North STL News

The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's soccer team has been projected to finish fifth in the 2025 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Preseason Poll, as announced on Tuesday. The poll was determined by votes from the league's 15 head coaches, with each coach prohibited from voting for their own team.

Maryville is expected to lead the conference, securing 188 points and seven first-place votes, narrowly ahead of Drury, which received 186 points and also seven first-place votes. McKendree took third place with 162 points, while Rockhurst followed in fourth with 155 points and one first-place vote.

The GLVC's regular season will consist of a 14-game round-robin schedule starting September 14 and concluding November 2. The conference championship tournament is set to begin on either November 8 or November 9 at campus sites. Semifinals and finals will take place at Creve Coeur Soccer Park in St. Louis on November 14 and November 16.

UMSL finished the previous season with a record of 14-4-3 overall and went 9-3-2 in GLVC play. The Tritons ended their regular season with eight consecutive wins to secure a spot in the conference tournament. In postseason play, UMSL defeated Rockhurst in the quarterfinals, advanced past top-seeded Maryville via penalty kicks in the semifinals, and won its first-ever conference championship by defeating McKendree in the final match. This victory led to UMSL’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016.

The team's total of 14 wins last year marked its first double-digit win season since achieving a record of 13-5-1 in 2016. The number also stands as the third highest single-season win total in school history.

First-year head coach Stephen Cavallo leads a squad that returns seventeen players from last year's championship team, including third-team All-GLVC goalkeeper Mary Kate Neal. Neal started twenty games last season, recording thirteen wins, four losses, three draws, ten shutouts, and an average of just under one goal allowed per game over more than eighteen hundred minutes played. Other returning players include Taylor Martin, Aubree Wallace, Karley Kinzinger, Josie Maddox, Julie Steiger, Natalie Scott, Adelaide Green and Kennedi Hooks.

Josie Maddox is UMSL’s leading returning scorer after posting seven goals and four assists during her sophomore year for a total of eighteen points. Natalie Scott contributed three goals and two assists for eight points; Aubree Wallace added two goals along with four assists.

UMSL begins its forty-fifth intercollegiate women’s soccer season at home against Pittsburg State on Thursday September 4 at Don Dallas Field. The opening stretch includes six home games featuring their GLVC opener versus Drury on Sunday September 14 at noon.

### Voting Results ###

1: Maryville – 188 (7)

2: Drury – 186 (7)

3: McKendree – 162

4: Rockhurst – 155 (1)

5: Missouri-St. Louis – 148

6: Indianapolis – 120

7: Illinois Springfield – 118

8: Truman State – 95

9: Missouri S&T – 90

10: Quincy – 89

11: Lewis – 77

12: Upper Iowa – 52

13: William Jewell – 37

14: Southwest Baptist – 33

15: Lincoln – 25