Sports writers love making predictions.

We get our jollies off it. When we’re right, we look like some sort of higher authority—the omniscient one of the water cooler talk. Then when we’re wrong, we look like Skip Bayless.

Either way, I’m going to selfishly monopolize the next 12 inches of column space and give readers my prediction column for the 2009 Baker sports year.

Any yahoo with a computer could spew off 2008 statistics and say how good the football and men’s soccer teams are going to be. I won’t do that. There are plenty of reasons those programs are ranked No. 12 in the country, so predicting their success would be about as bold as conjecturing that Mark Mangino likes doughnuts.

The team that few are talking about right now, but plenty will be talking about come November, is the women’s soccer squad. The folks at the NAIA have already made a dreadful error pegging the Wildcats as No. 4 in the HAAC preseason polls.

(This is the time where I want every woman soccer player to stop reading so Nate Houser doesn’t come after me for making his players overconfident.)

The women’s team will finish in the top two in the conference. Houser returns all of his field starters from last season. The squad features the exceptionally rare, but much-desired combination of youth and experience. I believe John Calipari may have sold his soul to field teams with that combo.

Junior Christine Janssens will do her best Christine Janssens impression from last year and kick the ball in the goal frequently. Last year she was an Honorable Mention All-American, so don’t be surprised if a bevy of goals puts her even more in the national spotlight.

The squad also returns three All-HAAC players in senior Mikayla Medlock, and juniors Chelsea Dunn and Haley Oborny. Couple their talents with a solid core of returning starters, too many to name in a 12-inch space, actually, and spectators can expect to see some fireworks in ’09.

Finally, its schedule sets up for the team nicely. While the team plays some of the better teams in the country, and has some brutal road-trips (i.e. Saturday and Sunday’s Tour de Midwest), Baker will host games against teams it needs to beat. Graceland University (No. 1 in the HAAC), Benedictine College (No. 2) and William Jewell (No. 6) all travel to Liston Stadium for crucial conference contests this season.