Women's Soccer Opens 2026 Season at No. 7 Michigan State

Wednesday, August 12

East Lansing, Mich.

7:30 PM

Xavier University

Michigan State

Women's Soccer Opens 2026 Season at No. 7 Michigan State

08.11.26 | Women's Soccer

Live Stream (B1G+)Live Stats

Musketeers and Spartans get underway at 7:30 PM on Big Ten Plus

By: Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI - Xavier women's soccer kicks of the 2026-27 season for Xavier Athletics with a trip to East Lansing, Mich., to take on No. 7 Michigan State on Wednesday, August 12. The Musketeers and the Spartans are set for a 7:30 p.m. start on Big Ten Plus.

Xavier was recieving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Polls after going 16-4-2 in 2025, winning the BIG EAST Tournament and advancinng to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Musketeers were picked to finish third in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll, picking up a first-place vote, in Katy Etelman's first season as head coach.

GAME DETAILS

at No. 7 Michigan State
Wednesday, August 12 – 7:00 PM
East Lansing, Mich.

OPPONENT INFO

Michigan State enters the season at No. 7 in both the United Soccer Coaches and Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Polls after going 15-4-6 overall and 7-1-3 in Big Ten play last season.
The Spartans earned the No. 2 seed to the Big Ten tournament, playing top-seeded Washington to a 1-1 draw in the league championship match, but falling on PKs (4-1).
MSU earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship, taking wins over Milwaukee, 4-1, Wake Forest, 1-0, and Colorado, 2-1, to advance to the Elite Eight before falling to No. 1 Stanford, 5-1.
Xavier is 5-3-2 all-time against the Spartans after taking a 5-2 win in Cincinnati in 2025.

2026 SCHEDULE

Xavier is set to face teams from six different conferences before starting the 10-game BIG EAST schedule, and will face five teams that took part in the 2025 NCAA Championship, including a pair of Quarterfinalists in Michigan State and Vanderbilt.
Following the trip to East Lansing, the Musketeers open the home schedule on Sunday, August 16, hosting the Miami RedHawks at Corcoran Field, set for a 7:00 p.m. start on XAVIER+.
Xavier returns to Michigan the following weekend, heading to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines on Saturday, August 22, set for a 5:00 p.m. start.

HEAD COACH KATY ETELMAN

The 2026 season marks the first season at the helm for head coach Katy Etelman, who joined the Xavier staff in 2021. Etelman became the program's 10th head coach in February, following Dean Ward's departure to Iowa, after serving as associate head coach since 2023.
During her time with the program, Etelman has helped lead the Musketeers to 75 wins, two BIG EAST Regular Season Championships, a BIG EAST Tournament title, and four bids to the NCAA Championships in the last five seasons. Xavier's 75 wins are the seventh most in Division I over that span.
In the last two seasons, as part of Ward's staff, Etelman helped lead the Musketeers to 31 wins, the most wins in a two-year period in program history. During that time, Xavier earned four All-American honors, five BIG EAST postseason awards, and 15 total All-BIG EAST selections
Etelman added Cory Herchenroeder to her staff as associate head coach. Herchenroeder came to Xavier from Missouri State where he joined the staff as an assistant coach in 2022 and was promoted to associate head coach in August of 2023.
Mikayla Krzeczowski also joined Etelman's staff as assistant coach with goalkeeper oversight. Krzeczowski, one of the top goalkeepers in NCAA DI history, came to Xavier from Appalachian State where she has served as part of the women's soccer staff since January 2022.

PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST HONORS

Forward Peyton Kohls was named the Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, as voted on by the league coaches. Kohls was also a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team, and was joined on the preseason all-conference squad by defender Brooklynn Miltenberger.
Kohls, a redshirt junior from Loveland, Ohio, started in all 22 matches for the Musketeers in 2025, collecting a career-best 20 points on six goals on and eight assists for the season. Her assist total ranked fourth in the BIG EAST and 35th in NCAA DI at the conclusion of the regular season. She started in all 10 matches in BIG EAST play last season finishing conference action with 10 points on three goals, including the game winner at DePaul, and four assists.
Kohls recorded her first collegiate goal and had a pair of assists in Xavier's 5-2 win over No. 17 Michigan State. She also posted her first career multi-goal game in Xavier's 6-0 win over Southeast Missouri State, also picking up an assist against SEMO for a career-high five points.
Kohls earned a spot on the 2025 All-BIG EAST Third Team and was named CSC Academic All-District following the season.
Miltenberger, a senior from Middletown, Ohio, played in 17 matches in 2025, making 15 starts for a Musketeer defense that only allowed 22 goals and had 12 shutouts on the season. She played in nine matches in BIG EAST play, starting in eight, with the Musketeers going 8-0-1, collecting five shutouts, and only allowing five goals in the conference matches in which she played.
For the season, Miltenberger played 964 minutes for the Xavier backline, playing the full 90 minutes in three matches before her season ended due to injury.
Miltenberger earned a spot on the All-BIG EAST Third Team following the season.

