T minus 1 day!

I was looking at the coaches of the top 5 teams in the preseason poll and was amazed at what I found.

Below are each of the coaches for Wash U, Emory, Chicago, Tufts, and Messiah and how many years they have coached at that school (including the 2026 season):

1. Wash U: Jim Conlon - 18th season (not consecutive - 2008 to 2020 and 2022 to present)
2. Emory: Sue Patberg - 22nd season (2005 to present)
3. Chicago: Amy Howley Reifert - 36th season!! (1991 to present)
4. Tufts: Martha Whiting - 28th season (1999 to present)
5. Messiah: Scott Frey - 27th season (2000 to present)

Here are links to all of their bio's: (Amy Howley Reifert - good grief - look at all the records and accolades)!

1. Jim Conlon: https://washubears.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/jim-conlon/322
2. Sue Patberg: https://emoryathletics.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/sue-patberg/473
3. Amy Howley Reifert: https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/amy-howley-reifert/886
4. Martha Whiting: https://gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/martha-whiting/1359
5. Scott Frey: https://gomessiah.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/coaches/scott-frey/3412

When Messiah and Tufts play each other this Saturday there will be 55 years of combined coaching experience on the sidelines.

By the way, the one year that Coach Conlon took a break from coaching Wash U, he went to division 2 Grand Valley State University and coached the women's team to a National Championship for division 2!

T minus 2 days!

Last year there were four first team All Americans that were not seniors (out of 13 total) and will therefore be playing again this year for their respective schools.  Three of the four are on teams in the preseason top 25:

1. Kaitlyn Nimmer (F), Emory (senior this year)
2. Vivian Rojas Collins (D), Pomona-Pitzer (senior this year)
3. Olivia Clemons (F), Wash U (junior this year)

The one returning first team All American that is not playing on a team in the top 25 is:

4. Aubree Caya (F), Wisconsin-La Crosse (senior this year)

Crazy to think that for Olivia Clemons there is really no where up to go after her incredible 2025 season .. her team won the National Championship, she made first team All American, and she won the National Player Of The Year as a sophomore!  I guess one thing she could shoot for is that in the history of NCAA D3 Women's Soccer there has only been one player to win two NPOTY awards during their career.  Olivia Clemons has at least a chance to match that or maybe even exceed it if she would win NPOTY again in her junior and senior years.

By the way, the only d3 female player to have one two NPOTY awards during their collegiate career was Amanda Naeher (F) from Messiah in her sophomore and senior years (2008 & 2010).  If that name sounds familiar, it is because her sister, Alyssa Naeher, was the GK for the US Women's National Team.

T minus 3 days!

So at the beginning of the 2026 season, according to the preseason poll, here are the conferences (and the number of teams in each conference) that are represented in the top 25:

UAA  (6)
NESCAC  (5)
Centennial  (2)
SCIAC  (2)
C2C  (2)
MAC-Commonwealth  (1)
MAC-Freedom  (1)
ODAC  (1)
NEWMAC  (1)
MIAC  (1)
MIAA  (1)
NJAC  (1)
United East  (1)

Something to think about - in the 2026 final regular season USC poll, what is a conference that wasn't included above that will make it into the top 25?

I would guess Liberty League.  The top teams in that league play some quality games outside their conference and with Vassar, William Smith, RIT, and Skidmore one of these teams may be able to get into the top 25 by the end of the regular season.

NEWMAC preseason poll: https://newmacsports.com/news/2026/8/18/mit-womens-soccer-earns-no-1-slot-in-preseason-coaches-poll.aspx

  1. MIT  121 (11)
  2. Springfield  102 (1)
  3. Babson  97
  4. Emerson  94
  5. WPI  78
  6. Wheaton  77
  7. Wellesley  54
  8. Clark  53
  9. Coast Guard  50
T10. Salve Regina  27
T10. Smith  27
12. Mount Holyoke  12

ODAC preseason poll: https://odaconline.com/news/2026/8/26/082626-wsoc-preseason-poll.aspx

1. Washington & Lee  144 (12)
2. Batten  126 (1)
3. Bridgewater  119
4. Lynchburg  105
5. Shenandoah  103
6. Roanoke  91
7. Randolph-Macon  89
8. Guilford  63
9. Randolph  54
10. EMU  49
11. Averett  30
12. Hollins  25
13. Sweet Briar  16

Gregory Sager - were you able to watch the NPU scrimmage yesterday (Thursday) against Edgewater Castle?  If so, how did it go?

I've watched a couple of scrimmages myself and I'm never quite sure how to interpret what I'm seeing because you never know what the coaches may be trying to work on or experiment with.  Having said that, you can get a general sense of how fit and ready players look.

Below are the remaining 10 teams in the top 25 that do not begin their season on September 1st (and the date of their first game of the season):

#14 California Lutheran vs Concordia (TX)  9/3
#2 Emory @ Transylvania  9/4
#13 Swarthmore vs Skidmore  9/4
#24 Colby @ Bowdoin  9/4  **
#4 Tufts vs #5 Messiah (neutral site)  9/5  ***
#9 Middlebury @ Wesleyan (CT)  9/5  **
#10 Williams vs Bates  9/5  **
#16 Carleton @ North Central (IL)  9/5
#18 Rowan vs Pratt  9/5
#22 Amherst vs Connecticut Col.  9/5  **

** conference game
*** second game of the year with two top 25 teams playing each other and the highest rated matchup of week 1

T minus 4 days!

