HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The Northern Kentucky University women’s soccer team has been selected as the favorite in the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason coaches poll.
NKU received nine first-place votes and 90 points to claim the top spot in the poll. Defending GLVC Tournament champion University of Wisconsin-Parkside followed in second place with one first-place vote and 81 points.
NKU posted a 17-3-4 record last season, including a 9-0-1 GLVC mark. The Norse advanced to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals before ending the season with a 1-0 loss to the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
NKU opens GLVC play Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. with a home match against Wisconsin-Parkside. The Rangers ended NKU’s five-year reign as GLVC Tournament champion last season by edging the Norse in a penalty-kick shootout during the finals at Wilder, Ky.
That match with Wisconsin-Parkside is officially recorded as a 1-1 tie, however, and NKU enters the 2004 season with an unbeaten streak of 57 consecutive matches against GLVC opponents. NKU is 51-0-6 against GLVC teams during the past four years.
The Norse have not lost to a GLVC opponent since Oct. 9, 1999, when Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville posted a 3-1 win over NKU.
NKU will feature senior sweeper Robyn Withers, a first team All-GLVC and All-Region performer last season. Withers begins her fourth year as a starter in the NKU backfield.
2004 GLVC women's soccer preseason poll (total points)
1. Northern Kentucky (90)
2. Wisconsin-Parkside (81)
3. Missouri-St. Louis (68)
4. Indianapolis (67)
5. SIU-Edwardsville (55)
6. Saint Joseph’s (50)
7. Quincy (48)
8. Southern Indiana (32)
9. Bellarmine (31)
10. Lewis (18)
11. Kentucky Wesleyan (10)
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Robyn Withers |