Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Troy
Women’s Soccer to begin Season Thursday against Troy
8/12/2026 4:19:00 PM | Women's Soccer
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee Women's Soccer will open its 2026 season when it welcomes the Troy Trojans to Dean A. Hayes Soccer Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 7 p.m.
The season opener also marks the beginning of the season-long celebration of 30 years of Blue Raider Soccer, starting with a gameday poster and keychain, available at the marketing table while supplies last.
Quick Kicks
- Head Coach Aston Rhoden enters his 25th season at the helm of MTSU Soccer, having amassed a 225-185-45 (.544) record since taking over in 2002.
- MTSU is coming off a stellar 2025 season, when it achieved its best record (11-6-3) and highest win total since 2012 (14-5-1), improving upon its previous year's record for three seasons running.
- In Conference USA play, the Blue Raiders achieved a 5-2-1 mark, tying their highest CUSA win total (5) and securing their best tournament seed (4) since 2021.
- The Blue Raiders are 10-10-4 in season openers under head coach Aston Rhoden, having won both their last season opener (Belmont, 2-1, Aug. 14, 2025) and home opener (Jackson State, 3-0, Aug. 17, 2025).
- MTSU's 2026 roster sees 14 returners, five transfers, and 12 freshmen take the field.
- The program retained both starting goalkeepers Demi Gronauer and Ella Sellers, who combined for a conference-leading eight clean sheets during the 2025 regular season.
- In addition to goalkeepers Gronauer and Sellers, only four outfield starters (Hannah Murphy, Megan Carroll, Scottie Newton, and Mya Stenehjem) return for MTSU.
- Head coach Aston Rhoden introduced plenty of experience from the transfer portal, including graduate transfers Bryn Forchic (Stetson) and Saachi Bureau (Wofford), juniors Valentina Navetta (Northern Arizona) and Hailey Phillips (Troy), and sophomore Taylor Dodson (Stephen F. Austin).
- Middle Tennessee adds 12 freshmen, including goalkeeper Lydia Itzoe, defenders Taylee Harbeck, Zoey Kulas, and Hailey Crabb, midfielders Nev Herzog, Gracie Somerville and Brynn Patterson, and forwards Payton Pitman, Liza Miller, Tori Gauch, Avery Yagle, and Ania Denham.
- The squad both retains and adds international pedigree, including players from six foreign countries (Charli Dunn (New Zealand), Annamaria Benke (Hungary), Jess Gray (England), Luiza Junior dos Santos (Brazil), Ania Denham (Wales), and Maaja Fischer (Canada)) and two players that have represented their national teams (Dunn, Denham)
- Graduate Megan Carroll and senior Hannah Murphy will lead the Blue Raiders in 2026, serving as team captains.
Series History
The 2026 season opener will mark the 10th all-time meeting between MTSU and Troy. The Blue Raiders lead the series 7-1-1 and have won the last three contests, including the last two played at home. The teams last met on Oct. 13, 2012 in a 3-1 win for MTSU at Dean A. Hayes Soccer Stadium. Middle Tennessee will look to keep its perfect home record (4-0-0) against Troy on Thursday in what will be the first time that the teams have met in a season opener.
Scouting the Trojans
The Trojans enter the 2026 season after recording a 5-9-3 (0-7-3 Sun Belt Conference) record a season ago, with a 13th-place overall finish in the Sun Belt. Troy was picked to finish 14th in the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Coaches Poll this year. Their season concluded on Oct. 29, 2025 in their regular-season finale, a 0-1 loss to South Alabama.
Midfielder Isabella Hartofelis returns for Troy after playing every minute in 2025, and defenders Brooke Slater, Imani Hamilton, and Georgia Mulholland keep the back line stable. The Trojans welcome eight freshmen and five transfers, including four players from Division I schools. Blue Raider transfers Valentina Navetta and Saachi Bureau will see familiar faces in Northern Arizona transfer Madisyn Marchesi and Wofford transfer Emme Curan, respectively.
Goalkeeper Taylor Richards returns for the Trojans after making 66 saves with a .835 save percentage from 1,080 minutes of action in 2025.
The Trojans are led by first-year head coach Jake Wyman who joins after serving as the head coach at Division II Montevallo for seven seasons. During his time there, he made three NCAA Tournament appearances, including back-to-back appearances in 2024 and 2025.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Stay up to date with MTSU Soccer on Instagram (@mt_wsoccer), X (@MT_Soccer), and Facebook (Middle Tennessee Soccer).
