SALEM, Ore. – In early March of 2025, the Corban University athletic department announced the hiring of 24-year-old Brooke Jones, now Brooke Alteneder following her recent summer wedding ceremony, to head the Warrior Women's Soccer program in her first collegiate head coaching job following a successful international and NCAA DI playing career. This afternoon, the Newberg native will lead the Navy and Gold into battle for the first time in 2025 behind a large core of key returners alongside a diverse batch of recruits that are expected to grow and prosper under the guidance of Alteneder and her staff.
After continuing their now eleven-year postseason streak in 2024 via a No. 8-seed in the 2024 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament, the Warriors will now look to exceed expectations that were set in the 2024 CCC Women's Soccer Preseason Poll, which predicted a seventh-place finish in the 13-team Pacific Northwest conference. Last fall was the first time Corban finished outside the top five programs in the CCC since the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic season, but have still yet to conclude a regular season with less than seven wins to their name since the 1996 season when the squad was only in their fourth year of program existence.
"We're entering this season with a renewed sense of purpose and excitement," Coach Alteneder shared when asked to explain the buzz surrounding the team entering her first season as the program leader. "With a solid core of returners and a talented group of newcomers, including several high-impact freshmen, I believe we have the pieces to be highly competitive in a strong conference. The early part of our schedule will test us, but it will also shape us to compete well throughout the entire season. As our group continues to build chemistry and grow together, I am confident in our ability to compete at a high level and continually chase growth on and off the field."
Season Schedule
Later this afternoon, the Warriors will open their 2025 regular season slate by hosting NCAA DIII Pacific University for the first time since the 2018 season. They currently hold a five-game winning streak against the Boxers and have shut them out in three-consecutive matches dating back to 2021. Hosting a pair of NCAA DIII programs to kick off the year will provide Coach Alteneder and the Warriors with the opportunity they need to best determine what areas they need to improve upon before the start of conference play come late September.
One additional home contest on Friday, September 12th against fellow NAIA program Simpson University will see the Navy and Gold meet the Red Hawks for the first time in program history and represents the final home contest of the month for Corban women's soccer before enduring four-straight road matchups.
Traveling to the University of Providence, No. 3-ranked The College of Idaho, and Eastern Oregon University will represent the most grueling two-week period of the year for the Warriors, as they'll travel over 750 miles to Great Falls, Montana before heading back to the Willamette Valley and spending just a couple of day on campus before enduring half of the same trip to Caldwell, Idaho.
However, back-to-back home weekends at the Outdoor Athletic Complex (OAC) through the first two weeks of October represented by four must-win contests for the Warriors against teams ranked equally or below them in the preseason poll will ultimately determine whether or not they continue to play deep into the November schedule. The five-straight matchups against five of the six teams ranked below Corban women's soccer in the preseason standings are sandwiched between their only road trips this conference season, as the final road games scheduled for 2025 will take place in southern Oregon.
On the opening day of November, the Navy and Gold will host Carroll College for their Senior Night contest, which will represent the final opportunity they have to better their odds at qualifying for the postseason or better yet, increase their chances at a higher seed. All start times for the CCC slate this year will be 4:30pm, with the exception of their 12pm Sunday contest against Walla Walla University on October 5th.
Conference Outlook
Over the past two seasons, the No. 3-ranked Yotes have not dropped a single CCC contest and were heavily predicted to repeat for a third time in 2025 after receiving all 13 first-place votes in the coaches' preseason poll and returning the bulk of their national semifinalist roster. C of I relies heavily upon their high-scoring offense, averaging nearly four goals per game last season and have three First Team All-Conference forwards set to return this fall.
Following the dominance of the Yotes are a trio of programs completely capable of handing C of I their first conference loss in three years, as Oregon Tech, Eastern Oregon University, and Carroll College have all traded places up and down the upper half of the CCC standings year after year but struggle to remain consistent throughout an entire season. While the Lady Owls, Mountaineers, and Saints all hold the depth and experience necessary to win a handful of the remaining conferences across the NAIA, besting the two-time conference regular season and tournament champions will take a village once again in 2025.
