The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association released its 2018-19 Women's Preseason Coaches Poll on Friday and Lake Forest College was listed third in the rankings.
Voting is done by the NCHA head coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine teams in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (nine points for first, eight for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
The Foresters finished with 67 points in the poll, just four fewer than second-place College of St. Scholastica. Adrian College was ranked first and received all but one first-place vote, which went to Lake Forest.
Six of the Foresters' eight players who tallied at least 20 points last season are back, including All-NCHA forwards Amy Budde and Lexo Morgan and NCHA All-Freshman Team members Megan Lyke and Jordan Trapp. Lake Forest posted a 20-9-0 overall record and a 15-3-0 mark in conference play and advanced to the NCHA Slaats Cup Final for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
The 2018-19 Foresters will play their first game under new head coach Jennifer Wilson at the University of St. Thomas on Friday, October 26. The team will begin its 18-game league schedule the following weekend with a series against visiting Concordia University Wisconsin. The regular season will conclude on February 16 and the top six teams in the conference will qualify for the Slaats Cup Playoffs.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Adrian College (9) | 81 |
| 2 | College of St. Scholastica | 71 |
| 3 | Lake Forest College (1) | 67 |
| 4 | Concordia University Wisconsin | 52 |
| 5 | St. Norbert College | 48 |
| 6 | Marian University | 41 |
| 7 | Northland College | 32 |
| 8 | Trine University | 21 |
| 9t | Aurora University | 19 |
| 9t | Finlandia University | 19 |