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PORTLAND, Ore. – One year after being touted as the sixth best team in the conference, Corban University's women's soccer team jumped up three spots Thursday when the Cascade Collegiate Conference coaches' preseason poll was released by the league office.
"The preseason poll does not surprise me at all," said fifteenth-year head coach
Marty Ziesemer. "We have a lot of talented players returning this season to go along with a mix of newcomers. My goal is to advance to the postseason once again and possibly surprise some teams along the way."
Corban is coming off its third straight appearance in the conference tournament semifinals after posting a win-loss record of 9-7-3 last year that included a 6-2-1 mark in league play. The Warriors finished in third place in the final conference standings after going unbeaten in seven of its final nine games.
The Warriors return 10 players from last season's roster that includes NAIA All-American honorable mention and junior
Amanda Mendenhall (Windsor, Calif.) and All-Cascade Collegiate Conference 1st team member and senior
Katie Hanson (Salem, Ore.). Corban also brings back a pair of 2nd team all-conference players in senior
Genessa Neeser (Pocatello, Idaho) and sophomore
Emily Tsugawa (Gladstone, Ore.).
Leading the charge of 12 newcomers is sophomore
Brittany Bowman (Shelton, Wash.), who returns after a year away from the University. The 2nd team all-conference selection as a freshman will be looked upon to return to the form that led to a team-high eight goals, seven assists, and 23 points during her initial collegiate campaign.
Ten-time defending champions Concordia are once again picked as the preseason favorite receiving all 10 first-place votes for a perfect point total of 100. The College of Idaho is picked second with 89 points followed by Corban (75 points), Southern Oregon (59 points), Oregon Tech (56 points), Northwest (49 points), Eastern Oregon (47 points), Warner Pacific (29 points), Northwest Christian (27 points), and Evergreen (19 points).
Corban will kick off its season on Wednesday, August 25th, against NCAA Division II member Western Oregon beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Warrior Field.