PORTLAND, Ore. – Following a 10-3-6 overall record and second place finish in the WCC last season, the Portland Pilots Women's Soccer program is looking to take another step in 2026.
 
"I'm excited to see who we become," head coach Michelle French said. "That's going to be a big word for us this year, we're always going to be becoming something, and what we're going to end up looking like when we get to the WCC.
 
A big part of why the Pilots finished second in the conference in 2025, was because of how disciplined the defense was. The Pilots finished last year averaging the second fewest goals allowed in the conference and 11th in the country with 0.632.
 
"Defending has always been something that we hang our hat on from a team perspective over the last couple of years," French said.
 
Much of that can be credited to senior goalkeeper Sophia Hills who was an All-WCC Second Team selection and a United Soccer Coaches All-West Region Second Team member. She allowed just nine goals in 16 games played for the Pilots with a sparkling .845 save percentage.
 
"(Sophia) displayed it last year, she has this unique, incredible athletic ability to make awesome saves to keep us in games when it's needed," French said. "Coupled with her tactical IQ continues to grow every single year. The more games she gets as we move forward the better she is going to become."
 
The captains for the 2026 season will be fifth year defender Violet Rademacher and senior midfielder Aliyah Dockter, with lots of experience between the two.
 
Rademacher was a large part of the defense that was one of the best in the conference and not only that, she led the Pilots in goals with seven in 2025. That stellar season earned her All-WCC First Team and All-West Region Second Team honors. She was also Portland's first United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American since 2009.
 
Dockter was an All-WCC Honorable mention selection as well as All-West Region Second Team as she played in all 16 games for the Pilots.
 
"They have brought over the last couple of years a winning mentality, a competitive mentality," French said. "While also having the ability in their own unique way to build and cultivate relationships with players across the team, and that piece of it. When you have leaders that invest the time in doing that, while also continuously being able to perform, you have really strong leaders, and that's one of the big reasons why they are in that position this year."
 
Rademacher, Dockter and senior defender Hailey Bagby all made the All-WCC preseason team and look to lead this new look Pilots team both on and off the field.
 
It's not just this group of players that French and the rest of the coaching staff will rely on when it comes to leadership. With 20 players returning on the roster, many of its members should be able to provide leadership.
 
"With our older group, there are a lot of different personalities in terms of the way that they help lead and bring this team along," she said. We've already seen that this preseason in terms of those older classes, those older players in the class doing a really good job bringing players along or having hard conversations or anything that you hope a group of leaders would do. Aaliyah and Violet are going to be wearing the armband, but we have a really strong leadership group in general."
 
Another area the Pilots succeeded was on the road. Portland went 4-0-5 away from Merlo Field which was a big reason they finished the last month of the season without a loss.
 
Now French and co. turn their attention to the 2026 season where they were picked to finish second in the 2026 West Coast Conference preseason poll.
 
The conference will also see a new member as the Denver Pioneers join the conference and the Pilots will square off with the Pios in Denver on Oct. 17. They kick off the regular season against the No. 12 ranked Huskies on Aug. 12 before another ranked matchup against No. 18 Wake Forest on Aug. 29.
 
An area that the Pilots have been focusing on has been the offensive side of the pitch. Portland, while dominant on defense, is looking to improve in the goal scoring category. After finishing eighth in the conference in goals, if Portland can figure things out offensively, they could take another step in 2026.
 
"Every coach probably always says that, 'Can we score more goals'?" French said. "Can we be more dangerous on the attacking side of the ball? That's been a big focus for us, not only in the spring, but since we started here this fall. To see if we can generate some better chances in and around the goal, and then actually finish them this year."
 
Though the offense is a point of improvement for Portland, culture is something that has been consistent since French played for the Pilots from 1995-1998 under the legendary Clive Charles.
 
Charles was the women's soccer coach from 1989-2002 and in that time stacked up 225 wins and won a national title in his final season. French has taken much of her approach on culture from the storied coach.
 
"Culture is something that is one of the huge pillars for us as a program," she said. "We are very thoughtful and considerate when we're thinking about players that are going to come and be a part of our program."
 
That culture can be something the Pilots lean on once they start to face a tough WCC schedule in the later part of the season. Not only is the WCC a competitive conference but the out of conference schedule should also pose as a good test to the Pilots.
 
"The support within the community has been longstanding over several years and decades," she said. "They know that what they get to experience now as University Portland women's soccer players is a result of all of the things that happened before they were here. So I think what's really cool is that they now have an opportunity to leave another legacy."

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