NEWARK, N.J. — The NJIT women's soccer team was voted to finish sixth in the 2023 America East Preseason Poll, the conference announced on Thursday afternoon.

The Highlanders will be looking for a third consecutive berth in the America East Conference Tournament after posting a 5-8-6 (2-4-2 AE) record in 2022 and reaching the league playoffs as the No. 6 seed.

NJIT head coach Ally Nick enters her eighth year at the helm of the Highlander program with 21 returners (including 2022 AE All-Championship selection Ciara Adams, 2022 AE All-Rookie honoree Riley Jones, and veteran captains Emma Bitar and Madison Taibl), seven freshmen and one grad transfer at her disposal.

NJIT kicks off the 2023 campaign on August 17 at home against Mount St. Mary's, while America East play also starts at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium on September 17 against UAlbany. The Highlanders' first conference road game will be a week later at UMass Lowell on September 24. 

The six-team America East Tournament will take place October 29 (quarterfinals), November 2 (semifinals) and November 5 (finals).

2022 regular season champion Binghamton and tournament champion New Hampshire were voted into the top two slots of the poll, respectively, followed by Maine, UMass Lowell, UAlbany, NJIT, Vermont, UMBC, and Bryant.

Women's Soccer Preseason Poll

PL	SCHOOL	POINTS	1ST PLACE VOTES
1	Binghamton	60	4
2	UNH	59	4
3	Maine	47	1
4	UMass Lowell	44
5	UAlbany	38
6	NJIT	27
7	Vermont	21
8	UMBC	19
9	Bryant	9