Bearcats lean on underclassmen with big goals
JON DYKSTRA/THE FORUM
Northwest senior Ximena Arnau fights through the Washburn defense last season at Bearcat Pitch.
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State soccer will feature some of the same faces that led the Bearcats to 10 wins in 2025. But how the 2026 season goes will depend heavily on a team loaded with underclassmen.
“Between our sophomore and freshman class, they make up 19 of our 29 players,” Northwest coach Marc Gordon said. “I think we have a pretty gritty freshman group coming, blue-collar, hard-nosed players and I’m excited for that.”
While the Bearcats will be plenty useful, the team will look to senior Makenna West for leadership on and off the pitch this season. West is one of just four seniors on the team.
West led the team in goals (7) and points (15) last year. The senior forward had five game-winning goals last season with 10 total goals over the last two seasons.
“It’s fun being a senior and being the oldest on the team,” West said. “It’s sad that it’s my last year, but it makes me really excited to compete this year.”
As a team, Northwest scored 22 goals last season. With West scoring just under a third of the team’s goals, she says the hope this year is to get more people involved offensively this season.
“I think that’s one of our main focuses this year is getting more people to be able to pitch in on offense,” West said. “I think we can see that a lot with the freshman, and I think we have a lot of sophomores and juniors that will be able to step up and play a bigger part offensively this year.”
Northwest will have to replace the five goals scored by Margaret Madden last season as the team’s second leading scorer. A possible solution may be the return of junior Lille Shaw who finished third on the team in goals scored last season.
On the defensive side, the Bearcats will have to replace some key pieces from a defense that allowed a conference-low 12 goals last season. Replacing one of the MIAA’s best goalkeepers will come down to senior Leyah Scott and freshman Taryn Lewis.
“You know, I try to approach it from a defensive standpoint,” Gordon said. “When we start out, we don’t have a ball and we all defend. I want us to attack as a unit and that’s kind of unique in this game — that mentality.”
Gordon said the team returns some experience on the outside and one of the team’s starting center backs from 2025. The Northwest head coach said things will look different, but the expectations stay the same.
“We have a lot of experience in the wide part of the defense,” Gordon said. “I think foundationally with one returning center back and then our outside backs and having the spring to introduce our new center back, I think we’ll look different. But I’m always going to expect us to not give up goals.”
Northwest will be on the pitch this Sunday for their first friendly of the preseason against Truman State in Maryville. The Bearcats will travel to Minnesota State on Wednesday, then return home Aug. 22 for William Jewell in the team’s final friendly match.
The regular season begins on Aug. 28 at Northern State. The Bearcats will travel will continue their tour of the north on Aug. 30 against Bemidji State. Northwest’s first home match of the season comes Sept. 3 against Maryville.
“I’d say the big goals are winning conference and making it to the national tournament,” West said. “But also scoring more goals and playing really well as a team offensively so that we can compete with the bigger teams in our conference.”
