Gateway

Issue date: 8/12/08 Section: Sports

(Photo by Michelle Bishop) [Click to enlarge]

Consistently making national tournament berths is something many athletic programs wish they could achieve, and few actually do. UNO women's soccer is one of the few that makes the cut.

The Maverick women have made it to at least the quarterfinals of every NCAA Division II tournament since 2002. Since the program began in 1999, it only lost the North Central Conference championship twice - in its inaugural year and in 2003, when the team came back to finish in the NCAA Division II Final Four.

So it shouldn't come as a huge surprise when, as the Mavericks move to the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association this season, UNO was again ranked as the team to beat in the conference in a preseason coaches' poll.

Coming in second was Central Missouri, which received 54 points - only six fewer than UNO. Truman State ranked third with only a point less than Central Missouri.

The list was rounded out by Washburn at fourth, followed by Southwest Baptist, Missouri Southern State, Northwest Missouri State, Missouri Western State and Emporia State, which received only eight points - meaning all the other programs' coaches voted the school to come in last.

Emporia State also came in last in the MIAA women's cross country preseason coaches' poll, receiving a total of 14 points and being ranked ninth in the conference.

Leading the poll was Missouri Southern State with 63 points and in second Pittsburg State with 57 points. Central Missouri, Fort Hays State and Truman State completed the middle rankings.

UNO finished near the bottom of the pack, coming in seventh with 20 points, only one ahead of Northwest Missouri State. UNO struggled last season, too, only coming in sixth in a field of seven at the NCC Cross Country meet last year.

The MIAA also announced rankings for men's cross country, one of the conference's sports that UNO does not compete in.

The eight schools ranked in that poll were Missouri Southern in first, Southwest Baptist at second, Pittsburg State at third, Central Missouri and Emporia State tied for fourth, Fort Hays State at sixth, Truman State at seventh and Northwest Missouri State in last place.

In each of the polls, coaches awarded points based on how they felt the other conference programs would perform. Coaches could not vote for their own school, which is why Emporia State received only eight points in the soccer poll, even though nine schools participated.

MIAA conference champions for cross country will be determined at the MIAA Championships on Oct. 25 in Warrensburg, Mo., the home of Central Missouri.

To allow for greater flexibility in scheduling the regular season, the MIAA soccer tournament was discontinued this season. Instead, the winner of the conference will be the team with the best record after the double round-robin regular season.

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