NAPERVILLE, Ill. - North Central College was the unanimous choice of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin women’s soccer coaches to repeat as conference champion in 2026, one year after the Cardinals completed a perfect CCIW season, claimed the CCIW Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Head coach Andrew Gamarra and North Central stacked up the maximum of 64 points and eight first-place votes in the CCIW preseason poll. The Cardinals were a perfect 8-0-0 in the league last season and notched two shutout victories in the CCIW Tournament. North Central also defeated Loras College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to the eventual national champions, Washington University in St. Louis, in the second round.

A total of seven Cardinals earned All-CCIW accolades last year and six of them return in 2026, including three-time reigning CCIW Defensive Student-Athlete of the Year Kassandra Salviola, CCIW Goalkeeper of the Year Lily Mattison – who let in just three goals in the 10 total matches North Central played against CCIW competition last season – and CCIW Offensive Student-Athlete of the Year and Third Team All-American Jordan Lange.

Finishing second in the poll with 53 points and one first-place vote was North Park University. The Vikings and reigning CCIW Coach of the Year Emma Woodley advanced to last season’s CCIW Tournament championship match before coming up short against North Central and will look to avenge that defeat in 2026 behind four returning All-CCIW performers. The duo of Sofia Svensson, who had eight goals in conference play en route to earning CCIW First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year honors, and Caroline Sjøstedt, who posted six assists in conference play, form one of the CCIW’s top 1-2 punches in the final third of the field.

Carthage College took third in the preseason poll with 45 points. The Firebirds will look to build on the foundations of a successful first season under head coach Chelsea Davis after going from last in the CCIW standings in 2024 to third in just one season. Three All-CCIW performers are back in the mix, including First Team forward Emma Amberg.

Tied for fourth in the preseason poll with 40 points apiece were Elmhurst University and Wheaton College. Both programs advanced to last season’s CCIW Tournament semifinals after advancing on penalty kicks in road matches. Head coach Susie McCreery Foster and the Bluejays welcome back 10 starters from last season’s 12-win squad, including three All-CCIW honorees. Nora Simon tacked on All-Region honors out of the back for Elmhurst.

For Wheaton and head coach Patrick Gilliam, both All-CCIW performers Lily Lindquist up front and Leah Harris in defense return in 2026, hoping to lead one of the conference’s most decorated programs with 22 regular season titles and three national championships back to its perch at the top of the standings.

Illinois Wesleyan University slotted into sixth place in the preseason poll with 37 points. Under head coach Oz Bakirdan, the Titans finished fourth in the regular-season standings a year ago and will rely on First Team All-CCIW and Third Team All-Region selection Liza Wiley, along with seven other returning starters, as they look to earn another CCIW Tournament bid.

The lone newcomer among the CCIW’s head coaches, Tom Torres guides Carroll University into the 2026 season after coming in seventh in the preseason poll with 19 points. Carmella Nowak returns after earning First Team All-CCIW honors a year ago and will look to get the Pioneers back in the hunt for a CCIW Tournament berth after missing out by three points last season.

Millikin University was one point behind Carroll in eighth place with 18 points in the poll. Head coach Ian Doherty looks to Second Team All-CCIW performer and 2024 First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year Izzy Jones to provide some scoring punch up top for the Big Blue.

Augustana College rounded out the preseason poll in ninth place with eight points. Though head coach Scott Mejia and the Vikings were winless in the CCIW last season, they will look to turn that around quickly having made the previous six CCIW Tournaments prior to 2025 and playing three of the top five teams in the final conference standings a year ago to within a single goal.

The 2026 season opens on Sept. 1 with all nine programs starting non-conference play. A Sept. 23 match between Augustana and Elmhurst gets CCIW action underway and the regular season concludes on Oct. 28. The top six teams in the standings will advance to the CCIW Tournament, with all matches in the tournament hosted by the higher seed. The tournament begins with a pair of quarterfinal matches on Oct. 31, followed by the semifinals on Nov. 4 and the championship match on Nov. 7.

Matches hosted at CCIW venues can be streamed for free all season long through the CCIW Network.
 

Projected Place	Team	Points	Votes for First	Votes for Second	Votes for Third
1	North Central	64	8	-	-
2	North Park	53	1	5	1
3	Carthage	45	-	2	4
T4	Elmhurst	40	-	-	1
T4	Wheaton	40	-	1	2
6	Illinois Wesleyan	37	-	1	1
7	Carroll	19	-	-	-
8	Millikin	18	-	-	-
9	Augustana	8	-	-	-

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The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, Ill.), Carroll University (Waukesha, Wis.), Carthage College (Kenosha, Wis.), Elmhurst University (Elmhurst, Ill.), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, Ill.), Millikin University (Decatur, Ill.), North Central College (Naperville, Ill.), North Park University (Chicago, Ill.) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.).