SCAC Women's Soccer Preseason Poll Announced

SUWANEE, Ga. -- In exclusive voting by the league's head coaches, Trinity University is the unanimous choice to repeat as Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer champions. 

Following its fourth-straight and 12th SCAC tournament title in the last 13 years, the Tigers received all 11 first-place votes to earned 121 points in the preseason balloting. Trinity, which leads the SCAC with 27 women's titles, trails only the Tiger men's tennis program (28) for the most conference crowns in league history.

Trinity (12-5-2, 7-0-0) returns five all-SCAC honorees from a year ago, headlined by a duo of two-time All-SCAC first team forwards - senior Michaela Bosco and junior Hanna Khan. Bosco led the team with seven goals and four assists for 18 points last season and Khan followed closely behind with 15 points on five goals and five assists. Leading the Tigers' defensive efforts is two-time all-SCAC first team defender junior Ilsa Newland who earned Defensive MVP honors at last year's SCAC tournament as the Tigers posted two shutout victories.

Leading Trinity on the sidelines is head coach Dylan Harrison, who earned his fifth SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honor after leading the Tigers to the regular season and tournament title in 2023. In his eight seasons at the helm of the Trinity program, Harrison has posted an overall mark of 134-18-8 (.863), which includes an incredible 82-1-0 mark in league play and seven NCAA Tournament appearances.

Finishing second in the preseason polling was Texas Lutheran University, who received 102 points from the coaches, followed closely by Southwestern University with 99 points. TLU returns two-time SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year, senior forward Alyssa Simien, who led the league in scoring last season with 26 points (11 goals, four assists). The Bulldogs posted a 9-5-4 overall mark and 5-1-1 in the SCAC to finish as the regular season runner-up a year ago before falling to Southwestern in the semifinal round of the postseason tournament. 

Southwestern, which had earned the third seed in the conference championships after compiling a 4-2-1 record in SCAC play, finished at 8-9-2 after dropping a 1-0 decision to Trinity in the title game. The Pirates will lean on first team all-SCAC senior midfielder Breana Trevino, who paced a defensive effort that allowed the second-lowest goals against average in the league at 1.21. 

SCAC newcomers McMurry University and Concordia University (Texas) come in at fourth and fifth in the preseason rankings with 89 and 70 points, respectively. McMurry advanced to the semifinal round of the American Southwest Conference tournament before losing to top-seeded Mary Hardin-Baylor, 2-1, and finished the season with an 11-5-4 record. Concordia closed out the 2023 campaign with a 2-7-8 record (1-3-4 in the ASC) for a seventh-place conference finish.

Continuing to work through the preseason rankings, University of St. Thomas was the coaches' sixth selection with 69 points while University of Dallas followed in seventh with 60 points. University of the Ozarks, which will also be making its debut in the SCAC in 2023, was eighth with 39 points.

Rounding out the balloting, Austin College was in ninth with 35 points, Schreiner University was 10th with 26 points and Centenary College came in 11th with 16 points.

The SCAC women's soccer season begins Friday, August 30, with several teams competing in non-conference action over the Labor Day weekend. The first conference matches of the season are scheduled for the first week in October.

The 2024 SCAC Women's Soccer Tournament returns to Sabercat Stadium in Houston, Texas, for the second consecutive year as semifinal matches will be contested on Friday, November 8 and the championship match on Sunday, November 10.