Cullowhee, N.C. – A full 20-match slate with three first-time opponents and a new Southern Conference foe awaits the Western Carolina women's soccer team as head coach Chad Miller today announced his squad's 2026 schedule. The Catamounts host 11 matches at the Catamount Athletic Complex for the second consecutive season, including a pair of early August exhibitions and nine regular-season matchups.
 

WCU opens the season with four straight home matches, including two in early August as its exhibition season. The longest road stretch is a three-match run in mid-September. The schedule culminates with the annual SoCon Women's Soccer Championships over the first two weeks of November, hosted by higher seeds.
 

"We're excited to get back to work and look forward to the challenges presented by our 2026 fall schedule. With a large number of new players joining our program, we are eager to continue developing as a team while learning more about ourselves throughout the early part of the season," said head coach chad Miller, who enters his 17th season leading the Catamount soccer program. "Our non-conference schedule was intentionally designed to challenge us both physically and tactically, exposing our team to a variety of playing styles and competitive environments. We believe competing against high-quality regional opponents will prepare us well for the demands of Southern Conference play."
 

Coming off a third-straight season with double-digit victories, the Catamounts face three NCAA tournament teams from a season ago, including Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, and SoCon tournament champion, Samford. WCU's elevated competition throughout the 2026 campaign includes 10 scheduled opponents that finished inside the top 150 in the NCAA RPI rankings, with three ranking just outside among the top 180.
 

Western Carolina's 28th season of competition begins with a pair of exhibition matches, as the Catamounts host Georgia State (Aug. 5) and Wright State (Aug.8) for final tune-ups before the regular season officially opens on Aug. 13 against Winthrop in Cullowhee. The longest seasonal home stretch ends as the Catamounts host UNC Wilmington for a 1 p.m. kick on August 16. WCU recorded a 2-0 record against Winthrop and UNCW a year ago, recording 2-0 road wins against both.
 

The Catamounts hit the road for the first time in 2026 on August 20, visiting mountain-rival Appalachian State in Boone, N.C. The 17th meeting between the two teams is set for a 6 p.m. kick as WCU looks to avenge a high-scoring 3-2 loss to the Mountaineers from last season. WCU follows the match with the Apps with a trip to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on the Tennessee Lady Vols on Aug., 23 in a return to last year's home match with the at-the-time second-ranked SEC foes.

WCU returns home for back-to-back matches, closing the opening month of the season against directional rival East Carolina and before hosting the NC State Wolfpack. The Catamounts host the Pirates on Aug. 30, in the first meeting between the two since a scoreless draw in Greenville in 2024. NC State makes the trip to Cullowhee for the first time in series history on Sept. 3 as the two teams square off for the sixth time. WCU claimed a 3-2 victory over the Wolfpack in Raleigh a year ago for the program's first win over an ACC opponent.

The longest road stretch of the 2026 campaign opens on Sept. 6, as the Catamounts make the trip to Carrollton, Ga., for the first time. The bout with the West Georgia Wolves is the first of back-to-back first-time opponents for WCU. The squad then travels to the Buckeye State to take on the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks. The Sept. 11 matchup with the MAC opponent coincides with the Western Carolina football team's trip to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sat., Sept. 12.

The road trip concludes with WCU's SoCon opener, as the Catamounts visit in-state league foe UNC Greensboro on Sept. 17. The Catamounts went 2-0 against the Spartans a year ago, including a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind win in the SoCon quarterfinals. WCU returns home on Sept. 20 to host the reigning SoCon champion Samford Bulldogs for a 1 p.m. kick before closing the month on the road, taking on the Wofford Terriers on Sept. 25.

October opens with the Catamounts hosting mountain rival ETSU on Oct. 1. Last year saw the two teams battle to a hard-fought scoreless draw in Johnson City, Tenn., with both teams fighting for a top-two seed in the 2025 SoCon Tournament. WCU then heads to Tennessee on Oct. 4 to take on the Chattanooga Mocs for a 2 p.m. start.

