University of Northern Iowa
South Dakota
UNI soccer set to open 2025 season at South Dakota
8/12/2025 1:15:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Panthers to officially begin the Place Thomas era on the road against Coyotes on Thursday afternoon.
UNI soccer (0-0-0 / 0-0-0 MVC) at South Dakota (0-0-0 / 0-0-0 Summit)
- Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025
- 4 p.m. CT
- Vermillion, S.D. | First Bank & Trust Soccer Complex
- WATCH (Summit League Network/Midco Sports Plus)
- LIVE STATS
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The 26th season of UNI women's soccer will get underway this Thursday as the Panthers head to Vermillion to take on the South Dakota Coyotes for the first of two road games to open the year.
Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT at the First Bank & Trust Soccer Complex with live coverage of the match available through the Summit League Network and Midco Sports Plus.
Thursday's matchup will also formally begin the next chapter of leadership for Northern Iowa as the Panthers play their first regular season match under interim head coach Alex Place Thomas. UNI played one preseason exhibition last Saturday, emerging victorious in penalty kicks against reigning Summit League champion North Dakota State in Richfield, Minnesota.
UNI is 9-5-3 all-time against the Coyotes with wins in two of the previous three meetings, which included a 1-1 draw last season in Cedar Falls. Northern Iowa is also 10-7-8 all-time in season opening matches and have won two of its last three road openers.
The Panthers return 14 athletes from last season's roster that posted a 9-6-4 record and finished in a tie for fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) standings with a 4-3-3 mark, ultimately falling to Illinois State in the opening round of the conference tournament. UNI boasted the league's top scoring offense a season ago with 37 total goals and was the third-best passing team in the MVC with 1.26 assists per match.
Among the key returners for the Panthers are Preseason First Team All-MVC forward Olivia Knoepfle (Andover, Minn./Andover HS), who finished second on the team with six goals and a team-high four assists. Defender Macy Smith scored four goals for the purple and gold in 2024, with Olivia Bohl notching three goals, while the Panther defense will continue to be anchored by senior Sophia Balisteri and Caroline Hazen. Denise Camarena will also look to climb the program's all-time assists list, tied for ninth in program history (7).
UNI added ten new faces to its roster in the offseason, including the addition of six high school players in Ava Hall, Addie Lange, Allison McCleery, Olivia Mehl, Abby O'Brien and Aynslea Ulschmid. The Panthers were also active in the transfer portal this past winter and spring, signing Milan Cordone (North Dakota), Allison Flies (Utah Tech), Anya McKay (Nebraska) and Thordis Melsted (North Alabama).
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA
The Coyotes open their 2025 season at home after a pair of home exhibitions against Big Ten challengers Iowa and Minnesota earlier this month. UNI will be the first of back-to-back MVC opponents for South Dakota to open the season, who will visit Drake on Sunday.
South Dakota is coming off a challenging 3-9-6 season where it finished sixth in the Summit League standings before falling to in-state rival South Dakota State in the opening round of the conference tournament. This preseason, the Coyotes were picked to finish sixth in the Summit League with forward Ashby Johnston and midfielder Mali Van Meeteren being named to the conference's preseason watchlist.
Led by eighth year head coach Michael Thomas, USD returns its top three scorers from 2024 in Johnson, Izzy Quintavalle and Brooke Conway. Campbell Fischer, who saved 74% of shot attempts last year with a 1.65 goals allowed average, also returns for the Coyotes in goal.
UNI women's soccer action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (UNI Panther Soccer), X (@UNI_Soccer) and on Instagram (@unipanthersoccer). The full 2025 schedule and roster, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
