Under the direction of second-year head coach Kevin Boyd, the Milwaukee women's soccer program will embark on its 34th season of NCAA Division I soccer (and 40th overall) this fall with a road trip this week to take on Notre Dame of the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time in over a decade. Following a return from that contest, the Panthers will close out the opening weekend at Southern Illinois Edwardsville Sunday.

Thursday's tilt against the Fighting Irish, a program ranked No. 3 in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, will be available on ACC Network Extra (subscription needed) and will kick off at 6 p.m. CST. The contest, the first against Notre Dame since 2012, will also have live statistics for fans to follow along with the action. The contest also marks the first season opener for Milwaukee versus a ranked opponent since the 2013 campaign, taking on #19 Michigan to open play that fall.

The team then closes out the weekend with a road game at SIUE Sunday, taking on the Cougars at 1 p.m. that afternoon. Live stats and a stream on ESPN+ will also be available for Sunday's matinee. All links are on the Milwaukee website for both contests.

Milwaukee is 1-7 in the all-time series against Notre Dame, with the two teams last meeting in the NCAA Tournament following the 2012 season, a game that the Irish won 3-1. Four of the eight games have been played with Notre Dame ranked in the Top 5 of the national poll, but the Panthers fell just 1-0 when they were #1 back in November of 2006. Most recently was a 3-0 defeat when the Irish were No. 4 in August of 2010. The MKE win was a 3-1 decision back in September of 1989.

The Panthers and Cougars are also meeting for the first time in decades, with just two games (split 1-1) played all time. The most recent was a 5-2 win in 1993, with the other a 1-0 setback in September of 1984.

The Panthers are coming off yet another strong season, claiming the Horizon League regular-season and tournament titles in head coach Kevin Boyd's first season at the helm. The regular-season title is the seventh in the past eight years for MKE, a span that has seen the team go 64-3-6 in league play. In addition, the team has now won the regular-season title 21 times since 2000 (all but 2020 and 2014) and 22 total times overall. The Panthers also made their 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and 15th with the Horizon League's automatic berth.

LOOKING AT THE OPPONENTS:
NOTRE DAME: Notre Dame is expecting big things in 2023 after coming off an amazingly successful 2022 campaign. Sixth-year head coach Nate Norman, the Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year, led the team to a 17-3-3 overall record and to its first Elite 8 appearance since 2012. The squad picked up its first No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed since 2008 and reached a national ranking as high as No. 4 (finished the season at No. 5), coming up one win shy of a College Cup appearance. The defense a year ago was extraordinary, helping the team outscore the opposition by a count of 56-14. The defense posted 14 clean sheets (six in a row at one point) and ranked first in the ACC in shutout percentage at .609. A deeper look shows the Irish defense allowed just 3.0 shots on goal per game on average. Reigning ACC Defender of the Year and senior captain Eva Gaetino was named to the 2023 Preseason All-ACC Team and was also tabbed for the United Soccer Coaches National Defenders to Watch List. Notre Dame, who went 11-2-2 at home last year and start this year ranked No. 3, will play a total of 10 NCAA Tournament teams (from a season ago) during the 2023 regular season, starting with the Panthers Thursday.

SIUE: The Cougars, led by head coach Derek Burton, posted an 8-6-4 overall record last year but finished 5-1-2 in league play (placing second) and then went on to win the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the third consecutive season - falling to Northwestern in the NCAA Tournament. SIUE placed second in the recent OVC preseason poll, picking up eight first-place votes (and 146 total points) to finish runner-up, just a handful of votes behind preseason favorite Tennessee Tech, which garnered the other 12 first-place votes and 156 points. The Cougars defeated Tennessee Tech 1-0 in last year's OVC Tournament championship game. Matea Diekema, listed as a United Soccer Coaches Player to Watch, is also the OVC's Player to Watch. Diekema was the OVC's Defender of the Year in 2022. The team opens the season at home against Missouri State Thursday before hosting the Panthers Sunday.

