The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association released its 2019-20 Women's Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday and Lake Forest College was third in the rankings.
Voting is done by the NCHA head coaches. Each coach votes for the other eight teams in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (eight points for first, seven for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
The Foresters finished with 50 points in the poll, eight fewer than second-place College of St. Scholastica. Adrian College was ranked first and received all but two first-place vote, which went to St. Scholastica.
The Foresters return 18 of 20 players from last year's team, including senior forward Sydney Simone and her 82 career points, as well as classmate Jacque Rogers, the program's career leader in victories, shutouts, save percentage, and goals against average. Lake Forest posted a 16-7-5 overall record and a 11-3-4 mark in conference play and advanced to the NCHA Slaats Cup Semifinals for the sixth year in a row.
The 2019-20 Foresters will play their first game under second year head coach Jennifer Wilson at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls on Friday, November 1. The team will begin its 18-game league schedule at home the following weekend against St. Scholastica. The regular season will conclude on February 22 and the top six teams in the conference will qualify for the Slaats Cup Playoffs.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Adrian College (7) | 67 |
| 2 | College of St. Scholastica (2) | 58 |
| 3 | Lake Forest College | 50 |
| 4 | Concordia University Wisconsin | 41 |
| 5 | Trine University | 34 |
| 6 | St. Norbert College | 30 |
| 7 | Aurora University | 21 |
| 8 | Marian University | 17 |
| 9 | Finlandia University | 10 |
