A new signee and other roster updates
It won’t be an easy task to replace the Arizona Wildcats’ most decorated goalkeeper in program history. The loss of hometown hero Hope Hisey will be felt next year, but head soccer coach Becca Moros has help on the way.
Former Oklahoma goalkeeper Olivia Ramey has signed with the Wildcats.
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Can’t wait to have Olivia join the squad! And Wildcats, help us wish her a very happy birthday #BearDown pic.twitter.com/HdZdvsj3RD
— Arizona Soccer (@ArizonaSoccer) April 17, 2024
Ramey just completed her sophomore season with the Sooners. In her two years in Norman, she started 22 matches. As a freshman, she started 11 of the team’s 13 games. Last season, she was the starting keeper in 11 of OU’s 12 matches.
Ramey has seven shutouts in two years of NCAA soccer. She has saved 71 of the 102 attempts she has faced in her career for a save percentage of 0.696. She saved 41 of 58 goal attempts last season for a save percentage of 0.707.
The 5-foot-9 native of Frisco, Tex. was a three-star recruit according to Top Drawer Soccer. She was the 16th-best goalkeeper in her class and the 20th-best recruit in the state of Texas according to the publication.
Ramey played for Frisco Memorial High School where she made the 2021 Texas All-State First Team. She was also first team for Dallas-Fort Worth and the North Texas region. She was considered the best at her position in District 9-5A, where she won Goalkeeper of the Year in 2021.
She played club soccer for FC Dallas 04G ECNL. She had 59 shutouts in 113 matches during her club career.
Ramey joins an Arizona team with just one other goalkeeper, sophomore Ciara Ulreich-Power. In addition to Hisey, Hannah Mitchell exhausted her eligibility last year. Rising junior Logan McGruder is not listed on the 2024 roster.
Ramey’s two seasons in the Big 12 will be useful for Arizona as it moves into the conference beginning with the 2024 season. The Sooners were 6-10-3 in the league during her two seasons there. They were 8-10-2 overall last year and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 soccer tournament before losing to No. 7 BYU to end their season.
Other roster news
- Arizona previously added defensive help in the form of junior college transfer Rikako Hayami. The native of Osaka, Japan played for Arizona Western last season and has two years of eligibility remaining. She started all 32 games she appeared in at AWC. Hayami was named an All-American by the United Soccer Coaches in 2023. The NJCAA placed her on its All-America second team. She was also on the All-ACCAC first team. She has already joined the team for spring practice.
- It was known that Megan Chelf and Nicole Dallin would return for the fifth year granted by the NCAA due to the pandemic. Both announced it well before the end of last season. However, there were no announcements from any of the other players who were eligible to do the same, so the inclusion of defender Sarah Rice on the 2024 roster is a bit of a surprise. Rice provides a great deal of experience in a part of the game that was a weakness for Arizona last season. She played in 59 games during her first four seasons, starting 42 times and averaging 66.6 minutes per appearance.