PLNU WOMEN'S SOCCER STRIVES TO LEARN FROM "HARD YEAR"

(SAN DIEGO) Winning a second consecutive PacWest Tournament title and reaching a seventh straight NCAA West Regional in 2025 was considered a “down” year for PLNU Women’s Soccer.

Such is the standard that has been set within the program that has had unprecedented success in recent years.

“In the history of my time here at Point Loma, anything that has been good from one year has come from maybe the hard of the year prior,” said Head Coach Kristi Kiely, entering her ninth season at the helm. “Last year was a hard year for us. We didn't execute in the ways we wanted to, and we didn't play in the ways that we are accustomed to or expected of ourselves.

“Our hope in the spring was that we learn from it. Anytime something's hard, hopefully that means there's good learning. All the way back in 2018, the big loss in that moment at the end of the season helped serve us in 2019. The big loss in 2019 helped to serve us in 2021 and so on. I think that's what makes this year so exciting is the new, and I think when you jump into the new having learned from the old, you can't help but be excited.”

Point Loma didn’t reach at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Kiely and missed out on the program’s second three-peat as PacWest regular season champions.

“We had our worst season that we've had in recent history and I'll tell you I'm actually really grateful for it,” Kiely said. “It didn't feel good in the moment certainly and didn't feel good for the seniors last year who had put a lot into the program and didn't maybe finish the way any of us had hoped. But I really believe it will springboard us.

“Right now we're not talking about titles, we’re just talking about getting back to who we are and a lot of that started with our mentality in the spring. Kansas City is the place we want to be in December but more than anything we want to be a team that's working every day towards excellence. That's what this program has been founded on.

“We’re working on the fundamentals and the core of who we are because we lost our way last year with that.”

Hopefully helping Point Loma’s bid to return to form this season is its service trip to Africa the group made in May. The last time the Sea Lions made that trip in 2023, they went on to win the program’s first ever national championship.

PLNU is hoping that transformative experience will have a similarly profound impact on this year’s squad.

“Adaptability is what comes to mind,” Kiely said. “My grandpa was a college coach and he used to say, ‘You see a person best when they're cold, tired and hungry.’ I tell the girls that you see a person best when they're hot, tired and hungry because we're in sub-Saharan Africa, and I liked what I saw.

“Their character, response and adaptability were good after 36 hours of travel, issues concerning Ebola and being around each other 24 hours a day for 14 days. I think if we can show up in all those moments, we can show up well when it gets hard here.”

ROSTER

Point Loma returns 15 players and added 13 ahead of the 2026 season, including five All-PacWest performers from last year.

In goal, sophomore shot stopper Bea Levi is back along with the additions of junior Cameron Simmons and freshman Tessa Anastasi.

“The experience Bea had alongside Julia Pinnell and Laine Moraes is proving to be really helpful,” Kiely said. “She's looking very sharp and her ability to have the entire spring was great. What’s probably most fun about a current group of goalkeepers is they're all showing up pretty well, so that'll be some fun competition between those three.”

Defensively, Jenna Bisset and Abby Buys return as outside backs after starting a combined 28 games last season. Molly Bachman returns from injury to bring tremendous experience at center back, along with the addition of junior transfer Madi Audet (Colorado State). Freshman outside backs Kaleia Coughlin and Kody McKinney have made a strong impression as well.

“For the first time in a couple years we have a group that played a lot of minutes together last year and then even more in the spring,” Kiely said. “The back group returning feels sturdy and we added some youngsters who we hope will make contributions pretty quickly.”

Four All-PacWest midfielders return for the Sea Lions in senior Grace Nelson (First Team All-West Region), junior Gianna Masinter, senior Nikki Ross and sophomore Maddy Saruwatari, who can also play out wide. Sophomore Kylee Jerome is back as well, to go along with the addition of freshman center mid Lehua Hanawahine. 

“The experience of the five players who played in the midfield last year that can be rotated is a lot of fun,” Kiely said. “They know each other well and play well off of each other. They can get into the right spaces, so that's really positive.

“It just helps to have that experience, similar to the back line, when they know each other and they understand the system.”

All-Region junior forward Priya Torres returns to lead Point Loma’s front group, which is boosted with the infusion of transfers Abby Wright (Samford), Riley Johnson (Northern Colorado) and Ava Heil (Saint Joseph’s), the full return from injury from Emma Naftzger and Leah Uezato, as well as the addition of freshmen Shaylen Greff and Emma Blakely.

“We didn't score enough goals last year for all sorts of reasons,” Kiely said. “The hope this fall is the returners have another year under their belt, injured players returning from injury are looking sharp and healthy, and then we have the injection of some new faces and some new players.

“What's going to be helpful with our front group is it will likely be who’s in the best form or who is going to be best against this opponent,” Kiely said. “I think when you have a variety of players you can throw into certain games, it can be really helpful and really powerful.”

SCHEDULE

Point Loma, receiving the most votes of any team not in the top 25 of the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, opens its season out of state for the second straight year, this time in Colorado to play at No. 10 UCCS on Thursday and at MSU Denver on Saturday.

The Sea Lions will play their home opener on Sep. 3 against Stanislaus State before taking on 2024 national champion and 2025 national semifinalist Cal Poly Pomona, currently ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll.

PLNU’s remaining four non-conference matches will be split home and away – home versus Cal State LA (Sep. 10) and Biola (Sep. 17), on the road at Cal State San Marcos (Sep. 12) and Concordia (Sep. 19).

“Colorado will be a good test early and we'll look forward to being back home right after that,” Kiely said. “Our schedule this year is a challenge, but it always is and that's intentional. We play two games every week for the first five weeks and we will need everyone to be ready. We're thankful for the extra week this year with the festival year because we need to get a lot of new players on the same page.”

PLNU’s nine-game PacWest slate will begin with three straight home matches against Chaminade (Sep. 24), Hawai’i Pacific (Sep. 26) and Hawai’i Hilo (Oct. 3) and will conclude with a road game at Westmont (Oct. 31).

“Conference play is going to be challenging because our conference has been at the top in recent years,” Kiely said. “I wouldn't have it any other way to be honest because I know that if we can make it through those moments, we're going to be set and ready to go should we be able to move on.”

Point Loma will look to three-peat as PacWest Tournament champions when the conference tournament is played in Hilo, Hawai’i Nov. 5-7.

The NCAA Tournament is set to begin on Nov. 12 with a national champion being crowned on Dec. 5 in Kansas City.

For the team’s full schedule, click HERE.