The Nevada women’s volleyball, women’s soccer and football programs are moving into the conference portion of their seasons, with the soccer and volleyball teams starting their campaign today on the road against San Diego State and at home against Wyoming respectively. Here are our report cards for each team as they head into the meat of their seasons.
Women’s soccer (2-7 non-conference): D
Coming off of a season where the program reached conference playoffs for the first time in a decade, the women’s soccer team fell flat on its face through its first nine games, resulting in being the worst ranked Mountain West team in the nation at 319 out of 348 programs in the NCAA Women’s Soccer RPI.
The Wolf Pack women were able to notch two wins against Kansas State and Southern Utah, both of which were 2-1 victories from the Pack that gave hope to the momentum that Vanessa Valentine, head coach, and her team built up. However, since then, the program has lost seven straight games, five of which were on the road against California teams.
Nevada’s worrisome losing streak is lowlighted by their stats. During this time, the women’s soccer team has scored three goals while allowing 20. The program has also allowed 132 total shots and 55 shots on goal during this time, an average of 18.86 total shots and 7.86 shots on goal per game. In comparison, Nevada put up 81 total shots and 34 shots on goal in the same span, averaging 11.57 total shots and 4.86 shots on goal per game.
However, this is not to say the women’s soccer program was playing lower end teams. Using the RPI rankings from September 24, the average rank of the teams Nevada played is approximately 199, competing with schools as high as no. 74 (Cal) and as low as no. 289 (CSU Bakersfield).
The Mountain West has a harsher split in the rankings, with Utah State being the highest at 14 in the nation and San Jose State being the next lowest team in the Mountain West at 317. While out of a very mixed non-conference schedule, the Nevada women’s soccer team is not out of the woods just yet and will need to bear down in order to make it back to postseason play.
Women’s volleyball (7-5 non-conference): B+
With 12 matches under her belt, Shannon Wyckoff-McNeal, first year head coach of the women’s volleyball team, has helped the women’s volleyball program make a drastic turnaround from last year, already matching the team’s win total from the previous season.
Across the first three tournaments the program competed in, Nevada went 7-2, only losing to Cal 0-3 in the Rose City Showdown and CSU Bakersfield 1-3 in the Roadrunner Classic. The women’s volleyball team won every game outside of those losses, sweeping the competition at the Riverside Classic and winning every other match in the other two preseason meets, all of which went to a full five sets.
However, in the UCF tournament, the program’s final pre-season event before conference play, Nevada was swept, losing 1-3 to UCF twice and 0-3 against Maryland. While the team lost the majority of sets by five points or less, it’s still not favorable to ride into conference play on a losing streak.
As of September 24, Nevada sits at the bottom of a powerful seven-team split. San Jose State (8-0), San Diego State (8-2), Wyoming (8-3), New Mexico (7-3), Boise State (8-4) and UNLV (7-4) make up the top six teams, with Nevada rounding out the winning squads. The next highest team is Colorado State with a 4-6 record. Nevada will host Wyoming and Colorado State this week, so this will be the test to see how well Nevada can use their stalled momentum going forward.
Football (2-3 non-conference): C+
Many Wolf Pack fans were excited when Jeff Choate left the Texas Longhorns to be the Nevada football program’s newest head coach. After promising a “launch” and setting high standards for the 2024 season, Choate and his revamped squad have hit a solid stride so far and are in the position that he expected them to be at this point in this season.
Out of the five games played so far, Nevada’s only stain on their record is its 27-0 loss against Minnesota, mainly for the implosion on all fronts. However, with near-wins against SMU and Georgia Southern, a formidable comeback against Troy and a dominant 33-point victory against Eastern Washington, the Nevada football program has not only matched their win total from the last two years, but has also gotten the campus and city community watching once more.
Statistically, the Wolf Pack are averaging 23.6 points a game, which is dead even with their average points allowed. Nevada is also averaging 193.4 rushing yards and 185.6 passing yards a game, both of which are improvements from last season’s totals. The team has 16 touchdowns (nine rushing, seven passing) to its name so far, which is four off from its total touchdowns from last year. All signs point to the offense being the best it’s been since 2021, which is complimented by a formidable defense that is also in its better days.
However, the achilles’ heel for the Wolf Pack has been penalties. The program has accrued 45 penalties for 444 penalty yards through its non-conference schedule, which averages out to nine penalties and 88.8 penalty yards a game. It was especially bad during the Eastern Washington game, as two 40+ yard touchdowns were called back due to penalties. Choate has stated on multiple occasions that the team has to get their discipline in line, but it still seems to be the Wolf Pack’s biggest challenge going into conference play.
The Nevada football program will start their conference play next week on the road against San Jose State, then take on Oregon State and Fresno State at home over the two weeks after that. While unlikely, Nevada could make a run for bowl game contention if they get their penalty concerns sorted out while maintaining and/or improving their performance on both sides of the ball.
Derek Raridon can be reached via email draridon@sagebrush.unr.edu or via Twitter @TheBigCountry14
