INSTITUTE, W. Va. — The 2022 athletic season kicks off Sunday with a women's soccer match at Lakin-Ray Field at Dickerson Stadium against the University of Indianapolis Greyhounds.

2021 Season-In-Review
WVSU: 11-7-1 (10-5-1 Mountain East)
How the season ended: Lost to Charleston in MEC Quarterfinals

UINDY: 11-4-3 (8-2-3 Great Lakes Valley)
How the season ended: Lost to Southern Indiana in GLVC Quarterfinals, defeated McKendree in first round of NCAA D-II Women's Soccer Tournament, lost to #1 Grand Valley State in second round.

Preseason Polls
WVSU: 3rd in South Division
UINDY: 3rd Overall

Key Players
For West Virginia State:

• WVSU leading scorer, Mountain East second team, and All-Atlantic region second-teamer Fran Soares-Cupertino returns this season. Soares-Cupertino netted 13 of the 32 goals for the Yellow Jackets. She also     assisted on two additional goals. 
• Sophomore goalkeeper Laura Galindo will also return this year. Galindo capped off a memorable freshman year with a 1.28 goals against average, making 73 saves on 93 total shots on goal faced. She had two solo clean sheets and one combined shutout.

For the University of Indianapolis:

• Fifth-year senior Kiki Sauceda accounted for over half of the Greyhounds offense last season, scoring 15 of the team's 28 goals. She hit a pair of hat tricks last season, one in the Greyhounds's season opener against Cedarville and again on the road against Southern Baptist.
• The Greyhounds will be likely be looking to a new goalkeeper this year. Jenna Taghikhani is the only returning keeper with experience for the Greyhounds. She started in four matches last year and appeared in one additional match, giving up four goals over the five matches. As a team last year, the Greyhounds allowed an average of exactly one goal per match over the 18 matches played. 

Back For More
The Yellow Jackets return 10 of their starting 11 players from last season. Only defender Lainey Armistead doesn't return to the roster after she graduated this past May.