COLONIA, NJ – Despite advancing to the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament after winning the East Coast Conference (ECC) Championship Tournament title, the Roberts Wesleyan University Women's Soccer team was tabbed to finish fourth in the 2026 standings in a vote of the head coaches in the conference.
Defending regular-season champion Mercy University was first in the poll voting with 62 points and six first-place votes. Molloy University finished second in the final regular-season standings and was picked as the number two team in the preseason poll with 52 points and one first-place vote.
Daemen University was fourth in the final regular season standings behind Roberts but was picked third by the coaches with 45 points. Roberts was fourth in the voting with 40 points followed by Queens College (37 points, one first-place vote), D'Youville University (27), St. Thomas Aquinas College (14) and Staten Island (11).
The Redhawks return two of the top offensive threats in junior Mackenzie Hagen who earned Second Team All-ECC honors last year and senior Jenna Northup who was a Third Team All-ECC selection and the ECC Tournament Most Outstanding player last season after scoring in each of the three ECC Tournament games.
Roberts also return junior starters Olivia Holet and Ileana Cheruiyot as well as junior goalie Mia Tyndell who started 17 of the 19 games in 2025. Tyndell finished with a 9-3-5 record, a 0.95 goals against average and .846 save percentage with seven shutouts.
The 2026 season begins at 5 p.m. Thursday, August 27 as the Redhawks host Thomas More University at Roberts Stadium. Roberts is also home Saturday, August 29 at 1 p.m. with a home match against Malone University.
