OREM, Utah — Utah Valley women’s soccer opened the 2026 season with plenty of question marks after transitioning to the Big West Conference in all sports.
But the goal remained the same as its ever been on head coach Chris Lemay: win a conference championship, and compete for an NCAA Tournament berth.
Same ol’, same ol’ Wednesday night.
Nixan Jackson gave Utah Valley a 1-0 lead, and Sadie Beardall finished it off in the latter stages of the match as the Wolverines clinched at least a share of the Big West championship with a 2-0 win over Long Beach State in the regular-season home finale at UCCU Stadium.
With the win, the Wolverines (12-4-3, 8-0-2 Big West) have won five consecutive conference regular-season championships, including four straight in the final years of the Western Athletic Conference from 2022-25.
“We’ve been wanting this all season,” said Jackson, whose seven goals rank second to only Beardall to go with a team-high 11 assists. “I’m just so happy that we were able to do it.”
The Wolverines were picked to finish fourth by Big West coaches in the preseason, but can clinch an outright conference title Saturday with a win over CSU Northridge (6-7-6, 4-3-3 Big West). The Wolverines could also clinch an outright title, depending on the results of the regular-season finale between second-place Cal State Fullerton (7-1-1, 7-1-2 Big West) and California Baptist.
Regardless of result, Utah Valley is guaranteed to host a semifinal in the Big West Conference Tournament, scheduled for Nov. 4-14 at higher-seeded host sites.
After Jackson opened the scoring by finishing off a brilliant setup from Addie Olson in the 35th minute, Beardall doubled the advantage in the 83rd, taking a pass rom Quinn Rustand to put the Wolverines comfortably in front.
Freshman goalkeeper Madeleine Boucher did the rest, making five saves to record her sixth shutout of the season.
The Wolverines haven’t lost an 11 straight matches, including a sixth straight win, and pushed their regular-season conference unbeaten streak to 42 straight.
Utah Valley hasn’t lost a a regular-season conference match since Oct. 8, 2022 at Seattle U., and hasn’t lost a regular-season conference match at home since March 11, 2021 against California Baptist.
That would give a veritable home-field advantage to the Wolverines for a potential postseason run — and an NCAA automatic berth on the line in Big West play.
In other words: There’s still plenty to prove Saturday night.
“We’re going to celebrate tonight,” Lemay said before his players gave him an ice-cold bath from the water cooler, “we’re going to get back to business tomorrow, and we’re going to come out and try to win another game on Saturday.”