SETTING THE BAR HIGH
The first season for Kevin Boyd as the MKE head coach was an impressive one, despite taking over one of the youngest teams in the country that was returning just two starters and four upperclassmen to the lineup. After opening the campaign at 3-3-1, he led the squad to a 9-0-2 finish the rest of the way before nearly taking down sixth-ranked Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, losing 3-2 in double-overtime. The team claimed the Horizon League regular-season crown for the seventh time in the past eight seasons and earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in program history.
 
Boyd brought over 20 years of head-coaching experience with him to Milwaukee, having spent two decades in the Pac-12 as head coach at both Arizona State University and at the University of California, Berkeley. No matter the stop, Boyd has been a proven winner, ranking as the all-time winningest coach during his final campaigns at both Pac-12 programs, while compiling over 200 victories in his career.

RANKINGS ROUND-UP
The Panthers will be taking on a ranked opponent for the 49th time in program history when they battle the #3 Fighting Irish Thursday. Overall, Milwaukee is 4-38-6 against ranked foes, last playing a contest against a ranked side last fall when it fell to #6 Michigan State in double-overtime in the NCAA Tournament. The team last recorded a victory in that situation against Xavier in 2021 (a 1-0 decision over a #14 Musketeer squad in the first round of the NCAA Tournament).

The game will mark the 15th contest against a Top-5 ranked opponent in school history, with the most recent being the NCAA Tournament matchup with #2 Virginia in 2021. The highest-ranked team MKE has ever knocked off was No. 8 Nebraska back in 1998 when the Panthers won, 2-1, in 2OT.

FOR OPENERS
The Panthers did open 2021 against Northern Illinois with a 6-0 victory, moving to 15-15-3 in season openers at the NCAA Division I level after you also add in the 2-0 loss to a Wake Forest team receiving votes in the national poll in 2022. The team has now gone 6-3-2 in season openers the past 11 years, with a 1-0 victory over Western Illinois in 2015 snapping a three-game stretch without a victory. Three seasons ago, MKE opened the campaign with a 5-1 victory over Robert Morris on the road. In addition, the Panthers are now 18-2 in home openers. Speaking of season debuts, the six goals against NIU in 2021 marked the most in program history for a lid-lifter, topping the five scored against Robert Morris to open the 2020 campaign. Four had not been scored in over 30 years (4-2 over St. Norbert in 1988 and 4-0 over St. Mary's (IN) in 1987), while three has also been recorded on four different occasions.

PRESEASON POLL
Milwaukee was picked by league coaches to finish first in the 2023 Horizon League regular season. The Panthers tallied 10 first-place votes and 120 points in the coaches' poll to hold down the top spot, with the 93-point total of Oakland coming in second. A year ago the team was picked for second in the league poll – missing out on the top spot for the first time in six seasons. The team went on to claim the regular-season title and then the Horizon League Tournament championship for a fifth consecutive year while appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in program history. Back on top of the poll this fall marks a spot they have now held in the conference poll 20 times since 2000, as well as an amazing run of 13 straight from 2000-2012. Purdue Fort Wayne (85 points/third) and Youngstown State (84 points/fourth) wrapped up the nest tier, with the Penguins earning the other first-place vote.
 
2023 #HLWSOC Preseason Poll
Pl.        Team – Pts. (First-place votes)
1.         Milwaukee (10) – 120
2.         Oakland – 93
3.         Purdue Fort Wayne – 85
4.         Youngstown State (1) – 84
5.         Cleveland State – 73
6.         IUPUI – 69
7.         Wright State – 65
8.         Northern Kentucky – 61
9.         Detroit Mercy – 40
10.        RMU – 19
11.        Green Bay – 17

AN IMPRESSIVE LIST TO TOP
Let's be honest, the Panthers have been very good since the start of the 2017 campaign. How good? Well, at 89-12-10 (.847), they actually have the BEST winning percentage in the nation over that span in NCAA play heading into 2023. The only one who had been higher is 2019 & 2017 NCAA National Champion Stanford, but they are now in second at 105-17-8 (.8384) over the same time frame, with 2022 National Champion UCLA close behind at 105-15-13 (.8383). No. 4 on that list is now North Carolina (112-19-9/.832), with Georgetown (8913-23/.804), and Duke (91-24-18/.752) to follow.

