CCIW Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll Press Release

2010 IWU Women's Soccer Schedule

The Illinois Wesleyan women's soccer team has been picked to finish third in the 2010 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin preseason coaches' poll, announced on August 3.

The Titans received 38 points and finished behind defending champion Augustana (47 points, five first place votes) and Wheaton (44 points and the other three first place votes).

The Titans, whose season opens at Wisconsin-Whitewater on Sept. 1, finished with a 16-4-3 record in 2009 and a second straight appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament. The past two seasons, IWU has a 31-10-5 record for a .728 winning percentage.

Augustana was 20-2-1 overall last season and 7-0-0 in the league in winning its first-ever CCIW title as well as the conference tournament.

Millikin (12-8-1, 4-3-0) placed fourth with 26 points and Elmhurst (10-7-0, 3-4-0) finished fifth with 25 points. Carthage (6-12-0, 0-7-0) was sixth with 20 points, North Park (7-11-0, 1-6-0) was seventh with 17 points, and North Central (10-7-0, 2-5-0) placed eighth with seven points.

Voting in the preseason poll is done by the CCIW head women's soccer coaches. Each coach votes for the seven other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (seven points for first, six for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own team.

The Titans return five all-conference players, including first team honoree Emily Hinchman, who was also a first team all-Central Region selection as chosen by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Other all-CCIW players back are senior defender Tori Samson, junior defender Lauren Knaack and senior midfielders Carlie Hoekstra and Alyssa Feulner.

Samson was a second team all-region honoree and Knaack and senior goalkeeper Alli Novak and sophomore midfielder Lauren Knaack were third team honorees.