BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University women's soccer team opens the 2026 season projected as a top candidate to finish atop the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.

 

The 11-time GNAC regular-season champions are listed tied for first place in the 2026 GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll, equaling border rival Simon Fraser with 60 points and four first-place votes. Simon Fraser is the three-time defending GNAC Tournament champions heading into their final season in the conference.

 

WWU and SFU hold the top spot, with annual contender Seattle Pacific in third with 45 points and Western Oregon is in the fourth spot with 37 points.

 

The preseason No. 18 nationally ranked Vikings open the 2026 season this week with a pair of home matches at Harrington Field hosting Hawai'i Hilo on Thursday (4 pm) and No. 10 UC Colorado Springs on Sunday (11 am). SFU will make an early trip to Bellingham on Saturday playing Hawai'i Hilo in a neutral-site game at Harrington Field beginning at 4 pm.

 

It has been almost three years since the Vikings have dropped a conference match. The two-time NCAA Division II national champions (2016 & 2022) went 11-0-3 in league play last fall for their second consecutive undefeated conference slate, as they ran away with the league title with 36 points. WWU's last loss in a regular-season conference contest was against No. 20 Seattle Pacific on November 2, 2023 for a 29-match unbeaten streak in conference matches.

 

The Vikings went 14-1-7 overall last season, including an unbeaten 8-0-2 record on their home pitch. WWU's season came to an end in heartbreaking fashion, with a 6-5 penalty-kick defeat at the hands of Azusa Pacific after a 1-1 draw in the opening round of the NCAA West Region Championships. WWU enters the 2026 season with a 19-match unbeaten streak intact. Beginning his 24th season leading the program, Travis Connell is the winningest women's soccer coach in conference history. Since taking over in the fall of 2003, he holds a record of 339-90-53 (.758) overall and has gone 209-44-31 (.790) in conference contests. The Vikings 11 regular-season crowns and six conference tournament titles are the most among the GNAC schools and last year he was voted by his peers as GNAC Coach of the Year for the ninth time.

 

The 2026 team features 20 returning letterwinners and an All-Northwest recruiting class of 12 program additions. Seniors Jane Hmura, Reese Walker, Olivia Connell and Mie Cairns lead the returning group of players entering the 2026 season.

 

The 14-game conference schedule begins September 17 with the top-four teams in the regular-season standings earning spots in the 2026 GNAC Women's Soccer Championships hosted by Seattle Pacific November 5-7 at Interbay Stadium in Seattle. All contests hosted by GNAC schools will air live on the GNAC Network, with single-match and season-long purchase packages available online.

The winner of the GNAC Championships tournament earns the conference's automatic berth into the 2026 NCAA West Region Championships, which run November 12-15 on campus sites. The 2026 Division II NCAA Women's Soccer Championships Final Four is December 3-5 at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

The complete 2026 season schedule for the Vikings can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com and the single-game and season tickets can be purchased at WWUVikings.com/Tickets.

 

Here is a look at the final voting tally from the 2026 GNAC Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll: