
Goals weren’t exactly free-flowing in 2023, but this group of Australian forwards has plenty of ability to find the back of the net. 2022 Rachael Doyle Medallist Katie Godden will look to return to that kind of form in Oregon State’s new conference home, whilst five freshmen provide plenty of intrigue. Meanwhile, Holly Furphy will hope to increase her playing time after making an impact off the bench in 2023, and Courtney Butlion looks to hit the ground running at Towson after transferring from La Salle.
Ava Blizzard (Freshman, Loyola Maryland, Townsville)
Originally from Townsville, Ava Blizzard played her junior football at Northern Fury before making the move to Brisbane, spending time with Lions FC and Souths United. A state representative as well as a Queensland Academy of Sport Talent Identification Program squad member, Blizzard has more recently spent time playing for Peninsula Power in NPL Queensland, slotting home four goals in 21 appearances in 2023 before making her college switch.
Blizzard joins a Loyola Maryland team that finished third in the Patriot League but succumbed to defeat against Colgate in the conference championship, ending the season with a solid 11-6 record but still room to improve. They also return top goalscorer Baylee DeSmit for her senior season, who found the back of the net ten times in 2023, accounting for almost 40% of the team’s output. This could be a blessing for a freshman like Blizzard, who won’t come in with the pressure of trying to help make up DeSmit’s scoring load, but will rather have a season playing alongside her before being part of a lineup that will attempt to recreate her in the aggregate.
Courtney Butlion (Senior, Towson, Bunbury)
After a stint at junior college and two years regularly producing for La Salle, Western Australian forward Courtney Butlion has transferred just two hours down the road to Towson University in Maryland for the latter stages of her college career. Butlion joins Towson after a 2023 season in which the Western Australian started in 12 of her 20 appearances, featuring in all bar one game for a La Salle side that finished 12-6-3 and reached the Atlantic 10 Championship. Butlion finished the campaign with a pair of goals and an assist, identical tallies to her 2022 stats to help the Explorers continue a recent upward trajectory.
2024 sees Butlion join a Towson side that racked up 15 wins and a CAA championship and even took an early lead on North Carolina before falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers finished 2023 banging home 2.15 goals per game, so there will certainly be plenty of opportunities for Butlion to continue to add to her stats as Towson look to return to the NCAA Tournament in 2024.
Madison Chambers (Senior, Alabama State, Hobart)
One of a pair of Aussies at Alabama State alongside midfielder Grace Norbury, Madison Chambers scored her first collegiate goal in 2023, and enters her senior year looking to build on those numbers and help return the Hornets to the SWAC Tournament after a rare miss last season. A starter in 7 of 13 appearances, Chambers was impactful whether starting or coming off the bench, particularly in a 27-minute outing against Texas Southern in which she scored that first collegiate goal.
Alabama State will have a burning desire to return to the SWAC Tournament after a posting a 2-12-3 record in 2023, with their .206 winning percentage a significant dip from the .444 and .447 posted in the previous two campaigns. Of paramount importance will be improving upon last season’s solitary conference win after finishing ninth in the 10-team league. Although conceding 21 goals in 9 league games will be the first action item on the list of areas to improves, scoring a few more goals can never hurt a team’s chances, which is where Chambers could be a difference-maker in her senior year.
Holly Furphy (Junior, Santa Clara, Melbourne)
Injury curtailed Holly Furphy’s freshman season in 2022, but the Victorian returned with a vengeance in 2023 to make 18 of a possible 21 appearances in her return campaign. All 18 of those appearances came off the bench as Furphy averaged just over 20 minutes of action, but that was more than enough time to see the former Melbourne City train-on player notch her first two college goals, including the opening day game-winner against San Jose State. With a post-injury season under her belt and a solid foundation set, Furphy has every chance to improve upon all of those numbers in 2024 and lead the Broncos back to a level that all involved with the program have come to expect.
2023 saw Santa Clara rebound from the previous season’s 11-win campaign to notch a 14-5-2 record, falling to eventual quarter-finalists Penn State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. However, for a program that won the 2020 national championship and has long been the standard-bearer for the West Coast Conference, there will be a burning desire to secure the conference crown that went Gonzaga’s way last year, as well as make a deeper run in the NCAA Tournament.
Katie Godden (Senior, Oregon State, Brisbane)
The 2022 Rachael Doyle Medallist with DePaul, Katie Godden enters her second season with Oregon State with the program in a state of flux following recent developments. Following the practical dissolution of the Pac-12, the Beavers will spend 2024 playing in the West Coast Conference. Meanwhile, head coach Lauren Sinacola recently resigned from her position, leaving the program scrambling to find a replacement with just two months until the commencement of the season.
However, Godden remains an integral part of the Beavers’ roster as they enter a new era. Although the former Arsenal academy player scored just a single goal in 2023, her seven goals for DePaul in 2022 demonstrated her abilities in front of goal. Although Godden’s numbers may have been down last season, her play was enough to see her start in 16 of 19 appearances, and the one-time futsal superstar will be crucial to Oregon State’s chances of success in their new conference as they look to improve from 2023’s 4-8-7 record.
Jacquelline Kambere (Senior, Mississippi Valley State, Melbourne)
A junior college transfer in 2023, Jacquelline Kambere featured on seven occasions in her first season of NCAA Division I play. Although the Melburnian did not manage a goal throughout the campaign, Kambere certainly looked dangerous at times, particularly in her starting appearance against Texas Southern, in which she tallied three shots in 73 minutes of playing time. Undoubtedly, Kambere will be looking to make more of an impact in 2024, but Mississippi Valley State will also be hoping for an improved overall campaign this year. The Devilettes finished 2-11-1 in 2023, with one of those wins coming against NCAA Division III side Belhaven before picking up a conference win over Prairie View A&M, who themselves finished only 3-12-1.
