Nittany Lions Tabbed Second in B1G Preseason Coaches Poll – Penn State

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Penn State women’s soccer was selected as the preseason No. 2 team in the Big Ten Conference in a poll of the league’s coaches released Tuesday afternoon. Junior midfielder Olivia Borgen, redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean and senior defender Mieke Schiemann also picked up individual distinction as Big Ten Players to Watch in the conference office’s release.

The Blue & White’s selection as the preseason second-place team in the league comes after the arrival of four Pacific Coast programs to the nation’s premier women’s soccer league. UCLA stands as the preseason favorite to take home the conference’s regular season crown, with second-place PSU having accomplished that feat 20 times previously. The league’s 2023 regular season co-champions in Michigan State and Nebraska sit third and fourth, respectively, while newcomer USC, as well as Wisconsin, Rutgers and Iowa round out the top half of the conference’s preseason poll.

Penn State returns to the pitch following a 16-3-4 season in 2023 that included the program’s deepest NCAA Tournament run since 2018, advancing to the National Quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed against top-seeded Clemson. The Blue & White return 21 letterwinners from last year’s roster, welcoming a trio of transfers and nine incoming freshmen to round out the 33-woman roster for the 2024 campaign. PSU’s final recruiting class ranking of fifth stands as the second-highest ranking in the Big Ten Conference behind new league rival UCLA, bolstering an already talented slate of returners with one of the nation’s premier signee groups.

On an individual level, three different Nittany Lions earned selections as Big Ten Players to Watch as selected by the coaches, with the Hanson, Massachusetts, native Borgen leading off. The rising junior had a breakout 2023 campaign by every statistical measure, contributing the first six goals and first three assists of her collegiate career as a fixture in the starting XI for all 23 matches a year ago. Borgen amassed 1,410 minutes of action as a premier member of the Nittany Lion attacking midfield, with her masterpiece performance coming with a brace against Northwestern that earned her Honorable Mention National Team of the Week accolades from TopDrawerSoccer on October 17.

MacBean, a native of Excelsior, Minnesota, stands as the only 2023 All-Big Ten honoree returning to the Penn State roster for the program’s 31st varsity season. The veteran attacker was…