INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's soccer team was picked to finish fifth in the 2025 Great Lakes Valley Conference Preseason Poll announced on Tuesday afternoon. The poll was voted on by the league's 15 head coaches and per league policy coaches were not eligible to vote for their own teams.
Maryville is the favorite to win the league as it edged out Drury for the top spot by two points. The Saints received 188 total points and seven first-place votes while the Panthers garnered 186 points and got seven first-place votes. McKendree and Rockhurst battled it out for the third position with the Bearcats getting 162 points while the Hawks received 155 points and the final first-place vote.
The league's 15 teams will compete in a 14-game round-robin schedule that begins on September 14 and runs through November 2.
The 2025 GLVC Championship Tournament begins on either Nov. 8 or Nov. 9 at campus sites with the semifinals and finals to be held at Creve Coeur Soccer Park in St. Louis, Nov. 14 and Nov. 16.
The Tritons are coming off a 14-4-3 record including 9-3-2 in the GLVC in 2024. UMSL finished the season wining its final eight games of the regular season to clinch a spot in the GLVC Tournament. UMSL avenged an earlier loss to Rockhurst with a 2-0 in the quarterfinal contest, then advanced to the GLVC Championship by defeating top seeded Maryville in penalty kicks 5-4. The Tritons defeated third seeded McKendree 1-0 to win its first conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.
UMSL's 14 wins last season was its first double digit win season since 2016 when it went 13-5-1. The 14 wins were also third most in a single season in school history.
The Tritons are under the direction of first year head coach
Stephen Cavallo and returns 17 players from last year's championship squad including third team All-GLVC selection
Mary Kate Neal. Neal started 20 games in goal last season and posted a record of 13-4-3 with 10 shutouts and a goals against average of 0.79 in 1820 minutes played. Also returning are
Taylor Martin,
Aubree Wallace,
Karley Kinzinger,
Josie Maddox,
Julie Steiger,
Natalie Scott,
Adelaide Green and
Kennedi Hooks.
Maddox is team's top returning scorer tallying seven goals and four assists for a total of 18 points in her sophomore campaign. Scott added two three goals and two assists for eight points and Wallace added two goals and four assists.
UMSL kicks off its 45th season of intercollegiate play on Thursday, September 4 hosting Pittsburg State at 5 p.m. at Don Dallas Field. The Tritons will play their first six contests at home including its GLVC opener against Drury on Sunday (Sept. 14) at noon.
The complete voting results can be found below.
2025 GLVC WOMEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON POLL
| Place |
School |
Points (1st-Place Votes) |
| 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 |
