Cuesta Women's Soccer opens the 2025 season this Saturday (11 AM), when they host Sacramento City College. The visiting Panthers also made the trip to SLO last season, when they battled the Cougars to a 1-1 tie. This Saturday's contest is also the sideline debut for Cuesta Coach Paige Johnson, who became the Cougars third head coach since the program's founding in 1994. Johnson is tasked with rebuilding a program that has not recovered from the pandemic. The Cougars went 14-5-2 and reached the playoffs in 2019, but, after shutting down in 2020, the program's overall record fell below .500 for the first time in 30 years, while posting a 9-42-7 record. Johnson has embraced the challenge and is joined by assistants Alex Crozier and Logan Salcido. The new staff has assembled a 22-woman roster, which marks the Cougars' largest squad since that 2019 playoff squad, with the aim of returning to the post-season and, maybe, capturing the program's elusive first ever Western State Conference title.
The Cougars return a brace of all-Western State Conference Second Team Midfielders with Taylor Lynch and Macy Giubbini back on the pitch. Lynch is a crucial offensive player for the Cougars and was third on the team with four goals, while posting nine points during her freshman season. On the defensive end, Goaltender Shae Mansfield is back in the nets. Mansfield took over the keeper duties after combining for a shutout against DeAnza in the Cougars' fourth game of the season and then leading another whitewash against Los Angeles Valley ten days later, 1-0. She led the team with 90 saves on the season, while posting a 2-11-2 record in the nets. Mansfield will also have two more returning starters to protect their side of the pitch, with returning Starters Araya Dunbarr Defender Chelsea Stilts back in action. The Cougars also gained both Hailey Westcott, who played her freshman campaign at Belmont College in Ohio, and her sister Laney Westcott who arrives on the Cuesta Pitch as a freshman this season. The Cougars also have two other braces of family members with sisters Lucia Puentes and Susana Puentes both coming over from nearby Atascadero High, while Payton Giubbini also joins Macy on the squad .
The Cuesta Kickers open the season with six non-conference contests and open Western State Conference play on Friday September 26 (4 PM), when they host Los Angeles Pierce.
