GUELPH, Ont. – The Guelph Gryphons women's soccer team returns to the pitch to begin the 2026 OUA women's soccer season when they host the Algoma Thunderbirds on Saturday, August 29 at 6pm in their season-opening match. The Gryphons are coming off an outstanding 2025 campaign where they were OUA silver medalists while earning their fourth trip to nationals in program history and their first since 2017. Guelph enters the new season as the No. 8-ranked team in the country in the
U SPORTS preseason Top 10 rankings.
The 2026 OUA regular season format remains unchanged from last season with 19 soccer programs from across the province, split into two division and competing in a 12-game regular season. The Gryphons will compete out of the OUA West division for the upcoming season. The top six teams will gain entry into the OUA postseason with the top two teams in each division earning a bye into the OUA quarterfinals on October 24 while the remaining four teams will meet up in the preliminary round on October 21. The semifinal round on October 31 will see the OUA East and West divisions cross-over and play one another with the winners meeting in the OUA Championship game on November 7. Every game in the OUA playoffs is a single knockout game. Following the conference championship, the 2026 U SPORTS Women's Soccer Championships are set to take place from November 12-15 in Vancouver, BC with UBC serving as this year's hosts.
Head coach
Shayne Campbell heads into his 10th season as the leader of the Gryphons women's soccer program and will look to continue his perfect record of making the playoffs every season. "We're returning a large core of the group that had an outstanding season last year and complimenting that with some exciting new additions to our squad. We feel like we should once again have a strong, competitive team that can compete at the top levels of the OUA," says Campbell, who is a four-time OUA West Coach of the Year (2025, 2024, 2021 & 2018). See below for more information on the 2026 edition of the University of Guelph women's soccer team.
Forwards
The Gryphons forward group is led by team captain and reigning national player of the year,
Olivia Rizakos. Rizakos last season put together one of the best seasons in program history, leading the entire country with 20 points, leading the OUA with 9 assists while ranking 2nd in the conference with 11 goals. The 24-year-old from Toronto was named OUA West MVP,
OUA Women's Athlete of the Year (across all sports), a U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian and the recipient of the
Chantal Navert Memorial Award as the U SPORTS Player of the Year in women's soccer, the first individual in program history to be named national player of the year. Rizakos will be joined up front by third-year bio-medical science major
Ella Cahill. Cahill plays out on the wing and appeared in all 12 of her team's matches last season, tallying 4 points. Izzy Trepanier returns to the team after missing last season with an injury after scoring 4 goals in her rookie season with the team in 2024.
Kaiya Woodcock returns to Guelph for her second season after appearing in 10 games in 2025.
Midfield
An experienced group of midfielders return to the Gryphons heading into the new season.
Rebecca Draeger is a key cog for this midfield group, starting in all her team's games last season, scoring three times, including scoring in her team's OUA semifinal match against Queen's. The third-year bio-medical science major from Waterloo was named an OUA Second Team All-Star last season.
Olivia Stavropoulos also features at centre midfield for the Gryphons. The fourth-year bio-medical science major recorded a goal and assist in her six matches a year ago.
Cassidy Anderson (Vancouver, BC) and
Cadence Smyth (Newmarket, ON) both return to Guelph in their holding midfield role. Anderson, in her third season with the team started 11 games last season while Smyth, who enters her final season, appeared in all 12 games in 2025. Two-sport athlete
Ava Hunyady (women's soccer and women's wrestling) enters year two occupying the attacking midfield role for the team. Hunyady saw action in all 12 regular season games last season, starting in 4 as she was named the team's rookie of the year.
Defence
The Gryphon backline is led by one of the best defenders in the conference and team captain,
Katie Kimens. The fifth-year defender from Maple, ON is a stabilizing force on the Gryphon backline, starting all 14 games as part of a group that conceded the third-fewest goals (10) in the OUA a season ago. Kimens' play saw her earn her first OUA West All-Star selection on the first team. Third-year sport and event management major
Talia Hamilton returns to solidify the defence, starting in 11 games and recording two points.
Grace Annan,
Abigail Fox and
Avery Rogerson all will look to take a step forward as they head into year two with the Gryphon soccer program.
Goalkeepers
Guelph's goalkeeper tandem of
Sabrina Spano and
Jo Mazier return to solidify the goalkeeping room for a third consecutive season. Fourth-year goalkeeper
Sabrina Spano (Maple, ON) started in 6 of her team's regular season games where she had three clean sheets. Spano started all her team's matches in the postseason last season and had a pair of clean sheets. Third-year molecular biology and genetics major
Jo Mazier also had three clean sheets in her six regular season starts in 2025.
Rookies and New Additions
The Gryphons women's soccer program sees 8 new rookies and additions join the squad heading into the 2026 season.
Sienna Dodgson (Oakville, ON) joins the Gryphons from Oakville SC and plays on the backline and midfield. Defender
Mara Smith (Komoka, ON) comes to Guelph from Alliance United, Forward and winger
Ayda Gonzalez-Verhaverbeke (London, ON) comes via FC London and Forward
Jana Doja (Ottawa, ON) arrives via Atletico Ottawa. Local product
Adrienne Fraser also arrives to the Gryphons in the midfield position as he brother Ethan Fraser plays on the men's soccer team.
Olivia Mills and
Brooklyn McLaughlin both transfer into Guelph with Mills coming from NCAA Division I Evansville and McLaughlin arriving from Spain. Goalkeeper
Natalie Mouradian transfers to U of G from the University of Waterloo.
The Gryphons women's soccer team will kickoff their season at home on Saturday, August 29 from the Gryphon Soccer Complex where they will host the Algoma Thunderbirds at 6pm.
