Improved Owls climb NCAC preseason poll

8/26/2026 1:05:00 PM

CLEVELAND -- After a turnaround 2025 campaign, the Kenyon College women's soccer team's success was recognized once again Wednesday in the form of a top-four position in the 2026 North Coast Athletic Conference preseason poll.

The poll, which predicted the Owls to finish fourth in the eight-team conference, was based on preseason balloting of the NCAC head coaches. The Owls did not gain any first-place votes, but did collect 36 points to land an upper-half position in the poll.

Denison University received four first-place votes to gain the top spot in the poll with 59 points and narrowly edged defending champion John Carroll University, which received the other four first-place votes and tallied 54 points. John Carroll, new to the conference last season, won both the conference's championship and tournament title.

Kenyon rattled off a 9-4-5 overall record in 2025 and that included a fourth-place 3-2-2 record within conference play. The Owls, who defeated John Carroll, 1-0, in the regular season, wound up losing to the Blue Streaks by that same score in the semifinal round of the NCAC Tournament.

Kenyon's 2025 season was a massive improvement over the previous campaign, in which the team logged a 1-11-2 record with an 0-5-2 mark in the NCAC. The catalyst behind the turnaround was the defense, which set single-season program records for most shutouts (11) and team goals against average (0.50).

The Owls will look to keep things headed in the right direction when they open the season on Saturday, September 5 with a road game at Franciscan University.

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