RICHARDSON, Texas - With the beginning of the 2025 season one week away, the Oklahoma Christian women's soccer program was selected eighth in the Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll, the league announced Wednesday, Aug. 27. Eight is the highest preseason ranking OC has received since joining the Lone Star Conference in 2019.

The Eagles, on the shoulders of LSC Forward of the Year and D2CCA All-Region recipient Kyla Lovelace, posted their first 10-win season of the NCAA Division II era and qualified for the LSC Tournament in 2024. Now in 2025, OC will look to replace Lovelace, who has moved to the sidelines as a graduate assistant coach, while returning seven of last year's 11 starters from the opening round of the LSC Tournament.

"All of the things we did, the momentum we had at the end of the year, it does not role over to this season," head coach Evan Dresel said. "What we have done a good job of the last four seasons, though, is building really slow, brick by brick, so that we have things that are built into the program and into the team that do carry over."

Among those seven returners is senior forward Zoe Ross, who started 18 contests for OC last year and was tied for third on team with three goals and one assist. Goalkeeper Breanna Wooten and center back Jaycie Daggs, both of whom were on the All-Conference team a season ago, join Ross as returners.

Coach Dresel and his staff bring in 12 newcomers in 2025, including junior transfer Sophie Placke, who spent two seasons at NCAA Division I Louisiana-Lafayette. Placke played in 18 matches with eight starts for a total of 633 minutes while scoring two goals during her two seasons with the Ragin' Cajuns.

Oklahoma Christian begins the new campaign in the Centennial State when it meets a pair of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foes in Colorado Christian Thursday, Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT and then Western Colorado Saturday, Sept. 6 at 1 p.m. MT/2 p.m. CT. The Eagles begin their home slate Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. against East Central.


2025 LSC PRESEASON POLL
 

Rank	School	Total (1st-place votes)
1	DBU	650 (29)
2	Angelo State	634 (13)
3	Texas Woman's	556 (1)
4	Midwestern State	511
5	St. Mary's	468
6	St. Edward's	435
7	Lubbock Christian	392
8	Oklahoma Christian	358
9	UT Tyler	347
10	West Texas A&M	284
11	Texas A&M International	244 (1)
12	UT Dallas	168
13	UT Permian Basin	146
14	Eastern New Mexico	124
15	Sul Ross State	83 (1)