Reagan Kotschau, Grayson Lynch of WSU soccer earn preseason honors

PULLMAN — Washington State University (WSU) had two soccer players named to the 2024 West Coast Conference (WCC) preseason team, the Conference announced Friday.

Grayson Lynch earned the first conference selection of her career. The sixth-year senior won a Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week recognition last season on Aug. 21, for her match-winning brace in the program’s first win against Texas A&M, and notching an assist in the Cougars’ first win against Portland.

Hailing from Castle Rock, Colo., the 5-foot-9 forward started the first three matches of the season before suffering a season-ending knee injury during a winning match at Portland on Aug. 24. She started all 19 matches for WSU in 2022 and finished second on the team with four goals scored.

“Having somebody that’s been here, like Grayson (Lynch) who’se been part of the Final Four team helps a lot. She played in that game against Carolina, so she knows what it takes. These older kids returning, some have had it - that have been here to the postseason, some who’ve transferred over have never had a taste of it. So, you’re mixing old and new, new and young, postseason veterans.

Sophomore Reagan Kotschau was also named to the WCC preseason team.

The 5-foot-5 midfielder from Thornton, Colo., is a returning Pac-12 All-Freshman team selection. She started all 19 matches as a freshman last season, playing over 1,600 minutes, going a full 90 in 10 matches and finished with four goals and two assists. She was listed in the TopDrawerSoccer midseason and postseason Top-100 National Freshmen list.

The Cougars are led by 10th-year Head Coach Todd Shulenberger, and were voted to finish second in the WCC by Shulenberger’s peers with two first-place votes.

“It’s pretty wild how quickly things move and I’m very grateful and thankful that I still have this opportunity to lead this program in my 10th season,” Shulenberger said during a preseason conference. “Here we go. We’re excited. This is a fun group so far and I got a great staff with me on this journey.”

Playing in the WCC this season due to conference realignment, WSU is set to begin the season today, Thursday, Aug. 15, in West Lafayette, Ind., against the Purdue Boilermakers.

“The WCC is a wonderful conference,” Shulenberger said. “They’ve had national championships, they’ve had longevity, they’ve had multiple NCAA Tournament teams, so we’re excited to be part of that and grateful they gave us a home for this chance.”

The Cougars’ home opener will be against the Montana Grizzlies on Thursday, Aug. 22, then host the Idaho Vandals on Sunday, Aug. 25, both at Lower Soccer Field in Pullman.

“There’s few venues in college soccer that are exciting as this place,” Shulenberger said. “When it’s packed here, whether it’s opening weekend or not, there’s three or four thousand people there. It’s special and we’re excited for that. We open against Montana and Idaho, two very great teams. One that won the conference regular season (Montana), and one that went and won the conference tournament (Idaho), so we encourage everybody to come out and support the Cougs.”