DUBUQUE, Iowa - The American Rivers Conference released the 2026 A-R-C women's soccer preseason poll on Wednesday afternoon. Coming off a 2025 conference regular-season title, the University of Dubuque women's soccer team will look to defend it this season, as the league's head coaches picked them to finish second in the conference.
The Spartans are coming off their second conference regular-season title in program history, and their first since 2014, after an 11-2-6, 7-0-1 record in 2025.
Jason Berna enters his 26th season as the head coach of the Spartans and will be looking to replace two big pieces in
Alyssa Tranchita and
Virginia Speltz, who both graduated. The Spartans return a bunch of key contributors this season with five returning all-conference and two all-region performers. Defending A-R-C Rookie of the Year
Sarah Thompson,
Ava Hortillosa,
Claire Husnick,
Brooke Clark,
Kaelyn Nash, and senior goalkeeper
Karissa Cruz will be key returners to this year's team.
"Really excited to see what we are capable of this year in the A-R-C. We will have a great mix of young and old players, with high expectations of ourselves!" stated Berna about the upcoming season.
The Spartans will open their season next Tuesday (Sept. 1) at Grinnell College before returning for their home opener on Friday, September 4 at 7:00 p.m. against Carroll University. The Spartans' non-conference schedule consists of 10 games, with four of them at Oyen Field. After Carroll, the Spartans will play two games at home within a three-day stretch as College of St. Scholastica (Sept. 10) at 5:00 p.m. and Dominican University (Sept. 12) at 3:30 p.m. The final home non-conference game of the season will be on Tuesday, September 29 against UW-Platteville at 7:00 p.m.
During the seven-game conference schedule, the Spartans will host four of them (Coe College, Central College, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Simpson College). The cross-town rivalry game will end the regular season on Tuesday, October 27 when the Spartans travel to the Rock Bowl to face the Loras College Duhawks at 5:00 p.m. The A-R-C Women's Soccer tournament will start on Saturday, October 31 (First Round) and will then be followed by the semifinals on November 4 and the championship game on November 7, with the winner receiving the automatic qualifier spot to the NCAA Tournament.
Check out all the latest news, information, and updates from women's soccer via the University of Dubuque Athletics website at
https://udspartans.com/sports/womens-soccer.
A-R-C Women's Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Loras College - 49 (7)
2. University of Dubuque - 42
3. Simpson College - 38
4. Wartburg College - 28
5. Central College - 27
6. Nebraska Wesleyan University - 20
7. Buena Vista University - 11
8. Coe College - 9
