HICKORY, N.C. - The 33rd season of Lenoir-Rhyne women's soccer kicks off tomorrow night when the Bears hit the road to Banner Elk, N.C. to take on the Lees-McRae Bobcats. Lenoir-Rhyne is coming off their most successful season in program history, advancing all the way to the NCAA Final Four before falling to eventual national champion Grand Valley State in the national semifinal. The Bears are ranked No. 4 in the nation in the preseason United Soccer Coaches Poll, the highest preseason ranking in program history. 

After leading the Bears to the Final Four in 2021, former head coach Gary Higgins left to take the head coaching job at East Carolina. Higgins is the all-time winningest coach in program history, and he was replaced by Dean Ward, who has a proven track record of success wherever he has been. Ward comes to Hickory from Division I Dayton, where he was the recruiting coordinator and top assistant for the last five seasons. Prior to Dayton, Ward was on the coaching staff at Tennessee for five years, where he helped lead recruiting efforts for two Top-15 classes nationally. 

2021 Recap

Lenoir-Rhyne advanced to the eighth NCAA Tournament in program history in 2021, and went on the longest run in school history, advancing to the national semifinals. The Bears earned the No. 3 seed in the SAC Tournament, and 2021 was the 11th time in the last 12 years that the Bears earned a top-4 seed and a home game in the conference's postseason tournament. LR defeated Limestone in the quarterfinals before falling to Queens in the semifinals in overtime. 

The Bears were slotted in the Southeast Region, and faced league rival Catawba in the NCAA opener, a team that was undefeated and had beaten the Bears in the regular season. LR upended Catawba in penalty kicks, got revenge on Queens 2-0 in the next game, and then took down Flagler in the regional final in penalty kicks as well. The Bears then faced Florida Tech for a second time after tying with the Panthers in the regular season, and the game once again went to penalty kicks. LR prevailed and advanced to the Final Four for the first time ever. The Bears fell to eventual national champion Grand Valley State in the semifinals. 

Ria Acton was named an All-American by the CCA, becoming the 9th player in LR women's soccer history to earn that honor. Acton was also named First-Team All-Region, and freshmen Vivien Becker-Peralta and Leonie Proessl were both named Second-Team All-Region. Seven Bears were named to SAC All-Conference teams as well. 

2022 Outlook

The Bears were picked 2nd in the SAC Preseason Poll that is voted on by the league's head coaches, earning one first place vote. Reigning league champion Catawba received the other 11 first place votes. The Bears placed seven players on the Preseason All-Conference team, including four on the First-Team: Leonie Proessl, Ria Acton, Vivien Becker-Peralta and Evan O'Leary. Stephanie Figueiredo was preseason Second-Team, and Neve Duston was preseason Third-Team.

LR returns its top five scorers from last year including - Proessl, Acton, O'Leary, and Kara Gavaghan. Those five players combined for 38 of the 43 goals the Bears scored last season. Becker-Peralta will anchor the defense as the center back, and Duston and Figueiredo both return as a veteran presence in the midfield. The Bears have just two 2022 opponents ranked in the preseason Top-25 - No. 18 Florida Tech and No. 21 Catawba. LR will have to replace All-Conference goalkeeper Grayson Cameron, whose clutch play in the postseason last year helped the Bears advance as far as they did in the tournament. 

Freshman Impact

Proessl and O'Leary were both true freshmen in 2021 and will look to have breakout sophomore campaigns on the offensive end of the pitch for the Bears. Proessl led the team with 12 goals last year, and O'Leary had eight, including two game-winning goals. 

Becker-Peralta became one of the most decorated freshmen in LR women's soccer history last year, earning First-Team All-Conference honors and Second-Team All-Region honors anchoring a defense that allowed just 19 goals all year long. 

Scouting the Bobcats

LR has won five straight series openers, and will be traveling up the mountain to Lees-McRae for Dean Ward's first game as head coach. The Bears are 14-3 all-time against the Bobacts, and haven't lost to Lees-McRae since 2003 (nine straight wins). The Bobcats are coming off a solid 11-4-2 season in which they just missed out on an NCAA Tournament bid. This will be Lees-McRae's second game of the year; they already dropped a 1-0 decision in their season opener on Thursday with Mars Hill, a SAC opponent for the Bears. 

The Bears and Bobcats will kick off at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Lees-McRae.