Washington State Gets An Early Test As Citowicki Era Starts Taking Shape

Cougars aim to maintain their unbeaten streak against Hawaii in a high-stakes match at the OUTRIGGER No Ka Oi tournament.

The Washington State women’s soccer team wraps up the OUTRIGGER No Ka Oi on Sunday night in Manoa, facing Hawaii at UH Lower Campus Field at 7 p.m. PT, 4 p.m.

HT. The match will stream live on MW+.

WSU arrives with a clean recent record against the Rainbow Wahine, unbeaten in eight straight meetings. The Cougars’ most recent win in the series was a 7-0 rout in Pullman in 2021, when they jumped ahead 3-0 in the opening 10 minutes and piled up a 26-3 shot edge.

Bridget Rieken, Mackenzie Frimpong-Ellertson, and Grayson Lynch all scored in that one. The Cougs also last won on Oahu on September 19, 2019, a 1-0 result.

Hawaii opened the tournament with a 3-0 win over New Mexico State on Thursday. Anuhea Aluli leads the Rainbow Wahine with six goals, and the team has fired 89 total shots through six matches. That includes a 7-0 win over Hawaii Pacific before the No Ka Oi last week.

Washington State enters the trip coming off a 2-0 home win over UC Irvine, its second straight shutout and a match that brought Ashlyn Dvorak back in goal. The Cougars scored both goals late on August 27 at Lower Soccer Field.

Freshman Delaney Hawkins sent in the cross that Lexi Lee finished for the opener, then Hawkins added her own goal in the final minute. It was her second of the season and came at 89 minutes and 8 seconds, tying as the ninth-latest regulation goal in WSU history.

Hawkins has been one of the early stories for the Cougars. The true freshman scored her first career goal in her first career start on Aug. 15 in the win over USF, after drawing the challenge that led to WSU’s first-half penalty and opening goal. She then set up the game-winner against UC Irvine before finishing the insurance goal herself.

Dvorak’s return has also mattered. The redshirt-senior picked up her first clean sheet and first win as a Cougar against UC Irvine on Aug. 27, 2026, stopping four shots and posting a 1.000 save percentage.

The shutout was the 24th of her career and helped WSU beat the Anteaters for the first time since Sept. 22, 2013.

The Cougars’ season has featured a major roster reset under Chris Citowicki, who was named the eighth head coach in program history on December 12, 2025, after eight seasons at Montana. He left the Griz with nine Big Sky Championships, including three straight regular-season titles, a 2023 Big Sky Coach of the Year honor, a 79-39-32 record, and four NCAA postseason appearances.

WSU’s captain group this season is made up of Riley Carolan, Ashlyn Dvorak, Keara Fitzgerald, and Makena Smith. The roster also includes some familiar family ties: sophomore Aaya McLyn switched to No. 20 this year, following her sister Aaqila McLyn, who wore that number for five seasons and was part of the Cougars’ run to the College Cup semifinals in 2019.

Riley Carolan and Delaney Hawkins are both second-generation Cougs, with fathers who played football at Washington State. Brett Carolan played tight end with Drew Bledsoe and later spent three years in the NFL, while Adam Hawkins was a team captain and ran back alongside Steve Gleason.

Delaney Hawkins is also the god-daughter of Gleason.

Another key addition has been Meg Devall. The redshirt-junior waited through the 2025 season before earning a starting role on the back line in 2026. The West Linn, Oregon, native started both matches opening weekend, scored her first career goal against USF, and has played in all five matches while starting four.

In goal, WSU has also leaned on sophomore Sidney Venier. She stepped in for the win over South Florida while Dvorak was out with a cracked rib, making four saves and allowing only a penalty kick.

Venier also earned her first career shutout in the scoreless draw at North Dakota State on Aug. 23 in Fargo. Sixth-year senior Keara Fitzgerald has been back in the mix as well after returning from the season-ending injury she suffered against North Dakota State on September 18 last season.

Fitzgerald’s biggest showing came in a shutout at California, where she made a career-high 11 saves and earned WCC Defensive Player of the Week. She also picked up her second career assist in the draw with No.

13 Georgia on August 31.

Through the first five matches, Washington State’s shot numbers have moved in the right direction. The Cougars opened with a minus-5 shot differential against Idaho, then climbed to plus-5 against UC Irvine. The sequence went from 10-15 against Idaho, to 12-15 against South Florida, 7-7 against South Dakota State, 12-9 against North Dakota State, and 18-13 against UC Irvine.

After Hawaii, the Cougars head to Cal State Fullerton on Sunday, September 13. That match is set for 2 p.m.

PT at Titan Stadium and will stream on ESPN+. The last time WSU and Fullerton met was Sept. 13, 2015 in Pullman, when the Cougars won 2-1 in double overtime.

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