GREAT MIDWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
2014 Women’s Soccer Preview and Preseason Coaches’ Poll
 
The 2014 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll is an encouraging but confusing look at what can be expected this season. After a challenging inaugural season in 2013, this season should be another tight battle for the top spot.
 
Ursuline College has been identified by the coaches as the team to beat despite earning only one first place vote. The Arrows first place vote was matched with six second place votes, never being ranked lower than second. Cedarville, who led the way with five first place votes, fell one point short of Ursuline in the preseason poll as they were ranked lower on a few ballots. Davis & Elkins, the G-MAC defending champions, has been ranked fourth by conference coaches behind Trevecca.

View Poll  |  Interviews with Ursuline's Jason Kubbins and junior Vanessa Consiglio
 
The encouraging part of the preseason poll is not only Ursuline and Cedarville’s battle for the top spot, but according to coaches Trevecca, Alderson Broaddus, Davis & Elkins, and Kentucky Wesleyan all could jump up and challenge for the conference crown as the results of the poll were extremely tight among the first five teams.
 
After a year of facing each other face-to-face, the coaches’ preseason rankings are very different from where the teams fell in 2013. Trevecca went from preseason favorite to third this season, D&E went from #2 to #4, while Ursuline jumped from #5 to #1. Looking to make the six-team tournament, Alderson Broaddus, Ohio Valley and Salem International rounded out the poll.

NOTES FROM CAMPUS:

Alderson Broaddus University: Despite finishing sixth in the preseason poll, at least one opposing coach in the conference felt the Battlers could do just that, Battle for the G-MAC crown as AB picked up a first place vote in the preseason coaches’ poll.
 
AB finished with a disappointing 7-11-2 overall record last season, but managed to finish above .500 at 5-4-1 record in conference behind the duo of Olivia Augustine and Brooke Hunsaker. Augustine returns for her senior season and will look to carry this team into the G-MAC tournament as a top seed. Last season her seven goals and 16 points led the way for the team. In goal, Sarah Turner posted four shutouts in her freshman season and she returns as the projected starter.
 
Under new head coach Cristian Materazzi, who served as the team’s assistant for the last four seasons, the team shouldn’t have a difficult transition as Materazzi has helped build and guide the team to a 44-25-8 record over his four years as an assistant. The Battlers open the season at home against Fairmont State on September 4 and then open the G-MAC schedule on the road at Salem International on September 18.
 
Cedarville University: For the second-straight season, the Lady Jackets will come into a season using the memory of a 1-0 loss to Ursuline in the G-MAC Championship semifinals as motivation. After going 9-1 in conference last season, earning the top seed, and hosting the postseason tournament, Cedarville will look to match its regular-season performance, but this time capture the conference title and make a push for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
 
All eyes will be on junior Jacoby Ziegler, who in two years at Cedarville has racked up a majority of the conference honors. In 2012, she was named both Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year, and then last season she was again the Women’s Soccer Player of the Year, but was also named the G-MAC Female Athlete of the Year. Ziegler led the team and league in scoring with 20 goals and 50 points, while ranked second with 10 assists. Her 20 goals were second in the nation while her 50 points ranked third in all of the NCAA DII.
 
The Lady Jackets will open the season on the road at Urbana and West Virginia Wesleyan on September 4 and 6. They will then return home for a five-game home stand, starting with three GLIAC opponents in Ohio Dominican, Tiffin, and Ashland. CU will host Trevecca on September 18 to open conference play. They will get their first shot at Ursuline on the road on September 27 and then at home on October 18. Cedarville finishes the regular-season on the road at Trevecca and Kentucky Wesleyan. 
 
Davis & Elkins College: The defending G-MAC champions enter the season ranked fourth in the coaches preseason poll as many still cannot get a good read on the Senators. In 2013, they posted a 12-7-1 overall record, behind an impressive 8-1-1 record in conference. D&E managed a solid record even though they only scored 32 total goals and only outscored its opponents by a total of 32-27.
 
The Senators started last season 1-6, but finished on a 9-0 including a pair of overtime wins, capped by its 2-1 overtime victory in the G-MAC finals over Ursuline. Seven of the teams 12 wins were by one goal, while their largest win was a 4-0 over Salem. Offensively, the team was led by returning senior Laia Margenat Dordes’ nine goals. The key to their chances of repeating as conference champions will come in goal behind senior Ashley Winkelspecht, who allowed 24 goals in 19 games, making 97 saves and posting three shutouts.
 
Davis & Elkins opens its schedule at home against Notre Dame on September 4. They will open the conference schedule at home as well against Ohio Valley. With divisional play, the Senators will face Cedarville and Ursuline only once, and they have the advantage of hosting them both on October 8 and 11.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan College: After a quick start to the 2013 season in which the Panthers went 4-0 and climbed to 7-2 overall, the conference season was not as successful on paper as it really was in reality. The first two losses of the season, came against Ursuline and Cedarville by one goal each time. KWC earned its first-ever G-MAC win against Trevecca, who was the defending champion of the conference. The 4-7 conference record and the 10-8 overall record seems pretty average, but for a team coming off a 2012 season in which it went 2-15-1 and 0-14-1 in their final season with the GLVC.
 
