United Soccer Coaches Women's Preseason Top 25 |
Wheaton Release |
Illinois Wesleyan Release
NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Wheaton's and Illinois Wesleyan's women's soccer programs were both ranked in the United Soccer Coaches National Preseason Top 25 as announced on Tuesday.
The Thunder (15-5-3, 7-0-1) were ranked 15th and are coming off their 19th College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season title and 13th CCIW Women's Soccer Tournament title last season. Additionally, Wheaton won the NCAA regional title for the first time since 2013 and have made 20 NCAA postseason appearances in program history including national titles in 2004, 2006 and 2007, all under the direction of head coach Pete Felske.
The Titans (17-5-0, 7-1-0) were ranked 23rd following their fifth-straight trip (10th overall) to the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship last season. Illinois Wesleyan's farthest advancement was to the national semifinals in 2014. First-year Titan head coach Tony Dulak takes over for Dave Barrett, who left after 17 seasons to become the head coach at Division I Fairfield (Conn.). Dulak comes to Illinois Wesleyan after spending seven years as the associate head coach at Lynchburg (Va.).
The 2018 CCIW women's soccer season begins Friday, August 31 and the complete conference schedule can be found
here.
Twitter & Instagram: CCIW_Athletics
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2017-18 academic year, the CCIW honored over 2,100 academic all-conference recipients, 15 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 28 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients, and over 100 all-Americans.