We begin our preview of Big Ten women’s soccer by looking at the teams that fell in the bottom half of last year’s standings. None of these teams made it to the NCAA tournament. All have quirks and issues that contributed to their standing; coaching changes, young rosters, and the like. Next week we’ll look at the top nine teams, but for now let’s get to it.
USC 7-7-3, (4-5-2 Big Ten, T-10th)
Head coach Jane Alukonis will begin her fifth season leading the Trojans this year. After an outstanding year in 2024,
where USC finished 18-1-4 but was unable to get to the Final Four (they lost on penalty kicks to Wake Forest after the game was tied 2-2), the Trojans slipped quite a bit in 2025.
That should not have come as a surprise to anyone. The 2024 squad was top-heavy with seniors (13) and had only one junior, so last year’s team was very young. Out of a roster of 27, only eight were upperclassmen.
The Trojans only had three players that scored 10 or more points on the season; Maribel Flores (22), Jaiden Anderson (16), and Ines Derrien(10). Only Flores returns, with Anderson joining Purdue and Derrien headed to Tennessee. They also return their primary GK, Gr. Bella Grust.
Last year’s misfortunes are hardly a bump in the road for USC, as they had the #1 recruiting class for this year. I expect that the Trojans will move up in the conference, possibly into the top ¼ in the B1G rankings.
Michigan 6-8-4, (3-4-4 Big Ten, T-10th)
Previous head coach Jennifer Klein took the Wolverines to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2021. Michigan extended her contract at that time to 2025, and after her team won three games in 2025 and six games last year, her contract was not renewed. After coaching for 12 seasons at Iowa, Dave DiIanni (diianni) was tapped to be the next head coach at Michigan and begins his first season at the helm this year.
Two of the four top scorers last season were seniors, as was the GK. With the coaching change, it appears to be quite chaotic in Ann Arbor. There is no posted roster, no news since the January hire – just a bunch of coach-speak. At this time there is no informational basis for providing a preview of Michigan 2026 soccer.
Nebraska 8-5-5, (3-5-3 Big Ten, T-12th)
John Walker has been the Huskers head coach since the 19th century. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, because he’s only been coaching the women’s team since 1994. He’s the only women’s soccer coach that the Huskers have ever had.
Nebraska returns their two top scorers, Kayma Carpenter and Ella Rudney. They lose their GK, Cece Villa, who played all minutes except for 45 minutes in ‘25.
This season’s team is very slightly on the younger side, but the 12 upperclassmen have a lot of experience. Nebraska’s most important issue will be determining who will guard the net in ‘26.
Indiana 5-6-6, (2-4-5 Big Ten, T-12th)
Indiana had a new head coach in 2025, John Rife. Rife was able to keep the roster remarkably stable last season, and the vast majority of eligible players from last season are back in ‘26.
Hopefully, that stability translates into improvement and gained experience on last year’s performance. On the negative side, the Hoosiers were woeful at scoring in ‘25. Only one player, So. Maggie Ledwith, scored in double digits on the season (14). On the positive side, Indiana will return their two top scorers.
GK duties in ‘25 were nearly evenly split between Gr. Sally Rainey and Sr. Dani Jacobson. Jacobson is listed as a senior in ‘26, and unless one of the youngsters lights the world on fire, she will be the primary GK this season.
My hunch is that roster stability allows Indiana to slightly improve this season over last season.
Purdue 6-10-3, (3-7-1 Big Ten, T-14th)
Richard Moodie enters his third season leading the Boilermakers this year. His first two seasons were rather middling, and Moodie is doing some work to tweak the roster this season.
Purdue returns three of their four leading scorers from last year, including their top scorer, Irene Campo. Their GK, Emily Edwards, transferred to Auburn, so the goalie duties are wide open.
Between graduates and transfers, Moodie has had to make liberal use of the transfer portal to fill holes. The roster is evenly split between upper and lower classmen. Purdue probably can’t nudge the upper ⅓ of the conference, and what they are looking for is solid improvement in the conference rankings. If they can win eight or more conference games then they are solidly moving in the right direction.
Minnesota 6-8-3, (2-6-3 Big Ten, T-14th)
Erin Chastain enters her sixth season this year as the head coach of her alma mater. Chastain had a challenging 2025 season – between bringing in nine freshmen and four transfers, this was and continues to be a team learning its identity.
Unfortunately, the Gophers lost their leading scorer, Paige Kalal, when she transferred to Penn State. They do keep their outstanding goalie, Sarah Martin.
The 2026 team is much more evenly split between upper and lower classmen. The chaos of so many new players last season has settled, and Minnesota hopes that they can improve their performance in conference play this fall.
Rutgers 4-7-5, (2-2-1 Big Ten, 16th)
Mike O’Neil has been coaching the Scarlet Knights since 2014. O’Neil teams have been used to success and NCAA and he has put together some great teams in his time at Rutgers. 2025, however, was a low point. It was his worst season as a head coach at Rutgers, and they broke a streak of 13 consecutive NCAA appearances.
The 2025 team could not buy a win on the road, and did not win a single away game. They brought in a high number of freshman recruits and only had nine upperclassmen, so growing pains were inevitable.
Rutgers returns two of their three highest scorers, led by Ashley Baran. They also return their GK, Olivia Bodmar. The Scarlet Knights have signed some veteran talent from the portal, but overall this is still a young team. O’Neil’s greatest challenge at Rutgers is going to be to help his team turn the page on last year and return to their winning ways.
Maryland 6-11-1, (2-8-1 Big Ten, 17th)
Michael Marchiano is in his third season with the Terps. 2025 was a step in the right direction for Maryland, as they improved upon their 2024 record of 4-10-5 (1-8-2 Big-10).
Last year’s team was very young, with only three seniors (no graduates) on the roster. The Terps should keep their best scorer, Kelsey Smith, who was only one of two players to score double-digit points in the season. They also should bring back last year’s GK, R-Jr. Faith Luckey. (I say “should”, because there is no roster for 2026 as of yet).
This year’s team is still on the young side. Last January, five transfers to the Terps were announced, four of which come from P4 schools. We shall see if Maryland can continue incremental progress in 2026.
Oregon 3-10-5, (1-6-4 Big Ten, 18th)
2025 was head coach Tracy Joyner’s first season with the Ducks, following the dismissal of Graeme Abel. Oregon started rough, but showed improvement through the season. Their lone win was the last game of the season against #8 Washington – hopefully setting a tone for a more successful 2026 season.
We will have a proper season preview for our Ducks ahead of the August 5th exhibition game against Portland.
