Photo courtesy of Iowa Central Athletics: Iowa Central women’s soccer returning players and sophomores are, front row (left to right) Valleria Balcarcel, Catie Britt, McKenna Witte and Adar Mangok. Back: Natalie Zimlich, Emilee Neiderhiser, McKenna Hilton, Tori Schroeder, Sydney Hagen and Paige Groetsch.

A year ago, the Iowa Central women’s soccer team completed an unbeaten run through the ICCAC Div. II ranks, earning the No. 1 seed for the regional tournament.

A crushing 1-0 loss at home to Iowa Lakes ended the season early for the Tritons, though, as they went 9-5-3 overall.

Now, head coach Jordan Sibenaller has Iowa Central primed to try and start what they finished a year ago.

Eleven players return and are joined by 14 newcomers for Sibenaller, who enters his fourth season at the helm after serving as a long-time assistant with the Iowa Central men’s program.

McKenna Hilton and Sydney Hagen are two of the key players back for 2025. Hilton recorded six goals and nine assists, while Hagen added five goals and four assists. Alexandrea Villalobos Van Slotten and Karma McMorris are two of the newcomers in line for immediate playing time.

“I’m excited to get started with likely the most talented team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Sibenaller said. “We have a strong attacking group, and we expect to be very aggressive going forward.

“We’ve been very close to winning the conference tournament the last two seasons, and with 11 sophomores, we hope to finish the job this year.”

Hilton and Hagen were both all-region selections as freshmen, with Hilton make the first team and Hagen the second.

Under Sibenaller, Iowa Central has gone 15-1-1 in the conference over the past two years and 35-24 overall on the pitch. He was tabbed the conference coach of the year last fall.

The Tritons were again picked as the preseason favorite by the coaches followed by Northeast, Iowa Lakes, Hawkeye, Western Iowa Tech, NIACC, Central-Columbus, Southeastern and Northwest Iowa. Iowa Lakes went on to win the regional crown a year ago, ending a four-year run by Northeast.

Iowa Central opens with Rochester Tech on the road, followed by games in Illinois, Michigan and Nebraska before opening the home portion of the schedule on Wednesday, Sept. 24 vs. Hawkeye.

From there, the Tritons will host Western Iowa Tech to close out the month with October home matches slated vs. Northwest Iowa, Iowa Western, Central-Columbus and Iowa Lakes.

Poppy Goffin is Sibenaller’s assistant coach. Goffin is a former Triton who was a two-year captain before playing at Emmanuel University in Georgia.

2025 IOWA CENTRAL WOMEN’S SOCCER

Women’s Schedule

Aug. 21 — at Rochester Tech.

Sept. 3 — at Kankakee; 5 — at Schoolcraft; 9 — at Dakota County; 15 — at Heartland; 20 — at Northeast; 24 — Hawkeye; 27 — Western Iowa Tech.

Oct. 4 — at NIACC; 7 — at Indian Hills; 11 — Northwest; 13 — Iowa Western; 15 — at Southeastern; 18 — Central-Columbus; 22 — Iowa Lakes.