BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The defending GNAC Champion Western Washington University Vikings have been picked as the preseason favorites in the annual women's soccer coaches poll.

 

The Vikings went undefeated in conference play last fall, posting a league record of 11-0-3, recording their 10th GNAC regular season title tying Seattle Pacific for the most since the league was formed in 2001.

 

WWU received seven of the eight first-place votes in the 2025 edition of the preseason poll, totaling 63 points. That was good for a nine-point cushion over second-ranked Simon Fraser, which checked in with 54 points and received the final first-place vote. Western Washington, Simon Fraser and Seattle Pacific each received votes in the 2025 United Soccer Coaches preseason top-25 rankings.

 

The 2025 women's soccer season officially kicks off on Sept. 4, with conference matches beginning the week of September 22. The top-four teams in the regular-season standings will earn spots into the GNAC Championships, which run November 13-15 at Terry Fox Field in Burnaby, B.C. The winner of the GNAC Championships earns the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA West Region Championships.

 

The Vikings are coming off a 14-4-5 overall record in 2024 and returns a trio of First Team All-GNAC performers to for a solid foundation for the upcoming season. Three-time first-teamer Morgan Manalili returns to the midfield and attack unit as the GNAC's active leader with 18 goals and 16 assists across her first three seasons. Asia Hardin, a two-time first-team defender, leads the defensive unit that allowed a GNAC-low 13 goals in 23 matches last fall. Hardin has started 68 of 69 possible matches during her career playing nearly every minute at her center back position. After earning minutes in 43 matches and starting all 23 last year on her way to first-team honors, junior midfielder Mie Cairns is also back as a key piece for the Vikings.

 

Honorable mention all-league center back Olivia Connell has started 37 matches in her first two collegiate seasons and gives the Vikings another key returning presence on the back line. Senior Emily Rice who started 15 of 23 games and junior Jane Hmura who got a dozen starts each also return to the lineup. Senior Claire Potter has also been a fixture since breaking in during the 2022 season and is back after racking up nine goals and six assists across 67 matches played. WWU will look for a replication of a freshman season that saw Emily Holdridge score three goals and add five assists while starting 18 matches.

 

Under the guidance of 2024 GNAC Coach of the Year Travis Connell, the GNAC's all-time winningest coach, the Vikings have gone 325-89-46 (.757) overall and 198-44-28 (.785) in conference matches since his tenure began in 2003. In addition to the 10 GNAC regular-season titles, Connell led WWU to six GNAC Championships tournament titles (2012, 2015-17, 2019 and 2022) and the NCAA Division II national championship titles in 2016 and 2022. Eight players on the Vikings current roster were members of the 2022 national championship team, including Hardin, Potter, Manalili, Rice, Kascia Muscutt, Alisa Harmer, Minji Rauchand Abby Succi.

 

The Vikings officially open the 2025 season September 4 with a road match at MSU Denver, beginning a three-game trip in Colorado to start the campaign. WWU's home opener is scheduled for Thursday, September 18 against Cal State Monterey Bay at Harrington Field. The complete season schedule is available online at wwuvikings.com/25_WSOC.

 

Here is a look at the final voting tally from the 2025 GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll:

 

 

The Western Washington University women's soccer program has risen to the top of the Division II ranks, appearing in the NCAA Championships in 11 of the last 12 seasons and winning a pair of national championships in 2016 and 2022. WWU has advanced to the NCAA II Final Four in five of the last 11 seasons and played for the West Region championship in nine of the last 12 seasons (seven consecutive from 2015-22). The Vikings won the 2022 NCAA Division II National Championship with a 2-1 win over No. 1 nationally ranked West Chester, played for the 2019 national title and won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2016 with an undefeated 24-0-1 record, beating three-time defending national champion Grand Valley State 3-2 in the title game in Kansas City, Missouri. The program has claimed nine of the last 13 Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season titles (2024 Champions) and won five of the last eight GNAC Tournament titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022). Head coach Travis Connell enters his 23rd season leading the program in 2025 (30th overall at WWU) and has led the Vikings to 12 trips to the NCAA Championships and 19 consecutive winning seasons.