CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference released its 2023 preseason soccer polls Monday, with the Oregon Tech women picked to finish sixth out of 13 teams and the Oregon Tech men picked to finish third out of 14 teams–the highest preseason ranking in program history for the Hustlin’ Owls. The conference’s head coaches voted in the poll.
The Lady Owls put up a 5-3-4 record in CCC play last year to finish seventh in the standings before losing 2-1 to rival Southern Oregon in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. SOU was ranked second and received one first-place vote in this year’s poll.
College of Idaho, which finished third in the CCC in 2022 and advanced to the conference tournament final, was the coaches’ pick to win the conference, receiving 10 first place votes. Last year’s regular season and tournament champion Northwest (WA) was picked fourth and received one first-place vote.
The Hustlin’ Owls went 10-1-2 in CCC play last year, finishing second in the standings. They lost 3-0 in overtime to Warner Pacific in the conference title game but earned a bid to the NAIA National Championship, where they lost 1-0 to MidAmerica Nazarene (KS) in the first round.
Warner Pacific was picked to repeat as CCC champions with seven first-place votes, while Southern Oregon was ranked second with five first-place votes. Despite coming in third in the poll, Oregon Tech did not receive any first-place votes.
The OIT women’s soccer team opens the season August 19 at Park Gilbert (AZ), while the OIT men play their first regular season game August 26 at Menlo (CA).
