Michigan to Open 2023 Season on West Coast at No. 22 USC, Pepperdine

UPDATE: Michigan's match at Pepperdine, originally scheduled for Sunday (Aug. 20) at 1 p.m. PDT, will now be played Saturday (Aug. 19) at 3 p.m. PDT due to Hurricane Hilary.

The University of Michigan women's soccer team opens up its 2023 campaign with a pair of matches on the West Coast, beginning with a matchup against future Big Ten opponent in No. 22 USC on Thursday (Aug. 17) at 3 p.m. PDT at McAlister Field in Los Angeles, Calif., followed by a contest against Pepperdine on Sunday (Aug. 20) at 1 p.m. PDT at Tari Frahm Rokus Field in Malibu, Calif. Friday's game will be streamed live on Pac-12.com.

Notes

• The Wolverines enter the season after being selected to finish eighth in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll on Tuesday (Aug. 15). Junior Avery Kalitta as well as sophomores Jenna Lang and Aniyah League were selected as Michigan's players to watch.

• U-M had a two-match exhibition slate prior to the regular-season opener, taking on Dayton on Aug. 6 and Xavier on Aug. 12.

• Head coach Jennifer Klein enters her sixth season at the helm at Michigan with an impressive 56-30-11 mark as the leader of the Wolverine program, having won 63 percent of her matches.

• Klein previously served as an assistant coach at USC, overseeing the recruiting for a team that won the 2016 national title. She helped lead USC to a 71-19-9 record and 31-11-2 mark in Pac-12 play in her four seasons.

• U-M begins the season with three straight road matches, marking the first time that has occurred since the 2008 season. Home games in the 2008 campaign were contested in Ypsilanti and Canton, Mich., due to delays in the construction of U-M Soccer Stadium.

• With USC ranked No. 22 and No. 5 Virginia (Aug. 24) on the schedule, it is the first season since 2005 that U-M has played two ranked opponents in the first three contests of a season.

• A program-high six Wolverines call the state of California home in Christa Hayden (Coto de Caza), Vickie Jones (San Lorenzo), Aniyah League (Cypress), Gabrielle Prych (San Marcos), Sierra Sargent (Manhattan Beach) and Ella Sims (Aragon).

• Michigan trails USC 5-0 in the all-time series, with the most-recent matchup coming on Sept. 3, 2021. U-M fell 1-0 to the Trojans in overtime in a contest that saw the Wolverines outshoot USC 21-12 and held an 11-4 margin in shots on goal.

• Against Pepperdine, U-M holds a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series. The Wolverines have played one match in their history in Malibu, defeating the Wave 3-0 on Sept. 4, 2011. The last meeting came during the 2013 season in Ann Arbor, where the Wolverines picked up a 2-0 win on Sept. 6.