PORTLAND, Ore. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons. The Western Washington Vikings.
 
Sound familiar?
 
It certainly should.
 
The two Great Northwest Athletic Conference rivals, who annually battle each other for the upper hand on the women's soccer field, are poised to do so again according to the preseason coaches poll that was released on Thursday.
 
SPU and WWU are essentially co-favorites to capture the conference crown. Each team received four of the eight first-place votes. The Falcons wound up with 60 points in the voting; the Vikings totaled 59. In third place is Northwest Nazarene with 43.
 
Both also are nationally ranked. SPU is No. 5, and Western is No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason top 25.
 
In the 21-year history of the GNAC, Seattle Pacific has won nine regular-season titles, and Western has eight. The Falcons and Vikings went 1-2 in 2009 and 2021; it was the Vikings and Falcons going 1-2 in 2008, 2012, and 2019.
 
The only teams other than them to finish atop the standings were Seattle University in 2001 and 2006, and now-closed Concordia-Portland in 2017. The 2020 season was cancled because of the pandemic.
 
One of the best seasons SPU history went into the books last fall. The team went all the way to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division II tournament, finished with a 19-2-1 overall record, which included the GNAC regular-season title 12-1-1—37 points), the GNAC Tournament title, and the West Region title.
 
SPU and WWU matched up four times: twice in the regular season (the Falcons won both, 1-0 in overtime at Western, 3-0 in Seattle), then in the GNAC Tournament final (4-0 Seattle Pacific) and then in the West Region final (2-1 SPU).
 
This year's Falcons certainly will set their sights just as high, but will do so with a much different group on the field, as eight of last season's 11 starters have graduated. Among those are All-American forward Sophia Chilczuk, who led D2 last year with 17 assists, GNAC Player of the Year Makena Rietz, and GNAC Defender of the Year Madison Ibale.
 
 

But head coach Arby Busey, beginning his eighth year at the helm and 17th overall with SPU, does have three returning starters and a group of 13 other veteran players back in action. The starters include senior midfielder Chloe Gelhaus, whose seven goals and six assists helped her earn All-GNAC second team recognition. Forward Sophie Beadle, a junior who contributed eight goals and five assists, was on the GNAC honorable mention list. Senior defender Marissa Bankey helped the Falcons post 12 shutouts last fall.
 
Heading up the list other returners is forward Lauren Forster, who won the 2021 GNAC Freshman of the Year award. She certainly had the stats for it: nine goals (second-highest on the team behind Rietz' 13) and three assists.
 
Also racking up multiple goals and back for another season are senior forward AJ DePinto (five), junior forward Jacqueline Blakeley (three),and sophomore midfielder Rylee Pierce (two).
 
Now-graduated Riley Travis saw most of the action in goal, going 18-2-0 in her 20 starts with those eight clean sheets, But returning senior Kaitlynn Knocke got in for some playing time as well. She saw the field in six games, making two starts, and allowing just one goal in 247 minutes. Knocke was part of four shared shutouts.
 
Though Bankey is the lone returning starter at defender, a few other familiar faces will be on the back line, too. Landrey McCann, now a sophomore, saw action in 16 of the 22 games, making 11 starts. Kathryn Nyone, also a sophomore, was in for 20 of the 22, and senior Ally Veenhuizen factored into 13 games.
 
In addition to the 16 returners, SPU welcomes seven freshmen into the fold.

Seattle Pacific opens the season with a pair of home games, hosting San Francisco State on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 7:00 p.m., and Chico State on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 4:00 p.m.
 
 
2022 GNAC PRESEASON WOMEN'S SOCCER COACHES POLL 
Team (1^st-place votes)                             2021 record (GNAC)                     Points
1. Seattle Pacific (4)      19-2-1 (12-1-1—37 pts, 1^st)     60
2. Western Washington 4)    15-5-3 (10-3-1—31 pts, 2^nd)     59
3. Northwest Nazarene       10-5-3 (8-4-20—26 pts, 3^rd)     43
4. Western Oregon           5-10-3 (4-7-3—-15 pts, 5^th)     36
5, Simon Fraser             9-11-2 (6-7-1—-19 pts, 4^th)     34
6. Montana State Billings   7-9-3  (4-8-2—-14 pts, 6^th)     25
7. Central Washington       5-13-0 (4-10-0—12 pts, 7^th)     19
8. Saint Martin's           4-14-0 (3-11-0—-9 pts, 8^th)     12