USI Tabbed Seventh In GLVC Preseason Poll

The Great Lakes Valley Conference released its preseason women’s soccer coaches’ poll for the 2018 season Thursday afternoon, with University of Southern Indiana Women’s Soccer coming in seventh with 103 points. The 2017 preseason poll featured USI in the ninth spot.

The Screaming Eagles finished fifth in the 2017 regular season with an 8-5-5 record (6-4-4 GLVC) before a first-round exit in the conference championship tournament on penalty kicks at the hands of Bellarmine University.

USI returns three of the top four scorers from 2017 in sophomores Madelyne Juenger (Columbia, Illinois), Maggie Winter (St. Louis, Missouri), and Taylor McCormick (Rapid City, South Dakota).Juenger ended the 2017 campaign with the team lead in points (13 – five goals, three assists), good for seventh in the conference, and earned second-team All-GLVC and All-Midwest Region honors for her efforts. Winter and McCormick finished with four and three goals, respectively.

The defense will be led by senior goalkeeper Emily Hopkins (Greenfield, Indiana). Hopkins finished last season fourth in the GLVC in goals against average (.907) and sixth in shutouts (7) after starting all 18 games in goal.

Atop the 2018 GLVC poll sits McKendree University with 159 points and six first-place votes, followed closely by Quincy University with 151 points and five first-place predictions and Bellarmine with 149 points and the remaining three first-place votes. Quincy is the reigning regular-season champion after posting a 13-1 record in GLVC play while McKendree claimed the GLVC tournament title in 2017.

The 2018 GLVC schedule will feature a 13-game round robin, giving each of the 14 member schools a chance to see one another in action. The conference championship tournament will be held at the Woehrle Athletic Complex in Jeffersonville, Ind.

USI Women’s Soccer opens the 2018 schedule hosting Walsh University (OH) at Strassweg Field. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.