The Case Western Reserve University women's soccer team will be looking to continue its run of successful seasons in 2025. The Spartans are coming off a 9-5-5 campaign and made their fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship while reaching the second round of the tournament for the fourth year in a row.
Last year, CWRU defeated Skidmore 4-3 in the first round of the national tournament, using an 85th-minute goal to advance to the second round. The Spartans took on fifth-ranked and host Messiah, falling 1-0 on a goal in the 89th minute of regulation.
Newcomers
Head Coach Alyssa Johnson, in her second season leading the squad, added seven new student-athletes to the team. First-years Madeline Mescher and KC Southard add depth at the goalkeeper position, first-years Madison Humenik and Mia Modrovich will compete for time on the backline, and first-years Emily Callanen and Izzy Probst are options in the attacking third. Sophomore midfielder Emi Kenney will join the team after taking a red shirt year at Division I Youngstown State University in 2024.
Forwards
The Spartans return four of their top five goal scorers from last season, during which the team tallied 33 goals in 19 games. Senior Molly Shamah paced CWRU last season with eight goals and added an assist to earn All-University Athletic Association Second Team honors. Senior Alexis Sassower, an All-Region Fourth Team selection a year ago and All-UAA honorable mention in 2023, led the Spartans with 18 points on seven goals and four assists. Senior Maggie Farra recorded three assists in 16 games last season and has accumulated 21 points in 54 career games.
Midfielders
Case Western Reserve returns a couple of key contributors from last season in the middle of the pitch. The CWRU midfield is led by senior Jamie Goldfarb, who has been named to the All-UAA Second Team each of the last two seasons. She scored three times in 2024 and added an assist, logging 1,109 minutes on the field. Senior Mackenzie Mueller, who started the final 15 games last season, was an All-UAA Second Team honoree in 2023. She has appeared in 56 games during her career and has seven goals and six assists. Senior Ceci Dapino is the only returning player that started every game last year; she scored three times and added four assists in 2024, giving her nine goals and nine assists in 55 career matches. Sophomore Abby Welker came off the bench in every game last year and contributed three assists, and senior Andrea Silva came off the bench in 11 contests last year, scoring once. She has four career goals and six career assists. Sophomores Taylor Brackett and Ashley Liang and junior Marina Morris have all been bench contributors during their time at CWRU, appearing in 11 games each during the previous campaign. Adding experienced depth to the position will be juniors Avery Reiman, Talia Ciralsky, and Angelee Rodriguez and sophomores Peyton Kyle, Vivian Nohra, and Aly Schellhouse.
Defenders
Juniors Kat Tsarouhas and Maya Healy and sophomore Kinzly Gootman will anchor the team's defense in 2025. Last year, CWRU allowed 1.26 goals per game and shut out five opponents. Tsarouhas appeared in every contest last season, logging 1,518 minutes, the most of any returning player. Gootman started 17 contests, logging 1,477 minutes, and Healy started the first four games last year before missing the rest of the season due to injury after making 15 starts in 2023. Senior Julia Flynn has appeared in 37 career games, including 17 last year, and junior Kaylee Bannack made eight starts last season. Finally, senior Emma Struck and juniors Abby Noah and Sadie DeAngelo will look for minutes in the back during the year as well.
Goalkeepers
The Spartans will need to replace four-year starter Maggie Storti in front of the net after she served as the team's goalkeeper for the team's previous 80 games. Sophomore Ellie Palaian, who made one save in 21:52 last season without allowing a goal, will compete with newcomers Mescher and Southard for the starting role.
Schedule
CWRU enters the 2025 season without a loss in its last 52 regular season non-conference matches, going 48-0-4 in those contests. The Spartans open the campaign with a pair of home matches against Franciscan and Allegheny on August 29 and 31. The team won't return to DiSanto Field for the following three weeks, playing road games at John Carroll, Grove City, and Heidelberg before a pair of matches against third-ranked Christopher Newport and Ohio Northern in Delaware, Ohio. The Captains reached the national semifinals last season, and the Polar Bears advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2024. The team ends non-conference play with home matchups against 25th-ranked Calvin (September 20), Penn State Behrend (September 24), and Baldwin Wallace (September 30), and a road trip to Alliance, Ohio, to face Mount Union. The Knights and Lions both were NCAA Tournament entrants last season with Calvin reaching the second round.
The team opens its tough conference schedule on Saturday, October 4 with a home match against 24th-ranked Rochester. Seven of the eight teams in the association qualified for the postseason last year, including national champion WashU, national semifinalist Emory, and national quarterfinalist Chicago. Six of the schools enter the season ranked in the top 25 of the United Soccer Coaches Poll. The top-ranked WashU Bears visit Cleveland on October 11 for the penultimate home game of the season. The Spartans travel to 11th-ranked Chicago the following Saturday and have a New England road trip the next weekend, facing Brandeis and 17th-ranked NYU. The last home game of the season is against fourth-ranked Emory on November 1 with the 2025 finale scheduled for November 8 at 16th-ranked Carnegie Mellon.
Postseason selections will be announced on Monday, November 10 with the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament scheduled for November 15 and 16 at campus sites. For the second year in a row, the 21 at-large teams will be selected by the NCAA Power Index (NPI).
