Women’s Soccer Picked No. 6 in National Preseason Coaches Poll

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women's soccer has been ranked No. 6 in the nation entering the 2022 season in the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's Preseason Poll, released on Tuesday. The Scarlet Knights have now been ranked or received votes in the national preseason poll in 11 of the last 13 seasons.

The Scarlet Knights were ranked No. 25 one year ago in the 2021 preseason poll before winning a Big Ten Championship and making a run to the College Cup, ending the season with their highest ranking in program history at No. 3. Rutgers is the top ranked Big Ten program in the 2022 preseason poll, followed by No. 9 Michigan and No. 14 Penn State. Purdue and Wisconsin are also receiving votes.

Rutgers returns nine starters and 17 letterwinners from the 2021 College Cup squad, including Big Ten Freshman of the Year and All-Region First Team performer Riley Tiernan and All-Region goalkeeper Meagan McClelland. Junior midfielder Becci Fluchel (All-Big Ten Second Team), sophomore back Kassidy Banks (Big Ten All-Freshman Team) and sophomore midfielder Kylie Daigle (Big Ten All-Freshman Team) also return with conference honors from last fall.

The Scarlet Knights established a historic and record-breaking season in 2021, capturing the first Big Ten Conference title for the program and for Rutgers while cruising to a 10-0 undefeated record in conference play. Led by a program-high nine All-Big Ten selections, the team advanced to the Big Ten Tournament Championship game for the third time since joining the league. In its 10th straight NCAA Tournament and first as a No. 1 seed, the team advanced to the College Cup for the second time and first time since 2015. Overall, a plethora of new program records were set by the squad, including total wins, goals, assists, points, winning streak, and more.

The 2022 campaign begins with a three-match road trip at New Mexico (Aug. 18), UNLV (Aug. 21), and Providence (Aug. 25) before the Yurcak Field debut in Piscataway on Aug. 28 against Buffalo at 1 p.m.

NATIONAL - PRE-SEASON POLL - AUGUST 2, 2022

Rank	School	Prev	1st Votes	Total Points	W-L-T
1	Florida State University	1	5	192	22-1-2
2	Duke University	5	2	181	15-4-1
3	Brigham Young University	2	0	178	16-5-2
4	University Of Virginia	8	1	160	18-3-2
5	Santa Clara University	4	0	154	15-5-3
6	Rutgers University	3	0	151	18-4-2
7	TCU	9	0	142	19-2-3
8	University Of Arkansas	6	0	137	19-4-1
9	University Of Michigan	7	0	132	18-4-3
10	University Of North Carolina	14	0	128	12-3-3
11	University of Tennessee	11	0	124	20-3-0
12	University Of South Carolina	10	0	115	14-7-1
13	UCLA	15	0	112	16-1-3
14	Penn State University	23	0	102	12-8-1
15	University Of Southern California	12	0	89	14-3-3
16	University of Notre Dame	16	0	81	14-6-2
17	Pepperdine University	13	0	80	17-4-1
18	University of Mississippi	18	0	58	12-6-3
19	Georgetown University	22	0	47	14-2-6
20	Washington State University	17	0	41	14-3-4
21	Stanford University	RV	0	38	13-6-1
22	University Of Memphis	20	0	35	14-5-2
23	Southern Methodist University	21	0	27	12-5-2
24	Xavier University	19	0	26	16-3-1
25	Clemson University	RV	0	16	12-7-1

Records shown are final 2021 records.

Also receiving votes: Wake Forest University (14), University of Texas (11), Auburn University (9), Samford University (8), Purdue University (4), Brown University (3), Harvard University (2), University of Wisconsin (2), Princeton University (1)

Stay up to date on the latest news and schedule updates by following Rutgers women's soccer on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Download the Scarlet Knights App for Apple or Android today.
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