The Catamounts face both military school members of the SoCon in The Citadel and VMI in back-to-back matches, hosting the Bulldogs on Oct. 11 on Senior Day. WCU then travels to northern Virginia to take on the Keydets on Oct. 15, hoping to follow up last season's 9-0 home victory with another impressive performance.

Following a week away from competition, the Catamounts open the final stretch of the season, hosting the Mercer Bears on Oct. 23. The two teams split their matches last year, with WCU posting a 2-1 win in Macon, Ga., in the regular season and Mercer coming away with a 1-0 win in the SoCon semifinals in Cullowhee.  

WCU hosts the reigning OVC champions and first-year SoCon foe Tennessee Tech on Oct. 29 for the final home match of the 2026 regular season. The Golden Eagles went 6-0-3 in conference play last season and notched a 2-0 win over Lindenwood in the conference championship match to advance to the NCAA tournament. WCU is 5-2 all-time against TTU, though the Golden Eagles secured a 1-0 win in Cookeville, Tenn., in their last meeting in 2017.  

The Catamounts close the regular season on the road, visiting the Furman Paladins in Greenville, S.C., on Nov. 1. WCU scored a 2-0 win over the Paladins to secure the 2024 SoCon regular season title their last time in Greenville, though Furman took a 1-0 win over the Catamounts in Cullowhee last season.  

The 2026 Southern Conference Tournament is set to begin on Nov. 6 with some shuffling of the postseason format. Now, three play-in matches between the bottom six seeds will determine the opponents for the first, second, and third seeds. The quarterfinal matches are scheduled just two days after the play-in matches, with the top and second seeds hosting. The top remaining seed following the quarterfinals will host both the semifinals and the championship match, which will take place on Nov. 13 and Nov. 15.

Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's soccer and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @Catamountsoccer).  

2026 Catamount Soccer Schedule:

Tuesday, Aug. 5: vs. Georgia State (Exhibition) | 7 p.m.  

2025 Record: 9-8-2 (5-4-1, Sun Belt) | Home: 6-2-1; Away: 3-5-1 

2025 RPI: 160 | Series Record: 1-3-1 (2024, W, 3-0) 

Saturday, Aug. 8: vs. Wright State (Exhibition) | TBA

2025 Record: 7-7-5 (4-1-5, Horizon League) | Home: 4-4-3; Away: 3-3-2 

2025 RPI: 257 | Series Record: First Meeting 

Thursday, Aug. 13: vs. Winthrop | 6 p.m.

2025 Record: 4-6-6 (2-3-3, Big South) | Home: 3-3-3; Away: 1-3-3 

2025 RPI: 313 | Series Record: 7-0-1 (2025, W, 2-0) 

Sunday, Aug. 16: vs. UNCW | 1 p.m.

2025 Record: 11-3-4 (7-0-2, CAA) | Home: 6-3-1; Away: 5-0-3 

2025 RPI: 54 | Series Record: 3-0 (2025, W, 2-0) 

Thursday, Aug. 20:  at Appalachian State | 6 p.m.

2025 Record: 7-7-3 (3-4-3, Sun Belt) | Home: 4-3-1; Away: 3-4-2 

2025 RPI: 130 | Series Record: 11-4-1 (2025, L, 3-2) 

Sunday, Aug. 23: at Tennessee | 6 p.m.

2025 Record: 12-4-3 (6-2-2, SEC) | Home: 7-1-1; Away: 5-2-2 

2025 RPI: 13 | Series Record: 0-4 (2025, L, 3-0) 

Sunday, Aug. 30: vs. East Carolina | 1 p.m. 

2025 Record: 6-8-4 (4-4-2 American) | Home: 2-3-3; Away: 4-4-1 

2025 RPI: 145 | Series Record: 1-8-2 (2024, T, 0-0) 

Thursday, Sept. 3: vs. NC State | 7 p.m. 

