BACK IN ACTION
Utah State soccer (1-0-0, 0-0-0 MW) continues its 2025 campaign this week with a pair of matches. The Aggies will first travel to Stockton, California, to take on Pacific (0-2, 0-0 WCC) on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 8 p.m. (MT). The team then returns to Chuck & Gloria Bell Field for its home opener against Kansas (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) on Sunday, Aug. 24, at 1 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG
Thursday's match at Pacific can be streamed with a subscription on ESPN+, while Sunday's match against Kansas will be streamed for free on Mountain West Network. Fans can also follow along via StatBroadcast, with stream and stat links available at www.utahstateaggies.com.
THE CHAMPS ARE BACK
The 2024 campaign was historic for Utah State, as the Aggies repeated as Mountain West Tournament champions and earned a second-straight NCAA Tournament bid. USU won a program-record 18 games with just a single loss, going 18-1-5 overall and climbing as high as No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll. Utah State earned an 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament, hosting a tournament game for the first time in program history.
AGGIES IN HOME OPENERS
Utah State is undefeated in home openers under head coach Manny Martins with a perfect 5-0 record. All-time, the Aggies are 20-9 in home openers, with wins in 15 of the past 17. Last season, the team opened the year with a 2-0 win over Texas Tech at Bell Field.
WATCH OUT
• Utah State was picked by the league's coaches to win the conference title, receiving 128 points and six first-place votes in the preseason poll. This is the first time the Aggies have been selected first since joining the MW.
• Three Aggies were named to the 2025 Mountain West Soccer Watch List - senior forwards Kaylie Chambers and Tess Werts, and junior midfielder Summer Diamond. The watch list replaces the preseason all-conference team that the league used in previous years.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Following Utah State's 1-0 season-opening win over Washington State, graduate goalkeeper Taylor Rath was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week. Rath earned the shutout in goal, playing all 90 minutes. She had a pair of diving saves in the contest, one in the 30th minute and another in the 54th.
LAST TIME OUT
Utah State opened its 2025 season with a win on Aug. 14, earning a 1-0 shutout victory on the road over Washington State. It was a 77th minute goal from sophomore forward Austin Miller that made the difference, as a perfect touch off of a deflection led to an unassisted laser into the back of the net from just outside the 18-yard box. The Aggies posted a 13-11 shots advantage in the match, including a 6-2 difference in shots on goal.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
• Pacific enters the week 0-2, after falling to Sacramento State 0-3 and UC Davis 1-2 during the opening week of play.
• In 2024, the Tigers finished the season 2-17-1 with an 0-10 mark in conference play to finish 11th in the WCC. They were picked 11th in this year's WCC preseason poll.
• Pacific returns six starters and 11 letterwinners from last year's squad. The team hired Jeff Freeman, previously the associate head coach at Illinois, as its head coach in Dec. 2024.
SERIES HISTORY
• Thursday's contest will be the 11th all-time meeting between Utah State and Pacific. The Tigers lead the all-time series 5-4-1, though USU has gone 4-1-1 in the past six.
• When Utah State and Pacific met last season in Logan, USU came out on top with a 9-3 victory, recording a program-record 41 shots while scoring the second-most goals in a game in program history.
SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS
• Kansas enters the week with a 2-0 start to the year, earning a 5-2 win over Missouri State and a 1-0 win over South Dakota State last week. It will host Utah Valley on Thursday before making the trek to Logan.
• In 2024, Kansas finished the season 13-6-4 with a 6-4-1 mark in conference play to finish sixth in the Big 12 before making a run to win the league's tournament title.
• The Jayhawks return nine starters and 13 letterwinners from last year's squad.
• Kansas was picked fifth in this year's Big 12 Preseason Poll, while defender Caroline Castans and forwards Lexi Watts and Saige Wimes earned preseason all-conference accolades.
SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's contest will be the first all-time meeting between Utah State and Kansas.