Southern Oregon University and Rocky Mountain College remain in the "giant killer" section of the conference rankings, as they'll need to play to their outs within one of the country's most diverse conference on a weekly basis to keep afloat in contender discussions. The Warriors and Northwest University Eagles, who exactly tied in the most recent CCC coaches' preseason poll, can join the Raiders and Battlin' Bears in top four contention should they handle business in the games they're projected to win while remaining competitive against higher ranked opponents.
Finally, with the departure of Multnomah University's athletic department and the addition of Walla Walla's first counting season of competition for their newly established women's program, the Wolves join the Argos, Bushnell University, The Evergreen State College, and Warner Pacific University in programs on the outside looking in on the playoff picture. However, as displayed on an almost weekly basis every year within the CCC, no single team is ever 100% out of any given matchup.
Key Returners/Newcomers
With nearly half of the 2025 roster being represented by true freshman, Coach Alteneder and her staff hold the unique opportunity of blending generational talents together both on and off the field. Despite last year's senior class representing one of the largest in program history, over half of the starting lineup from the team's final fall game in 2024 have returned to mentor both the young Warrior coaching staff and recruiting class.
Following a phenomenal true freshman campaign that saw the Keizer, Oregon native earn CCC Newcomer of the Year accolades, sophomore forward Maya Alston enters her second year as the program's lethal scorer from both distance and close proximity having led the team in goals, shots, shot on goal percentage, and game-winning goals as a lowerclassman. While she lost the support of two senior wingers from last season that spread the field from corner to corner, returning attacker such as sophomore Kylah Sprague, sophomore Leah Valentine, and junior Shaelee Killorn are expected to rise to the occasion and create scoring opportunities through ball control and exploiting holes in opposing defenses.
The midfield was nearly depleted of returners until senior Abril Dimas Camacho committed to one more season as a Warrior in her final year of collegiate eligibility, providing an otherwise young midfielding unit with the upperclassmen leadership necessary to maintain possession over the course of a complete 90 minutes. In order to adapt to the new playing style expected under Coach Alteneder, a handful of returners from both the defensive and offensive focal points, such as redshirt sophomore Kelsey Guzon and junior Gabrielle Nakamura, will be rotating around the field to best fit the needs of each substitutional rotation.
Corban's defensive roster may be the most deep position across the field in 2025, as all four starting defenders at the outside and centerback positions are expected to be represented by returners with hundreds of minutes logged last year. Senior Chloe Vanderhoof (formerly Chloe Beck) was sixth in total minutes for the Warriors in 2024 and second among all defenders, while senior Delaney Fiedler and sophomore Meliah Servatius each appeared in double-digit contests and a combined 1,300 minutes played across last fall.
Having both played and coached as a former goalkeeper, Coach Alteneder will rely heavily on her two returning goalies in junior Ava Hayes and redshirt senior Catriona Burns to control the pace of play and direct the experienced defensive line, as the duo is entering their third season together and second as the primary and secondary options between the posts. Hayes started 15 of 19 contests in 2024 with a 1.61 goals-against-average (GAA) line, six wins, and 60 total saves.
From a newcomer perspective, freshmen midfielders Madelyn Lathrop and Sadie Schweitzer have both been on the receiving end of early off-the-bench scenarios through a friendly scrimmage and first team reps in training thus far, while the recent addition of freshman midfielder Gina Munguia who will utilize her first season of collegiate eligibility as a graduate student transfer from NCAA DI University of Oregon will provide an irreplaceable veteran perspective who enters just as any first-year would within a program with growing expectations. Behind
Warrior Whims (Final Thoughts)
Coach Alteneder's decision to bring back almost the exact same assistant coaching staff with the addition of a recent Corban men's soccer graduate is the exact stability that both herself and the program needs after enduring a fifth head coach change in a seven-year span. With both the nerves and excitement of representing the CCC as the "new kid on the block", Alteneder's key returning student-athletes learning to work in unison with a distinct recruiting class will provide the squad with numerous formation options in all three phases of the game.
Will coaching turnover has remained an unforeseen thorn in the side of the Warrior women's soccer program, the consistency of refining a team culture, growing in their spiritual walks with Christ, and continuously finding new and inventive ways to extend their postseason streak year after year are all defining factors of a championship program. The groundwork is set, the student-athletes God handpicked for Coach Alteneder are in the door, and all that now sits between the Corban women's soccer team and playoff soccer is 90 daily minutes of consistent collaboration.
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