(everything below is based on the USC/IWSOC National - Pre-season Poll - August 4, 2026: https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-women/)

Here are the teams in the top 25 that begin their season on Tuesday, September 1st:

#21 Carnegie Mellon @ St Francis  4pm
#3 University of Chicago vs Kalamazoo  5pm
#25 Christopher Newport vs Methodist  5pm
#11 Case Western vs John Carroll  5pm
#12 Mary Washington @ Randolph-Macon  6pm
#5 Messiah @ #23 Penn State - Harrisburg  7pm ***
#15 Johns Hopkins vs Catholic  7pm
#8 MIT vs Gordon  7pm
#19 University of Rochester vs Houghton  7pm
#17 Calvin @ Wheaton (IL)  7pm
#20 Misericordia @ Susquehanna  7pm
#7 Washington & Lee @ Southern Va.  7pm
#1 Wash U vs Greenville  8pm
#6 Pomona-Pitzer @ Redlands  10:30pm **


**  conference game
*** only game on September 1st with two top 25 teams playing each other

I'm curious - does this mean that they could be eligible for a second NCAA tournament AQ or are they still technically one conference with 2 divisions and only eligible for one AQ?  If they are considered two conferences (like the MAC did years ago) and have at least 6 teams in each, then I think they would each qualify for an AQ.??

Coast to Coast Conference preseason poll: https://c2csports.com/sports/wsoc/2026-27/releases/2026WSOCPoll

1.  Mary Washington  47 (5)
2.  Christopher Newport  45 (3)
3.  UC Santa Cruz  32
4.  Salisbury  32
5.  JWU Charlotte  29
6.  Regent  17
7.  Warren Wilson  15
8.  Alverno  7

Landmark Conference preseason poll: https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/e7QZ8BxrtVuCM

1.  Scranton  81 (9)
2.  Catholic  70 (1)
3.  Lycoming  67
4.  Susquehanna  54
5.  Elizabethtown  50
6.  Drew  36
7.  Moravian  33
8.  Wilkes  31
9.  Juniata  19
10. Goucher  9

Centennial Conference preseason poll: https://centennial.org/news/2026/8/16/blue-jays-edge-swarthmore-in-cc-womens-soccer-preseason-poll.aspx

1.  Johns Hopkins  97 (8)
2.  Swarthmore  93 (3)
3.  Dickinson  80
4.  Franklin & Marshall  75
5.  Gettysburg  60
6.  Washington College  47
7.  Haverford  39
8.  McDaniel  38
9.  Ursinus  38
10. Muhlenberg  28
11. Bryn Mawr  10

MAC-Freedom preseason poll: https://gomacsports.com/news/2026/8/14/misericordia-edges-stevens-for-top-spot-in-2026-mac-freedom-womens-soccer-coaches-poll.aspx

1.  Misericordia   61 (5)
2.  Stevens   60 (4)
3.  Arcadia   48
4.  Lebanon Valley   40
5.  Marywood**   37
6.  DeSales   32
7.  FDU-Florham   22
8.  Kings   16
9.  Delaware Valley   8

** New to the conference this year

MAC-Commonwealth preseason poll: https://gomacsports.com/news/2026/8/14/messiah-tabbed-preseason-favorite-in-2026-mac-commonwealth-womens-soccer-coaches-poll.aspx

1.  Messiah    64 (8)
2.  York       57 (1)
3.  Stevenson  48
4.  Eastern    42
5.  Widener    41
6.  Hood       22
7.  Alvernia   20
8.  Neumann**  16
9.  Albright   13

** New to the conference this year

Quote from: Scot_Fan on August 27, 2026, 10:29:50 AM

Quote from: Falconer on August 25, 2026, 12:06:38 PM

Quote from: CentPA on August 20, 2026, 04:08:14 PMJust saw that Messiah has 10 freshman coming in!  With 26 on the roster that means the freshman class will make up almost 40% of the roster this season.  Two freshman and one sophomore from last year are not showing on this year's roster - one of the freshman was #13 Ethan Quadrini, who contributed quite a few minutes last year off the bench and scored 3 goals.

I see 2 FR from last fall who aren't on this year's roster, but I don't see any others missing. Which SO did I miss?

Quadrini's absence is probably the most significant. He was a mega scorer and regional AA in HS, but his minutes dropped last fall toward the end of the conference schedule and he didn't get a lot of PT in the tournament. I was impressed by him on the field. I have no information about why either of the FR did not return. Most seasons the turnover is small, or even no turnover.

O'Connor is listed as a freshman again on the roster - believe he was hurt all of last season? That might be the missing person you were looking for.

Good catch Scot_Fan with O'Connor.  So, let's try this again ...

Messiah is adding 9 NEW freshman this year (not 10 - O'Connor is a freshman again for eligibility purposes??).  There are just two players from 2025 not on this years roster:  #13 Ethan Quadrini (freshman last year) and #22 Jonathan Kidd (sophomore last year).