Oregon State Women's Soccer - Previewing the Beavers' Non Conference Schedule
We're only weeks away from the start of the 2025 Women's Soccer season, with an exhibition match against Oregon kicking things off on August 5th kicking things off. The real season gets started on August 14th against Washington. Here's a preview of the teams the Beavers will be facing before conference play gets started.
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August 4th's exhibition against the Ducks won't count in the standings, and both teams will be in the process of finalizing their depth charts, but we should still take a look at the Ducks. Last year's team struggled in the Big 10, finishing second from the bottom with a 5-11-2 overall record, Oregon has also lost their top two scorers from 2024, so like they Beavers they're going through some big changes.
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After the Ducks, the Beavers face another former Pac-12 rival in the Washington Huskies. Last year the Huskies made the NCAA Tournament as an at large seed, taking down Utah State in the first round before falling to Mississippi State in the second. While the team has lost star forward Ioanna Papatheodorou to graduation, but returns several of their top players. This should be the toughest game of the Beavers season.
After that, Oregon State returns to Corvallis for a breather. They'll face Weber State on August 17th and Idaho State on August 28th. These were the two worst teams in the Big Sky last season. You can't look past any game, but these are the kinds of matches the Beavers should win, so struggling here would be a troubling sign.
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Oregon State will finish up the home stand with an August 31st match against New Mexico. The Lobos were a middle of the pack Mountain West team last season, but return a lot of their top talent in 2025, so this should be a test of the Beavers before the hit the road.
That road stretch is going to be interesting. First up is Nebraska on September 4th, who struggled to a 6-10-1 record in the Big 10 last season. Oregon State will then face last year's Summit League Champions South Dakota State on September 7th. Picking up a win this weekend would be a big step forward for the Beavers.
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The Beavers stay on the road to finish out their non conference schedule, taking on Utah on September 14th and Fresno State on September 20th. The Bulldogs were right behind New Mexico in the Mountain West standings, but Utah will be a challenge, having gone 8-6-5 in an extremely competitive Big 12.
It's a challenging schedule for the Beavers without being overwhelming. There's few games wehre Oregon State would be a severe underdog or an overwhelming favorite. An optimist could look the calendar and see the Beavers going 6-2 or 5-3, while a pessimist could argue for a 3-8.
Either way, the Beavers are a team that is going to rely on a lot of new faces, and they're going to have to come together fairly quickly if they want to enter West Coast Conference play with a winning record. We'll take a look at the WCC tomorrow.
Having grown up in Pocatello, home of the Idaho State Bengals, John Severs is a lifelong fan of small schools that don't always deliver a lot of wins. Prior to writing for On SI, John covered the Beavers for SB Nation's Oregon State blog Building the Dam, with a focus on baseball and women's basketball. When he's not watching college sports he spends most of his time reading, playing video games and annoying cats.