Opening Week 2023
The Drake women's soccer team open the 2023 season in Wisconsin. The Bulldogs will play Parkside on Friday, Aug. 18 at the neutral site of Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee, Wis., at 3 p.m. in the season opener. The Wisconsin road trip continues with a noon kickoff at Green Bay on Sunday, Aug. 20.

Broadcast Information
Friday's game against Parkside will not feature a live video steam. Sunday's match at Green Bay will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Preseason All-MVC
Senior forward Emma Nagel, the team's leading scorer (five goals, one assist) from a year ago, is an MVC Preseason First Team selection. Redshirt sophomore midfielder Madelyn Smith made the MVC All-Freshman Team last season and has been put on the Preseason Honorable Mention list for the 2023 campaign. 

Newcomers Laura Riesenbeck (5th-year transfer defender from Central Methodist) and Angela Gutierrez (freshman forward from Oakdale, Minn.) also earned Preseason Honorable Mention status from the MVC. 
 
MVC Preseason Poll
Missouri State (10)       120
Valparaiso (1)                107
UIC                                     92
Drake                                 84
Murray State                    81
UNI                                    65
Belmont                            41
Southern Illinois              39
Illinois State                      37
Indiana State                    31
Evansville                          29
 
Scouting Parkside
The Rangers are a Division-II program from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference coming off a 7-11-1 overall season in 2022 including a 4-9-1 conference mark.
 
Parkside returns its top two scorers from a year ago in Alexis Baker (eight goals, four assists) and Emily Mikkelson (five goals, seven assists).
 
Former Stanford standout (2000-03) Brittany Nikolic enters her ninth season at the helm of the Parkside women's soccer team.
 
Series History vs. Parkside
Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between the Rangers and Bulldogs on the pitch.
 
Scouting Green Bay
Green Bay went 3-11-2 over the course of the 2022 season including a 1-7-2 record in Horizon League play.
 
Zoey Pagels returns after leading Green Bay with three goals last season. Sophomore goalkeeper Payton Lang has settled into the starting role in net after starting the last three games of the 2022 season.
 
Julie Grutzner enters her second full season in charge of the Phoenix.
 
Series History vs. Green Bay
Drake is undefeated against Green Bay in the all-time series with a 4-0-2 head-to-head record. The last time these teams met was on Sept. 8, 2013 as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
 
Up Next
The Bulldogs begin an eight-game homestand by playing host to South Dakota State at Drake Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 24.