All bar two of the freshmen among the NCAA Division I College Matildas have the chance to make their collegiate debut this week. Harvard’s Erin Gordon will be forced to wait until the Crimson get started next week, whilst Maine’s Grace Wilson is otherwise occupied as they prepare for the FIFA Under 20 Women’s World Cup after being called up to the Young Matildas squad. As has become tradition with our first weekly preview of the season, we focus on those players who could make the first of hopefully many appearances this week.
We start with a battle of Aussie freshman deep in the heart of Texas. Tarleton State’s Adelaide Wyrzynski represents coach Pete Cuadrado’s first Australian signing since leaving Wyoming for the Texans, and the Sydneysider will open her college career against an Incarnate Word side featuring former Western United train-on player, Albury’s Montanna Mathews. Should both players be on the pitch at the same time, direct battles are not out of the question as Wyrzynski looks to make an attacking impact whilst Mathews seeks to occupy a role in the Cardinals’ defence.
Moving to the east coast, Camila Madriz Figueroa and Stetson will open with a trip to the Carolinas to face Gardner-Webb and Wofford. Although they are on the road, the Hatters will be hoping to hit the ground running as they look to improve on last year’s 3-win campaign. However, in these opponents they face two teams in similar situations, with Gardner-Webb posting three wins in 2023 and Wofford doing only slightly better with five. With Stetson being shut out eleven times last season, Madriz Figueroa might be just the tonic for the Hatters’ attack in 2024.
Staying in the Carolinas, but this time for the home team, Armenian national team member Tahlia Voskanian and Coastal Carolina host Richmond for their season opener. In a similar vein to Stetson, both the Chanticleers and their opponents will be looking to make significant improvements on their 2023 record. Both of these teams posted just three wins last season, but both have been tabbed to improve in their respective conferences’ pre-season poll. However, for Australian viewers, seeing Voskanian on the pitch sooner rather than later will be the most intriguing part of this game.
Heading north, Mercedes McNabb joins Jasmine Barry at UNC Asheville, who start their season on the road at The Citadel and Western Carolina. The Bulldogs finished with seven wins in 2023, but whilst they finished just shy of .500, their two opponents are diametrically opposed. The Citadel tallied just two wins last year, but Western Carolina finished with 13 wins, a Southern Conference championship, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. If McNabb gets an opportunity against an opponent of the Catamounts’ calibre and takes it with both hands, we could see two Aussies in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.
Continuing in the same direction, Alice Thompson could make her Old Dominion debut in a battle that would showcase the present and future of Australian midfielders in the state of Virginia as the Monarchs take on Greta Kraszula and VCU. Kraszula has carved out an outstanding college career, with a trip to the 2022 Under 20 World Cup under her belt. If there is a current college player for Thompson to look up to, the freshman midfielder could do a lot worse than the one she will face in her first game.
The trip up the eastern seaboard continues as we head to Loyola Maryland to check in on Townsville’s Ava Blizzard, who has been delivered quite the challenging opener against Atlantic 10 heavyweights Dayton. The Greyhounds finished 11-6 last season, but lost 4-1 to Dayton in their season opener, and will be hungry for revenge on their home patch in 2024. Loyola Maryland also fell to defeat in their conference tournament opener in 2023 after finishing second in the regular season, and an opening day win would be the best way to put that season behind them.
Jersey City is our next stop, where Novocastrian Sophie Cook joins Wilma Thodhlana and head coach Julia Bazi as Australians at Saint Peter’s. The Peacocks face a challenge in their opener as they take on a Howard side that banged home in excess of two goals per game last season and finished fourth in the Northeast Conference. Conversely, Saint Peter’s leaked 48 goals in 2023, and Cook may find herself involved early on as the Peacocks look to shore things up at the back.
Moving west to Loretto, Pennsylvania, we find freshman Claire Scarpin joining Grambling State transfer Aimee Benton to form an Aussie duo for Saint Francis. Whilst Benton will hope to start between the sticks and lock things down at the back, Scarpin will be hoping to get off to a goalscoring start against a couple of teams that had a slight reputation for shipping goals in 2023. Niagara conceded 32 last season, which is fewer than Saint Francis’ 41, but Iona finished 326 of 336 eligible teams for goals against average, leaking 2.84 per game. The Gaels will no doubt have looked to address this in the off-season, but regardless of the opposition, Scarpin will be hoping to get on the scoreboard early, either through a goal or an assist, and help the Red Flash rebuild from last year’s 3-win campaign.
Stopping off in the Appalachian Mountains, we find Western Australia’s Lilly Bailey join Natasha Tanner at Morehead State, where the former Perth Glory goalkeeper will look to secure the starting berth as soon as possible. It’s never easy for goalkeepers, being the only position in which there is only ever one spot on the pitch available, but Bailey comes in with plenty of pedigree. If she does manage to get the opening weekend start, the defending Ohio Valley Conference champions have given Bailey a pair of tricky opponents to start things off with. Marshall defeated Morehead State in their season opener in 2023, whilst Kentucky finished middle of the pack in the elite SEC.
