- UVU women's soccer arrived in the Big West as a four-time WAC regular-season champion without the forward who entered the 2025 NCAA Tournament leading the nation in goals. Its first league match, and UVU's first in any sport, showed where the goals come from now.
- UVU Women's Soccer connect back to Utah Valley University and the wider soccer picture.
- The story is backed by 13 sources and a visible last-verified date.
September 24, 2026
September 23, 2026
4 min / 858 words
13 official links
Utah Valley women's soccer was the first UVU team to play a Big West match in any sport. On September 23, 2026, at UCCU Stadium in Orem, it beat Cal State Bakersfield 7-1, and five different players scored, every one of them from Utah.
That was a statement about the league move. It also answered a question the program had carried since November: where the goals would come from without Faith Webber, who entered the 2025 NCAA Tournament leading the nation with 22 goals and is not listed on the 2026 roster.
What the WAC years were, precisely
UVU competed in the WAC until the department joined the Big West on July 1, 2026. In its last WAC season, the program clinched a fourth straight WAC regular-season title on October 30, 2025, and finished 9-0-1 in league play. In the WAC tournament final at UCCU Stadium they drew 2-2 with California Baptist and lost the shootout 4-3. An at-large bid followed, the program's fifth NCAA Tournament appearance, and the season ended with a 2-1 double-overtime loss at No. 12 Colorado on November 14. UVU finished 14-5-3.
Those are WAC achievements from the season before the move. They are useful context, and they do not carry into Big West standings.
A different kind of team in 2026
Before conference play, UVU went 4-4-1 in nine matches. The results sketch a team that defends well and has had to find scoring. The best win came against No. 17 Kansas on August 27, 2-1 at home, with Malia Jessop heading in Nixan Jackson's cross and Sadie Beardall scoring the winner. The defeats were close: 2-0 to Utah, 1-0 to Utah State, 2-1 to San Diego State on a goal in the final minute, and 2-1 at Gonzaga.
The defensive base was clearest in Honolulu. UVU beat Washington State 1-0 on Kate Booth's 89th-minute goal and New Mexico State 4-0 to win the OUTRIGGER No Ka Oi title without conceding. Madeleine Boucher, a freshman goalkeeper from Hamilton, Ontario, was the tournament MVP with six saves and two clean sheets in 180 minutes. Senior defender Mia Owens of San Clemente, California, also played all 180 minutes, and on September 7 the Big West named her its Defensive Player of the Week, the program's first Big West weekly award.
By the end of nonconference play, Boucher had three shutouts. The third came on September 19 in a 3-0 win over Weber State, when Josie Clawson scored twice and Jackson assisted all three goals.
Five scorers, all from Utah
The Big West opener showed the scoring spreading out. Against Cal State Bakersfield, Beardall scored in the 10th minute after Jackson's cross deflected off the goalkeeper. Bakersfield equalised less than three minutes later, and Jackson restored the lead in the 29th minute with a left-footed shot. After halftime, Beardall headed in a cross from Isabella Stewart and Clawson finished a Jackson cross. Sophomore defender Tess Livingston headed in a Sam Curtis corner, and sophomore Brynlee Austin scored twice in the last eight minutes, both from Addie Olson passes.
The scorers' hometowns, from the official roster: Beardall from South Ogden (Bonneville High), Jackson from Mapleton (Maple Mountain), Clawson from American Fork, Livingston from Pleasant Grove and Austin from Kaysville (Farmington High). Fourteen of the 26 players on the 2026 roster are from Utah.
UVU outshot Bakersfield 31-3 and put 16 shots on target. Boucher played the first 80 minutes in goal and Mia Roberts the last 10, each with one save. Head coach Chris Lemay said afterward that the team had talked all week "about making a big statement." Of Jackson, he said her vision "and finding her teammates was really good tonight."
The margin needs some context. Bakersfield arrived 1-7-1, so a 7-1 win is less a measure of the league than of how many players UVU can now score through.
Where the Big West season goes next
The official schedule, checked September 23, sends UVU to UC San Diego on Saturday, September 26, at 8 p.m. MT and to UC Irvine on September 30. The next home match is Cal State Fullerton on October 3, and Senior Night is against UC Riverside on October 17. On October 14, UVU plays at California Baptist, the team that beat it on penalties in the 2025 WAC final. That is the fixture that most directly connects the program's old league to its new one.
The UVU women's soccer team page keeps the results, honours and fixtures current, and the Utah Valley school hub covers every Wolverines program.
Key facts:
- Result: Utah Valley 7, Cal State Bakersfield 1, September 23, 2026, at UCCU Stadium in Orem.
- Milestone: UVU's first Big West contest in any sport.
- Scorers: Sadie Beardall 2, Brynlee Austin 2, Nixan Jackson, Josie Clawson, Tess Livingston, all from Utah.
- Record after the match: 5-4-1, 1-0 Big West.
- 2025 in the WAC: fourth straight regular-season title (9-0-1), at-large NCAA bid, 14-5-3 final record.
- Defense: Madeleine Boucher, OUTRIGGER No Ka Oi MVP; Mia Owens, Big West Defensive Player of the Week, September 7, 2026.
- Next: at UC San Diego, September 26, 8 p.m. MT; at California Baptist, October 14.
