 6am, Monday August 22
Hawaii (Eliza Ammendolia)
This week: @ Grand Canyon – 12pm, Friday August 19; @ Arizona State – 12pm, Monday August 22
Kent State (Lua Suero)
This week: v Cleveland State – 9am, Friday August 19; v Oakland – 3am, Monday August 22
La Salle (Courtney Butlion)
This week: @ Seton Hall – 8am, Friday August 19; @ Towson – 9am, Monday August 22
Long Beach State (Aimee Medwin)
This week: v Pacific – 12pm, Friday August 19; v USC – 12pm, Monday August 22
Long Island (Isabella Stein)
This week: @ NJIT – 8am, Friday August 19; v Delaware State – 4am, Monday August 22
Louisiana (Emma Bates)
This week: v Florida International – 10am, Friday August 19; v Stephen F. Austin – 4am, Monday August 22
Louisiana Tech (Caitlin Le Roux)
This week: v Murray State – 10am, Friday August 19; v Northwestern State – 4am, Monday August 22
Massachusetts (Hannah Peric)
This week: v Albany – 6am, Friday August 19; @ Fairfield – 6am, Monday August 22
Oral Roberts (Layla Lopez)
This week: v Texas A&M-Commerce – 10am, Friday August 19; @ North Texas – 9am, Monday August 22
Oregon (Lara Kirkby, Isabel Rolley)
This week: v New Mexico State – 10am, Friday August 19; v San Francisco – 7am, Monday August 22
Rider (Eloise Jones)
This week: @ Wagner – 9am, Friday August 19
San Francisco (Ashley Jordan)
This week: @ Portland State – 11:05am, Friday August 19; @ Oregon – 7am, Monday August 22
Santa Clara (Holly Furphy)
This week: @ San Jose State – 12pm, Friday August 19; v UC Davis – 6am, Monday August 22
Seton Hall (Grace Mitchell, Sarah Mitchell)
This week: v La Salle – 8am, Friday August 19; @ Central Connecticut State – 9am, Monday August 22
Siena (Iona Snape)
This week: @ Central Connecticut State – 8am, Friday August 19; v Holy Cross – 3am, Monday August 22
Southern Illinois (Chantelle Symes)
This week: v Lindenwood – 9am, Friday August 19; @ Bellarmine – 5am, Monday August 22
St. Francis Brooklyn (Chloe Walker)
This week: @ Canisius – 6am, Friday August 19; v New Hampshire – 3am, Monday August 22
Stanford (Amy Sayer)
This week: v Sacramento State – 12pm, Friday August 19; v China National Team – 12pm, Monday August 22
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Molly Arens)
This week: @ Texas Southern – 10am, Friday August 19; @ UTRGV – 9:30am, Monday August 22
UAB (Abbey Burns)
This week: v Chattanooga – 10am, Friday August 19; @ Georgia Southern – 3am, Monday August 22
UMBC (Isobel Davy, Annaliese Grove)
This week: @ George Washington – 5am, Friday August 19; @ Longwood – 4am, Monday August 22
UNC Asheville (Jasmine Barry)
This week: @ Wofford – 9am, Friday August 19; v VMI – 5:30am, Monday August 22
USC (Talia Grossman)
This week: @ Purdue – 9am, Friday August 19; @ Long Beach State – 12pm, Monday August 22
UTRGV (Dani Rutstein, Caitlin Webster)
This week: v Texas A&M-International – 9:30am, Saturday August 20; v Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – 9:30am, Monday August 22
VCU (Greta Kraszula)
This week: @ James Madison – 9am, Friday August 19; @ North Carolina State – 3am, Monday August 22
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