For the Nebraska soccer team, the 2023 season is one to remember and will go down in the record books for Head Coach John Walker and his staff. This season, NU ended the year ranked No. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches poll after an impressive NCAA-tournament run, finishing in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1999.
Most recently, the Husker coaching staff was named the NCAA North Region Staff of the Year by the United Soccer Coaches and Eleanor Dale, Sarah Weber and Jordan Zade earned spots on the 2023 All-North Region team. Dale also garnered first-team NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer All-America honors, as she became the 20th All-American in program history and the fourth first-team honoree.
The 2023 Big Ten Champs finished the season atop the conference rankings in goals scored with 68, also good for fifth in the nation. The Huskers received numerous conference awards led by NCAA First-Team All-American Dale who became the first Husker to claim the Big Ten Forward of the Year honor. Dale was joined by Sarah Weber as a first-team All-Big Ten member, and defender Zade and midfielder Haley Peterson were named to the second team.
Nationally, the Huskers had multiple players at the top of many individual stats. Dale finished the season with a nation-leading 28 goals, which also broke the Nebraska record for goals in a season with Kim Engesser, who previously held the record with 27 goals in 1998. Additionally, she is tied for first in the Husker record books in game-winning goals and her total shots this season place her at the top of the list. Weber tallied 16 goals on the season, good for fifth in the nation, along with four game-winners and three braces to help the Husker team to its most wins since the 2013 season. Joining the two outstanding Husker forwards, midfielder Florence Belzile proved herself as a dominate force on the pitch, recording a team-high 17 assists on the season, good for first in the conference and second nationally. In Big Ten history, she tied for second-most in history only behind Jennifer Walek, Minnesota (1995) and Christie Walsh, Penn State (2001) who both had 18. In the Husker records, her assists on the season place her tied for second with Husker great Jenny Benson (1999) and was four out of first (Brittany Timko, 2005).
During the 2023 season, the Huskers averaged 1,326 fans per game at Hibner Stadium, third most in Husker history and 15th in the nation. NU garnered 2,318 fans in the NCAA Second Round match versus Tennessee, the most fans in attendance since 2015.