INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. | Great Lakes Valley Conference - McKendree University women's soccer, the four-time and reigning GLVC champions, were tabbed to finish second in the league via the 2024 GLVC Preseason Coaches Poll with 178 total points and one first place vote, as announced by the conference office on Thursday afternoon. The Bearcats claimed a fourth tournament title in 2023, punching their ticket to a seventh-straight national tournament, dating back to 2016. McKendree prepares for its regular season to begin with its first games coming on the road at Alabama-Huntsville on September 5, a neutral site game against Montevallo on Septmeber 7 at UAH, and a road battle at Kentucky Wesleyan on September 9. The Bearcats will open Leemon Field in 2024 on September 11 against Union at 4:00PM.
Head coach
Tim Strange enters his 26th season at the helm of the Bearcats' women's program with a heavily experienced roster at his disposal. McKendree returns a multitude of key players across positions, including
Anna Stiffler,
Katie Spotanski,
Reagan Mauch,
Destiny Johnson,
Maria Voss,
Lena Higgins,
Gillian Nicholson, and 2023 Freshman of the Year
Maggie Gleckler. Of the returning players, five are All-GLVC selections from the 2023 campaign with Stiffler, Spotanski, Higgins, Voss, and Glecker all getting the postseason honors nod. McKendree will look to usher in its strong recruiting class for this fall and combine it with its returning strength throughout the pitch.
2024 GLVC WOMEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON POLL
| Place |
Institution |
Points (First Place Votes) |
| 1 |
Maryville |
195 (13) |
| 2 |
McKendree |
178 (1) |
| 3 |
Drury |
166 |
| 4 |
Lewis |
152 (1) |
| 5 |
Rockhurst |
139 |
| 6 |
Missouri-St. Louis |
135 |
| 7 |
Illinois Springfield |
123 |
| 8 |
Indianapolis |
92 |
| 9 |
Truman State |
91 |
| 10 |
Missouri S&T |
84 |
| 11 |
Quincy |
79 |
| 12 |
Southwest Baptist |
45 |
| 13 |
Upper Iowa |
42 |
| 14 |
William Jewell |
30 |
| 15 |
Lincoln |
24 |
2023 SEASON RECAP
The Bearcats kicked-off the year with four non-conference games, including three neutral site bouts, where they handled business with a 4-0 record. McKendree outscored its non-conference openers 10-2 with wins over Winona State, Concordia-St. Paul, Kentucky Wesleyan, and Wayne State (NE). The undefeated non-conference slate in 2023 made it three consecutive campaigns with McKendree staying unbeaten in non-conference battles. The Bearcat squad then entered GLVC-play, stumbling in a tough road-opener but then fought back to claim a second-place regular season finish. The 9-1-3 McKendree team tallied seven-straight wins to close the regular season with road victories over Missouri S&T, Quincy, and UIS while topping Truman, Upper Iowa, Southwest Baptist, and Drury at Leemon Field. During the streak, the Bearcats outscored opponents 20-2 with five shutouts. In the winning streak, senior forward
Anna Stiffler tallied her 39th career goal (two scores at Quincy) to nab the program's all-time DII goal mark at 39, upending Sydnee Carroll's record of 38. As a team in 2023, McKendree dominated the ball and upheld their prowess on both sides of the ball, holding opponents to 0.62 goals per game on just 6.4 shot attempts per contest. The Bearcats then fired 15.6 shots per game with totaling 42 goals, 2.00 per game.
McKendree earned the two-seed at the GLVC Championship Tournament, giving quarterfinal-hosting duties to the Bearcats which put them up against Rokchurst. McKendree avenged the GLVC-opening loss to the Hawks and moved on to East Peoria, where they tallied a 2-1 win over Drury and then took the league's crown with a
1-0 victory against the Flyers of Lewis. The Bearcats earned their fourth conference title since 2016 behind the 1-0 title bout win, punching a ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh-straight season.
The Bearcats then took a chartered trip north to Marquette, Michigan, at Northern Michigan, for their NCAA Tournament First Round battle. Sixth-seeded McKendree faced third-seeded Grand Valley State, to whom they fell, closing out another incredibly successful season. With the conclusion of the campaign, the Bearcats still gathered honors as four were named D2CCA All-Midwest and three collected All-Midwest honors from United Soccer Coaches. Stiffler, Bova, and Spotanski each earned all-region honors from both USC and D2CCA while Glecker was recognized with D2CCA all-region selection.
2023 Notables
- 4th GLVC crown (2016, 2017, 2021*, 2023)
- Seventh-straight NCAA Tournament appearance (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023)
- Seventh major Great Lakes Valley Conference award and program's second Freshman of the Year -
Maggie Gleckler
- Six All-GLVC selections (
11/09/23 | First -
Anna Stiffler,
Morgan Bova | Second -
Katie Spotanski | Third -
Lena Higgins,
Maggie Gleckler,
Maria Voss)
- NCAA DII Career goal record set by
Anna Stiffler (42), seeking All-Time record (49 - Sulyn Keomanivane)
- Three United Soccer Coaches All-Region honorees (
12/6/2023 | Second -
Morgan Bova,
Anna Stiffler | Third -
Katie Spotanski)
- Four D2CCA All-Region (Second -
Anna Stiffler,
Maggie Gleckler,
Katie Spotanski,
Morgan Bova)
- Fall '23 Team GPA: 3.758 | President's List - 9 | Dean's List - 13
- Extended home regular season unbeaten streak to 22
- 8th-straight winning / 10+ win season
- 9th-straight GLVC Tournament appearance
- Back-to-back seasons with six All-GLVC selections
- Bova and Stiffler earn third-straight All-GLVC First Team honors, second-straight All-Region honors (USC, D2CCA)
- Spotanski garners first postseason honors (GLVC, D2CCA, USC)
UP NEXT
Sept. 5 - 5:00PM | at Alabama-Huntsville
Sept. 7 - 2:30PM | vs Montevallo (
neutral site at UAH)
Sept. 9 - 3:00PM | at Kentucky Wesleyan
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