PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College women’s soccer team is ranked eighth in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s preseason poll.
The Pirates, after posting a 19-2-2 record and placing second in the Northwest Athletic Conference championship tournament, finished 2014 ranked seventh in the poll.
The Peninsula men’s team, which compiled a 13-2-4 record, were ranked 19th in the final poll of last season. They are unranked in the preseason poll, which was released this week, but are among the many teams receiving votes. (See the complete polls in sidebar.)
The highest ranking achieved in the poll by a Peninsula College team came last year when the women rose to fourth.
Both Peninsula College teams are currently in training for the upcoming season.
The Peninsula men, under first-year head coach Cale Rodriguez, face the University of Victoria in an exhibition match this Saturday in Victoria.
They then travel to Nanaimo, B.C., to face Vancouver Island University on Sunday morning.
The Pirate men’s first regular season games will be at the NWAC Friendlies, which have moved from Starfire Complex in Tukwila to Eugene, Ore.
Peninsula first faces Walla Walla on Saturday, Aug. 29, and then former regional rival Highline on Sunday, Aug. 30. The Pirates and Thunderbirds shared the NWAC West Region title in 2014.
Peninsula women’s coach Kanyon Anderson, who also coached the men’s team last season, has no problem with the longer trip to Eugene for this year’s conference-opening event.
“I don’t mind it. I wouldn’t mind seeing the finals there, too,” Anderson said.
“I think it’s cool they’re looking at other venues.”
This year’s NWAC semifinals and finals will again be at Starfire.
The Peninsula women also will take a two-game tour of British Columbia before playing at the NWAC Friendlies.
They face Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo on Wednesday, Aug. 19, and then meet up with the University of Victoria the following day in Victoria.
The Pirate women will play three games at the NWAC Friendlies: against Treasure Valley on Aug. 29, then Columbia Basin and Grays Harbor on Aug. 30.
Regional realignment
Also ranked in the women’s preseason poll is Highline, which is 14th.
Highline’s men’s and women’s teams have been among Peninsula’s top rivals in the NWAC West in recent years.
However, this year the only meeting between the schools will be the men’s match at the NWAC Friendlies because the Pirates have been moved into the NWAC North due to regional realignment spurred in part by Olympic College’s decision to cease its men’s and women’s soccer programs and schools such as Grays Harbor, Rogue and Pierce adding women’s soccer programs.
Anderson is excited about the new setup.
“I’m ready for something new, and the North is really pretty balanced from top to bottom,” Anderson said.
“It will be cool. The thing I like the most is we get to play everybody three times in league. That gives us three rematches with Everett.”
Everett denied the Pirates their third straight NWAC championship by defeating them 1-0 in last year’s title game.
Also in the North is Edmonds, which the Peninsula women defeated in the 2013 championship game, Shoreline, Skagit Valley and Whatcom.
Facing fellow traditional postseason participants Everett, Edmonds, Shoreline and Whatcom likely will give the Pirates a tougher road to the region and NWAC championships.
“We’ll be battle-tested for the playoffs. That will be an advantage,” Anderson said.
“It will harder to get through the league with a squeaky-clean record.”
Skagit Valley, Edmonds and Whatcom have been the top men’s soccer teams in the North Region in recent years.
The new soccer region resembles that of NWAC North in men’s and women’s basketball, which consists of Peninsula and the other five soccer schools as well as Olympic and Bellevue.
Basketball tournament changes
Speaking of basketball, the Peninsula women’s basketball team will have a chance to defend its NWAC championship closer to home next March.
The NWAC announced last month that the men’s and women’s basketball championship tournaments will be held at Everett Community College for the next three seasons (2016, 2017 and 2018).
In a news release, the NWAC said its executive board reviewed a variety of proposals this past spring and voted unanimously on the Everett proposal.
The 2016 tournaments, which run March 10-13, end a 14-year run of the tournament being held in Kennewick.
The tournaments also will change from the modified double-elimination format used for more than a decade.
This season, the first round of the men’s and women’s tournaments will be hosted by the No. 1 and 2 seeds from each division against No. 3 and 4 seeds from different divisions.
Winners of the first round advance to the Elite Eight at Everett.
The modified double-elimination format will be used for the Elite Eight.
Another change will be the inclusion of the men’s and women’s all-star games to the basketball tournaments.
The all-star games will be played the evening of March 10. There will be one sophomore all-star game for both men and women, rather than two for each.
All-stars will be voted on by coaches within the conference and will be from teams that are not playing in the Elite Eight.
Previous all-star games have occurred the weekend following the NWAC tournament.
The new all-star format will be under a one-year trial.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