The turnaround was led by the balanced scoring effort of returning seniors Paige Kramer, Annie Elder, and Leslie Chinn who combined for 20 goals and 14 assists. Kramer and Elder each had seven goals, while Chinn had six. Kramer posted a team-high 11 assists, while senior Julia Klump had seven and junior Lauren Norton had six.
 
KWC begins the year against Brescia at home on Sept. 6 and will play their first road game against Bellarmine. An interesting match-up against Georgetown, a non-conference future conference opponent, prior to opening the G-MAC schedule on Sept. 18 and 20 on the road at Ursuline and Cedarville. The Panthers will close out the season with three-straight home games against Trevecca, Ursuline, and Cedarville - the three top rated teams in the coaches’ preseason poll.
 
Ohio Valley University: OVU struggled in its first season with the G-MAC, finishing 2-13-3 overall and 1-9 in the conference standings, finishing the season on a ten-game losing streak. Early in the season, the Fighting Scots battled winning a pair of games against Point Park and then Salem International in conference play. They posted three double overtime ties in a four-game stretch - coming against Urbana, Muskingum, and Walsh.
 
The Fighting Scots scored just 13 goals over 18 games, but Victoria Bruce and Amanda Simpson combined to scored nine of the goals. In goal, returning senior Kourtney Breighner played all 1,680 minutes on the season, giving up 34 goals and making 123 saves. In conference, Breighner posted 26 more saves than anyone in conference, yet her goals against was not much higher than anyone in conference, meaning OVU has the opportunity to improve dramatically with additional offense in 2013.
 
 OVU will open the season on the road with back-to-back games in the Canton/Akron region against Malone and Walsh on September 4 and 6. They will open their home schedule on Sept. 10 against Urbana before opening G-MAC play on the road at Davis & Elkins on September 18.
 
Salem International University: The Tigers battled through a difficult 2013, going 5-11 overall and 2-8 in conference. They had a difficult conclusion to the season facing off against conference champion Davis & Elkins three-straight games (two regular season and then the first round of the championship) to end the year.
 
Salem won five games last season despite scoring only 12 goals all season, being outscored 30-12 by its opponents. Kelly Smith led the team with five goals, and Kayla Franzese scored three. In goal, Sarah Jacques started eight games and played in 13 total, going 4-6 on the season and posting one solo shutout and combined with Whitney Brydge on another. Jacques made 89 saves, facing 203 total shots, allowing 21 goals.

The Tigers open the season on the road at Washington Adventist on September 7 before hosting four-straight, including a pair of G-MAC contests on September 18 and 25 against Alderson Broaddus and Davis & Elkins. The team will wrap up the season at home against West Virginia Tech prior to the start of the conference tournament.

Trevecca Nazarene University: TNU had an up and down 2013 as they played the role of defending G-MAC champion, finishing 6-10-2 overall, but 4-4-2 in conference. The Trojans posted four two-game losing streaks, two two-game win streaks, and even a two-game double overtime tie streak. The team seemed to be heading in the right direction as they defeated Kentucky Wesleyan and Cedarville late in the season, but back-to-back losses to Ursuline ended the year for TNU. 
 
The Trojans, who have been placed third in the preseason poll, scored just 19 goals in 18 games last season, but managed six wins and a pair of ties. The team graduated leading scorer Becky Bartos, who had four goals, three assists and 11 points, but will return senior Brooke Gann, who scored a team-high five goals, Alex Hammond, who had three goals and an assist, and junior Anna Hoffman, who had four goals and an assist.
 
TNU will play one home game to open the season against Union University on Sept. 5 and then play four-straight on the road, including two games in conference at Cedarville and at Ursuline on September 18 and 20. They will then play four-straight at home, followed by five road games, followed by three home games to end the season.
 
Ursuline College: The Arrows will look to take the last step needed to capture their first G-MAC Championship after losing in the finals of the conference championship in each of the last three years (OAC in 2011 and G-MAC in 2012 and 2013). Ursuline has posted a winning record in fifth-straight seasons and have been identified as the preseason favorite by the conference coaches.   
 
Ursuline returns the best senior class it has had in program history, but will also look to its young stars to try and hold off the league as the preseason coaches’ poll favorites. Seniors Paige Rowan, Anna Feitl, and Brittany Prato lead a senior class that has gone 37-17-2 in its first three years, will be joined by sophomore Cassie Cripe and junior Vanessa Consiglio as the Arrows have never had a deeper roster. Rowan, Cripe, and Consiglio combined to score 35 goals, each scoring at least 10 goals apiece. The three also totaled 23 assists, with Consiglio totaling 33 points, Rowan with 32, and Cripe with 28 - ranking the trio - second, third and fourth in the conference for points and goals.
 
The Arrows open the season on the road against Concord and Shepherd before a long nine-match home stand, and then finish with their last six games all on the road. Ursuline will host Kentucky Wesleyan on Sept. 18 to start the conference schedule and will travel to Davis & Elkins in a rematch of last year’s championship game on Oct. 11.

G-MAC PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL
Rank      School   
    1.        Ursuline College (1 First Place vote)
    2.        Cedarville University (5 First Place votes)
    3.        Trevecca Nazarene University
    4.        Davis & Elkins College (1 First Place vote)
    5.        Kentucky Wesleyan College
    6.        Alderson Broaddus University (1 First Place vote)
    7.        Ohio Valley University
    8.        Salem International University