MILWAUKEE – Josie Kelderman of Glendale, Wis., Bethany Moser of Mason, Ohio, and Zoey Pagels of Oregon, Wis., have signed with the Milwaukee women's soccer team and will transfer into the program to play for the 2024 season, head coach Kevin Boyd announced today.
 
Kelderman will join the program after earning her undergraduate degree in corporate communications after five seasons at Marquette. Moser is also a graduate transfer after spending the past four seasons at Ball State, while Pagels comes to the Panthers following two seasons at Green Bay and will be at UWM starting with the Spring 2024 semester.
 
A Big East All-Freshman selection her first season in 2019 when she made 16 starts among her 18 appearances, Kelderman has been a regular starter for the Golden Eagles despite battling injuries throughout her time as an undergrad. She started seven of the eight games she played in the COVID-shortened season in 2020 before missing all of the 2021 season due to injury. She then made 10 starts in 2022 before again missing time due to injury and appeared in nine games this past fall.
 
That followed a high school career at Nicolet where she earned a pair of letters while also serving as team captain as a senior. On the club scene, she was part of six Wisconsin State Championship teams with North Shore United.
 
A familiar last name to fans of Milwaukee soccer, she is the daughter of current MKE MSOC head coach Kris Kelderman.
 
"Josie Kelderman is a name that is recognizable here at UWM with her dad (Kris) coaching the men's team and her brother (Jake/2016-2021) playing here as well," Boyd said. "So it's great for her to be able to come to a place that is, sort of, a family school for her. But she has earned the recruitment … she is very, very good and has tremendous speed. She has been a little unlucky with injuries throughout her career, but we are going to get her now that those injuries are over and utilize that speed. She is a versatile player that can play on the flanks. I know her club director very well and he rates her highly as a wide back or wide forward. We are bringing her in to bolster our front line and push them, especially with us losing a couple of key players. In addition, she gives us that versatility to play in the wide back if needed."
 
Moser has been the starting goalkeeper at Ball State the past two years, making 19 starts in 2023 while starting all 20 games for the Cardinals in 2022. This past fall, she posted a 1.52 goals-against average and .801 save percentage (.864 in league games to rank second) and was a part of three shutouts. A three-time MAC Player of the Week, she played nearly every minute in 2022 (1800:43 of 1820:00) in posting a 1.25 GAA, .769 save percentage, and six shutouts (4 solo).
 
She wrapped up her prep career at Mason High School with second-team all-state accolades as well as a spot on the Greater Miami Conference First-Team, the second of back-to-back postseason honors. A two-time Team MVP, she was team captain and First-Team All-Southwest Ohio as a senior, leading the league with nine shutouts (.890 save percentage). That followed a junior campaign in which she had 11.5 clean sheets and an .870 save percentage. She led the team to a 28-4-6 mark and a pair of regional runner-up finishes her final two seasons.
 
"Bethany has started the past two years at Ball State and does have two years of eligibility left due to an injury and COVID," Boyd said. "We are excited about her joining us and she will do very well in goal. We are quite happy with the two goalkeepers that we have, but we need to have a minimum of three at all points and we need someone who can come in and potentially start for us, yet be a good teammate and join in with the right feeling and vibe that our current goalkeeping group has in terms of supporting one another while competing."
 
Pagels has been the leading scorer for the Phoenix each of the past two campaigns, topping GB in points (9), goals (4), minutes played (1,414), shots (40), and shots on goal (20) this past fall, starting all 16 games. That came after a freshman campaign in which she started every game and netted six points on a trio of goals.
 
That followed an incredible prep career at Oregon High School, capped by a senior season in which she led her team to an unbeaten 23-0-1 record and the WIAA Division 2 state title following a 1-0 win over Whitefish Bay in the championship contest. She was named the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association State Player of the Year and first-team all-state after scoring 26 goals and adding 22 assists and was a unanimous first-team all-conference selection as well as the Wisconsin State Journal's All-Area Girls Soccer Player of the Year. A United Soccer Coaches High School All-American, she earned Team MVP honors and helped Oregon to the conference title each of her final two years.
 
"We came across Zoey two years ago when she was a freshman (playing against the Panthers in 2022)," Boyd said. "And by halftime, she was in our scouting report and was someone we had to make adjustments to. In the second year this past fall, in getting ready to play them, she was in our pregame scouting report and again was discussed at halftime. Anytime you are a player where the opponent is talking about you at halftime or pregame, that is a huge compliment. She is a dangerous, strong, goal-scoring forward and someone who is going to give us immediate punch after losing some influential players to graduation. We think Zoey will be able to come in and help us quite a bit."