Aggies Vs the Big 12
Last season, Utah State went 3-0 against Big 12 opponents, earning wins over Texas Tech, BYU and Utah. All-time, the Aggies are just 13-43-3 against the Big 12, but five of those wins have come in the past four seasons under head coach Manny Martins.
REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK
Last year's Aggie squad literally rewrote the record book, breaking nearly every major record in program history, including wins (18), goals (62), assists (65), points (189), shots on goal (202), and shutouts (15). The team's 0.68 goals allowed average ranked second in program history.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Under coach Manny Martins, USU has established a reputation as one of the nation's top defenses, allowing less than a goal per game all four seasons. Last year, the Aggies posted a program-record 15 shutouts. Four of the top seven seasons for goals allowed average in program history have come under Martins.
MARTINS MAGIC
• Utah State head coach Manny Martins is the reigning back-to-back coach of the year for both the Mountain West and the Pacific Region.
• Martins has built the Aggies into a powerhouse during his five years in Logan. As the head coach at USU, he has a 53-20-17 (.683) record, including a 26-10-8 (.682) mark in conference games. In the three years prior to his arrival, the team won just 16 total games.
• Martins' career winning percentage of .683 ranks second-best in Mountain West Conference history, behind only BYU's Jennifer Rockwood's .739 from 1999-2010.
WELCOME TO BELL
• In the past four years under Manny Martins, Utah State holds a 30-5-6 home record at Chuck and Gloria Bell Field. During those games, the Aggies have out-scored opponents by a combined 85-28.
• Dating back to 2022, 16 of the past 24 USU opponents at Bell Field have been shut out.
• Last season, USU went 7-0-2 at home and out-scored opponents by a combined 29-4.
• All-time, Utah State is 125-49-30 at home.
2024 HONORS
• Several Aggies earned Mountain West postseason honors last year. Among those returning are first team selection Tess Werts and second team selection Summer Diamond.
• The sophomore forward trio of Ellie Hendrix, Austin Miller and Mia Mullenmeister were each named to the MW All-Newcomer Team following strong freshman campaigns in 2024.
• Manny Martins was named both the Mountain West and the United Soccer Coaches Pacific Region Coach of the Year for the second-straight season. He's just the second USU coach to earn conference coach of the year honors, and the first to do so in back-to-back seasons.
NEW YEAR, NEW FACES
• Utah State welcomes in 12 newcomers to this year's team, including three transfers and eight freshmen.
• Transfers include graduate defender Carli Conner (Colorado Mesa), senior goalkeeper Taylor Rath (Pepperdine) and junior goalkeeper Allee Grashoff (UC Riverside).
• Freshmen include Ivy Nystrom (Phoenix, Arizona), Summer Sofonia (Hyrum, Utah), Samantha Sellers (Highland, Utah), Abby Hironaka (Honolulu, Hawaii), Kunie Hirai (Boise, Idaho), Bentli Barrera (Hyrum, Utah), Hadli Barrera (Hyrum, Utah) and Capriel Winder (North Logan, Utah).
• The Aggies also welcome back sophomore defender Talia Winder (Logan, Utah), who played 17 matches for the team in 2022 before serving an 18-month church mission to Brazil.
SISTER, SISTER
Utah State's 2025 roster includes three pairs of sisters after having none last season.
• Freshman forward Samantha Sellers joins her older sister, junior defender Solena Sellers.
• Freshman midfield/defender Capriel Winder joins her older sister, sophomore defender Talia Winder.
• Freshman twins Hadli and Bentli Barrera also join the Aggies, Hadli as a midfield/forward and Bentli as a defender.
AGGIE DOMINATION
• Along with being one of just two teams in the country with a single loss last season, Utah State out-scored its opponents by a combined score of 62-14. This ranked as the fifth-best scoring differential in the nation.
• Utah State's scoring differential (+48) was greater than the previous program record for goals in a season (40).
UP NEXT
Utah State will remain at home next week as it welcomes in-state foe Utah to Chuck & Gloria Bell Field. The game is set for Thursday, Aug. 28, at 7 p.m., and will be streamed on Mountain West Network.
