Rutgers women’s soccer will lean on familiar leadership in 2026, with head coach Mike O’Neill naming Gabriela Gil and Bodmer as team captains for the Scarlet Knights.
It’s a role both players already know well. They served as captains last season, and Bodmer is taking on the job for the third straight year. That continuity gives Rutgers a steady voice in the locker room as the new season approaches.
Bodmer enters her fifth year as the roster’s most seasoned player, bringing 56 career games and a reputation as one of the Big Ten’s top goalkeepers. In 2025, she appeared in 15 matches and started 14 of them, piling up 64 saves to push her career total to 210. She also finished with a 77.1% save percentage and five shutouts, bringing her career shutout mark to 21.
Gil’s path back to the field was a little different. After missing the final eight matches in 2024 because of injury, she returned in 2025 and became a fixture in the lineup again.
She started all 15 matches she played, logged the full 90 minutes in the final two games against Michigan on Oct. 19 and Maryland on Oct. 26, and chipped in two assists - one against Ohio State on Oct. 16 and another at Minnesota on Sept. 18.
Over her career, Gil has played and started 27 matches, with two goals and four assists.
Rutgers will begin the 2026 season on Aug. 13 at Tennessee, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. on SECN+.
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Mike ONeill enters his 13th season with a roster of 31 players, including 22 returners and nine newcomers, and the leadership core is already in place. Olivia Bodmer and Gabriela Gil Allie Post were named captains, with Bodmer earning that honor for the third time, and the early challenge will be turning that experience into a steadier start than the one Rutgers would like to leave behind. [Read more 🡒]