Thursday, Sept. 5 | 5 p.m.
Northwest at Southern Nazarene
Bethany, Okla. | Wanda Rhodes Soccer Complex
WATCH | LIVE STATS
 
Saturday, Sept. 7 | 3:30 p.m.
Northwest vs University of Missouri-St. Louis 
Topeka, Kan. | Yager Stadium
WATCH | LIVE STATS

The Northwest Missouri State University women's soccer team kicks off the 2024 season with back-to-back road games, starting with Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., on Thursday, followed by a clash with the University of Missouri-St. Louis in Topeka, Kan., on Saturday.
 
Northwest and Southern Nazarene will face off for the first time in each program's history at Wanda Rhodes Soccer Complex. The Crimson Storm finished last season with an overall record of 10-4-5, ending their season with a loss in the first round of the Great American Conference Championships against Ouachita Baptist University, 0-1. Game time is set for 5 p.m.
 
The Bearcats will then take the trip to Topeka, Kan., to take on the University of Missouri-St. Louis at Yager Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Northwest leads the all-time series against the Tritons, 1-0-1. The two teams have squared off with each other in the past two seasons with Northwest coming out on top, 3-1 on Sept. 1, 2022, and a 2-2 draw last season. The Tritons ended last season with an overall record of 8-6-3, dropping a match to Lewis University in the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament. 
 
Head Coach Marc Gordon enters his seventh season leading the Bearcat soccer program. Last season, Northwest posted a record of 8-5-6 overall, ending its season in the MIAA quarterfinal round to Emporia State. Northwest has produced three straight winning seasons under Gordon and has gone 21-7-5 in MIAA play over the previous three campaigns.
 
Northwest named Senior Ashton Dain (Olathe, Kan.), Junior Moira Franck (Monument, Colo.), and Senior Sydney Mueller (Gretna, Neb.) as captains for the 2024 season. The Bearcats will have a veteran-led squad with eight listed seniors on the roster. 
 
Northwest is picked to finish fourth in the preseason MIAA coaches' poll, receiving 99 points in the voting to edge out Emporia State by one point for the fourth spot. 
 
2024 MIAA WOMEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1. Washburn [9] – 137 points 
2. Central Missouri [3] – 131 points
3. Fort Hays State – 112 points
4. Northwest Missouri State – 99 points
5. Emporia State – 98 points
6. Missouri Western [1] – 86 points
7. Central Oklahoma – 82 points
8. Northeastern State – 77 points
9. Rogers State – 58 points
10. Nebraska Kearney – 46 points
11. Pittsburg State – 39 points
12. Newman – 29 points
13. Missouri Southern – 20 points 
[#] - Number of First-Place Votes