Women’s Soccer: GLVC coaches vote Hawks fourth

The Rockhurst women’s soccer team has been picked to finish fourth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s pre-season coaches poll. The Hawks received 181 points to finish 10 points behind third-place finisher Wisconsin-Parkside.

Rockhurst returns 17 letterwinners and nine starters from last year’s team that finished 12-5-2 overall and fifth in the conference with a 8-5-2 record. The Hawks earned their second berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Bellarmine was the unanimous pick by the league coaches to win the 2012 GLVC Women’s Soccer Championship. The Knights, garnering 225 total points and 15 first-place votes, are coming off a school-record 16 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance. Quincy is ranked second in the poll with 205 points.

Indianapolis and Southern Indiana tied for fifth in the poll with 153 points each. Seventh place in the poll belongs to Drury (147), followed by Lewis (128), Missouri-St. Louis (121) and William Jewell (106) in the top 10. Rounding out the preseason poll in the final six spots are Missouri S&T (84), McKendree (63), Maryville (56), Illinois Springfield (50), Saint Joseph’s (29) and Kentucky Wesleyan (28).

The 16 GLVC women’s soccer teams will compete in a 15-game round robin schedule during the regular season with the top eight teams earning a berth to the GLVC Championship Tournament. The top four seeds will host quarterfinal matches on campus on Oct. 28 with the four remaining teams heading to the top remaining seed site for the semifinals and final on Nov. 2 and 4. 

The Hawks, who begin practice on Aug. 14, will open the regular season on Sept. 2 against Lynn in St. Louis before beginning conference play on Sept. 7 at Saint Joseph’s.