SETTING THE TONE
Milwaukee saw its long streak of picking up victories after getting on the board first come to a heartbreaking end following the NCAA Tournament contest against Michigan State that closed out the 2022 campaign (MKE was on the board first in the sixth minute). That ended an unbelievable stretch, falling in a game that they scored first in to snap what was an eye-opening 85-0 stretch when being the first team to find the back of the net in a game. That includes the 9-1 mark in 2022, 17-0 in 2021, 9-0 in 2020, 17-0 in 2019, 16-0 in 2018, and 14-0 in 2017. The last time the Panthers lost (or even TIED) a match in which they scored first was the 2016 Horizon League Tournament title game against Northern Kentucky (Nov. 5, 2016), a contest they led 2-0 early before falling, 3-2. They also went 74-2-9 when outshooting their opponent in that same span, getting outshot just 17 times over the six-plus year stretch.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
The Panthers earned the Horizon League's automatic bid by posting a 1-0 shutout of Youngstown State on a day that will be remembered for the crazy weather as much as the championship. Haley Johnson scored the only goal - coming off a kick from near midfield - sending Milwaukee to the crown. They entered the NCAA Tournament on an 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-2), including wins in seven consecutive contests that wrapped up with a 3-1 victory over IUPUI in the Horizon League Tournament semifinals and a 1-0 shutout over YSU in the title game, led by the only goal of the contest scored by Johnson, who was named the League Tournament Most Valuable Player.
 
RECINOS MAKING THE MOST OF IT
Stephanie Recinos certainly made the most of her opportunities last season, as she finished fifth on the team in points with eight, coming on the strength of three goals and a pair of assists. The part of this that makes it so impressive is that she has appeared in just 11 games and only played 145 total minutes on the season. In addition, two of her three goals were game-winners, providing the difference against Robert Morris Sept. 18 and Cleveland State Sept. 22.

HIGGINS HIGHLIGHTS
Lainey Higgins put together a career-best performance against IUPUI Oct. 6 of last season, picking up Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week honors after playing a role in all three MKE goals in a 3-0 shutout of the Jaguars. She scored the eventual game-winner in the 60th minute to break open a scoreless affair, lacing the shot into the side netting. She then set up teammates perfectly for goals two and three, assisting Natalie Auble's goal in the 63rd minute with a header while picking up a second assist on a free kick that was headed into the net by Haley Johnson in the 70th to round out the scoring. The four-point (1G/2A) effort marked the second-most for a Panther in a game last season (Molly O'Regan had 2G/1A for 5 points vs. Robert Morris). Higgins went on to lead the Horizon League with a career-high 10 assists, marking the seventh straight season a Panther has paced the conference in assists.

HOO-RAY HORIZON
When it comes to Horizon League openers, the record is quite impressive all-time. Milwaukee has gone 25-3-1 in opening action (since joining the league in 1994), with a string of 14 wins in a row from 1998 through 2011. The squad had been victories in nine straight as well, before getting knocked off by WSU in 2022.

The Panthers have had a very long line of success when it comes to Horizon League play, claiming the regular-season title in six of the past seven seasons (2015-19/2021) as well as 20 of the past 22 titles overall. In fact, the team has posted a sparkling 58-2-4 ledger (.938 win %) over the past seven campaigns (coming into 2022) in regular-season conference play.

A FAMILIAR LOOK
Following a season in which the team lost 12 players to graduation or transfer and were able to count on just two returning starters on the field, the 2023 roster will have a much more experienced and familiar look.

