The offseason didn’t go as well as Arizona soccer might have hoped. Four talented juniors-to-be with starting experience transferred out, including one who had just arrived for the 2025 season. It’s time to look ahead now. The beginning of spring games and the announcement of the 2026 Big 12 schedule provide opportunities to do that.
The Wildcats will take the field for their first spring game against Arizona Western on Friday, Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. at Mulcahy Soccer Stadium. They will be playing without
Aurora Gaines, Narissa Fults, Kennedy Fletcher, Rose Calkins, and Kayla Kirchoffner, all of whom transferred out. All except Kirchoffner were either starters or primary rotation players.
Kirchoffner may not have played, but her departure leaves Arizona with just one returning goalkeeper in Sofia Cortes-Browne. Olivia Ramey exhausted her eligibility last season. There is no goalkeeper in the freshman class.
Head coach Becca Moros signed a class of four last November. There will be plenty of opportunities for them to show what they can do.
The group has a scoring threat in midfielder Emerson ‘Emmy’ Stoft out of the southeast Valley. She played high school soccer for Basha and Seton Catholic in Chandler. Her club play was for Utah Royals AZ. She scored 55 goals and had 15 assists in her three years of high school soccer. She was the All-Region Player of the Year and Offensive Conference Player of the Year as a junior.
Amanda Maynard is another Phoenix-area commit. She played prep for Desert Mountain and club for Phoenix Rising ECNL. She comes in as a center back who has been a Youth National Team invitee. She helped Phoenix Rising reach the ECNL Champions League Playoffs three consecutive seasons from 2020-21 through 2023-24.
Alexa Khan adds another defender into the mix. She will come to Tucson from Southlake, Tex. She played prep for Carroll High School, where she started 42 matches. She played club for Solar Soccer Club.
Ashley May of San Marcos, Calif. will give Arizona another midfielder. She scored 25 goals and had 16 assists at San Marcos High School. She reached two ECNL Playoffs semifinals and an ECNL quarterfinal with the San Diego Surf.
That group will join the returners when Big 12 play kicks off on Sept. 17 at home against BYU.
The team takes its first road trip the following week. It faces Kansas State on Thursday, Sept. 24 and Kansas on Sunday, Sept. 27.
The Wildcats play again on Oct. 2 when they travel to Oklahoma State.
Arizona will return to Tucson for a two-match homestand on Oct. 8 and Oct. 11. First up is Houston then comes Iowa State.
The ‘Cats go to Utah on Oct. 16. It will be the fourth time Arizona has played the Utes in Salt Lake in the past five years, spanning three seasons in the Big 12 and two in the Pac-12. The only conference matchup between the two teams that was played in Tucson over that period was last year.
The Wildcats get another two-match homestand the weekend of Oct. 22-25. They will host Colorado first and then take on Baylor.
The rivalry game will not be the end of the regular season this year. Arizona goes to Arizona State on Friday, Oct. 30. On Nov. 5, the Wildcats wrap up the regular season at TCU.
Arizona will miss some of the league heavyweights like West Virginia and Texas Tech. The schedule also omits UCF and Cincinnati this year.
Arizona had a good year in its first Big 12 season, going 11-6-2 overall and 6-4-1 in league play back in 2024. It made the Big 12 Tournament but was bounced in the first round. It was the team’s best season under Moros, but it did not end with an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Wildcats took a backslide last year. They ended with a 7-11-1 overall record. Their 2-8-1 conference record kept them from even getting to the Big 12 Tournament, leaving them 14th out of 16 teams in the league standings. The season ended with a 0-0 tie against ASU.
How Moros and her group navigates this final year of her contract will be interesting considering the program lost most of its scoring to graduation or transfer.
