Could this be the year for the Portland Pilots to return to the top?

The Pilots are ranked #1 in TopDrawerSoccer.com’s Tournament 64 Women’s College Soccer pre-season ranking, continuing their presence among a handful of leading women’s programs nationally.

The ranking is the web site’s running attempt to track the 64-team, post-season NCAA Tournament field as well identify the very best programs in that field. A group of roughly 6-10 teams have established themselves in recent years as perennial national title contenders, and Garrett Smith’s Pilots are firmly entrenched in that group.

A unanimous first-place selection among West Coast Conference coaches in that league’s preseason poll, standouts on the Pilots’ roster include goalkeeper Kelsey Davis, midfield sensation Keelin Winters and goalscoring trio Michelle Enyeart, Danielle Foxhoven and Sophie Schmidt. U17 WNT defender Cloee Colohan leads a strong freshman class into the program, and the Pilots appear to be well covered at every position.

Portland gets the #1 nod over defending NCAA Champions North Carolina. The Tar Heels will be loaded again and eager to send out top-class seniors such as Casey Nogueira, Tobin Heath and Whitney Engen out with another title. Last year’s newcomers to the College Cup, Stanford, are listed #3 in the pre-season ranking. Paul Ratcliffe’s Cardinal squad returns a host of top players and adds an outstanding recruiting class in its effort to make it back to the big dance. Perennial national semifinal qualifiers UCLA and Notre Dame are next at #s 4 and 5.

The Tournament 64 ranking is the only college ranking that accounts for the automatic berths awarded to every DI college conference. The preseason ranking sees the Atlantic Coast Conference poised to receive the most tournament berths with 8. The Big 12, Big 10, PAC 10, SEC and Big East each come in with 5 berths, while the CAA and Conference USA are each projected to advance 3 teams to the postseason event.

Click here for the complete Tournament 64 Women’s College Soccer preseason ranking.