The team returns eight of its Top 10 point scorers, including team leader Kayla Rollins, who not only led the team with her 20 points and nine goals but also topped the Horizon League in both categories. In addition to Rollins, the Panthers return Lainey Higgins, who led the league with her 10 assists (which finished 14th in the NCAA) and added three goals for 16 points which ranked fourth in the Horizon League. MKE graduated just three regular starters and will have an experienced roster that sees eight players that made at least 11 starts (out of the 19 total games) a year ago including Higgins (all 19), Anna Champine (19), Rollins (17), Senya Meuer (17), Elizabeth Reece (17), Brooke Parnello (16), Clara Broecker (12), and Kendall Edwards (11).

Points: returners accounted for 83 of the 123 points (67.5 percent)
Goals: 25 of 39 goals (64.1 percent)
Assists: 33 of 45 assists (73.3 percent)
Starts: returning players accounted for 51 starts last season.
Minutes: returning players accounted for 5,830 of 21,175 minutes played (27.5 percent), with just two players that saw the field over 1,000 minutes (Clara Broecker 1,894 and Kat Van Booven 1,104).

GOALKEEPERS KEEP ON KEEPING ON
Another area of strength will be in goal, where Milwaukee returns a pair of players that essentially split the season a year ago. Kendall Edwards ended the season with 11 games played (965:00), posting a 0.84 goals-against average and a 7-2-1 record to go along with an .827 save percentage and six shutouts. Parker Donahugh saw action in nine games (754:07) and was 5-2-2 with four clean sheets, a .789 save percentage, and a 0.95 GAA.

THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR
Milwaukee recorded a 1-0 victory over Youngstown State in the 2022 Horizon League Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament. That 1-0 scoreline has a familiar ring to it, as the team has been simply amazing in games featuring that final score recently. Since 2015, the Panthers have played 36 games that ended 1-0 (either way). Their record? An impressive 30-6 in those pressure-packed outings, including against Green Bay and Oakland to close out the 2022 regular season as well as against Marquette for head coach Kevin Boyd's first-ever victory back in August.

WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE!!
Milwaukee went 5-1-4 at home back in 2015. Since then, the Panthers have posted an impressive 59-6-4 ledger at Engelmann Stadium (an .884 winning percentage), including perfect 8-0 (in 2022) and 11-0 runs (2019) through home outings and a 13-1 mark at Engelmann in 2021.

CATCH THEM IN ACTION
Milwaukee women's soccer will be available for the viewing pleasure of fans this season, as all nine home games are scheduled to be streamed live on ESPN+ (subject to change due to weather and location). The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN+ platform. ESPN+, which will host the Horizon League women's soccer, men's soccer and volleyball championships this fall season, offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN's linear TV or digital networks. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) and cancel at any time. Launched in April of 2018, ESPN+ is an integrated part of a completely redesigned ESPN App.

PANTHERS IN THE WORLD CUP
For the first time in program history, the Milwaukee women's soccer program had former players appear in the World Cup. A pair of sisters, Chandler McDaniel and Olivia Davies-McDaniel, were on the roster of the Philippines national team this summer, which is the first male or female squad from the country to qualify for the event. Olivia played in goal for the Panthers from 2016 to 2019, part of a very successful four-year stretch where the team went 62-9-8 overall, including a 32-1-3 record in regular-season Horizon League play. She posted a 1.13 goals-against average as a freshman, and didn't allow a goal her junior year. Chandler McDaniel played for Milwaukee in 2018 and 2019 after transferring from Virginia Tech and started all 19 games in 2018, finishing the season with one goal and two assists. She made a great first impression, assisting the game-winner in the season opener against Northern Illinois, and helped the team to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and 2019. Olivia was the hero of the team's first-ever World Cup victory this summer, as the Philippines shocked co-host New Zealand with a 1-0 victory July 24. Davies-McDaniel secured the win in extra time, making a spectacular save on a shot that would have tied it up with less than three minutes remaining. Florida State had the most former players appearing in the 2023 World Cup at eight, but with two, Milwaukee was tied for 20th.

ON TAP
Milwaukee opens the home portion of the schedule next, welcoming Minnesota and Denver to the Milwaukee area for the "Challenge Cup". The Panthers host the Golden Gophers at Engelmann Thursday August 24 at 7 p.m.