Women’s Soccer Heads to California for First Road Test

Thursday, August 31

Santa Clara, Calif.

10:30 PM ET

Columbia University

#8 Santa Clara

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Josh Wang

Women’s Soccer Heads to California for First Road Test

8/30/2023 12:54:00 PM | Women's Soccer

At Santa Clara - ESPN+ Link Live Stats (Santa Clara)At San Francisco - ESPN+ Link Live Stats (San Francisco)

The Lions look to continue building on a 2-0 start to the season

By: Garret Sulak

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Coming off the program's first 2-0 start since 2001, Columbia will travel to California to play No. 8 Santa Clara on Thursday before meeting San Francisco on Sunday in the Lions' first road test of the season.

"We are looking forward to going out to the West Coast and getting a great trip with the team," Columbia Women's Soccer Head Coach Tracey Bartholomew said. "We will get out there and enjoy ourselves, but also put a great product on the field."

STARTING THE SEASON

Columbia had an impressive start to the season, earning back-to-back shutouts in wins against Hofstra and Loyola-Maryland. Six Lions combined to score the team's six goals in the first week of the season.

Nata Ramirez, Maia Tabion, Kat Jordan, Kendall McBride, Madi Pilla and Ania Prussak each registered a goal to get the season started. Ramirez and Tabion were both credited with two assists to lead the team with four points each.

Goalkeeper Paige Nurkin earned the start in both games as she played 135 total minutes last weekend. Nurkin totaled four saves in the undefeated season debut weekend. Elizabeth Matei made an appearance and played the second half of the Loyola-Maryland game.

IN THE RANKINGS

Coming out of the weekend, Columbia earned the No. 7 spot in the United Soccer Coaches East Region rankings that were released Tuesday. Georgetown came in at the No. 1 spot in the East Region. The Lions ranked third among Ivy League schools in the rankings. Brown took the No. 4 spot in the East Region rankings, while Harvard came in at No. 5.

THE MATCHUPS

Thursday's game against Santa Clara will be the first meeting between the programs. Santa Clara is 4-0 to start the season and ascended to No. 8 in the most recent national rankings. The Broncos defeated Washington, 5-1 and Seattle, 2-0 last week. Four Broncos have scored two goals to help lead the Santa Clara offense. Kickoff between the Lions and Broncos is set for 10:30 p.m. ET.

Columbia will head to San Francisco on Sunday to meet the Dons for a 4 p.m. ET kickoff. The Dons are 0-3 to start the season, dropping contests to Oregon State, No. 6 Stanford and UC Davis. San Francisco will play California on Thursday before playing Columbia Sunday. This will be the first meeting between Columbia and San Francisco.

FOLLOWING THE LIONS

For the latest on the Columbia women's soccer program, follow @CULionsWSOC on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at Facebook.com/ColumbiaWSoccer and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.