The Pacific West Conference qualfied four teams in 2024 for the NCAA West Region tournament, two more squads than any other league in the west. 

Additionally, Point Loma won the NCAA national crown in 2023, giving credence to the thought that the PacWest is easily one of the best Division II conferences in the nation. 

That's well known within the conference, but that also makes it a very big hill to climb to finish in the upper half of this tough loop. This week, the PacWest coaches picked Point Loma to win its third consecutive regular season crown with 165 poll points and nine first place votes. Concordia is second with two first place nods and 150 points, followed very closely by Hawai`i Hilo with 148 points and a pair of first place votes. 

All three squads were NCAA playoff partcipants last Fall, along with Azusa Pacific who is tabbed fourth in this poll with 128 points. PacWest tournament participant Westmont is next (110) in fifth and Chaminade is sixth (96) to round out the upper half. 

Point Loma won the PacWest regular season title, the first-ever PacWest tournament trophy and advanced to the finals of the NCAA West Region Championship. The Sea Lions finished 17-3-1, with two of those losses coming at the hands of eventual national champion Cal Poly Pomona.

Head coach Kristi Kiely lost a lot from that team, including two-time PacWest Defensive Player of the Year, Emma Thrapp. But Kiely, in her eighth season in San Diego, has five players returning, all of them All-PacWest selections. That includes Julia Pinnell, PacWest Co-Goalkeeper of the Year, Zoe Crockett (First Team), Alyssa Ketcham (Second) and Gianna Masinter (Third) and Grace Nelson (Third). 19 players overall from that 2024 roster are back, and Kiely bolstered the troops with three Division I transfers. 

Concordia was the only PacWest team to defeat Point Loma, topping the Sea Lions in San Diego on Oct. 12 by a 2-1 score. The Golden Eagles had 150 poll points and two first place votes, one year after finishing 13-3-2 overall and 9-1-1 in conference play (tied for second with Hawai`i Hilo). 

Head coach Chris Gould, in his 17th season, has a bountiful of players returning, including seven starters and 20 players overall. That includes PacWest Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Riley Urquiza to lead a tough Golden Eagle defense. Other All-PacWest returnees include Hailey Havican (First Team), Madison Hall (First Team), Ashley Grubert (Second) and Sarah Venegas (Third). Four transfers are also in Irvine to add to a talented Concordia unit.

Hawai`i Hilo lists third in the 2025 poll with a pair of first place votes. The Vulcans were 14-3-3 overall and tied with Concordia for second in conference play at 9-1-1. Head coach Gene Okamura's team had two wins over Concordia, one in the PacWest tournament and the other in the NCAA opener, while two of their three losses on the year were to Point Loma--once in the conference tournament and once in the NCAA West Region semifinals. 

The Vulcans suffered the most losses to graduation among the top PacWest teams with eight starters gone, including two-time PacWest Player of the Year Teani Arakawa. Among the four starters back for Okamura is Alia Bournay (Third Team) and Haley Clark (Second Team). Hilo will try and rebuild with six Division I transfers and two D-II players, including First-Team All-MVC pick Makenna Malloy of Illinois-Chicago. 

Azusa Pacific is fourth in the preseason poll with 128 poll points and three third-place votes. The Cougars had the odd distinction of qualifying for the NCAA West Regional tournament, but not the four-team PacWest Championships. Coach Brooke Lincoln's team finished the 2024 season red hot, winning seven of their final eight matches. They fell to Western Washington in the NCAA playoffs (2-1) to stop the run, finishing the year 12-4-1 after going 8-3 in conference play (fifth place). Lincoln has seven starters back, 16 returnees and four transfers. 

Westmont went 9-2 last year in PacWest play to finish fourth and slip by Azusa Pacific for the final conference tournament slot. The Warriors lost some key pieces, but first-year coach Lauren Matthias inherits First Team selection Amelia Villa, Second Team pick Ellie Gilbert and Third Team honoree Ainsley Martin. Westmont has 20 returnees overall, who experienced a wild season a year ago that saw the Warriors begin the year 0-5-2, only to go 9-3 over the back half of the schedule. 

Chaminade slides into the sixth spot with 96 poll points and a third place vote. The Silverswords also finished sixth in the 2024 PacWest race under head coach Michelle Richardson with a 5-3-3 conference mark and they were 6-6-5 overall. Richardson has 15 players back on campus, including six starters. The 'Swords will have four transfers added to the ranks. Biola is listed seventh, just six poll points behind Chaminade (90). Head coach Brett Croft has 15 players returning, including a trio of All-PacWest Third Team selections--Marije Rechin, Briley Phelps and Peyton Nelson. 

Dominican is next (69 points). Tenth-year head coach Kelly Coffey has a large roster to work with, including 24 returning players and seven starters. The Penguins also have seven transfers, including Carson Warfield from Sonoma State, who was a Second Team All-CCAA pick. Two points back of the Penguins is Fresno Pacific with 67 poll points. Second-year leader Roberto Hernandez has eight starters back, along with ten transfers--five of which are coming from fellow Division II schools. Also in that tight 8-10 bunch is Vanguard (66 points). Third-year leader Emily Reynolds has six starters back and 16 returnees overall. 

In the 11th position is Hawai`i Pacific, who has a new head coach in Connor Artigue. The first-year leader has four starters to work with, four transfers and robust freshman class of 11. 12th is Jessup who has five starters back for third-year head coach Amsalu Fantahun and 13 returnees with Warrior experience. Rounding out the poll is Menlo, who also has a new leader in Matthew Kemp. Kemp has a large class of 19 returnees and nine returning starters. 

The 2025 season gets underway on September 4th and 6th with a flurry of matches, which includes Azusa Pacific and Fresno Pacific visiting defending national champ Cal Poly Pomona. The conference season commences on Sept. 24 when Hawaii Hilo visits Dominican. To see the complete 2025 schedule, click here.