Women's Soccer Picked 7th In Preseason Horizon League Poll

Posted: Aug 17, 2004

Aug. 17, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Cleveland State University, which will debut women's soccer as an intercollegiate sport this fall, has been picked to finish tied for seventh this year in the Horizon League in a preseason poll of the league's coaches. The announcement was made by the Horizon League office on Tuesday (Aug. 17) "I honestly believed that because we are a first year program and that nobody within the league knows anything about our players, that we would be picked to finish last (eighth)," head coach Derrek Falor said. "To be picked anywhere but eighth speaks highly about how we have put this program together. "The good thing about the schedule this year is that we will have played 12 regular season matches before we open league play," Falor added. "We can use the early season schedule to gel as a team and hopefully be playing our best soccer by the time league play begins." Defending champion UW-Milwaukee was tabbed as the preseason favorite, garnering five of the seven first place votes (coaches did not predict the finish of their own team) and 47 total points. Butler, which finished in a second place tie with UW-Green Bay last year, was a close second in the voting, earning one first place vote and 41 points. Detroit was picked to finish in third place with 35 points, earned two first place votes, with Loyola and UW-Green Bay sharing fourth place with 28 points. Loyola, which finished in last place during the regular season a year ago, advanced to the NCAA Women's College Cup after winning the 2003 Horizon League Championship. Rounding out the poll was Wright State in sixth place (25 points) and Cleveland State and Youngstown State finishing tied for seventh with 10 points each. The Vikings have 10 days to prepare for their Aug. 27 program opener against Kent State. CSU will play an exhibition contest at Mercyhurst on Sunday, Aug. 22. 2004 Horizon League Pre-Season Women's Soccer Poll (Balloting by the Horizon League Coaches) 1. UW-Milwaukee (5) 47 points
2. Butler (1) 41 points
3. Detroit (2) 35 points
4. Loyola 28 points
4. UW-Green Bay 28 points
6. Wright State 25 points
7. Cleveland State 10 points
7. Youngstown State 10 points