Women's Soccer Picked Eighth in Big South Preseason Poll

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Coastal Carolina University's women's soccer team has been chosen first in the Big South Conferences annual preseason poll, as voted by the Leagues Head Women's Soccer Coaches. UNC Asheville was picked to finish in eighth place in the poll.

Coastal Carolina, which captured the 2007 regular-season title, received three first-place votes and 90 points out of a possible 100 to win the Conferences women's soccer championship in 2008. The Lady Chanticleers have finished first or second in the regular-season standings in head coach Rohan Naraine's two years at the helm. Coastal Carolina finished ahead of 2007 Tournament champion High Point, which collected three first-place votes and 83 points. Liberty finished third in the voting with 75 points and received one first-place vote, while Charleston Southern was fourth in the poll with 73 points and three first-place votes. Radford totaled 56 points for the fifth spot, just ahead of Winthrop (52 points) and new Big South member Gardner-Webb (50 points). UNC Asheville was eighth in the poll with 32 points, while new Big South member Presbyterian was ninth in the voting with 22 points. VMI finished in the 10^th and final position with 17 points.

The Bulldogs went through an injury-ravaged 2007 season and finished with a 4-14 overall record. Asheville was 1-7 in league play and finished in seventh place. The Bulldogs did advance to the semifinals of the league tournament for the sixth straight season where they narrowly lost to eventual champion High Point, 1-0.

“We've never worried about pre-season polls when we were picked first, and we're not going to worry about them now that we were picked eighth,” stated UNC Asheville coach Michele Cornish. “Our goal is to finish higher than eighth but we have lot of work to do before we get to conference matches.

“The Big South Conference is a very balanced league where there isn't much difference between first place and last place,” added Cornish.

2008 Big South Conference Preseason Women's Soccer Poll

Rk Team (first-place votes) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points

1. Coastal Carolina (3) 30 45 8 7 -- -- -- -- -- -- 90

2. High Point (3) 30 18 -- 35 -- -- -- -- -- -- 83

3. Liberty (1) 10 18 32 7 -- 5 -- 3 -- -- 75

4. Charleston Southern (3) 30 -- 16 14 12 -- -- -- -- 1 73

5. Radford -- -- 8 7 12 25 4 -- -- -- 56

6. Winthrop -- 9 8 -- 6 10 16 3 -- -- 52

7. Gardner-Webb -- -- 8 -- 24 5 8 3 2 -- 50

8. UNC Asheville -- -- -- -- 6 -- 12 9 4 1 32

9. Presbyterian -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 12 8 2 22

10. VMI -- -- -- -- -- 5 -- -- 6 6 17

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Women's Soccer Picked Eighth in Big South Preseason Poll

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