The Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference released its 2026 Women's Preseason Poll on Thursday and the Foresters were picked to repeat as conference champions.
Voting is done by the NACC head coaches and sports information directors. Each votes for the 10 schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (10 points for first, 9 for second, etc.).
Lake Forest received 18 of the 20 first-place votes and finished with 198 of a possible 200 points. Aurora University was next with 178 points and Edgewood University ranked third with 159. They split the other two votes for the top spot in the poll. With 129 points, Cornell College edged out Milwaukee School of Engineering (120) for fourth place and Concordia University Wisconsin was sixth with 98.
The Foresters were 15-5 overall in 2025 and won all nine of their NACC games to claim the title in their first year in the league. They also won the NACC Tournament to qualify for the NCAA Division III Tournament, where they advanced to the second round for the first time in team history. Current senior Emma Sharp was named First Team All-NACC and Second Team All-Great Lakes Region after ranking second in the nation with 79 assists and fourth with 131 points. Two of her classmates, Claire Aimone and Shannon Gibbons, earned Second Team and Honorable Mention All-NACC distinction, respectively.
Casey Ryan, who led the 2025 NACC Coaching Staff of the Year, will begin her third season as the Foresters' head coach with a non-conference home game against Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday, February 28. The Team will start league play against Milwaukee School of Engineering on March 25 and close out its nine-game conference schedule against Illinois Institute of Technology on April 21.
The top six teams in the league will qualify for the NACC Tournament with the quarterfinals on April 25, semifinals on April 29, and final on May 2.
| PLACE |
TEAM (First Place Votes) |
POINTS |
| 1 |
Lake Forest College (18) |
198 |
| 2 |
Aurora University (1) |
178 |
| 3 |
Edgewood College (1) |
159 |
| 4 |
Cornell College |
129 |
| 5 |
Milwaukee School of Engineering |
122 |
| 6 |
Concordia University Wisconsin |
98 |
| 7 |
Beloit College |
87 |
| 8 |
Marian University |
65 |
| 9 |
Illinois Institute of Technology |
37 |
| 10 |
Lawrence University |
27 |
