Indiana women’s soccer team closed out their preseason schedule with Saturday’s 1-1 draw against the University of Dayton. Now, the Hoosiers look forward to their regular season opener at home against Hampton University this Wednesday.
Hampton’s only preseason match resulted in a loss against Old Dominion on August 6, when the team lost 4-0.
Despite this loss, Hampton is not a team the Hoosiers can easily overlook. In 2025, Hampton finished the season with 26 goals scored, the second most in the program’s history.
Additionally, junior midfielder Nylah Jennings returns after totaling five goals and two assists during her sophomore season. Hampton also enters this match with first-year head coach Sam Cain.
While Indiana maintained possession for much of the exhibition match, its defense in the Hoosiers’ own half was not as solid as its offense. Despite holding Dayton to six shots during the game, Indiana’s back line could not stop Dayton’s goal 35 minutes in. Whenever Dayton was able to get into Indiana’s half, they were able to make big runs to get close to the goal.
Even though those runs were few and far between, it still resulted in Dayton scoring first — 35 minutes into the game compared to the Hoosiers’ first goal 72 minutes in. After the game, head coach Josh Rife acknowledged the defensive pattern and said they would look at their game film to see where to improve. After the game, head coach Josh Rife acknowledged the defensive pattern in a post-game interview and said they would look at their game film to see where to improve.
“I think that the opportunities are there for us to go back and look and film and assess,” Rife said in the post-game interview after the draw against Dayton. “In these critical moments, how are we handling them? How can we handle them better? What do we need to do to be sharper in those areas?”
As Wednesday’s matchup is the first regular season game for both teams, there will be no penalty shootout, unlike Indiana’s exhibition contest against Dayton. The Hoosiers produced a 3-3 penalty shootout draw, but Rife said he was confident in his players and their abilities to perform in pressure-packed situations.
Indiana women’s soccer kicks off their regular season opener Aug. 12, with kickoff scheduled for 8 p.m. Coverage will be available on B1G+.
Follow reporters Leonardo Vesperini (@leovmedia and lvesperi@iu.edu) and Will Kwiatkowski (@WKwiatkowski_15 and wdkwiatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women's soccer season.
