CCC Women's Preview: Northwest, Evergreen to battle highly-ranked Concordia

The state of Washington has two schools in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (NAIA) for Women’s soccer, Kirkland’s Northwest University Eagles and Olympia’s Evergreen State University Geoducks.

—CCC Press Release—

www.CascadeConference.org

LA GRANDE, Ore. – Winners of 14 of the last 15 regular season conference titles, Concordia (Ore.), was picked to win the 2012 Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s soccer championship, according to a poll of the league’s 10 head coaches.
The Cavaliers, who won the 2011 regular season and CCC tournament titles, earned all 10 first-place votes and totaled 100 points in the conference’s preseason ranking.

The Cavs are ranked #2 in the country in the NSCAA pre-season poll.

Concordia was followed by Southern Oregon (84), and last year’s conference tournament runner-up, Northwest (Wash.), which totaled 79 points. The Eagles were followed by Corban (71), College of Idaho (62), Warner Pacific (40), Oregon Tech (32), Evergreen (31), Eastern Oregon (30), and Northwest Christian (21).
The Cavaliers will return an All-American on offense and defense in 2012. Third team All-American Alex Thomas will return for her senior season with 25 career goals scored, including a team-leading 11 last year as a junior. In all, CU returns six of eight players that notched more than one goal last year. After sitting out all of 2011 due to injury, second team All-American Jenna Peterson returns to the backline for the Cavs. In net, the Cavaliers will return NAIA honorable mention All-American Tori Talbutt. Talbutt has started 47 straight contests for Concordia, and compiled a 0.61 goals against average last season.
Concordia coach Grant Landy, who is beginning his 16th season with the Cavs, enters the 2012 season with a career winning percentage of .814 (272-54-12), tops in NAIA history. Landy led CU to the national title game last season before falling to four-time defending national champion, Lee (Tenn.). The Cavaliers face a daunting non-conference schedule before conference play begins.

After finishing second in the CCC regular season standings in 2011, Southern Oregon welcomes back 19 players, including eight starters. Last year’s Cascade Conference co-Coach of the Year, Jon Clement enters his seventh year at the helm at SOU and he returns first team All-Conference forward, Stephanie Carr. The senior found the net 11 times last season, scoring 23 points.
After guiding Northwest to the conference tournament title game a year ago, Erin Redwine was named CCC co-Coach of the Year. The Eagles were picked fifth in the preseason poll last season, but finished third in the regular season standings. Stephanie Cummins was named third team All-American in 2011, after leading one of the best defenses in the conference.
The top four teams in the CCC’s final regular season standings will earn spots in the conference’s postseason tournament, which begins Nov. 6. The CCC’s tournament champion will earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NAIA Championships, which get underway Nov. 17.
The first game involving a conference member is Monday as Corban hosts Fraser Valley (B.C.). The first conference games are Sept. 28.
CCC Coaches’ Poll

Team	Points
Concordia (10)	100
Southern Oregon	84
Northwest	79
Corban	71
College of Idaho	62
Warner Pacific	40
Oregon Tech	32
Evergreen	31
Eastern Oregon	30
Northwest Christian	21

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