The Raiders, under eighth-year head coach Pat Ferguson, finished 10-8-3 overall last season, marking their seventh straight season with 10 or more wins, and tied for fourth in the league standings with a mark of 3-3-2. WSU then defeated Cleveland State and Detroit in the league tournament before falling in the finals to Milwaukee.
12-time regular-season champion Milwaukee, who has also won the last four tournament titles, tied for the preseason top spot with Detroit, each with 44 points. The Panthers, though, received five first-place votes compared to three for the Titans. The rest of the poll had Valparaiso third and the Raiders fourth followed by Cleveland State, Loyola, Green Bay and Youngstown State.The Raiders return 15 letterwinners from last year's squad. Defender Allie Metzler returns after being named to the All-Newcomer Team in 2011 and also returning to anchor the WSU defense is three-year starter Lauren Patterson and two-year starter Brooke McCurdy in goal.
Wright State wraps up the exhibition portion of its schedule on Sunday, August 12, as the Raiders head to Louisville for a 1:00 contest. WSU opens the regular season on Friday, August 17, at home against Ohio at 7:00.
The following is the 2012 preseason Horizon League women's soccer poll:
2012 PRESEASON HORIZON LEAGUE WOMEN'S SOCCER POLL
| Place | Team | 2011 Record | Points | First-Place Votes |
| T1. | Milwaukee | 19-3, 8-0 HL |
44 | 5 |
| T1. | Detroit |
12-6-2, 5-2-1 HL |
44 | 3 |
| 3. | Valparaiso |
8-6-5, 4-2-2 HL |
35 | |
| 4. | Wright State | 10-8-3, 3-3-2 HL |
34 | |
| 5. | Cleveland State | 10-7-2, 3-3-2 HL |
24 | |
| 6. | Loyola |
6-10-3, 2-4-2 HL |
23 | |
| 7. | Green Bay | 3-11-4, 1-5-2 HL |
12 | |
| 8. | Youngstown State |
3-10-4, 0-5-3 HL |
8 |
