Different season, same predicition.
For the second year in a row, the University of Minnesota Duluth has secured the No. 7 spot in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released today.
Augustana University, the defending league tournament champion, was picked as the team to beat and became the first team besides Minnesota State University-Mankato or Winona State University to be chosen as the preseason NSIC favorite since 2000.
The Vikings garnered eight first-place votes 215 pts. and were followed by Minnesota State-Mankato (seven first-place votes and 213 pts.), Winona State (one first-place vote and 188 pts.), Minot State University (188 pts.), Bemidji State University (168 pts.), St. Cloud State University (162 pts.), UMD (104 pts.) and Concordia University-St. Paul (104 pts.). Augustana, Minnesota State-Mankato, Winona State and Minot State all earned an NCAA II Tournament berth last fall.
All four teams were selected for NCAA postseason play in 2015.
UMD will be looking to bounce back from a 2015 season in which it went 4-12-1 overall (its second fewest wins in program history) and placed 13th in the 16-team NSIC standings. Of those 12 losses, however, nine were by just a single goal, a sign of what is possible for the Bulldogs in 2016. UMD lost four seniors to graduation, including midfielder
Katie Peterson, but return 17 letterwinners and six starters from a year ago, including senior forward
Kailey Beatt, who topped the 2015 Bulldogs with five goals and an assist for 11 points. Junior midfielder
Skye Finley, one of only two Bulldogs to start in all 18 games last season, will run the midfield after moving up from the backline. Finley, a 2016 team captain, logged a team-high 1,592 minutes last season. The Bulldogs will once again have a goaltending competition, with the three netminders that nabbed substantial minutes a year ago back in the line-up, including senior
Jordan Melby, who owned a .830 saves percentage last season and started seven games
The Bulldogs, who will undertake their 23rd year of competition this fall (all under the head coaching reign of
Greg Cane), kicked off preseason camp this past Monday. UMD's season opener is Sept. 1 -- a non-conference road clash with the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
2016 NSIC Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll
