Mississippi State women’s soccer unveiled its 2025 schedule this weekend, complete with nonconference matchups and Southeastern Conference dates. 

The Bulldogs enter the year as the reigning SEC regular season champions and are looking to build off of the most successful season in program history. To do so, they’ll have to go through a challenging gauntlet of opponents. 

“We’re beyond excited to announce a competitive schedule that will challenge us and prepare us for success in the SEC,” first-year head coach Nick Zimmerman said in a press release. “Every match is an opportunity to grow, and we’re looking forward to seeing our fans packing the pitch and bringing that Starkville energy all season long.”

The schedule includes notable matchups against eight NCAA Tournament programs from the 2024 campaign, and seven teams that finished the season in the top 50 of the final NCAA RPI rankings. 

Highlighting the schedule is a non-conference home match against the 2024 national runners-up, Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons handed MSU its only regular-season defeat last year, a 2-1 contest in Winston-Salem, and advanced to the national championship game, where it lost 1-0 to in-state rival North Carolina. 

The Deacons will arrive for a return match on Sunday, Aug. 24, following MSU’s first regular-season games against UT Martin and Jacksonville State. The Bulldogs will then hit the road to face Big 12 schools Baylor and Oklahoma State before ending their nonconference slate at home against Louisiana Tech and South Alabama.

SEC play begins on Sept. 12 with a home match against Tennessee, beginning a slate that includes a home Magnolia Cup match against Ole Miss on Oct. 2 and the return of a familiar face in former head coach James Armstrong, whose Auburn Tigers will travel to Starkville on Sept. 21. Other SEC opponents coming to Starkville include Vanderbilt and Georgia. 

The Bulldogs face a difficult road schedule as well, with trips to Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida and Alabama. 

Zimmerman leads an accomplished but new-look Bulldogs team into 2025. Returning veteran forwards Ally Perry and Zoe Main lead a team that will feature some new faces, but will rely on former game-changing substitutes such as Kennedy Husbands and Kara Harris to step into the spots vacated by the standout seniors from last season. 

The 2024 Bulldogs won their first SEC regular season championship with a perfect 10-0 record and clinched a No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. The team took down Southern and Washington at home in the postseason before falling to Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen. 

The historic season also featured four record-setting home crowds at the MSU Soccer Field, with 4,022 fans witnessing the Round of 32 win over the Huskies. 

Fans can have a first look at the 2025 team in an exhibition match against Mercer at home on Aug. 2.