Fighting Scots Women's Soccer Start Regular Season September 1

Home opener set for Sunday, September 5

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (06/15/2021) — The Monmouth College women's soccer team will take the field in 2021 as the defending Midwest Conference champions, but with a vastly different look. Since the Scots played in the 2019 NCAA Division III Tournament they have changed head coaches and watched two classes of impactful seniors graduate.

The 2021 schedule features 17 games overall with eight at home, and a full eight-game Midwest Conference slate. The Scots will also play a home exhibition game on Tuesday, August 24 against Rockford University at 4 p.m.

The Scots open the 2021 regular season at Wisconsin-Platteville on Wednesday, September 1 at 4 p.m. The Pioneers and Scots have met just once, a 2-1 Monmouth victory back in 2016.

The Scots stay on the road for a Saturday afternoon game at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri on September 4. Monmouth beat Webster 3-2 at home in overtime in 2019, their first in in five tries against the Gorlocks.

The home opener is set for 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 5 against the University of Chicago. The Maroons qualified for the 2019 Division III NCAA Tournament and won two games before falling in the Sweet 16. This will be the first-ever matchup between the two schools in women's soccer.

Monmouth will face the University of Dubuque at home on Friday, September 10 with a 5:30 p.m. kickoff. The Scots fell to the Spartans 3-2 in 2019 and are 1-12-1 all-time in the series.

Monmouth travels to Central College in Pella, Iowa for a 4:30 p.m. contest on Wednesday, September 15. The Scots are 3-9-1 against the Dutch and the teams drew 1-1 in 2019.

The Scots will play the backend of a doubleheader against Buena Vista on Friday, September 17. The women's game will follow the men's 2 p.m. contest against BVU. The Scots beat the Beavers 4-1 in 2019 and are 2-0 all-time in the series.

The Scots will spend a week on the road with games at Millikin University and Simpson College. First up is a trip to Decatur, Illinois on Wednesday, September 22 for a 7 p.m. kickoff before a 5 p.m. game in Indianola, Iowa four days later. The Scots and Big Blue last played in 2017, a 3-1 Millikin win, and the Scots trail the series 0-5-1. They are 2-1 against Simpson including a 3-0 win in 2018.

The Scots return home for the final non-conference game of the schedule on Tuesday, September 28 with a 5 p.m. kickoff against Loras College. This will be the first time the Scots and Duhawks have ever met in women's soccer.

The Midwest Conference slate starts Saturday, October 2 against Lake Forest with an 11 a.m. contest. Monmouth beat the Foresters in 2019 but are 7-16-1 all time.

The Scots host rival Knox College on Wednesday, October 6 at 4:30 p.m. in a rematch of the 2019 MWC Championship game. Monmouth lost to Knox 1-0 in the 2019 regular season before winning the tournament on penalty kicks. The Scots are 17-13-1 in their history against the Prairie Fire.

The Scots hit the road for three conference games October 9-19 with stops in Ripon, Grinnell and Illinois College.

On Saturday, October 9 the Scots play at Ripon. Monmouth lost to the Red Hawks 4-3 in 2019 but lead the series 18-5.

Three days later the Scots head to Iowa to play Grinnell. In 2019 the Scots beat the Pioneers 2-1 but they are just 3-25-1 head-to-head.

The final game of the road trip is Tuesday, October 19 in Jacksonville, Illinois. The Scots beat the Lady Blues 3-0 in 2019 and lead the series 21-7-1.

Monmouth returns home on Saturday, October 23 for a homecoming day tilt against Beloit. The 11 a.m. contest kicks off the day's festivities around campus. Monmouth beat the Buccaneers 5-0 in 2019 and lead the series 15-7-2.

The Scots final home game of the regular season is against Cornell College on Tuesday, October 26 at 4:30 p.m. Monmouth lost to the Rams 3-0 in the 2019 regular season but got revenge 1-0 in the MWC Tournament semifinals. The Scots are 13-11 all-time against Cornell.

The regular season ends on Saturday, October 30 in Appleton, Wisconsin against Lawrence. Monmouth enjoyed a 6-1 win over the Vikings in 2019 and the series is dead even at 10-10-3.

The Scots went 14-5-2 in 2019 with a 6-3 MWC record. The 14 wins are the most in school history and the Scots also went 6-3 at home. Forward Kara-Jade Gordon was the MWC Offensive Player of the Year while coach Nick Rizzo was named MWC Coach of the Year. Gordon and forward Devin Cross were First-Team All-MWC while returning forward Jordyn Gosell (Antioch, Illinois) was Second-Team.

Rizzo left for St. Mary's after four seasons in charge with a record of 41-30-5. The Scots hired Lucas Henderson from Bryant & Stratton College in Wisconsin as the fifth head coach in program history. He coached the Bobcats for two seasons with two playoff appearances in the NJCAA Division II. Henderson is a native of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and a 2016 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He has also been the Director of Goalkeeping for the Milwaukee Kickers Soccer Club

The Scots graduated seven seniors in May. Kensey Arlt (Wichita, Kansas) Aspen Chadderdon (Marshalltown, Iowa), Taylor Coffman (Carpentersville, Illinois), Cross (Wentzville, Missouri), Karina Ramos (Mesa, Arizona), Sarah Loeffler (Kenosha, Wisconsin) and Lesly Montoya (Villa Park, Illinois) all earned their degrees in 2020. Cross scored seven goals in 2019 while also providing three assists.

There are 11 players on the 2021 roster who saw action in 2019. Jordyn Gosell started 20 of the 21 games with three goals and seven assists while her twin sister Payton played in all 21 games. Erica Bossard (Pella, Iowa) started all 21 games with two goals while Sarah Poirier (Lombard, Illinois) played in all 21 games with one goal and one assist. Ezzie Baltierra-Chavez (Denver, Colorado) played in 15 games with 11 starts and she scored three times. Sam Koppers (Tinley Park, Illinois) and Shelby Sims (Peoria, Illinois) also scored in 2019 while Hadyn Deleeuw (Kirksville, Missouri) and Brie Stumbo (Shelley, Idaho) notched assists.

Quinn Cutler (Breese, Illinois) started eight games in goal as a sophomore in 2019 with nine goals allowed and 28 saves. She earned seven wins and was part of three shutouts.

Henderson's first recruiting class will join nine players who would have been freshman in 2020. Both of those classes will take the field for the first time in an August 24 exhibition game against Rockford University at Peacock Park.