Camila Madriz Figueroa (Freshman, Stetson, Adelaide)
Although Camila Madriz Figueroa is a College Matilda, the South Australian makes her move to Stetson with Under 20 caps for Venezuela under her belt after helping La Vinotinto reach the Under 20 World Cup. At club level, Madriz Figueroa featured alongside fellow College Matilda, Claire Scarpin, for the NTC program that finished 3rd in NPLW South Australia before falling on penalties in the grand final to a Salisbury Inter captained by former Kennesaw State star Nicole Calder. Finishing with six goals in 12 appearances, Madriz Figueroa now hopes to bring that scoring form to Stetson, and also hopefully to an Under 20 Women’s World Cup.
Stetson played a fairly difficult non-conference schedule in 2023, finishing the season 0-6-1 before picking up three league wins to finish 3-12-3; however, none of their stats were particularly pleasing. The Hatters averaged just 0.61 goals per game, failing to find the back of the net in 10 of their 18 games. Although their defensive numbers were skewed slightly by heavy defeats in non-conference play, they still conceded in excess of two goals per game. However, it is the scoring numbers that will be of most concern to Madriz Figueroa, and given her recent output, as well as experience gained with the Venezuelan Under 20 national team, the South Australian appears to be primed to hit the ground running.
Mercedes McNabb (Freshman, UNC Asheville, Maitland)
One of two Australians on the UNC Asheville roster alongside senior Jasmine Barry, Mercedes McNabb has been banging in goals with regularity in NPLW Northern NSW and will look to parlay that into an immediate starting berth in attack for the Bulldogs. The forward out of Maitland has slotted home 15 goals in 17 games for Broadmeadow Magic in 2024, including two hat-tricks, whilst regularly playing the full 90 minutes for the team currently sitting fourth in the eight-team competition.
McNabb joins a UNC Asheville team that slotted home 1.53 goals per game in 2023, but still finished seventh in the Big South and posted a 7-6-4 record overall. If the freshman can transfer her scoring form in NPL to her new home, that number could continue to rise and put the Bulldogs in a highly advantageous position to outperform the sixth position in which they’ve been tabbed to finish in the Big South.
Claire Scarpin (Freshman, Saint Francis, Adelaide)
Originally a Grand Canyon commit, Claire Scarpin transferred to Saint Francis prior to her first collegiate appearance, joining fellow South Australian, goalkeeper Aimee Benton in Loretto. Like fellow South Australian, Camila Madriz Figueroa, Scarpin featured for NTC South Australia’s NPL Women’s team in 2023, slotting home 9 goals in 26 appearances in a highly successful season for the team as they reached the grand final before falling on penalties in a heartbreaker.
The Red Flash could do with serious improvements in both their goalscoring and defence after finishing 3-12-2 in 2023, although they did finish 3-5-2 in league play. Benton will hopefully have the opportunity to keep things locked down at the back, whilst Scarpin will be hoping to help significantly improve on the team’s total of 17 goals in 2023. Whilst nine players contributed to that total, the Red Flash could really use someone stepping up and banging in a hatful, and hopefully Scarpin can either be that player.
Isabella Stein (Junior, Long Island, Sydney)
After making just 11 appearances and featuring for only 258 minutes in her freshman campaign in 2022, Long Island forward Izzy Stein greatly increased her numbers across the board in 2023. The Manly United started in 9 of her 15 appearances, averaging in excess of 55 minutes per game. Stein also tallied her first collegiate goals and assists, finishing with tallies of two and three respectively to emerge as an integral part of the Sharks’ attack.
Stein’s improvement was replicated by Long Island’s improvement as a team as they improved from four wins in 2022 to seven wins in 2023. Now, under new head coach, former St. Francis Brooklyn men’s head coach Tom Giovatto, LIU will be hoping to improve their record further, particularly in conference play, in which they finished 3-6-1 last season. Although their defensive numbers suffered more in conference play than their attacking output, sometimes the best defence is attack, and if Stein can continue to add to her tallies of goals and assists, she could go a long way to helping lift her side up the table in the Northeast Conference.
Adelaide Wyrzynski (Freshman, Tarleton State, Sydney)
An absolute star for Football NSW Institute in NPL New South Wales, Adelaide Wyrzynski becomes former Wyoming head coach Pete Cuadrado’s first Australian signing since making the move to Tarleton State, potentially rekindling a pipeline that delivered a double-figure number of players to Laramie during his stint with the Cowgirls. A member of the Junior Matildas team that won the Under 18 AFF Championship in 2022, Wyrzynski has since become a crucial attacking weapon for Football NSW Institute, banging home 10 goals in 20 appearances in NPL New South Wales in 2024 for a team that has scored only 30 goals in 21 games all season.
Tarleton State have won a combined ten games across the program’s first two seasons of existence in 2022 and 2023, but will be hoping to improve on two and one-win seasons in Western Athletic Conference play. This is their first season as a full Division I member and therefore eligible for the NCAA Tournament, and conference success is the only real path for low-major programs to reach the main event. Australian players were instrumental to the growth of Cuadrado’s Wyoming program; could Wyrzynski’s signing be the start of a similar pathway for the fledging Texans program?
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