The 2026 Roster

Xavier returns 18 letterwinners from the 2025 squad that finished 16-4-2, winning the BIG EAST Tournament Championship and advancing to the NCAA Tournament Second Round.
The returning Musketeers include a trio of all-conference performers, Regan Dancer, Peyton Kohls and Brooklynn Miltenberger, and account for 75 points on 24 goals and 27 assists in last season's record-setting offense.
Xavier brings in four transfers, Sami Lipcon (UCF), Fiona Skwierawski (Kansas), Alivia Stott (Tennessee) and Abby Unkraut (Georgia) and added seven freshmen to the roster.
The Musketeers come from 14 different states as well as New Zealand: Ohio (8), Michigan (4), California (2), Kansas (2), Kentucky (2), North Carolina (2), Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin.
Five Musketeers are originally from the Greater Cincinnati area, Peyton Kohls (Loveland, Ohio), Brooklynn Miltenberger (Middletown, Ohio), Gianna Mlynek (Anderson Township, Ohio), Presley Pennekamp (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Abby Unkraut (Burlington, Ky.).

2025 SEASON NOTES

Xavier is coming off a 2025 season where the Musketeers won the program's second BIG EAST Championship title, earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
The Musketeers earned a home match in the NCAA Tournament, hosting Dayton in the first round. Xavier's 2-0 win over the Flyers was the first home NCAA Tournament win in program history, and marked the third time Xavier advanced in the tournament.
The 2025 Musketeers also set a new program record with a 15-match unbeaten streak, going 13-0-2 during that stretch, and the Musketeer offense set a new single season program records with 71 goals, 210 points and 68 assists.
Xavier set new program records for goals (71), assists (68) and points (210) during the 2025 campaign.The previous records for goals (67) and points (165) had stood since the first year of the program in 1984. The prior assists record (47) was from 1997.
The Musketeers finished with 16 wins, tied for second most in program history.
Following the season, two players, Natalie Bain and Samantha Erbach, were named All-Americans, the second time in program history multiple Musketeers earned All-American honors.
Nine Musketeers earned All-BIG EAST honorees, the most in program history.

BIG EAST COACHES POLL

BIG EAST Preseason Women's Soccer Coaches' Poll
(first-place votes)
1. Georgetown, 98 (8)
2. UConn, 89 (2)
3. Xavier, 78 (1)
4. Creighton, 73
5. Villanova, 66
6. Providence, 60
7. Marquette, 40
8. Butler, 39
9. St. John's, 28
10. DePaul, 19
11. Seton Hall, 15

Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year
Peyton Kohls, Xavier, Sr., F

Preseason BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year
Lizzie Heller, Georgetown, Jr., M

Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Kaya Hanson, Georgetown, Sr., D

Preseason BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Hannah Dickinson, Villanova, Sr., GK

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team *
Jocelyn Leigh, Marquette, Jr., F
Courtnee Pickles, Providence, So., F
Se-Hanna Mars, UConn, R-So., F
Avrie Nelsen, Villanova, So., F
Peyton Kohls, Xavier, Sr., F ^
Chloe Brecht, Butler, Jr., M
Lizzie Heller, Georgetown, Jr., M
Thaea Mouratidis, Providence, Gr., M
Anaya Johnson, UConn, Sr., M ^
Gabby Koluch, Villanova, Sr., M
Kaya Hanson, Georgetown, Sr., D
Brooklynn Miltenberger, Xavier, Sr., D
Hannah Dickinson, Villanova, Sr., GK

^ unanimous selection
* Due to a tie in voting, there are 13 members on the preseason team

XAVIER HOME BROADCAST INFO

Xavier Athletics announced that 21 fall home sporting events will be broadcast live via Xavier+. The men's and women's soccer and volleyball broadcasts will be available through a subscription on GoXavier.com.
All 32 home fall sporting events for men's and women's soccer and volleyball will be broadcast on either ESPN+ or Xavier+.
The subscription cost of Xavier+ will be $10 per event or $145 for a fall season pass to watch all 21 home events. All purchases are subject to the customer's state sales tax.
A subscription to ESPN+ is required to view the 11 home men's and women's soccer and volleyball broadcasts. An ESPN+ subscription will also include a number of road men's and women's soccer and volleyball contests (determined by the host institution).
A detailed broadcasting list of each home and away men's and women's soccer and volleyball contest is available on the sport specific schedule pages at GoXavier.com.
Four women's soccer matches will be available on XAVIER+ with the remaining games being streamed on ESPN+.