Overview: College campaigns kick off in the Inland Northwest

A look at all the men's and women's collegiate teams & players in and from the INW (photos: Gerald Barnhart)

The region’s college soccer season gets under way in earnest this weekend with 15 games. For most, the season will be a quest to prove the critics and coaches polls wrong as many of the Inland Northwest area schools have been picked to finish at or near the bottom of their respective conferences.

Several schools, however, head into the 2012 season ranked in national polls. Leading the way is the North Idaho College women’s squad, who are seventh in the NSCAA preseason poll for NJCAA Division I. Carroll College (Helena, MT) is ranked 25th in the NAIA women’s poll with Rocky Mountain College getting votes and finishing outside the top 25, as did the Whitworth women in the NSCAA Division III poll. Meanwhile the University of Great Falls are ranked 21st in the men’s poll.