University of North Texas
Incarnate Word
Women's Soccer Set For Season Opener Against UIW
8/13/2025 9:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
DENTON – The 2025 UNT soccer season officially begins Thursday night when the Mean Green host UIW at 7 p.m., in a game that can be seen on ESPN+.
North Texas, which is entering its 31st overall season as a program, all led by John Hedlund, has never had a losing season and will be looking to win its 17th overall conference championship.
The Mean Green return several key players from last year's squad, including their top three goal scorers from a year ago in graduate Rachel Roebuck, sophomore Claire Niedermeier and senior Summer Brown, who combined to score 50% of their 38 goals last season. Roebuck was also third on the team in assists last year with five, and has the second-most of any returner behind junior midfielder Mia Bernard, who tallied six assists last year.
Roebuck, Bernard and senior defender Abi Major were all named to the American Preseason Watch List on Tuesday. Roebuck and Major, along with several key returners like Ella Bushko, Lily Cunningham, Peyton Renfro and Beya Rosales, helped spearhead a strong defensive unit that allowed just one goal per match and pitched eight shutouts in 2024.
The Mean Green have six wins in six all-time tries against UIW and will move after Thursday's match to host Sam Houston on Sunday at 7 p.m., also on ESPN+.
QUICK HITS
- Head coach John Hedlund enters the 2025 season with 400 career wins, which ranks ninth among active DI women's soccer head coaches.
- Hedlund's 30 straight winning seasons makes him one of only four coaches in NCAA Division I soccer history to accomplish the feat, and only two, Hedlund and former North Carolina coach Anson Dorrance, did it with one program. Hedlund is the only active coach to have ever had 30 straight at one school.
- He became the 20th all-time DI women's soccer head coach to reach the 400-win total and just the sixth head coach to earn 400+ victories at just one university.
- The Mean Green will look to get back to their season-opening winning ways after seeing their 12-year streak of winning home openers snapped last season.
- UNT is 6-0-0 all-time against UIW and 2-0-0 all-time against the Cardinals in Denton.
- Sophomore Hicks Bishop is the team's lone returning goalkeeper and played in six matches last year with four starts. She shutout No. 16 Memphis last year to become the first UNT freshman keeper to shutout a nationally ranked opponent.
For more information on UNT Soccer tickets, contact the Mean Green Ticket Office at 940-565-2527 or at ticketoffice@unt.edu. Fans can visit the UNT Athletics Ticket Office located at Gate 2 of DATCU Stadium between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
