Eastern Washington Picked to Repeat as Big Sky Champions in 2018
OGDEN, Utah (Aug. 7, 2018) – After claiming both the Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament titles a year ago, Eastern Washington topped the Big Sky Soccer Preseason Poll for a second-straight season as voted on by the league's 10 head coaches. Coaches could not vote for their own team in the poll.
Eastern Washington totaled 78 points and captured eight of the ten first-place votes in the preseason poll. The Eagles are coming off a second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance in a season where they went 16-6-1 overall and 8-1-1 in Big Sky play for their second regular season conference title in program history (2004). Fifth-year head coach Chad Bodnar returns 16 letterwinners including five starters from last season’s championship squad.
Northern Colorado came in second in the preseason poll with 69 points and one first-place vote. The Bears appeared in their third Big Sky Championship game in 2017 after pulling off a 2-1 double overtime upset of No. 2 seed Montana in the tournament semifinals. Northern Colorado posted a 13-7-2 record with a 5-3-2 mark in the Big Sky to finish third in the league standings last season. The Bears bring back a wealth of experience with seven returning starters to their 2018 roster.
Montana was voted a close third in the poll with 66 points and one first-place vote following a second-place finish in the league standings in 2017. Former North Dakota associate head coach Chris Citowicki enters his first season leading a Montana squad that returns eight starters. The Grizzlies went 10-7-4 during the 2017 season with a 5-2-3 record in Big Sky action.
Northern Arizona edged out Sacramento State for fourth with 51 points while the Hornets totaled 50 points in the poll. Andre Luciano, the winningest coach in the history of Big Sky soccer, gears up for his 17th season with the Lumberjacks after guiding the team to a Big Sky quarterfinals appearance and a tie for fifth in the league in 2017. Sacramento State also made a quarterfinals showing in the conference tournament last season as the sixth seed.
Portland State, a 2017 championship qualifier, was voted sixth in the preseason poll with 43 points. Coming in seventh was Idaho with 33 points, followed closely by Weber State with 31 points for eighth. Southern Utah (20 points) and Idaho State (9 points) rounded out the poll.
The Big Sky soccer season gets underway Thursday, Aug. 16 as Northern Colorado hosts Colorado College in the Colorado Cup in Greeley. The top six teams in the Big Sky regular season standings will advance to the Big Sky Championship, Oct. 31-Nov. 4, at Weber State's Wildcat Soccer Field in Ogden. The Big Sky semifinal and championship matches will air on Eleven Sports. Also, a majority of Big Sky Conference home matches can be seen for free on Pluto TV and on WatchBigSky.com.
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| 2018 Big Sky Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll |
| School |
Total Points (First-place votes) |
| 1. Eastern Washington |
78 (8) |
| 2. Northern Colorado |
69 (1) |
| 3. Montana |
66 (1) |
| 4. Northern Arizona |
51 |
| 5. Sacramento State |
50 |
| 6. Portland State |
43 |
| 7. Idaho |
33 |
| 8. Weber State |
31 |
| 9. Southern Utah |
20 |
| 10. Idaho State |
9 |