It's a Dead Heat in Women's Soccer Poll - Again

NWC Women's Soccer Coaches' Pre-Season Poll:			2001 records
School	(1st)	Pts.	All	NWC
1. Willamette (Ore.) and Puget Sound (Wash.)	(4)	64	18-2	13-1
	(4)	64	15-2-1	12-1-1
3. Linfield (Ore.)		43	13-4-1	10-3-1
4. Whitworth (Wash.)		39	7-10-1	5-8-1
5. Whitman (Wash.)		38	9-8-1	5-8-1
6. Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)		20	3-12-2	3-10-1
7. Pacific (Ore.)		19	4-10-3	3-8-3
8. George Fox (Ore.)		9	4-14	1-13

(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).

For the second consecutive season the University of Puget Sound and Willamette University are co-favorites for the Northwest Conference women's soccer title, according to a poll of conference coaches. Willamette won its eighth NWC title in nine years last fall, narrowly edging UPS. The Loggers had won the title in 2000.

Willamette, which advanced to the NCAA semifinals last fall, will be led by first team All-NWC forward Anne Merten, who was second in the conference in points scored. The Bearcats picked up four first place votes and 64 poll points.

Puget Sound was shockingly left out of the NCAA playoffs last season after starting 15-1 and appearing near the top of the national rankings. The Loggers, who picked up the other four first place votes and 64 poll points, will look to all-conference forward Dusty Marcell.

Linfield College, Whitworth College and Whitman College were closely bunched in the third through fifth places of the poll. Linfield finished third in the NWC last season and the Wildcats' tie with UPS in the final weekend cost the Loggers a share of the NWC championship. Linfield, which picked up 43 poll points, returns leading scorer Bryn Devlin in 2002. Whitworth (39 points) and Whitman (38 points) tied for fourth place in the NWC last season. Each returns its leading scorer from last year.

Pacific Lutheran University (20 points), Pacific University (19 points) and George Fox University (9 points) rounded out the coaches' poll in sixth - eighth places.