NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division III Women's - National - Pre-Season Ranking - August 7, 2012
Rank
School
Prev.
W-L-T
1
Messiah
1
23-0-1
2
William Smith
3
20-1-1
3
Johns Hopkins
6
21-1-0
4
Wheaton (Ill.)
2
23-2-2
5
Trinity (Texas)
7
22-1-0
6
Emory
8
17-1-2
7
Amherst
4
20-1-0
8
Middlebury
10
13-4-2
9
Washington (Mo.)
9
18-5-0
10
Hardin-Simmons
12
20-2-0
11
Illinois Wesleyan
17
14-4-2
12
Ohio Northern
13
19-3-2
13
Williams
11
13-5-3
14
Concordia-Moorhead
16
13-4-6
15
Lynchburg
18
19-3-1
16
California Lutheran
14
20-2-1
17
Case Western Reserve
19
13-4-3
18
Stevens Institute Of Technology
RV
14-3-4
19
Ithaca
5
15-4-3
20
Virginia Wesleyan
21
18-4-0
21
College of New Jersey
23
13-4-2
22
SUNY Cortland
15
14-6-3
23
Wisconsin-Whitewater
NR
14-5-3
24
Centre
24
14-5-3
25
Springfield
25
15-4-3
2011 final record and ranking shown.
Also receiving votes: St. Benedict (Minn.), University of Chicago, Ohio Wesleyan, Wheaton (Mass.), SUNY New Paltz, Haverford (Pa.), Nazareth (N.Y.)
Don't mean to throw the gauntlet down, but that just looks like a list of "insiders". Just like any sport, the pre-season poll is usually the good ol' boys/girls club voting each other onto the poll. Some of those schools will still be there in December, but a lot of them won't be. Ohio Northern has a nice team, but that really disrespects Capital who won the OAC and had an excellent midfield. Case, Ithaca, Cortland and some others always seem to be early faves. We'll see if they are all still standing in the end.
I don't ever worry too much about preseason polls. It's where you are at the end of the season that counts.:):)
Obviously this year's first regular season poll will be interesting since Messiah, JHU and Emory, all in the top six in this poll, play each other by Sept. 8th. Messiah also plays #2 William Smith in that first week. All should be close hard fought games.
Didn't know where to put this post. Possible sleeper team of the year- Houghton College. A traditional NAIA powerhouse, they are making the transition to D3 this year and they seem to be loaded. They have the all time NY Section 5 High School scoring leader, some DI transfers, and a team deep in talent. They look awfully solid.
Quote from: woacfan on August 29, 2012, 08:39:36 PM
Didn't know where to put this post. Possible sleeper team of the year- Houghton College. A traditional NAIA powerhouse, they are making the transition to D3 this year and they seem to be loaded. They have the all time NY Section 5 High School scoring leader, some DI transfers, and a team deep in talent. They look awfully solid.
They're in the first year of the transition from NAIA to D3 ... which means, if they had any NAIA scholarship athletes, it's very likely some of them are still playing this season as players on scholarship are allowed to complete the school's obligation to them. It also means they won't be eligible for the postseason (either Empire 8 or NCAA). They are young but do have some upperclassmen that may be legacy scholarship athletes.
They had a run of eight straight NAIA playoff appearances so it will be interesting to see if they can regain that success once they complete the transition period.