Mya Sanchez has made the most of her first consistent opportunities as the starting goalkeeper for Oregon State’s women’s soccer program.

This year, the junior out of Pitman High School’s class of 2022, earned a starting job and, in turn, started all 18 games and was the only Beaver to play every single minute during the season. In her sophomore campaign, she had appeared in only three games, playing in 113 minutes and recording six saves.

And it wasn’t just that she racked up all 1,620 minutes of playing time this fall, it’s what she did with them.

In the Beavers’ first season out of the Pac-12 and in the West Coast Conference, Sanchez led the league with 92 saves, averaging 5.11 per game and stopping 78.0% of shots that came her way. 

She was particularly good in conference play, posting a league-leading save percentage of 83.3 while owning the second-best goals against average (1.00) across 10 games. Additionally, she tossed a trio of shutouts in 2024, at Idaho State (Aug. 28 – six saves), at Saint Mary’s (Oct. 5 – seven saves) and vs San Francisco (Oct. 9 – three saves). Against No. 11 Santa Clara on Nov. 2, she posted a career-high nine saves in a 2-1 win. 

Her efforts earned a pair of WCC Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 7, Nov. 4) honors and an All-WCC Honorable Mention, as well as an Honorable Mention on the league’s all-academic team. 

But they were ultimately not enough to help get the Beavers into the postseason. Oregon State’s season came to a close on Nov. 9 after falling to Portland 1-0. The loss dropped the team to 7-9-2, good for just sixth-place in the 11-team conference. Nevertheless, it was a three-win improvement from 2023.