Wins, honors and a national ranking from college soccer's opening weekend
Utah Valley collected a pair of weekly awards in the Wolverines' season opening wins, Utah State added another, and BYU jumped into the national rankings at No. 19.
By: Salt City Soccer staff
From Logan to Provo and everywhere in between, college soccer season in Utah kicked off with a bang.
Here’s a roundup of some top moments in Utah college soccer from the first week of the 2025 regular season. But let’s start with the newest soccer-specific stadium opening in Orem.
Wolverines collect weekly awards from UCCU Stadium’s opening night
Leah Wolf didn’t just collect a career-high 11 saves in Utah Valley’s season-opening 2-0 shutout win over in-state rival Utah.
The senior goalkeeper also collected WAC Goalkeeper of the Week honors, the league announced Tuesday.
Taylor Nelson anchored the back line in front of Wolf with a WAC Defensive Player of the Week performance in front of a standing room-only crowd of 4,116 fans to christen the $28.5 million stadium.
"I'm really excited about the shutout. I thought Leah was fantastic, but I also thought our team defending was very good at times," said UVU head coach Chris Lemay, whose side travels to take on another Big 12 opponent Thursday at Kansas (6 p.m. MT, ESPN+). "Utah is a potent side and created a lot of set pieces, but our players battled and defended well. To get the clean sheet in front of a great crowd and in such an unbelievable facility is really special."
Listen to Wolf address the media after Monday night’s historic match below:
Cougars rise to No. 19 nationally with unbeaten start
A few days following BYU’s 3-1 road win over then-No. 24 Minnesota, the Cougars entered the United Soccer Coaches’ top 25 at No. 19 when the first rankings of the regular season were released Tuesday.
Shorthanded from the 31st minute due to a red card, BYU rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit with a trio of second-half goals from freshmen Mia Lopez, Mia Goettsche and Sophie Sivulich to take the win over the Big Ten program.
A few nights later, BYU traveled to the West Coast for a 2-2 draw Monday night at Cal Poly where Ellie Walbruch scored two goals less than 60 seconds apart. It was the first brace of Walbruch’s collegiate career after transferring from UCLA, missing the 2024 season with an ACL injury, and returning in the summer to earn USL W Final MVP honors for Utah United.
The Cougars open the first of five-match homestand Saturday against No. 4 UCLA. Kickoff at South Field is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT on ESPN+.
Rath named Mountain West DPOW after Aggies’ shutout win
Taylor Rath was named Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week after the graduate transfer goalkeeper helped Utah State to a 1-0 shutout win over Washington State in the Aggies’ season opener.
The native of Las Vegas who transferred from Pepperdine made two saves in 90 minutes to collect the first Mountain West weekly honor of her career.
Utah State (1-0) travels to Stockton, California, to face Pacific on Thursday before returning home to open the home campaign Sunday against Kansas (1 p.m. MT, Mountain West Network).
Wildcats stun Oregon State for first win
Weber State collected the first win under first-year head coach Kyle Christensen on Sunday in Corvallis, Oregon.
Sayler Schlosser, Brynlee Meyerhoffer and Lily Blum each scored second-half goals to lift the Wildcats (1-1) to a 3-2 win over Oregon State.
“So much to be proud of from this weekend. We put in two good performances, and today's result showed the resiliency and fight that this team has,” said Christensen in a news release. “To come back from a two-goal deficit away from home on the second game of the weekend after suffering a bad result shows the determination of this team to reach new heights. Today was a team effort with everyone doing their part to get the result.”
Weber State returns to Ogden to host CSU Bakersfield on Thursday (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+).
The Wildcats’ soon-to-be Big Sky rival Utah Tech also collected the Trailblazers’ first win over the season, shuttin gout UC Riverside 2-0 in Sunday’s home opener at Greater Zion Stadium.
Freshman Jocelyn Wright scored her first collegiate goal for Utah Tech, which got a goal and an assist from Kyah Le and a shutout from senior goalkeeper Brianna Frey.
The Trailblazers travel to Las Vegas on Thursday to face UNLV at Johann Memorial Field (6:30 p.m. MT).