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College women: 2015 conference preseason polls, honors

08/29/2015, 1:00am CDT
By ERIC ANDERSON
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The University of Wisconsin women's soccer team set a program record for wins last season, but lost several key contributors to graduation.

Big Ten Conference coaches project coach Paula Wilkins' Badgers to finish fourth in the league this season, two spots lower than their placement in last year's regular-season standings.

That's despite UW returning first-team, All-Big Ten midfielders Rose Lavelle and Kinley McNicoll, both regular youth internationals, and defender Brianna Stelzer, a second-team all-conference pick in 2014. The three were all named Big Ten Players to Watch this season.

Minnesota junior midfielder Josee Stiever (Cedarburg) also was selected as a player to watch.

Place Team
1 Penn State
2 Michigan
3 Rutgers
4 Wisconsin
5 Illinois
6 Minnesota
7 Maryland
8 Northwestern
9 Ohio State
10 Nebraska
11 Iowa
12 Michigan State
13 Indiana
14 Purdue

BIG EAST CONFERENCE

Conference coaches think this season is going to look a lot like last season finished.

After finishing fourth in 2014, Marquette is fourth in the preseason poll behind DePaul, St. John's and Georgetown – the three teams that finished ahead of the Golden Eagles (10-8-3 overall, 5-3-1 Big East) a year ago.

Two juniors, midfielder-forward Liz Bartels and defender Morgan Proffitt, were named to the 15-member Preseason All-Big East team for Marquette, which returns seven starters from last year's team.

Place Team 1st-place votes Points
T1 DePaul 4 73
T1 St. John's 4 73
3 Georgetown 2 70
4 Marquette 60
5 Providence 47
6 Butler 42
7 Villanova 31
8 Creighton 24
9 Seton Hall 19
10 Xavier 11

HORIZON LEAGUE

The state's two Horizon League teams, which both have new coaches this season, were picked to have similar seasons by conference coaches.

Kim Brandão and UW-Green Bay are seventh in the preseason poll, one spot ahead of Troy Fabiano (Kenosha Bradford) and UW-Milwaukee. The Phoenix finished fourth last fall and the Panthers were eighth in what was a nine-team league – the conference has grown to 10 with the addition of Northern Kentucky.

Place Team 1st-place votes Points
1 Valparaiso 9 81
2 Oakland 1 63
3 Detroit 60
4 Cleveland State 48
5 Northern Kentucky 43
6 Wright State 40
7 UW-Green Bay 38
8 UW-Milwaukee 34
9 Youngstown State 29
10 Illinois-Chicago 14

GREAT LAKES VALLEY CONFERENCE

Place Team 1st-place votes Points
1 Bellarmine (Ky.) 9 219
2 Rockhurst (Mo.) 196
3 Truman State (Mo.) 3 188
4 UW-Parkside 4 184
5 Quincy (Ill.) 170
6 Drury (Mo.) 168
7 Lewis (Ill.) 133
8 Missouri S&T 116
9 Missouri-St. Louis 108
10 McKendree (Mo.) 94
T11 Maryville (Mo.) 80
T11 William Jewell (Mo.) 80
13 Indianapolis 76
14 Southern Indiana 61
15 Illinois-Springfield 32
16 St. Joseph's (Ind.) 15

WISCONSIN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Place Team
1 UW-Whitewater
2 UW-Oshkosh
3 UW-Eau Claire
4 UW-La Crosse
5 UW-River Falls
6 UW-Stout
7 UW-Stevens Point
8 UW-Platteville

NORTHERN ATHLETICS COLLEGIATE CONFERENCE

Place Team 1st-place votes Points
1 Aurora (Ill.) 21 241
2 Concordia (Wis.) 1 213
3 Edgewood College 190
4 Dominican (Ill.) 171
5 Milwaukee School of Engineering 161
6 Marian 134
7 Concordia (Ill.) 113
8 Benedictine (Ill.) 87
9 Wisconsin Lutheran 71
10 Alverno 42
11 Lakeland 29

MIDWEST CONFERENCE

Place Team 1st-place votes Points
1 Lake Forest (Ill.) 10 100
2 Carroll 82
3 Ripon 1 78
4 Grinnell (Iowa) 76
5 St. Norbert 74
6 Lawrence 53
7 Monmouth (Ill.) 39
8 Illinois College 38
9 Cornell (Iowa) 28
10 Knox (Ill.) 27
11 Beloit College 16

COLLEGE CONFERENCE OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN

Place Team 1st-place votes Points
1 Wheaton (Ill.) 5 47
2 Illinois Wesleyan 3 45
3 Augustana (Ill.) 33
4 Carthage 32
5 Elmhurst (Ill.) 27
6 North Central (Ill.) 18
7 North Park (Ill.) 14
8 Millikin (Ill.) 8

UPPER MIDWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Place Team 1st-place votes Points
1 St. Scholastica (Minn.) 7 63
2 Minnesota-Morris 2 57
3 Northwestern (Minn.) 38
T4 Bethany Lutheran (Minn.) 36
T4 UW-Superior 36
6 Martin Luther (MInn.) 35
7 Northland 32
8 Crown (Minn.) 18
9 North Central (Minn.) 9

NORTH STAR ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Place Team 1st-place votes Points
1 Bellevue (Neb.) 3 15
2 Viterbo 2 14
3 Jamestown (N.D.) 10
4 Waldorf (Iowa) 7
5 Presentation (S.D.) 4

Note: The Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, which includes Cardinal Stritch, doesn't conduct a preseason conference poll.

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