Soccer Plays Hawai’i in Mountain West Tournament Semifinals on Wednesday

PHOENIX, Arizona (11/9/26) – The University of Wyoming soccer team opens its Mountain West Conference Tournament in the semifinals on Wednesday. The No. 2-seeded Cowgirls play No. 3 Hawai’i at 3 p.m. at GCU Stadium. The match will be streamed on MW+.   

The Pokes – who haven’t qualified for the conference tournament since 2022 when they advanced to the title match – have been in playoff mode for quite some time now. The last two matches of the regular season could have been eliminators for Wyoming had it not won.

But the Cowgirls made sure it wasn’t with a pair of victories, both over squads that qualified to the four-team conference tournament. It was enough to earn Wyoming the No. 2 seed and a date with the opponent it closed the regular season against this past Saturday.

“We’ve got to prepare as much as we can, but we can’t change too much,” head coach Josh Purdum said. “We have to believe in what got us here. For the first time in my three years, we had the depth, talent, fitness and mentality to get it done. The difference was our want-to. I think at this stage in the season, we weren’t scared to have two tough games in front of us to get to the tournament, and that’s going to prepare us well.”

Alyssa Glover was, appropriately, the catalyst these past couple of weeks. She netted three goals in the last two games, and that push gave her 10 on the season and 28 points. Those were both conference-best marks.

For the season, though, it has been a balanced offensive attack that has fruited a program-record 39 goals. A total of 13 different goal scorers have emerged for the Pokes, the second highest number in school history.

Brooke Brown and Isabel Vasco have each found the back of the net five times, while Maddie Burr has added four goals and Lauren Westwood three.

Goalkeeper, Haley Bartel, closed out her regular season in style with her ninth clean sheet – matching a program record she set back in 2024. She’s made 63 saves with 17 goals allowed for a GAA of 0.91, which is second-best in the league.

Hawai’i's keeper, Kennedy Justin, isn’t far behind Bartel. She’s collected 65 saves with 16 goals surrendered for a GAA of 0.98. Anuhea Aluli paces the Rainbow Wahine offensively with eight goals.

The other semifinal on Wednesday features top-seeded Colorado College and No. 4 Air Force. That match takes place at 7 p.m.

The winners of both semifinals will meet in the championship on Saturday. That is set for a 2 p.m. kickoff.

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