INDIANAPOLIS – Ohio Valley finished off the fall sweep in the sport of soccer as the women’s program was also picked first in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour that was released on Friday.
 
The defending regular-season and tournament champion Fighting Scots earned eight first-place votes to lead 13 teams in consideration for the standings this fall.
 
OVU’s 139 points edged out preseason runner-up Ohio Dominican, which had 134 points and garnered four first-place votes from the coaches. Receiving the other first-place vote in the balloting was Walsh with the Cavaliers starting the season in third with 120 points.
 
Cedarville also toppled the century mark in total points on the preseason ballot with 107 and the Yellow Jackets begin the year in fourth.
 
Charter league members Ursuline and Trevecca were separated by only two points as the dust settled for fifth and sixth. In similar fashion, Great Midwest newcomer Tiffin edged out Findlay by only three points for positioning in seventh and eighth.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan was voted ninth while Lake Erie, Malone, Davis & Elkins and Alderson Broaddus, rounded out the preseason coaches poll in order, respectively.
 
Ohio Valley and Ohio Dominican put the Great Midwest on the map as NCAA Championship Midwest Regional qualifiers last season in the field of 48. While Ohio Valley had a tough outcome against Bellarmine, Ohio Dominican used an at-large selection to topple McKendree in the opening round.
 
The Panthers recorded the Great Midwest’s first-ever victory in the NCAA Championship format to put the icing on the cake for a 16-5-2 record.  
 
Ohio Valley entered the national tourney with an undefeated record and would conclude 2017 with a 16-1-3 mark, remarkable considering the program was 1-15-1 the year prior.
 
The conference championship finale between Ohio Valley and Ohio Dominican at Muskingum University was a memorable one with a shootout ultimately determining the victor. If these two teams could somehow claw their way back into title contention, another enticing rematch for the championship trophy would be can’t-miss action.
 
But the road won’t be easy with 13 teams all vying for postseason bids.
 
Walsh’s Olivia Peters has player of the year credentials after leading the league in points and assists last season. Kentucky Wesleyan’s Madisyn Hunt was the conference freshman of the year and finished third in the league in points as a rookie. Becca Gordon assumes a larger role of the offense at Ohio Dominican with the graduation of Lauren Bates (15 goals) and Great Midwest Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Alli Pavlik (11 goals). Another high scorer, Ursuline’s Steph Chlad, graduated so a new wave of talent will be sweeping through the league.
 
The league’s offensive player of the year was just a freshman last season and Ohio Valley’s Konstantina Giannou leads a dangerous attack for a team that didn’t lose many pieces to the puzzle. Great Midwest Defensive Player of the Year Ana Da Costa is back along with all-conference performers Paula Valbuena and Montserrat Grau.
 
Conference coach of the year Luis Rincon guided both his men’s and women’s soccer programs into the United Soccer national rankings and into the national tournament, a very impressive turnaround for both teams in a short amount of time.
 

Great Midwest Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour
 

School	Points
1. Ohio Valley (8 first-place votes)	139
2. Ohio Dominican (4 first-place votes)	134
3. Walsh (1 first-place vote)	120
4. Cedarville	107
5. Ursuline	93
6. Trevecca	91
7. Tiffin	69
8. Findlay	66
9. Kentucky Wesleyan	62
10. Lake Erie	48
11. Malone	39
12. Davis & Elkins	28
13. Alderson Broaddus	18