BISMARK, N.D.  Western Colorado women's soccer opens it season Thursday with a rare trip to the University of Mary, then continues its travels with a visit to Moorhead, Minnesota, for a first-time match-up against the hosts from Minnesota State University Moorhead.

MOUNTAINEERS HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND | 2022 Final Stats

• The Mountaineers closed out the 2022 campaign with six wins, the highest victory total since the six-win season of 2016. The finish of the 2022 schedule included a 2-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory over visiting Black Hills State, and a taut 1-1 RMAC deadlock at Fort Lewis.
• Western returns 15 goals of the 16 that found netting last season, led by the quartet of Reece Mercer, Taylor Bottoms, Laura Pelino and Caileen Sienknecht who each tallied two markers apiece.
• Goalkeeper Aubree Orosco posted a save percentage of .778 over the season with three shutouts and a total of 77 saves, but the addition of Mei Hayashizaki—previously a member of the U-23 Japan national team—Jaydyn Lozano and Ashlyn Fitzpatrick to the Western roster provides competition for minutes between the pipes.
• Fourth-year head coach Amanda Raso fills her roster with 10 newcomers who join 23 returners as Western, voted ninth in the preseason RMAC coaches' poll, looks to climb at least one spot from its final spot (ninth) in the 2022 standings in seeking a berth in the eight-team RMAC postseason tournament.

UNIVERSITY OF MARY HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND | 2022 Final Stats

• The Marauders finished the 2022 season with a 10-5-4 record and tied for sixth place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference final standings. UMary lost in the opening round of the NSIC tournament, dropping a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to eventual tournament champion Bemidji State.
• History shows the Mountaineers and Marauders meeting only once before, a 5-0 Western Colorado victory early in the 2016 season.
• The squad returns leading scorer Kendra Park who accumulated 17 points from seven goals and three assists, tapping in three game-winners during a season in which she started all 19 games. Rio Spruenken was next on the points list with nine (two goals, five assists). Both Park and Spruenken were first-team All-NSIC performers.
• The Marauders will find a new face in goal, needing to replace three-time All-NSIC keeper Madisyn Waltman who started every game last season, recorded nine shutouts and posted a .874 save percentage.
• UMary was voted fifth in the league's preseason coaches poll.

MINNESOTA STATE MOORHEAD HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND | 2022 Final Stats

• The Dragons concluded the 2022 season with a 2-11-3 overall record and an NSIC mark of 2-10-3, which was 13th in the final conference standings.
• Saturday's match will be the first between MSU Moorhead and Western Colorado.
• The Dragons have played three exhibition matches this fall, winning two by shutout and dropping a 2-0 decision to D-I North Dakota.
• Returner Jensen Seidel was the leading scorer last season with four of the team's 12 goals on the season. And the keeper tandem of Quinn Carter and Simone Lewald are back after splitting time, 720 minutes each, on the line. Carter registered both of the team's wins, while Lewald finished with a better save percentage (.794) and goals-against average (1.75).

NEXT UP

• Western will host a trio of teams at Katy O. Rady Field in non-conference battles on Sept. 8 and 10.
• Fort Lewis College squares off against Midwestern State (Texas) University at noon on Sept. 8, followed by the Mountaineers' home opener against Chaminade (Hawaii) University.
• Western open the Sept. 10 slate against Midwestern State at 10 a.m., followed by the Chaminade and Fort Lewis bout.