Defending Champs Open as Preseason No. 1

CHARLOTTE - The 2024 NJCAA Women's Soccer Preseason Poll has been released and not surprisingly, the defending back-to-back national champions are at the top.

Iowa Western Women's Soccer enters the new campaign riding a 36 game winning streak that dates back to August 31st, 2022.  Their last loss came at the hands, or feet rather, of a team that they beat twice in two years at nationals, Eastern Florida State, at a classic in Cheyenne, WY.  

The Reivers defeated the Titans in the national semi-finals in 2022, 4-2, in Evans, GA en route to the program's first national title since 2013.  They repeated that result in the 2023 national championship game in Wichita, KS, with Nicole Navarro Aguilar scoring the golden goal in overtime to claim their 2nd title in a row, 1-0.  Tyler JC (TX) owns the all-time record for consecutive victories with 52 from 2019-2021.

Head Coach Adam Sanchez returns 15 players from last season's squad, including the United Soccer Coaches Player of the Year, Oruha Hayashi.  Last season, Hayashi tallied 19 goals and 19 assists to lead the team with 57 points and her .358 shooting percentage was 2nd only to Navarro Aguilar's .404 during her freshman year.

Coach Sanchez enters his 10th year as Head Coach and owns a 138-26-7 record at IWCC and is 195-63-13 in his head coaching career.  The Reivers have won 8 straight ICCAC Region 11 Championships and 4 Central District Titles in a row during his time in Council Bluffs.  Coach Sanchez is 12th on the active coaches all-tiime wins list in the NJCAA.

Iowa Western opens up the new season versus Navarro (TX) on August 23rd at a classic hosted by Indian Hills in Ottumwa, IA.  The team's home opener is slated for August 30th versus Western Nebraska at either Lewis Central or the Gail Wickersham Athletic Complex due to the ongoing renovations of the new John and Harriet Wiebe Soccer and Football Complex that's set to be opened in September on campus.

All home games are livestreamed for FREE on the Reiver Sports Network at goreivers.com, any links asking for credit card information are SPAM and you should NOT click those links.