Head coach George Kiefer and his Grand Canyon men’s soccer program announced a16-game regular season schedule that starts at home Aug. 21.

The Lopes will compete in the WAC for the 13th consecutive season, when conference play will open with an Oct. 4 home match versus Utah Valley. Men’s soccer is one of three GCU sports (also beach volleyball and men’s swimming and diving) that are not sponsored by the Mountain West, which is GCU’s future conference.

GCU Stadium will play host to 11 regular-season games, including an Aug.16 exhibition versus Eastern Arizona. All Lopes home games will begin at 7 p.m.

The regular season begins Thursday, Aug. 21, against Jacksonville, followed by matches against Cleveland State (Aug. 25) and Sacramento State (Aug. 28).

GCU then hosts SMU on Sept. 4, a rematch of the 1-1 draw during the 2023 campaign when the Mustangs were ranked No. 2 in the nation. SMU finished the 2024 season ranked No. 5 in the country and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.

Four days later, the Lopes conclude their five-match homestand with Santa Clara, a team that it played to a 1-1 draw last season on the road.

The first road tests of the season bring GCU west to California to take on Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 14 and 2024 NCAA Tournament team UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 21. The final two nonconference contests are back at GCU Stadium against CSUN (Sept. 26) and UT Rio Grande Valley (Sept. 30).

After the Oct. 4 WAC opener against Utah Valley, GCU will have home conference games with San Jose State on Oct.18, Utah Tech on Oct. 23 and UNLV on Nov. 1..

Road WAC matchups will be at San Diego State on Oct. 9, California Baptist on Oct. 12 and Air Force on Oct. 26.

The WAC Tournament will begin Nov. 9 in Riverside, California, with California Baptist playing host.

Natalie Waugh, a 2025 graduate of Mount Gilead High School, will run track for DePauw University.

Courtesy Photo

In deciding to attend college and compete in track and field, Mount Gilead graduate Natalie Waugh found Indiana’s DePauw University to be what she was looking for.

I picked DePauw because it’s a small school and I’m used to small schools,” she said. “I wanted something with smaller class sizes and something that was still prestigious where I could run track at Division III. I just really love it there and I want to go out of state.”

It also didn’t hurt that DePauw’s track and field program reminded her of Mount Gilead’s.

“The team is very motivated,” she said. “They’re very excited to compete and things like that, which is a lot of what we get here. Very similar to the coaches that I have here, so I like that.”

It wasn’t a quick process to pick a school, though.

“It was a longer process,” she said. “I was between Denison and DePauw. They’re very similar, so it was a hard process. A lot of the financial stuff, we had to worry about, but now that I’m decided, I’m definitely very relaxed about it.”

At DePauw, Waugh expects to compete in the same sprinting events as she did in high school, competing in the 100 up to the 400 and also taking part in relays and the high jump, so for her, the main adjustments she’ll have to make involve being in a new place with new people.

“Probably just getting used to new coaches and getting used to new teammates,” she said. “I’m super excited to meet all of the team. I’ve met a lot of them already. Really looking forward to that. And then just competing with new people and competing in a new place against new teams. It’s all new and it’s very exciting.”

While at DePauw, Waugh will study the digital arts.

“I will be studying film and media, I think at this moment, so cinema and maybe some graphic design,” she said. “Things like that. I’m very interested in digital arts.”

And she is excited to see what her future has in store for her over the next few years.

“I’m very excited to branch out,” she said. “I’m used to living in such a small town, so a lot of people here don’t major in art and things like that. So, I’m very excited to break out and use all the resources I have available to me and meet new people.”

But she will miss the bonds she’s developed while at Mount Gilead.

“I will definitely miss my friends and teachers for sure,” she said. “People who have mentored me. A lot of people who have helped me out here. I definitely owe a lot of my success to them, so I will definitely miss them. Obviously, just Mount Gilead. It’s a small place where we’re all close. I’ll miss that closeness.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS

FAIRBANKS – Season tickets for the 2025 Alaska Nanooks volleyball season are now available for purchase. Fans can now purchase volleyball season tickets for $100 via this link. Season ticket holders support the Nanooks at the highest level and get their preferred seat saved for the entire season. A court sport season ticket option where fans can purchase season tickets for all volleyball and basketball games for $250 will be available for purchase later this month.

The Nanooks volleyball team is set for 12 home games in 2025, beginning Sept. 11-13 with the Denali State Bank Ice Block Classic. The Nanooks will host their annual Food Truck Rally on Sept. 13 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. They will then begin their home GNAC schedule on Sept. 25 vs. Saint Martin’s and conclude the regular season by hosting Montana State Billings on Nov. 22. On Oct. 2 vs. Alaska Anchorage, the Nanooks will host their Pack the Patty and White Out Night, where we are aiming to get 1,000 fans in the Patty Center. Other big matches include our Dig Pink match presented by Alaska BCDC vs. Central Washington on Oct. 18 and Military Appreciation Night vs. Seattle Pacific on Nov. 20.

Reach out to the Nanooks Ticketing Office at (907) 474-NOOK (6665) or by email at uaf-athletics@alaska.edu.

