Women’s Soccer Picked Ninth in GLVC Preseason Poll

University of Southern Indiana Women’s Soccer was predicted to finish ninth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference this season, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. The Screaming Eagles are coming off an eighth place finish a year ago, returning to the conference tournament for the first time since 2012.

Defending regular season champion Truman State University was predicted to repeat as GLVC Champions in 2017. Rockhurst University received the most first-place votes and was picked second, while defending GLVC Champions McKendree University was predicted third.

Bellarmine University was picked fourth, with the University of Missouri-St. Louis rounding out the top-five. USI follows eighth-place Lewis University and is just ahead of 10^th – place Drury University.

Junior Emily Hopkins (Greenfield, Indiana) returns to lead the Eagles between the posts after winning four games and collecting 55 saves a year ago. Offensively, USI returns seven of its top-nine leading scorers from last year, including junior Ryley Hancock (Evansville, Indiana), who led the team with 14 points on six goals and two assists.

In addition to scoring 12 points on five goals and two assists, junior Olivia Wilde (Racine, Wisconsin) will help anchor a USI defense that only allowed 1.23 goals per game in 2016. The Eagles will also feature 13 freshmen this season.

The 15 GLVC women’s soccer teams will compete in a 14-game round-robin schedule during the regular season with the top eight teams earning a berth to the GLVC Championship Tournament. The top four seeds will host quarterfinal matches on campus on October 29 with the four remaining teams heading to Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, for the semifinals and final on November 3 and 5.

USI begins the season on the road with a neutral site match against Tiffin University August 31 at Findlay, Ohio, and then play the University of Findlay September 2. The Eagles’ home opener at Strassweg Field is scheduled for September 22 against the University of Indianapolis.

The complete poll follows below.