Welcome back to Pullman, Cougars! Or if this is your first time, you are in for a treat, WSU is a special place to be. Your four years will go fast, so savor it while you can.
This summer was a little bit crazy for the Pac-12, but I have a feeling everything will work out well. The Cougar spirit is strong, and we will get through this interesting time if we all stay positive.
Most recently, President Kirk Schulz sent out an update announcing that the university created an advisory committee that includes WSU faculty, deans of WSU colleges and both former and current student-athletes of the University. I think that this is a great idea and will lead to an innovative approach to the future of Washington State Athletics.
As an incoming senior on campus, it is truly crazy how quickly the time goes, and sporting events are such a fun part of the college experience. Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of any given sport, just show up and see if you like the sport in person. If you are already paying for a sports pass, you might as well try.
With the leaves turning brown on the Palouse, sports are quickly approaching! Here is what to expect in the upcoming weeks: the women’s soccer team plays in-state opponent, Eastern Washington University Thursday, August 17th, make sure to wear white for the “White-Out” theme!
The soccer team is ranked fifth in the Pac-12 Conference by coaches, pitting the Cougars behind UCLA, Stanford, USC and Cal (Maybe a little of California bias, huh?). The Cougars are coming off an 8-win season, where they missed the NCAA tournament.
Speaking of Cougar soccer, (kind of) former WSU soccer player, Trinity Rodman, played in the Women’s World Cup recently, becoming one of the latest Cougars to play in championship-level sports.
Via the WSU Athletics Twitter, the preseason All-Pac-12 Poll marked forward Margie Detrizio as the top returning goalscorer in the Pac-12. The WSU Soccer team plays at the Lower Soccer Field near Global Scholars Hall on the WSU campus.
In the WSU golf world, fifth-year senior Pono Yanagi is in the midst of playing at Cherry Hills in Colorado for the United States Amateur Championship.
The WSU golf season usually runs from August-May, stopping for a few months during the winter months. The WSU team plays at Palouse Ridge, a beautiful course seated just east of “Apartment Land.”
Cougar Football is also on the way back! The first game of the regular season for our beloved Cougars is on Saturday, September 2nd against Colorado State, in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Our first home game is going to be electric, Cougar Football Saturday returns to the Palouse at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 9th, playing against the No. 19 ranked Wisconsin Badgers in Martin Stadium. The Cougar Football team ends in *ugh* Seattle, against the Washington Huskies for potentially one of the last Apple Cup games that we will have.
As I emphasized before, go to every game that you can. Cougar Football Saturdays have such a fun environment and shouldn’t be missed by anyone that can help it. College goes fast, and there are only football games played in the fall, and the moments I have had in Martin Stadium have been some of my best at WSU.
As Lee Corso said in 2018 at the College Gameday broadcast in Pullman, “This is a special place and a special time.” I know that things have gotten weird since 2018, but we as a community need to keep that kind of energy moving forward, even with the conference realignment madness that has been going on.
Keep your heads up, Coug fans! The future will be bright, whichever direction it ends up taking us.
