Nearly eight months after Claire Potter’s game-winning goal in the 2022 NCAA Division II women’s soccer national championship game, the Vikings are slated to begin the 2023 season on top.
The United Soccer Coaches released its preseason rankings on Tuesday, Aug. 1, which listed Western Washington University first in the women’s Division II poll. Just behind Western is West Chester University, who the Vikings defeated 2-1 in last year’s championship game.
Coming in as the defending champions, the Vikings already have a massive target on their back. That target has grown even more with the preseason first-place nod.
Despite the lofty expectations, head coach Travis Connell doesn’t think the ranking changes anything.
“It’s safe to assume that we, the players and the coaches, have very high expectations. So that’s always our goal to be the best we can be,” Connell said. “It is an honor to be No. 1, for sure, but it’s not something that really factors into our thinking too much. We’ve got plenty to work on, plenty of things to shoot for, so we don’t need any extra motivation like that.”
While the team retained 22 players, it will be without eight members from the championship roster, including reigning Division II National Player of the Year Tera Ziemer.
To fill the void, Western’s seven true freshmen from last year’s team will look to play a larger role this season. This includes Morgan Manalili, who led the team with 10 goals and 25 points in 2022. Along with the returning athletes, the Vikings added five freshmen and one transfer to the roster.
“So we’re excited to see all the players that are returning — the step forwards that they’re taking in their games — because they will need to, and they fully are capable of it,” Connell said. “And then we have new players that are coming in. I’m sure there’ll be new players to our team that play and contribute on the field right away in the fall.”
The Vikings will look to replicate last season’s success beginning on Thursday, Aug. 31 when they play their first game of the season at Biola University.
