Utah college soccer is back, but a few things have changed
Conference realignment has re-shaped the Utah college soccer map, but we're here to help you get caught up. Who ranks among the favorites in a new league?
College soccer returns to the Beehive State on Wednesday with a slew of games, some home, some away, and some … well, both … for the seven NCAA Division I schools from Logan to St. George.
But not everything is at it once was.
Conference realignment has re-shaped the map, and Utah is no different. So let’s catch up on what you may have missed since last fall before the ball kicks off Wednesday night.
Utah State is now in the Pac-12 — and picked to win it
There’s hardly been a more meteoric rise than Manny Martins and the Aggies, who have won back-to-back-to-back Mountain West tournament titles and NCAA Tournament berths in the past three years.
But this year, Utah State will start from a different position: The Pac-12.
The Aggies are officially part of the new-look conference after 13 seasons in the Mountain West, joining former conference mates Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State along with Oregon State and Washington State from the old Pac-12 and Texas State from the Sun Belt.
Year 1, and there’s already a target on their backs.
Utah State was picked to win the Pac-12 by a vote of conference coaches, the league announced Tuesday, along with three players selected to the conference’s preseason impact list.
The Aggies are led by former Copper Hills defender Kaeda Wilson, who started all 23 matches a year ago to total a team-high 2,091 minutes and anchor a back line that gave up a Mountain West-low 0.91 goals-against average with a league-high nine shutouts.
She’s joined on the Pac-12 impact list by sophomore midfielder Kunie Hirai from Boise, and Mia Lopez, the Logan native who transferred home after earning Big 12 All-Freshman honors with six goals in 1,300 minutes at BYU.
Utah State will open the season Wednesday at No. 15 Kansas (6 p.m. MT, ESPN+) before a nonconference schedule that also includes Michigan, Utah, Colorado, BYU and Saint Mary’s.
But one advantage of the move to the Pac-12? Every Aggie home game will be streamed live FREE on the Pac-12’s YouTube channel.
Wildcats tabbed Big Sky favorites, too
The Aggies aren’t the only preseason favorites in their conference.
For the first time in 17 years, Weber State was selected No. 1 in a vote of Big Sky coaches — a mark of respect under second-year head coach and reigning Big Sky coach of the year Kyle Christensen who led the Wildcats to a 12-6-2 record and second-place finish in the league a year ago.
Weber State had four players named to the Big Sky preseason all-conference team, including rising junior Oakley Anderson from Woods Cross, former Olympus High standout Lily Blum, Farmington’s Bella Sackett, and goalkeeper Lauren Butorac from Portland.
After a 6-1 exhibition win over Salt Lake Community College, the Wildcats will open the 2026 regular season Wednesday at in-state rival Utah (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
What about the Big 12 in Utah?
Speaking of the Utes, head coach Hideki Nakada’s side added 18 new faces to the roster in the offseason, the most for a single team in program history with a handful of stalwart returners.
Utah natives Abby Affleck (Syracuse) and Callie Blaylock (East) are back for Utah, which adds a talented group of six freshmen and 12 transfers including top-60 player Ava Escobedo from Riverton and and Mia Avery, who was a member of the Michigan Hawks that won the 2023 ECNL national title.
The Utes were picked to finish 11th in the Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll, five spots behind in-state rival BYU at sixth.
Jennifer Rockwood’s final year with the program she helped start in NCAA Division I more than three decades ago will rely heavily on Ellie Walbruch, who returns for her senior season after leading the Cougars with 16 goals on 41 shots on target a year ago, as well as All-Big 12 defensive midfielder Lucy Kesler and All-Big 12 second-team selection Presley Freeman at outside back.
Look also for midfielders Mika Krommenhoek from Mapleton and Afton Perry from Saratoga Springs to leave an impact. And don’t forget an intensely talented freshman class of Kate Fuller, Ellie Karl, Anna Neff, Sophie Williams, Brynnli Tolbert, Sydney Snow and Diana Tuilevuka for BYU, which opens the season Wednesday at UCLA (8 p.m. MT, Big Ten+).
Big Sky additions
Utah Tech women’s soccer opens its first season in the Big Sky on the road Wednesday night at UC Irvine (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
The Trailblazers were picked to finish third in the Big Sky preseason coaches’ poll, receiving one first-place vote ahead of their inaugural season in the league.
Jocelyn Wright from Herriman and Bre Koscielski from Spokane, Washington, are two all-conference players to watch a year after Wright won WAC freshman of the year honors and All-WAC second-team distinction with six goals.
Southern Utah returns to the Big Sky under new management after Steven Lindquist was promoted following the departure of former coach Kai Edwards to San Diego State.
The Thunderbirds, who open the season Wednesday at College of Charleston, went 3-12-3 including a 2-7-1 mark in their final season in the WAC and were picked at the bottom of the 10-team Big Sky by league coaches.
Utah Valley heads West
Mia Owens, Josie (Shephard) Clawson and senior forward Nixan Jackson will lead the Wolverines’ latest realignment play in their first season in the Big West.
The pair of all-conference preseason selections have Utah Valley picked to finish third in the Big West behind co-favorites Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara, as well as CSU Fullerton.
Keep an eye on senior forward Sadie Beardall, the Bonneville High alum who erupted over the summer while playing with Utah United in USL W League.
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