Ticket Office Hours
Monday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Wednesday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Thursday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Friday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

For the full schedule and match details, CLICK HERE. Season tickets for remaining sports will be available shortly.

Follow the ‘Nooks
IG – @NanooksVB
X – @NanooksVB
FB – Alaska Nanooks Volleyball

Ryleigh Cavanaugh has joined the Lindenwood University women’s lacrosse staff as an assistant coach, head coach Jack Cribbin announced today.
“We are thrilled Ryleigh is going to remain with our Lindenwood lacrosse family,” Cribbin said. “She will be a great addition to our staff. Her resume as a student-athlete and leader speaks for itself. I know Ryleigh will be a tremendous coach, and we are excited her journey will begin with us.”
 
Cavanaugh, a Manchester, New Hampshire native, was a former student-athlete at Lindenwood from 2023-2025 where she earned a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration. She served as a team captain in 2025, while helping the program to a 23-11 overall record with two consecutive appearances in the ASUN semifinals. Cavanaugh owns the Lindenwood University all-time draw control record, average draw controls per game record, single-game draw control record, and single-season draw control record. She was voted by her teammates as the team Most Valuable Player for both the 2024 and 2025 seasons. In addition, Cavanaugh was voted the team’s Heart of a Lion award recipient in 2025. In May 2025 she competed in IWLCA Senior All-Star Game in Sparks, Maryland.

Prior to Lindenwood, Cavanaugh spent four years as a student-athlete at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology. At Roger Willams she served as a team captain and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representative. Cavanaugh was named the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Rookie of the Year in 2021. She was a First Team All-Conference selection in 2021, 2022, and 2023. In 2023, Cavanaugh was named the CCC Offensive Player of the Year, Roger Williams Female Athlete of the Year, and was a CCC Woman of the Year Finalist. She was an IWLCA First Team Pilgrim Region selection and was an IWLCA Third-Team All-American in 2023 and was named to the CCC All-40th Team in 2025.

 

Clemson Family – 

I hope you and your family have had a wonderful Independence Day weekend and are having a great summer.

The 2024-25 athletic year has officially come to a close in June, and as we look out upon a new era of college athletics, I wanted to take a moment to reach out to Thank You. There’s never been a more transitional time in college athletics, and I’ve never been more confident in our position. This year had an incredible number of records, big-time hardware and many big steps forward in our department – competitively and in the classroom – and we’re looking for even bigger things in 2025-26.

In May, nearly 100 student-athletes walked the stage, and our program’s academic accomplishment continues to set a national standard. We’ve led the nation among public Power Four institutions in graduation success rate (96%), had our second-best Academic Progress Rate on record (996 out of 1000), and our student-athletes have set GPA records in eight consecutive semesters.

We saw Lacrosse go to the NCAA tournament for the first time in their brief history, and advancing to the Sweet 16, our Men’s Tennis team advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013, and our Women’s Tennis program made the Tournament for the first time since 2018. Our women’s indoor track and field program took home the ACC title. Rowing took great steps in its first season under Adrienne Martelli, who led the Tigers to a top-25 ranking in the final poll for the first time since 2014.

The Softball program, still in its relative infancy, won its first ACC Tournament Championship and advanced to a Super Regional for the third time in five full seasons, and won its first Super Regional game at eventual National Champion Texas’s home field. The whole Regional weekend McWhorter Stadium was electric!

Baseball was among the top 15 teams throughout the season, and is one of just two baseball programs to host a regional in each of the past three seasons. Gymnastics had another strong season, and we recently welcomed Justin Howell and Liz Crandall-Howell as Co-Head Coaches, which sent a major message that our program is poised and ready to take yet another step forward.

This year, we’re one of two schools nationally with our Football, Men’s Basketball and Baseball teams ranked at the end of the season, and Clemson led those programs in graduation success rate. Additionally, we won 40+ Baseball games, 25+ Men’s Basketball games and 10+ Football games in the same season for the third time ever.

Our football program has a tremendous core intact and is being talked about nationally as a contender after its ACC Title and CFP appearance in 2024. We also recently announced a 12-year series with Notre Dame, and we’re excited that our game with LSU on Aug. 30 will be in primetime on ABC.

We recently opened the Watt Family Performance and Wellness Center, a new 55,000-square-foot wellness facility, which is the new national standard, and a day-to-day home for 18 of our 21 sports. Rarely do we have the opportunity to impact so many of our programs with one facility, and this fits the bill.

Suffice it to say – there’s never been a better time to be a Tiger.

Much has changed in the past few months as we’ve positioned ourselves for the future.

We have settled our lawsuit with the ACC, and in doing so negotiated an enhanced revenue distribution model that rewards viewership in football and men’s basketball. While we’ve been among the best in the conference in those metrics previously, we must continue to keep those incentives a focus.

The settlement of the House Case was recently approved by Judge Claudia Wilken, and the new roster limits, scholarship allowances and the ability to enter into licensing agreements with student-athletes are transformational. I’ve had the privilege to serve on a committee to outline the “new era,” and that has allowed Clemson to stay informed and strategic.

