St. Scholastica predicted to win seventh straight UMAC title in women’s soccer; NCAA AQ on the line in 2010
2010 UMAC Women’s Soccer Preseason Coaches’ Poll
1. 43 Points - College of St. Scholastica (3 First Place Votes)
2. 42 Points - Northwestern College (3)
3. 39 Points - University of Minnesota, Morris (1)
4. 27 Points - Northland College (1)
5. 26 Points - Bethany Lutheran College
6. 17 Points - Crown College
7. 16 Points - Martin Luther College
8. 14 Points - Presentation College
ST. PAUL -- Winners of the last six Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season championships, the College of St. Scholastica was the league’s coaches prediction to win the conference title once again in 2010. The Saints have posted perfect undefeated UMAC records in their last four seasons, with the last three years producing a bid in the NCAA tournament. St. Scholastica earned 43 points in the preseason coaches’ poll, edging Northwestern College by a point.
Despite ongoing success, St. Scholastica head coach Dave Reyelts might have his toughest task yet as a total of 15 players are gone from last year’s roster, including 10 that played in 20 or more games. The Saints’ top three goal-scorers from 2009, which scored 74 percent of the team’s goals, were a part of the departing group. Reyelts has brought in the program’s largest recruiting class to date this season to supplement the losses, but the freshmen will take some time to acclimate themselves to the college game. Forward Hannah Roy highlights the Saints’ returners after playing in 19 games in 2009. Roy recorded a hat trick versus Presentation last year, scoring two goals that were 22 seconds apart, which is the 11th fastest in NCAA Division III history by the same player. Kaylee Gombold, who started nine games and scored five goals last season, also returns for St. Scholastica.
Northwestern, who received 42 points in the poll, will look to contend for a conference championship and a UMAC Tournament title after a 9-3-2 conference finish in 2009. The Eagles, who finished second in the conference standings in 2008, lost to the two teams ahead of them in St. Scholastica and Northland, by a combined three goals in four contests. Northwestern’s offense in 2010 won’t look much different than it did a year before, as top goal scorers Rebekah Kirby and Kyrie Jorgenson return for another campaign. The combo was Nos. 1 and 2 as the UMAC’s top point-getters last season, combining for 78 points. The Eagles’ defense will have somewhat of a different look with the departure of all-conference players Lindsey Anderson and Rhonda Morgan. Anderson’s sister, Heidi, will be back for her second year in an Eagles uniform as will junior all-conference winner Bridget Piche.
Trailing just four points from the top vote-getter and three points behind Northwestern in the poll was the University of Minnesota, Morris, who took third with 39 points. The Cougars finished fourth in the 2009 standings with a 9-5 UMAC record. With first- and second-year players filling over half of Minnesota-Morris’ roster, the team’s nine upperclassmen will be looked to for leadership this season. Leading the charge in 2010 will be Taylor Meehan, who finished second on the team with 20 points a year ago. Also coming back is fellow sophomore Katie Kestner, who scored 16 points and was one of just two players to start in all 20 games in 2009. Goalkeeper Emily Jacob returns between the pipes after logging five shutouts in her junior campaign. Jacobs played nearly 1,800 minutes in the net last year and stopped over 100 shots for the Cougars.
Coming off one of the team’s best seasons in school history which included a 12-game winning streak, fourth place Northland College will look to improve on its 11-3 record and a second place finish in the UMAC standings last season. With the loss of two prolific scorers in Sarah Stobino and Mariah Cook, new co-head coaches Anne Whiting and Olaf Kirsten will count on their young talent to find the LumberJills’ scoring touch and veterans to solidify an already solid defense. All-conference players Mel Rasor, Rebecca Lake and Bryanna Johnson will return to captain the Northland midfield and defense in 2010. Rasor had 18 goals and seven assists last season, 11 of which came in UMAC contests. Rasor averaged an even 2.0 points per game a year ago, which was good enough for fourth place in the conference.
Bethany Lutheran College narrowly missed Northland in the preseason poll, receiving 26 points to take fifth place. The Vikings will take to the soccer pitch this fall with great reason for optimism. Coming off last year’s 5-9-1 conference season that was besieged by injuries to several key players, Bethany Lutheran returns eight starters and the team’s top ten scorers in 2010. Returning after a season-ending injury which limited her limited to only five contests, Joelle Pipal looks to rebound with a big year offensively. Helping Pipal on offense will be UMAC First Team All-Conference forward Kristin Renner and all-conference honorable mention midfielder Anna Potz. Defensively, the Vikings return four of their back five defenders, but lose four-year starter and all-conference goalkeeper Katie Renner. Bethany Lutheran will be looking for junior Amy Anderson and a pair of freshman to step and fill the void in front of the net.
With 17 points, Crown College finished sixth in the poll. After losing their first six matches to open the 2009 season, the Storm rebounded to win seven of their final twelve, including going 6-5 in conference play. Crown returns six goal scorers from a year ago but will need to find more offense following the departure of Missy Herrity and Bethany Rossetti due to graduation. The two senior midfielders accounted for half of the Storm’s goals in 2009, including four game winners. Leading the team in 2010 will be seniors Marissa Brink and Stephanie Lally, and junior Miranda Baltzer. That trio scored 13 goals last season and will be relied upon to find the back of the net again this year. Crown has a new face at the helm of its program in 2010 as Art Busha took over the head coaching duties during the summer.
Seventh and eighth place Martin Luther College and Presentation College narrowly missed Crown’s 17 points, earning 16 and 14 points, respectively. Like Crown, both Martin Luther and Presentation will have new head coaches to start the season. The Knights of Martin Luther look to turn the corner under the direction of coach Jeff Schone, while Presentation returns to a familiar face in Bob Schuchardt to direct its program. Schuchardt started the Saints program in 2001 and continued to coach the team through the 2005 campaign before returning again in 2010.
Martin Luther returns seven starters from last season’s team, including leading scorers Kadie Drake, Heidi Heckmann and Emily Marggraf. Defenders Lindsay Hahn and Heidi Wilz, and goalkeeper Abigail Horn are also back for the Knights. Martin Luther also hopes the return of Hannah Janke, who missed last season because of injury, will help add to the offense.
Presentation returns nine starters from a year ago. Key returners for the Saints in 2010 include Amanda Jensen, Sydney Goehring, Liz Deibert and Stephanie Mastel.
All eight UMAC teams will be in action beginning on Sept. 1, with the conference schedule commencing on Sept. 14. At the conclusion of the 2010 regular season, the league’s top four squads will participate in the now-very important UMAC Conference Tournament on Nov. 2 and 6. For the first time in 2010, the UMAC Tournament champion will receive an automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament.