ST. LOUIS – The Drake University women's soccer team is picked to finish second in the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer preseason coaches poll, the MVC announced Monday, Aug. 14. Drake tallied with 51 points, including one first place vote, as the 2016 MVC champions, Illinois State were tabbed as the preseason favorite with 63 points (seven first-place votes).
 
The Bulldogs placed two student-athletes on the preseason all-conference team in junior Alyssa Brand (Skokie, Ill.) and redshirt senior Rebecca Rodgers (Peotone, Ill.). Brand is a two-time All-MVC selection who is the team's leading returning scorer with six goals. Rodgers, the 2015 MVC Player of the Year, received a medical redshirt to return this year after playing in just five matches in 2016 due to injury. Rodgers has 27 goals in her outstanding career.
 
Drake opens the regular season in Las Vegas for the UNLV Invitational, Aug. 18 and 20. The Bulldogs will first play host UNLV on Friday at 9 p.m. CST and then after a one-day break will play Weber State Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CST.
 
Rank      Team (1st-place votes)     Points
1.            Illinois State (7)                    63
2.            Drake (1)                             51
3.            Loyola                                  43
4.            Evansville                             40
T5.         Northern Iowa                       29
T5.         Valparaiso                             29
7.            Missouri State                      17
8.            Indiana State                        16