As we unveiled previously, we plan to be among the most aggressive in support of our programs, and will add nearly 150 new scholarship opportunities, share the full allotment of revenue allowed ($20.5 million in 2025-26), and be thoughtful in our approach. We released a lengthy letter and FAQ in October 2024, and most of the philosophy and direction released then has not changed. There are still many nuances that need to be ironed out, but Clemson continues to be positioned for broad-based success nationally, and certainly among the most visible sports.

While the landscape has been fluid, one thing that has been reinforced is that culture matters. The support Clemson and IPTAY provide to our student-athletes off the field and court, the people we have in place, and our leadership have offered so much more than just a chance to play. We’ve vowed to “keep Clemson Clemson,” and each of our donors and fans play a central role in that.

We’ve continued to innovate in our business practices, while scrutinizing our expenses and seeking several new revenue categories within Clemson Ventures. Alcohol sales in our venues began at the Spring Football Game, and we’ve seen consistent support that will have an impact on our bottom line. We also hosted the Savannah Bananas in a surreal night in Death Valley, and unique events in our venues will continue to build new opportunities.

To cut to the chase, there’s a lot going on, and we couldn’t invest in our programs and perform at the highest level without your support.

We are so grateful to you, and we can’t wait to see you this fall.

Graham

HIGH POINT, N.C. –  The High Point University Volleyball program announced its 2025 schedule for the upcoming season. The Panthers will face 11 non-conference opponents – including three first-time matchups – and 14 Big South games. Within the non-conference slate, HPU will return to two familiar tournaments and take on three opponents that made the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Tournament last season.
  
High Point will open the season on the road for the first two months of games, not hosting a home match until conference play on October 3. HPU heads back to the Do Terra Classic hosted by BYU of the Big 12 for the second consecutive season. The Panthers kick-off the weekend with a doubleheader on Friday August 29 against two new matchups, Central Michigan (12:00 p.m. ET) and Fairleigh Dickinson (6:30 p.m. ET). High Point will then play the host team, BYU, on Saturday August 30 (game time TBA). A season ago, the Panthers put up a competitive match and took a set on the Cougars, falling 3-1. This will be the third meeting with BYU since 2021.
 
HPU returns to the East Coast for the Villanova Classic in Villanova, Pennsylvania during the weekend of September 5 through September 7. The Panthers will play Fairfield on Friday September 5 (4:00 p.m.), Yale on Saturday September 6 (7 p.m.) and Villanova on Sunday September 7 (2:00 p.m.). HPU is 2-1 against Fairfield, with its most recent win over the Stags in 2024. Yale competed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2024 and this will be the second meeting between the two teams. The Panthers have never matched up against Villanova, a team that has gone 17-14 in back-to-back seasons in the Big East.
 
High Point travels to Johnson City, Tennessee for the Buccaneer Classic presented by the Tri-Cities Airport. The two-day tournament begins on Friday, September 12 against Western Kentucky (1:30 p.m.) before playing the tournament host, East Tennessee State on Saturday, September 13 (2:30 p.m.). HPU and WKU will matchup for the first time in program history while the Panthers and the Buccuneers will compete for the ninth time. 
 
For the last weekend before the Big South Conference regular season starts, High Point remains on the road for the annual UMBC/Howard Tournament. HPU will play at Howard on Thursday, September 18 (game time TBA) before going over to UMBC on Friday, September 19 (6:00 p.m.). This will complete HPU’s early season tournament play.
 
High Point remains on the road for the first Big South conference game of the season. The Panthers will play at Radford on Friday, September 26 (6:00 p.m.) for a one-game weekend.
 
From there, HPU will host back-to-back home weekends at the Millis Center. The Panthers kick-off the home-opener against Winthrop on Friday, October 3 (6:00 p.m.). On Saturday, October 4 (2:00 p.m.) High Point will host Gardner-Webb. The following weekend on October 10 (6:00 p.m.) the Panthers will take on Charleston Southern before matching up against Presbyterian on Saturday, October 11 (2:00 p.m.).

High Point then hits the road for two away weekends, first to UNC Asheville on Friday, October 17 (6:00 p.m.) and then to USC Upstate on Saturday, October 18 (4:00 p.m.). This concludes the first half of conference play. On Friday, October 24 (6:00 p.m.) the Panthers will play Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, North Carolina before going over to Winthrop on Saturday, October 24 (2:00 p.m.).

The Panthers take a break from conference play on Tuesday, October 28 (6:00 p.m.) to play the College of Charleston for a mid-week matchup. The Panthers and Cougars have competed in four matches prior to the 2025 season.

HPU will host USC Upstate and UNC Asheville for the Halloween weekend, taking on the Spartans on Friday, October 31 (6:00 p.m.) and the Bulldogs on Saturday, November 1 (2:00 p.m.).

 

The Panthers wrap up the regular season on the road at Presbyterian, Friday, November 7 (6:00 p.m.) and at Charleston Southern on Saturday, November 14 (3:00 p.m.). The following weekend, Radford will play High Point in the final game of the regular season at the Millis Center on Friday, November 14 (6:00 p.m.).

 

High Point will host the Big South Tournament at the Millis Center beginning on November 21-23 for the fourth straight season.

 

 

#GoHPU