The West Region has a nice little run going in DII women’s soccer. The last three national champions — Western Washington in 2022, Point Loma in 2023 and Cal Poly Pomona in 2024 — all hail from the left coast. While Western Washington was a multi-time winner, both Point Loma and Cal Poly Pomona made program history with their first-ever DII women’s soccer national championships.
It goes deeper than that. The last two national runners-up — Minnesota State last year and Washburn the year prior — also reached the title match for the first time ever. DII women’s soccer was a sport dominated by Grand Valley State, which won seven titles in 12 seasons from 2009-21. There has obviously been a changing of the guard, so with so many new faces in the crowd, will 2025 continue the trend and bring us yet another first-time champion?
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5 teams that can win their first national championship in 2025
Minnesota State. The Mavericks fell one goal short of history last season, and there is a tremendous amount of talent coming back that will want another chance at the trophy. Starting the season off with back-to-back wins against nationally ranked Central Missouri and Grand Valley State shows this team is on a mission. Seven of the starting 11 from last year’s championship match return, including leading scorer Maddix Archer, goal-scoring machine Addison Clarey and NSIC preseason defensive player of the year Kiera Laney. Maille Mathis, Amara Smith, Meghan Sullivan, Reese Hilsenbeck and Marin Johnson all played significant minutes off the bench in the tournament and are all back as well. This was one of the top defenses in the division, finishing in the top three in goals against, shutout percentage and save percentage. Lauren McAlpine played sparingly as the backup keeper a year ago, but there is plenty of experience to help get her comfortable rather quickly in what could be a much-expanded role.
Columbus State. How have the Cougars not won a national title? They have been a model of consistency over the past decade, winning 186 matches over that span (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020). That includes six PBC tournament championships as well. This team is an offensive juggernaut year in and year out — the Cougars have been a top-three scoring offense seven times over that same span. They have reached the NCAA tournament in 16 of the last 17 seasons (again, excluding 2020), reaching at least the quarterfinals in half of those appearances. Eventually, these Cougs are going to break through, and once they do, it could be the start of something big.
Colorado School of Mines. It is kind of wild that the Orediggers don’t have a national championship. They have been to a pair of quarterfinals in the past three seasons and have won the RMAC regular-season title in seven of the last 12 seasons, winning their 10th RMAC tournament title in program history last year. Bella Campos — who has been RMAC freshman of the year and then co-player of the year in her first two seasons — is back to lead one of DII’s most potent offenses, having scored 30 goals in her first two seasons. Three of their top five scorers are back, as is keeper Allie Lundgren, who went 18-1-2 last year and is 3-0 in 2025 with wins against Western Washington and nationally ranked Angelo State under her belt. That is a lot of experience back for a tournament-ready team.
Gannon. Why not the Golden Knights? Gannon has made the tournament four years in a row, reaching the round of 16 in each of the past two seasons. Last year, they had four players score at least 15 points — and three of them are back. That includes the dynamic duo of Brooklyn Respecki and Grace Emanuel, who both finished in the top 20 of DII goal scorers. Also back is keeper Morgan Sinan, who started all 22 matches in net, going 16-1-4 on the season and has yet to allow a goal in 2025. Oh, Destinee Robertson — the PSAC West defender of the year — and Jessie Watkins — the PSAC freshman of the year — are also back. This squad is loaded.
Simon Fraser. This is admittedly a wild card, but to be fair, it could be wilder. First, the Red Leafs are in the GNAC, putting them in the West Region. If history continues to repeat itself, a surprise can be expected from this part of the bracket. But this isn’t just throwing darts into the wind. Simon Fraser returns three of its top four point scorers from a year ago, including Kiera Scott, who scored the lone goal en route to the Red Leafs’ second-straight GNAC tournament title and already has four goals in 2025. Simon Fraser had never made the NCAA tournament until 2023 — and now it has consecutive appearances under its belt with plenty of returning talent. Perhaps this is the year the Red Leafs take another step forward, and like Point Loma and Cal Poly Pomona before them, take home their first-ever title and keep the trophy out West.
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