New season, new conference, UHSP lacrosse picked 6th in preseason

The Heart of America Athletic Conference released their Preseason Coaches Poll for the upcoming Women's Lacrosse season on Friday afternoon. The Eutectics were selected to finish sixth out of the nine teams in the conference receiving 30 votes. This will be UHSP's first season of competing in the Heart Conference as they are one of four teams that were affiliated with the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Association (KCAC) last season who will make the transition to the Heart this year, including Midland University (Neb.), Missouri Baptist University, and Ottawa University (Kan.).

Benedictine is the defending Heart Postseason Tournament Champions after defeating St. Ambrose 18-7 in the title match. The Ravens are the preseason favorite to repeat after receiving 64 votes. Missouri Baptist was second in the Preseason Poll with 57 votes followed by St. Ambrose with 46. The Spartans won the KCAC Postseason Tournament championship defeating Ottawa by a score of 18-6. Those same Braves were fourth in the Heart poll with 44 votes and Culver-Stockton was one spot ahead of UHSP in fifth with 34 votes. The Eutectics came in ahead of Midland and Missouri Valley who both tied for seventh with 20 votes. Mount Mercy rounded out the Preseason Poll with nine votes.

The Eutectics had a banner year last season. After going winless in their inaugural campaign two years ago, UHSP turned in a .500 season going 7-7 with Head Coach Ashley Reid claiming KCAC Coach of the Year honors. UHSP had seven players land on All-KCAC teams including Caeley Doran and Ella Penke on the KCAC First Team All-Conference and the quintet of Michelle Le, Molly Biermann, Heidi Shepherd, Tyler Cotten and Brianna Dixon all being selected for the All-KCAC Second Team.

Then-freshman Caeley Doran led the Eutectics in scoring a season ago with 41 points including a team-high 35 goals. She finished fifth in the KCAC in goals last year. Ella Penke had 32 points on 16 goals and a club-leading 16 assists, finishing fifth in the KCAC in assists. Brianna Dixon played all but two of the teams' games in net last year, with a 10.77 goals-against-average and a save percentage of 43.3%. Dixon finished in the top five in the KCAC in three different categories among netminders. She was third in the conference in saves, second in save percentage and second in goals-against-average. With 13 freshman on the team last season, there was not much turnover heading into the 2025 season as UHSP returns all their All-KCAC players from a year ago. Amongst a bevy of returners, the club features just five freshmen heading into this season.

The Eutectics open up the new season on Feb. 16 at home against Hendrix.