Following two highly successful seasons at DePaul that culminated in national team selection, Katie Godden has made the move to Oregon State, adding to the Australian contingent in the Pac-12 for 2023. Godden’s move will also add an especially Australian element to the Oregon-Oregon State rivalry, with Lara Kirkby heading into her junior year for the Ducks.
After starting in 8 of her 18 appearance and scoring a single goal in her freshman season in 2021, time spent with the Australian national program appeared to serve as a launching pad for Godden heading into the 2022 season. An extended squad member for the Young Matildas’ Under-20 World Cup campaign, Godden also played for the Australian Under 23 side at the 2022 AFF Championship in a team that also featured Stanford midfielder Amy Sayer, who now becomes a conference opponent of Godden’s.
Godden’s experience in the national setup rolled right into a 2022 college season that saw the former Arsenal Under 21 player hit another level as a sophomore. Starting in 11 of her 14 appearances, Godden lashed home seven goals whilst teeing up three more, scoring in five of the Blue Demons’ final six games. Those seven goals represented almost half of DePaul’s total of 17 for the season as the Blue Demons finished with a 3-12-1 record.
Now, Godden moves to another team looking to improve its offensive output. Oregon State’s 24 goals for the season in 2022 were certainly a better number than DePaul’s 17, but combined with a defence that was in the bottom 30 in the nation for goals against average, those goals resulted in a 5-10-4 record that the Beavers will certainly be hoping to improve in 2023.
Fortunately, Godden should have plenty of support up front in the form of rising junior McKenna Martinez, who banged home 10 goals in 2022. With four ties and four one-goal losses in 2022, the addition of Godden to the attack could help see Oregon State flip more than a couple of results in 2023.
“Katie is coming to us with a wealth of experience, internationally and collegiately,” said Oregon State head coach Lauren Sinacola in an official release. “Her skillset will be very influential in how we attack and combine in the final third. We can’t wait for her to join us in the new year.”
Godden will join Stanford’s Amy Sayer, USC’s Talia Grossman, and Oregon’s Lara Kirkby as Aussies in the Pac-12, as the conference’s history with Australian players is only set to grow. Players such as Teagan Micah, Beattie Goad, Rachael Doyle, and Isabel Rolley are among a number of Aussies who have carved out successful careers in the conference, and Godden could easily become the next if she reprises the form she showed at DePaul.
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