2023 Big Sky Conference women's soccer tournament

The 2023 Big Sky Conference women's soccer tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the Big Sky Conference held from November 1 to November 5, 2023. The five-match tournament took place at Lumberjack Stadium, home of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks were the defending champions.[1] Northern Arizona was unable to defend their title as they lost to Idaho in the Final. The 2–1 victory gave Idaho their first Big Sky Conference title.[2] This was the first overall title for Idaho, and the first title for head coach Jeremy Clevenger.[3] As tournament champions, Idaho earned the Big Sky's automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament.

2023 Big Sky Conference women's soccer tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Teams6
Matches5
Attendance2,614
SiteLumberjack Stadium
Flagstaff, Arizona
ChampionsIdaho (1st title)
Winning coachJeremy Clevenger (1st title)
MVPRebekah Reyes (Idaho)
BroadcastESPN+
Big Sky Conference women's soccer tournament
«2022  2024»
2023 Big Sky Conference women's soccer standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT
Montana  ‍‍‍ 7 0 1   .938 13 3 3   .763
Idaho  ‍‍y 5 2 1   .688 12 5 2   .684
Portland State  ‍‍‍ 4 2 2   .625 8 8 2   .500
Northern Arizona  ‍‍‍ 4 3 1   .563 11 6 3   .625
Sacramento State  ‍‍‍ 2 3 3   .438 4 9 5   .361
Idaho State  ‍‍‍ 2 4 2   .375 4 13 2   .263
Weber State  ‍‍‍ 1 3 4   .375 1 9 5   .233
Northern Colorado  ‍‍‍ 1 4 3   .313 1 13 4   .167
Eastern Washington  ‍‍‍ 1 6 1   .188 2 14 1   .147
† – Conference champion
‡ – 2023 Big Sky Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament
As of December 5, 2023
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Poll
Source: The Big Sky Conference

Seeding

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The top six teams in the regular season earned a spot in the tournament. No tiebreakers were required as each team finished with a unique regular season conference record.[4]

Seed School Conference Record Points
1 Montana 7–0–1 22
2 Idaho 5–2–1 16
3 Portland State 4–2–2 14
4 Northern Arizona 4–3–1 13
5 Sacramento State 2–3–3 9
6 Idaho State 2–4–2 8

Bracket

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First round
Wednesday, Nov. 1
Semifinals
Friday, Nov. 3
Final
Sunday, Nov. 5
1 Montana 0
4 Northern Arizona 3 4 Northern Arizona 1
5 Sacramento State 0 4 Northern Arizona 0
2 Idaho 1
2 Idaho 1
3 Portland State 4 3 Portland State 0
6 Idaho State 1

Schedule

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First Round

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November 1 #3 Portland State 4–1 #6 Idaho State Flagstaff, AZ
3:00 p.m. MST
  • Abi Hoffman   67',   73'
  • CeCe Jenkins   71'
  • Lacy Quinn   75'
  • Sienna Higinbotham   79'
  • Elle Frazier   88'
Report
  •   30' Kaylyn Buchanan
Stadium: Lumberjack Stadium
Attendance: 70
Referee: Veronica Burr
Assistant referees: Shakir Ballantyne
Assistant referees: Juan Nevarez
Fourth official: Mersha Kiseil
November 1 #4 Northern Arizona 3–0 #5 Sacramento State Flagstaff, AZ
6:00 p.m. MST
  • Oliva Bos   6'
  • Josie Novak   56' (pen.)
  • Holly Hunter   65', 85'
Report
  •   67' Cassandra Herrman
Stadium: Lumberjack Stadium
Attendance: 437
Referee: Joe Pickens
Assistant referees: Mersha Kisiel
Assistant referees: Mario Coss
Fourth official: Shakir Ballantyne

Semifinals

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November 3 #2 Idaho 1–0 #3 Portland State Flagstaff, AZ
3:00 p.m. MST
  • Hannah Alfaro   54' (pen.)
Report Stadium: Lumberjack Stadium
Attendance: 95
Referee: Robi Hullner
Assistant referees: Hao Guo
Assistant referees: Mauro Cruz
Fourth official: Charles Farr
November 3 #1 Montana 0–1 #4 Northern Arizona Flagstaff, AZ
6:00 p.m. MST
  • Maddie Ditta   74'
  • Abby Gearhart   83'
Report
  •   22' Allison Veloz
  •   89' Maddie Shafer
Stadium: Lumberjack Stadium
Attendance: 989
Referee: Megan McCain
Assistant referees: Jordan Schultz
Assistant referees: Charles Farr
Fourth official: Hao Guo

Final

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November 5 #2 Idaho 2–1 #4 Northern Arizona Flagstaff, AZ
1:00 p.m. MST
  • Maddy Lasher   28'
  • Naomi Alvarez   39'
Report
  •   38' Joey Lujan
Stadium: Lumberjack Stadium
Attendance: 1,023
Referee: Karen Abt
Assistant referees: Veronica Burr
Assistant referees: Kaelyn Sykora
Fourth official: J.C. Plott

Statistics

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Goalscorers

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There were 13 goals scored in 5 matches, for an average of 2.6 goals per match (as of November 5, 2023).

2 goals

  • Holly Hunter – Northern Arizona

1 goal

  • Hannah Alfaro – Idaho
  • Naomi Alvarez – Idaho
  • Maddy Lasher – Idaho
  • Kaylyn Buchanan – Idaho State
  • Joey Lujan – Northern Arizona
  • Josie Novak – Northern Arizona
  • Allison Veloz – Northern Arizona
  • Sienna Higinbotham – Portland State
  • Abi Hoffman – Portland State
  • CeCe Jenkins – Portland State
  • Lacy Quinn – Portland State

All Tournament Team

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Source:[5]

Player Team
Hannah Alfaro Idaho
Naomi Alvarez
Maddy Lasher
Alyssa Peters
Rebekah Reyes
Jayd Sprague
Kira Witte
Holly Hunter Northern Arizona
Allie Larsen
Joey Lujan
Allison Veloz
Sienna Higinbotham Portland State

MVP in bold

References

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  1. ^ "2022 Big Sky Soccer Championship". bigskyconf.com. Big Sky Conference. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  2. ^ "2023 Big Sky Soccer Championship". bigskyconf.com. Big Sky Conference. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  3. ^ "2023 Women's Soccer Record Book" (PDF). bigskyconf.com. Big Sky Conference. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  4. ^ "2023 Big Sky Soccer Tournament Field, Matchups Set". bigskyconf.com. Big Sky Conference. October 22, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  5. ^ "2023 #BigSkySoccer Postseason Notebook: NCAA Tournament". bigskyconf.com. Big Sky Conference. November 7, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2023.