BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University women’s soccer team has been ranked No. 7 nationally in the 2018 United Soccer Coaches Division II preseason poll, announced Tuesday by the organization.
WWU is coming off an 18-2 campaign in 2017 where the program played for the NCAA II West Region championship for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The Vikings return 9 starters and 19 total letterwinners from that squad. Western finished the 2017 ranked No. 8 in the nation and is one season removed from winning the 2016 NCAA II National Championship.
The Vikings are one of two Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams to appear in the preseason rankings, with Concordia checking in at No. 19. The Cavaliers won the 2017 GNAC regular-season title by way of snapping WWU’s 39-game winning streak, but the Vikings came back and beat CU in the GNAC Championships to win their third consecutive conference tournament title.
Defending national champion Central Missouri is ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, with Carson-Newman, Colorado-Colorado Springs, Mercy College and UC San Diego rounding out the top five. Grand Valley State, the team that WWU beat to win the 2016 national title, is listed just ahead of Western at No. 6. UC San Diego (No. 5), Colorado School of Mines (No. 13) and Concordia (No. 19) are all featured on WWU’s 2018 schedule.
“We are honored to be ranked in the preseason poll and are looking forward to playing games against some of the other excellent teams on this list,” said head coach Travis Connell, who enters his 16th season leading the women’s program. “Playing quality opponents is one of the things that helps our team be the best we can be.”
The Vikings report to campus on Sunday for preseason meetings and will take the field for the first official practice at Harrington Field on Monday, August 13. WWU is scheduled to play three exhibition games vs. Canadian colleges – British Columbia (8/16), Trinity Western (8/21), Victoria (8/24) – before taking to the road to open the regular season in San Diego taking on Point Loma (8/30) and UCSD (9/1). The complete 2018 schedule can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com/WSoc.
WWU will be led by forward Gabriela Pelogi (Federal Way, WA), who enters her senior season with 36 career goals and 90 points, both 6th-best in program history. She led the GNAC in scoring with 15 goals last season, is a two-time First Team All-GNAC selection and was a Third Team United Soccer Coaches All-American in 2017. Additional top returning players include senior defender Taylor Hallquist (Vancouver, WA/Columbia River), senior midfielder/forward Mariah Roggow (Kelso, WA), junior defender Annaliese Laurila (Portland, OR/Grant), junior defender Emily Nelson (Puyallup, WA/Bellarmine Prep), junior midfielder/forward Liv Larson (Arlington, WA), junior defender Lindsey Fujiwara (Sammamish, WA/Skyline), sophomore forward Sophie Butterfield (Bellevue, WA) and sophomore midfielder Grace Eversaul (Vancouver, WA/Skyview). Senior forward Karli White (North Bend, WA/Mount Si/Seattle U.) is likely out for the season with an injury.
