The Nebraska Cornhuskers women's soccer team competes as part of

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

, representing the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. Nebraska has played its home games at Barbara Hibner Soccer Stadium since 2015. The program has been coached by John Walker since its establishment in 1994. Nebraska finished 23–1–0 and reached the national quarterfinal in 1996, the beginning of a five-year stretch in which NU achieved most of its national success. The program has reached in thirteen NCAA Division I tournaments and won a combined eleven conference championships across the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

and

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

. Eleven former Cornhuskers have competed in the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

, most of them for Walker's native

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Christine Latham and

Brittany Timko Brittany Amanda Baxter (née Timko) (born September 5, 1985) is a Canadian retired soccer player who played professionally for five different clubs and earned 132 caps with the Canadian National Team. Club career Baxter's first senior club team ...

are enshrined in the Nebraska Athletic Hall of Fame.

History

In 1994, Nebraska became the first Big Eight school to add women's soccer as a varsity sport. NU hired John Walker to lead the new program on the recommendation of Bret Simon, a men's assistant at nearby Creighton. Walker historically advocated an aggressive attack, often playing with four forwards during his early years in Lincoln. He is the only women's soccer coach Nebraska has ever had and one of the longest-tenured head coaches in school history. Nebraska played as an independent until the

was formed in 1996. NU began its first season in the new conference 21–0–0, winning the Big 12 regular season and tournament before defeating

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

in sudden-death overtime in its first-ever NCAA Division I tournament game, later falling to third-ranked

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

in the NCAA Division I quarterfinal. It was the first of five consecutive national top-ten finishes, but an elimination on penalty kicks against Notre Dame in 1999 and an upset loss to

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

in 2000 ended the most successful stretch in program history without a national title. Nebraska's Big 12 dominance waned in the early 2000s and its ten-year NCAA tournament streak ended in 2006. The program has reached the tournament just three times since joining the

in 2011, winning two regular-season conference titles and the 2013 Big Ten tournament. After six consecutive seasons with fewer than ten wins, Nebraska reached the national quarterfinal in 2023 before falling to

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

; forward Eleanor Dale became the first Cornhusker to lead the country in goals.

Conference affiliations

*Independent (1994–1995) *

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

(1996–2010) *

(2011–present)

Coaches

Coaching history

Coaching staff

Venues

Nebraska hosted its first seven home matches at Whittier Field, a public park just east of campus, before moving to the Abbott Sports Complex in 1995. The Abbott Sports Complex, located miles from campus, hosted the program for ten years and was the site of a program attendance record of 4,830, a 1–1 draw between NU and second-ranked

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in 2002. The university constructed additional soccer facilities in the Hawks Championship Center as part of a 2005 Memorial Stadium renovation, allowing the program to move on-campus to the Nebraska Soccer Field at

Ed Weir Samuel Edwin Weir (March 14, 1903 – May 15, 1991) was an American professional football player and coach for the Frankford Yellow Jackets of the National Football League (NFL). He was the first Nebraska Cornhuskers player elected to the ...

Stadium. Ed Weir Stadium was among the smallest soccer venues in the

. In 2015, Nebraska constructed Barbara Hibner Soccer Stadium just north of the

Bob Devaney Sports Center The Bob Devaney Sports Center (commonly referred to as the Devaney Center) is a sports complex on the campus of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska. The facility, opened in 1976 as the NU Sports Complex, was named for footb ...

and adjacent to Nebraska Innovation Campus. Hibner Stadium was built as part of a $20.4-million soccer and tennis complex, and has a listed capacity of 2,500 with 1,800 permanent seats. It is named for former administrator Barbara Hibner, who was integral to the introduction of soccer as a varsity sport at NU and died in 2007.

Championships and awards

Conference championships

Regular season *

: 1996, 1999, 2000 *

: 2013, 2023 Tournament *

: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 *

: 2013

Individual awards

*National coach of the year: John Walker (1996) *Conference player of the year: Kari Uppinghouse (1996), Kim Engesser (1998), Sharolta Nonen (1999), Christine Latham (2000, 2001),

(2004, 2005, 2006), Morgan Marlborough (2009, 2010), Jordan Jackson (2013 – ), Ari Romero (2013 – ), Eleanor Dale (2023 – ) *Conference freshman / newcomer / rookie of the year: Morgan Marlborough (2009)

First-team All-Americans

*Kari Uppinghouse – 1996 *

Sharolta Nonen Sharolta Louisa Nonen (born December 30, 1977) is a Canadian former soccer defender and current women's soccer coach of the Florida International University Panthers. She played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in college, where she was the first t ...

– 1999 *Meghan Anderson – 2000 *Jenny Benson – 2000 * Eleanor Dale – 2023

Postseason results

NCAA Division I tournament

Nebraska has appeared in thirteen NCAA Division I tournaments with a record of 19–12–2.

Seasons

International competition

Women's World Cup

Eleven former Nebraska players have represented their country in the

. Ten of these competed for

, a country that

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

native John Walker recruited heavily. NU hosted a scrimmage against the Canadian national team prior to the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

Olympians

Notes

References

{{Big Ten Conference women's soccer navbox NCAA Division I women's soccer teams

Women's Soccer Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

Big Ten Conference women's soccer