Finally, we head to West Lafayette, Indiana where Newcastle Jets defender Zoe Karipidis hopes to quickly become a starting member of a Purdue side looking to rebuild after a couple of lean years. After posting 15 wins in 2021, the Boilermakers posted just three in both 2022 and 2023, but things don’t shape to get any easier in the near future as they take on Washington State and Butler in the opening weekend. Although neither the Huskies nor Bulldogs had remarkable seasons in 2023, both programs ended last season in far healthier shape than Purdue. However, teams don’t get better by shirking a challenge, and if Purdue want to build towards a title charge in the Big Ten over the next few seasons, battle-testing the squad as early as possible seems like an ideal way to help things along. At the end of the day, they are still a Big Ten program, and that means facing a number of national title contenders every single season. Hopefully, Karipidis can play a large part in helping her team into those ranks.
Alabama State (Madison Chambers, Grace Norbury)
This week: @ Mobile – 5:00am, Friday 16 August
Bellarmine (Teagan Douglas)
This week: @ Louisville – 9:30am, Friday 16 August
Charleston Southern (Eve Tiktikakis)
This week: v Furman – 5:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Grand Canyon – 9:00am, Monday 19 August
Coastal Carolina (Tahlia Voskanian)
This week: v Richmond – 9:00am, Friday 16 August
Denver (Isabella Chidiac)
This week: v North Carolina – 11:00am, Friday 16 August; v Idaho St. – 5:00am, Monday 19 August
Detroit Mercy (Chantelle Symes)
This week: @ Bowling Green – 9:00am, Friday 16 August; v Utah Valley – 9:00am, Monday 19 August
Fresno State (Shivani Battaglia)
This week: @ Cal Poly – 5:00am, Monday 19 August
High Point (Meg Roden)
This week: v Liberty – 8:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Clemson – 7:00am, Monday 19 August
Incarnate Word (Montanna Mathews)
This week: v Tarleton St. – 10:00am, Friday 16 August; @ UTSA – 9:00am, Monday 19 August
Little Rock (Candice Kilderry)
This week: @ Arkansas St. – 7:00am, Friday 16 August
Long Island (Isabella Stein)
This week: @ UAlbany – 7:00am, Sunday 18 August
Loyola Maryland (Ava Blizzard)
This week: v Dayton – 9:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Longwood – 9:00am, Monday 19 August
Maine (Lara Kirkby, Grace Wilson)
This week: @ Le Moyne – 2:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Syracuse – 3:00am, Monday 19 August
Massachusetts (Hannah Peric)
This week: @ Syracuse – 9:00am, Friday 16 August
Mississippi Valley State (Jacquelline Kambere)
This week: @ Southern Miss. – 7:30am, Friday 16 August; @ South Alabama – 4:00am, Monday 19 August
Morehead State (Lilly Bailey, Natasha Tanner)
This week: @ Marshall – 9:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Kentucky – 9:30am, Monday 19 August
Northwestern State (Caitlin Le Roux)
This week: @ SMU – 10:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Mississippi St. – 4:00am, Monday 19 August
Old Dominion (Alice Thompson)
This week: v VCU – 9:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Liberty – 3:00am, Monday 19 August
Oregon State (Katie Godden)
This week: @ Iowa – 7:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Montana – 6:00am, Monday 19 August
Pacific (Libby Davy)
This week: v Houston Christian – 12:00pm, Friday 16 August; @ Arizona – 5:00am, Monday 19 August
Purdue (Zoe Karipidis)
This week: v Washington St. – 9:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Butler – 9:00am, Monday 19 August
Rider (Eloise Jones)
This week: @ Wagner – 9:00am, Friday 16 August
Saint Francis (Aimee Benton, Claire Scarpin)
This week: @ Niagara – 7:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Iona – 3:00am, Monday 19 August
Saint Peter’s (Sophie Cook, Wilma Thodhlana)
This week: @ Howard – 9:00am, Friday 16 August
Santa Clara (Holly Furphy)
This week: @ San Jose St. – 11:30am, Friday 16 August; v California – 6:00am, Monday 19 August
Seton Hall (Grace Mitchell, Sarah Mitchell)
This week: v Marist – 8:00am, Saturday 17 August; @ FDU – 2:00am, Monday 19 August
Siena (Iona Snape)
This week: @ Lafayette – 3:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Bryant – 3:00am, Monday 19 August
Southern (Yazmin Baird-Watson)
This week: @ Ole Miss – 9:00am, Friday 16 August; v ULM – 4:00am, Monday 19 August
Stetson (Camila Madriz Figueroa)
This week: @ Gardner-Webb – 9:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Wofford – 3:00am, Monday 19 August
Tarleton State (Adelaide Wyrzynski)
This week: @ UIW – 10:00am, Friday 16 August; @ A&M-Corpus Christi – 4:00am, Monday 19 August
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Molly Arens, Emma Bates)
This week: v North Dakota – 10:00am, Friday 16 August; v Tarleton St. – 4:00am, Monday 19 August
Towson (Courtney Butlion)
This week: @ Virginia – 8:00am, Friday 16 August; @ UMBC – 8:00am, Monday 19 August
UAB (Abbey Burns)
This week: v ETSU – 10:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Louisville – 9:30am, Monday 19 August
UMBC (Annaliese Grove)
This week: v Towson – 8:00am, Monday 19 August
UNC Asheville (Jasmine Barry, Mercedes McNabb)
This week: @ The Citadel – 6:00am, Friday 16 August; @ Western Caro. – 9:00am, Monday 19 August
VCU (Greta Kraszula)
This week: @ Old Dominion – 9:00am, Friday 16 August
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