Cougar soccer kicks off fall camp

Washington State soccer will begin their quest to return to the College Cup today as they kick off their fall camp. The Cougars will be looking pick up where they left off last season when they finished with a 6-3-3 record. Ultimately, the goal for this team is to get back to where they were in 2019, the College Cup.

With just over two weeks to prepare, Todd Shulenberger and his squad will kick off the 2021 season with an exhibition match on the road at Idaho in the Kibbie Dome on August 13th. The season will officially begin on Thursday, August 19th as they host Arkansas State. That match can be seen on the WSU live stream starting at 7:00 pm.

One big thing for the soccer program is the depth and the experience they will have heading into this season. They will have nine seniors, 11 juniors, six sophomores, and nine freshman. On top of that, they will be returning 10 of their 11 starters from last season as well as adding in a couple big name transfers.

The beginning of the season lines up as very favorable for the Cougs as they will play four of their first five games in Pullman - not including their exhibition tune-up game that happens to be 8 miles away. Following that home stretch, they will then play five of six on the road, including the conference opener.

In other soccer news, the Cougars October 24th game against UCLA was moved to a 5:00 pm kickoff. The final home game of the regular season can be seen on Pac-12 Network against the defending conference champions. The Bruins last visit to the Palouse came in 2017 when the Cougs upset the 2nd ranked team in the country, their biggest win in program history.

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Basketball:

Ex-Eastern Washington forward Kim Aiken Jr. finds way back to Arizona after having admission denied at Washington State

The former Eastern Washington forward who originally committed to the Wildcats in the spring before signing with Washington State, will return to Arizona this fall, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello reported.

Covid related:

WSU rolls out COVID‑19 vaccination exemption process for employees

All WSU employees system‑wide who engage in activities on a WSU worksite are required to either declare themselves fully vaccinated or request an exemption.

Baseball:

Former Reno High baseball player Garrett Gouldsmith drowns in Donner Lake

Gouldsmith began his college career with the Lobos, hitting .270 over 42 games in 2018. He transferred to Washington State for the 2019 season and hit .217 over 64 games during two seasons with the Cougars.

Conference realignment:

Why George Kliavkoff could give the Pac-12 an edge in conference realignment

George Kliavkoff had a nice little plan laid out for his first visit to Los Angeles as the Pac-12 commissioner.... “Then the world exploded,” Kliavkoff says. “Which is fun.”