Northwest Conference coaches make their season picks

The Northwest Conference hosts four schools from the state of Washington: Pacific Lutheran, Puget Sound, Whitman and Whitworth. This week the coaches of the Men’s and Women’s soccer teams from the NWC made their picks for the 2012 season. In the Men’s poll the four Washington schools finished 1-2-3-4.

See the press releases from www.NWCSports.com below.

            

NWC Men

2012 NWC Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Pre-Season Poll:			2011 records
School	(1st)	Pts.	All	NWC
1. Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)	(5)	50	15-4	12-2
2. Whitworth (Wash.)	(2)	45	14-3-1	12-2
3. Puget Sound (Wash)	(1)	39	11-6	10-4
4. Whitman (Wash.)		30	9-8-2	9-5
5. Willamette (Ore.)		27	6-9-2	5-8-1
6. Pacific (Ore.)		20	5-12-1	5-8-1
7. Linfield (Ore.)		13	2-14-1	1-12-1
8. George Fox (Ore.)		8	2-15-1	0-13-1

(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.  Coaches cannot vote for their own team).

Coaches picked the 2012 Northwest Conference men’s soccer standings to finish just as they did in 2011.  Co-champions from a year ago, Pacific Lutheran and Whitworth, are the frontrunners with 50 points and 45 points, respectively.

The Lutes, ranked No. 25 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire DIII Men’s Soccer National Preseason poll. had five first place points.   They will be led by NWC Coach of the Year John Yorke.  Pacific Lutheran will have to fill the offensive void created by the graduation of Spencer Augustin and Chad Kearns, the NWC’s top two leading scorers last season.

Whitworth finished with two first place points even though they graduated all seven All-NWC players from a year ago, including six First Team selections.  The Pirates will be led by sophomore honorable mention All-NWC selections Robby Ubben (F) and Colin Shockman (D).

Puget Sound is third in the poll with 33 points and the final first place vote.  Senior Second Team All-NWC goalkeeper Chris McDonald will once again anchor the Loggers’ defense, while fellow Second Team selections Carson Swope (M) and Andrew White (F) will pace the offense.

Whitman (30 points) and Willamette (27 points) are fourth and fifth in the poll.  First Team All-NWC forward Leland Matthaeus will be the leading returnee for Whitman.  The Bearcats return Second Team All-NWC forwards senior Erik Kaufman and junior Adan Vazquez.

Pacific’s 20 points put them in sixth place.  The Boxers are coming off of an injury-plagued campaign in 2011, where the team started 18 different lineups.  Honorable mention selection Alex Arrington (M) will lead the Boxers.

Linfield (13 points) is followed by George Fox (8 points) in seventh and eighth place. Linfield welcomes new head coach Chuck Bechtol, a 1992 Linfield graduate.  Sophomore honorable mention selection forward Luke Hammer returns for the Bruins.

The season begins on August 26^th when Pacific hosts Fraser Valley.

NWC Women

2012 NWC Women’s Soccer Coaches’ Preseason Poll:			2011 records
School	(1st)	Pts.	All	NWC
1. Puget Sound (Wash.)	(6)	66	14-3-3	12-2-2
2. Linfield (Ore.)	(3)	62	14-3-3	11-2-3
3. Whitworth (Wash.)		46	8-6-4	8-4-4
Willamette (Ore.)		46	11-8-1	10-5-1
5. Pacific (Ore.)		36	10-6-4	7-5-4
6. Whitman (Wash.)		28	8-10-2	6-8-2
7. Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)		21	4-13-1	3-12-1
8. George Fox (Ore.)		15	2-12-6	2-10-4
9. Lewis & Clark (Ore.)		13	3-15-2	2-13-1

(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Coaches cannot vote for their own team)

The University of Puget Sound is favored to build upon its decade of dominance in Northwest Conference women’s soccer, according to the 2012 preseason poll of conference coaches. UPS received six out of nine first place votes and is pursuing its eleventh consecutive NWC title.

The Loggers, who tallied 66 points in the poll, will be lead by junior goalkeeper Kara Merfeld, the lone First Team All-NWC honoree returning from last season. She will get help from sophomore forward Robin Vieira, who received Second Team All-NWC honors last season.

Linfield took second in the poll with 62 points, including the remaining three first place votes.  The Wildcats will be led by midfielder Christine Tamamoto and the 2010 NWC Offensive Player of the Year Emily Fellows, who had seven goals in six games in 2011 before suffering a season-ending injury.

Whitworth and Willamette each tallied 46 points to tie for third in the poll.  The Pirates welcome back two senior Second Team All-NWC selections in defender Kelsey Griswold and midfielder Mackenzie Grow.  Willamette will be led by 2011 Coach of the Year Hillary Arthur and senior midfielder Andi Rowan, who has received Second Team All-NWC the past three seasons.

Pacific (Ore.) finishes fifth in the poll with 36 points.  The Boxers return several starters from last season, including senior Brittany Hartmann and sophomore Kailee Green.

Whitman and Pacific Lutheran follow in sixth and seventh place with 28 and 21 points, respectively.  Standout defender Erin Flannery will lead Whitman.  Pacific Lutheran welcomes back sophomore Sarah Gamache, who received Second Team All-NWC honors in her first collegiate season.

George Fox (15 points) is eighth. Melanie Gaither, who led the team with eight goals in 2011, will be back.

Lewis & Clark rounds out the poll with 13 points. The Pioneers will look to senior Honorable Mention All-NWC selections Traci Nakamura and Gina Watkins for leadership.

The 2012 NWC season gets underway on August 31^st.

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