LOCK HAVEN, Pa. -- The Shepherd University women's soccer team is ranked fifth in the 2026 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division Preseason Poll as voted on by the league's coaches. Millersville is the favorite in the East, while Gannon is the favorite in the West.
Eastern Division
The No. 1 team in this year's Eastern Division is Millersville (11-4-4 overall, 7-1-2 PSAC), a year after making it all the way to the PSAC Championship Game. The Marauders return plenty of game-changers for 2026, including First Team All-Conference players Zander Leik (11 goals, four assists), senior midfielder Roy Parkyn, and junior defender Kehmar Green. A pair of Second Team honorees are also back and include sophomore forwards Juan Ortiz Escobar (six assists in 2025) and Brian O'Neill.
West Chester was voted No. 2 in this year's East Poll after finishing the 2025 campaign with an overall record of 10-6-3 (5-3-2 PSAC.) Returning for the Golden Rams is a pair of First Team All-Conference players in defender Ian Alicea and forward Luke Newman (six assists) as well as Second Team forward Maksym Komperda (seven goals).
The Bloomsburg Huskies, PSAC Champions in 2024, were voted No. 3 in this year's poll. The team earned a 10-3-6 overall record (4-2-4 in conference play) last fall and return top goalscorer Owen Hollobaugh, the junior forward who scored four goals and assisted on three others. The Huskies allowed just 12 goals all season in 2025, the lowest amount in the PSAC.
East Stroudsburg, the No. 4 team in the East, compiled a 9-7-2 record (5-4-1 PSAC) in 2025. Returners include Eastern Division Freshman of the Year Owen Rennie (seven goals, four assists), also a First Team All-Conference player, as well as First Team forward Jace Seara (six goals, two assists) and Second Team midfielder Drew Nyce.
No. 5 Shepherd reurns 2025 PSAC East Athlete of teh Year
Josh Petty. Shippensburg completes the 2026 East poll at No. 6.
Western Division
For the fifth straight year, Gannon University was voted No. 1 in the PSAC West Division Men's Soccer Preseason Poll. Last season, the Golden Knights won their first-ever PSAC Championship with a 2-1 win over Millersville and went 15-3-4 overall (8-0-2 in conference play.) GU scored 65 goals last fall, the most in the conference and 30 more than the second-most total. While plenty of talent has moved on from last year's roster, a pair of senior First Team All-Conference returnees from a season ago include defender Jensen Peake and forward Rafa Hyde, who scored 10 goals and assisted on nine others in 2025. Hyde was third in the PSAC in total points (29)
Seton Hill was named the No. 2 team in the West's Preseason Poll. The team finished with an 11-6-1 record (7-2-1 PSAC) in 2025 to finish second in the division before being ousted by Bloomsburg in the PSAC Quarterfinals, 1-0. Last fall, junior forward James Aubrey scored 11 goals and added two assists. He earned First Team All-Conference honors along with sophomore defender Ron Klinger and senior midfielders Vasilis Christodoulou and Julian Marker. 2025 Second Team honorees included freshman defender Felix Knorn and sophomore forward Rowan Aisenbrey.
No. 3 team Lock Haven (8-7-4 overall, 4-3-3 PSAC) returns plenty of players from that team, including PSAC Western Division Defensive Player of the Year Danny Ogan. First Team All-Conference forward Kade Black also returns after scoring nine goals and tallying one assist. Also back are Second Team honorees Owen Lichtenwalner (defender), midfielders Javier Contreras Leon and Billy Lawrence, and goalkeeper Ethan Beck.
The fourth team in the West Poll, Slippery Rock, finished 2025 fourth in the division with a record of 4-4-2 (7-7-3 overall). Top goal scorer and Second Team All-Conference forward Kaden Reynolds returns after scoring eight goals last fall, as does fellow Second Team midfielder Ryan Hanes.
California is No. 5 and Pitt-Johnstown is No. 6 to round out the rest of the 2026 West poll.
2026 PSAC Men's Soccer Preseason Polls (# of first-place votes in parentheses)
Eastern Division
1. Millersville (4)
2. West Chester (2)
3. Bloomsburg
4. East Stroudsburg
5. Shepherd
6. Shippensburg
Western Division
1. Gannon (5)
2. Seton Hill (1)
3. Lock Haven
4. Slippery Rock
5. California
6. Pitt-Johnstown
