GUNNISON, Colo.  Western Colorado soccer opens its 2026 season on the road in Texas and then New Mexico before reeling off five consecutive home games at Katy O. Rady Field.

The 16-game slate is littered with teams that advanced into their respective postseason tournaments last fall, including three teams that moved past conference tournaments into the NCAA Division II national tournament.

All three of those NCAA playoff teams will face the Mountaineers in regular-season Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games. The RMAC tournament semifinalists from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) advanced into the third round of the NCAA tournament, its season finally coming to a close in the South-Central Regional final.

The RMAC tournament champions from Colorado School of Mines fell in the second round of the national tournament, and the regular-season RMAC champions from Colorado Mesa University dropped from the NCAA brackets in the opening round.
Western will host all three of those teams at Rady this fall.

The road will serve as the season-opening host, though, as the Mountaineers will play West Texas A&M on their home pitch in Canyon, Texas, on Thursday, August 27. The Mountaineers will be looking to reverse the result of last season's game at Rady where the Lady Buffs scored in the 88th minute to steal a 3-2 win.

On the way home from Texas the Mountaineers will make a stop two days later in Portales, N.M., to take on host Eastern New Mexico, who Western defeated 1-0 last season in Gunnison.

The home schedule begins with early-September non-conference games against visiting Lubbock Christian University and Angelo State University. Western last played LCU in 2022 and the only meeting between the Mountaineers and ASU was a Rambelles double-overtime 2-1 win in Gunnison in 2016.

After a home exhibition game Sept. 7 against Northeastern Junior College, Western leaps into RMAC action the rest of the way, beginning with a visit by the ThunderWolves from Colorado State Pueblo. UCCS closes out that same weekend with a Sunday visit to Rady field.

After a road game at Westminster University in Salt Lake City, Western gets the second of those NCAA tournament teams on the schedule, hosting Colorado Mesa on Sept. 27 to conslude Western Colorado's Homecoming weekend.

Following a two-game week on the road, against Adams State and then New Mexico Highlands, Western gets a full week to prepare for a visit by Colorado Mines on Oct. 11.

The season closes out at home against Regis University and Black Hills State before taking to the road for the final three games, at MSU Denver, Colorado Christian, and then Fort Lewis – in a regular-season-ending matchup with the Skyhawks whose results have seen Western finish ninth in the final standings for the eight-team RMAC playoff in three of the past four seasons.

The RMAC postseason tournament is scheduled for first-round games on November 1, semifinals on Nov. 4, and the championship game on Nov. 8.