By: by Scott Lipsky
MACON, Ga. – The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team is the consensus pick by coaches in the league to repeat as Atlantic Sun Conference regular season and tournament champions, the conference announced on Monday afternoon. Head Coach Rob King’s squad received eight out of 11 possible first place votes in the poll.
“It's always an honor to be picked as the team to beat in the conference. We like it that way, it's a reflection of the success that our program has enjoyed and of our former players,” Coach King said on Monday. “Being picked to win the conference and conference tournament is fantastic, but we start as a new team each year and don't take anything for granted. The commitment that Kennesaw State has shown to our program with the construction of our new stadium is unmatched in women’s college soccer. We're striving to build a program that perennially competes on the national stage and capturing conference titles is a step in that direction.”
Being tops among their peers is nothing new to the Black and Gold. In five years of play in the Atlantic Sun Conference, the Owls have won the regular season title three times and have won the A-Sun Tournament, and garnering the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, twice in four tries. This is also the fifth consecutive time that they have been picked to finish first within the league.
King’s squad lost the team’s leading scorer in Caitlin Dingle and the A-Sun Defender of the Year in Bridget Gaughan from the 2009 squad, but returns 64 percent of their scoring, as well as the A-Sun Tournament MVP in senior Goalkeeper Staci Pugh, who was credited with all 11 of the Owls victories last season and finished in the top-five in the conference in every major Goalkeeper category last season. Sophomore defender Jade Dempster is the leading returning scorer, finding the back of the net five times in 2009.
Following a, 1-0, victory against Jacksonville State on Saturday evening at the squad’s first ever match at the brand-new, 8,300 seat KSU Soccer Stadium, the Owls will play one more tune up on Tuesday evening when they host Georgia College & State University at 6:00 p.m.
Atlantic Sun Conference Women's Soccer- Pre-Season Poll (As voted on by coaches)
(Number of first place votes in parentheses)
1. Kennesaw State (8)
2. FGCU (2)
3. Belmont (1)
t4. Jacksonville
t4. Mercer
6. Stetson
7. Campbell
8. ETSU
9. UNF
10. Lipscomb
11. USC Upstate
