KALAMAZOO, Michigan – The Western Michigan women’s soccer team will host No. 24 Iowa on Thursday at the WMU Soccer Complex. The game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.

LAST TIME
Western Michigan dominated Northern Kentucky at the WMU Soccer Complex last Thursday, earning a 3-0 victory in its season opener.

Jen Blitchok scored two goals, while Abby Werthman added another. Seven Broncos scored at least one point in the game.

Favorites of the preseason
The Mid-American Conference released its annual preseason poll, with the Broncos as favorites to win their second consecutive championship.

WMU received eight first-place votes and topped the poll with 116 points. The Brown and Gold also won the conference tournament with six votes.

Ball State (101 points), Ohio (90), Kent State (88), Buffalo (86), Bowling Green (84), Northern Illinois (60), Toledo (50), Miami (47), Eastern Michigan (29), Akron (23) and Central Michigan (18) rounded out the poll.

WILBERDING’S SUCCESSFUL WEEK
After throwing a six-save shutout in her first career start for the Brown and Gold team against Northern Kentucky last week, Ava Wilberding was named MAC Defensive Player of the Week.

This season, Wilberding leads the conference in shutouts, goals-against average, save percentage and wins. She is third in the league in saves, just one point behind the leaders.

The Hawkeyes explore
Iowa enters Thursday’s game with a record of 1-0-0 and is ranked in the top 25 in the country after defeating Colorado College last weekend.

In that single game, the Hawkeyes scored four goals, two of them by Berkely Binnggeli. Meike Ingles and Sofia Bush added the other goals for Iowa in that game.

Ingles and Binnggeli were the team’s top shots on goal, combining for nine, with four of them on target.

Between the sticks, Macy Enneking wasn’t too busy throughout the game, only saving one shot, and she took the win, playing the full 90 minutes.

As a team, Iowa was aggressive and had more shots on goal than its opponent (19-5), including a 10-2 advantage in shots on goal.