MSUB Women’s Soccer Fifth in GNAC Preseason Poll

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Montana State Billings women’s soccer team has been selected fifth in the annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason poll, the conference office announced Wednesday.  The Yellowjackets received 22 ½ points, behind conference favorite Seattle Pacific with 47 points.

Defending conference champion, Western Washington, was selected second (43 points) and one first place vote, followed by Central Washington (34), Saint Martin’s (25 ½), the Yellowjackets, Western Oregon (14) and Northwest Nazarene (8) was seventh to round out the league.  Points are awarded on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.

The Yellowjackets finished the 2008 season with a 10-10 record overall and a 5-7 mark in the very competitive Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  MSUB returns eight starters and 14 letterwinners from last year and has just one senior on the team this season.  Head coach Don Trentham welcomes nine freshmen and one junior college transfer for 2009.

Returnees Kari Foreman, Ali Gamberg and MyKenzie Deverell all made the all-conference team last year.  Foreman was a second team selection, while Gamberg and Deverell were honorable mention selections.

Freshman, Jennifer Larsen, recorded three goals in a pair of exhibition contests last week, while freshman forward Jaucelyn Richter added three assists as the Yellowjackets blanked University of Great Falls 4-0 and played to a 1-1 draw at Division I University of Montana.

Seattle Pacific won its first-ever NCAA Division II national title last season and beat conference rival Western Washington in the NCAA Division II West Region final (1-0 in double overtime).  However, the Vikings handed SPU its only conference loss and tie during the regular season to win the conference championship.  SPU begins 2009 as the nation’s top-ranked team and WWU is 12th.

The Yellowjackets open the 2009 regular season versus Cal State San Bernardino in St. George, Utah, Aug. 29 at 12 p.m.  MSUB opens the home slate Sept. 4, versus Colorado Christian at 1 p.m., in the Seventh Annual MSU Billings Cup Presented by Best Western Clock Tower Inn. 

Great Northwest Coaches Poll 2008 Record  Pts
1.   Seattle Pacific (6)           22-1-2, 10-1-1(2nd)   47
2.   Western Washington (1)17-3-2, 10-0-2 (1st)   43
3.   Central Washington        10-7-3, 6-5-1 (3rd)    34
4.   Saint Martin’s                 6-11-2, 4-6-2 (5th) 25 ½
5.   Montana State Billings  10-10-0, 5-7-0 (4th) 22 ½
6.   Western Oregon          7-11-2, 3-7-2 (6th) 14
7.   Northwest Nazarene    1-18-1, 0-12-0  (7th)    8

(Note: First-place votes in parenthesis.  Points awarded on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).