2025 Record: 5-9-4 (4-4-2, ACC) | Home: 2-5-1; Away: 3-4-3 

2025 RPI: 107 | Series Record: 1-3-1 (2025, W, 3-2) 

Sunday, Sept. 6: at West Georgia | 1 p.m.

2025 Record: 4-13-2 (2-6-2, ASun) | Home: 3-5-2; Away: 1-8 

2025 RPI: 320 | Series Record: First Meeting 

Friday, Sept. 11: at Miami (Ohio) | 7 p.m.

2025 Record: 11-5-3 (8-2-2 MAC) | Home: 6-1-1; Away: 5-4-1 

2025 RPI: 100 | Series Record: First Meeting 

Thursday, Sept. 17: at UNCG* | 7 p.m.

2025 Record: 4-12-3 (2-4-3 SoCon) | Home: 4-4-2; Away: 0-8-1 

2025 RPI: 228 | Series Record: 8-25-4 (2025, W, 4-3) 

Sunday, Sept. 20: vs. Samford* (SoCon Home Opener) | 1 p.m. 

2025 Record: 13-3-5 (7-0-2 SoCon) | Home: 8-1-1; Away: 5-2-4 

2025 RPI: 47 | Series Record: 5-15-2 (2025, T, 2-2) 

Friday, Sept. 25: at Wofford* | 6 p.m. 

2025 Record: 6-9-6 (2-4-3 SoCon) | Home: 2-4-3; Away: 4-5-2 

2025 RPI: 274 | Series Record: 22-7-3 (2025, W, 1-0) 

Thursday, Oct. 1: vs. ETSU* | 7 p.m.

2025 Record: 9-4-6 (4-1-4 SoCon) | Home: 6-0-3; Away: 3-2-3 

2025 RPI: 98 | Series Record: 10-9-4 (2025, T, 0-0) 

Sunday, Oct. 4: at Chattanooga* | 2 p.m.

2025 Record: 10-5-4 (4-2-3 SoCon) | Home: 8-0-1; Away: 2-4-3 

2025 RPI: 110 | Series Record: 15-10-3 (2025, L, 1-0) 

Sunday, Oct. 11: vs. The Citadel* (Senior Day) | 2 p.m. 

2025 Record: 5-9-3 (2-5-2 SoCon) | Home: 3-4; Away: 2-5-3 

2025 RPI: 325 | Series Record: 22-1-2 (2025, W, 3-0) 

Thursday, Oct. 15: at VMI* | 3 p.m.

2025 Record: 2-17-1 (0-9 SoCon) | Home: 1-6-1; Away: 1-11 

2025 RPI: 335 | Series Record: 13-0 (2025, 9-0) 

Friday, Oct. 23: vs. Mercer* | 7 p.m.

2025 Record: 10-7-3 (3-3-3 SoCon) | Home: 5-3-2; Away: 4-4-1 

2025 RPI: 179 | Series Record: 7-9 (2025, L, 1-0) 

Thursday, Oct. 29: vs. Tennessee Tech* | 6 p.m. 

2025 Record: 7-7-8 (6-0-3 , OVC) | Home: 4-3-5; Away: 3-4-3 

2025 RPI: 169 | Series Record: 5-2 (2017, L, 1-0) 

Sunday, Nov. 1: at Furman* | 2 p.m.

2025 Record: 10-4-5 (3-2-4 SoCon) | Home: 4-1-3; Away: 5-3-2 

2025 RPI: 106 | Series Record: 10-24-1 (2025, L, 1-0) 

Friday, Nov. 6: SoCon Tournament Play-In Matches (top seed hosts)

Sunday, Nov. 8: SoCon Tournament Quarterfinals (First and Second seed hosts)

Friday, Nov. 13: SoCon Tournament Semifinals (Highest remaining seed hosts)

Sunday, Nov. 15: SoCon Championship (Highest remaining seed hosts)