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Fontbonne University Athletics

Women's Soccer Picked To Finish Second In The SLIAC

ST. LOUIS, Mo.— The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) released the 2017 Women’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll today and the Griffins sit in the No. 2 spot heading into the regular season with 73 points.

Women's Soccer Picked To Finish Second In The SLIAC
August 15, 2017

ST. LOUIS, Mo.— The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) released the 2017 Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll today and the Griffins sit in the No. 2 spot heading into the regular season with 73 points.

Webster University, who won its 8th SLIAC Championship last season against Fontbonne, holds the top spot with 80 points. Westminster enters at No. 3 with 61 points while Spalding comes in at No. 4 with 60 points of its own.

Fontbonne (12-7-2; 8-1 SLIAC) is coming off an impressive 2016 campaign where they advanced to the SLIAC Tournament Championship for the first time in 20 years, however, the team fell to Webster University, 2-1.

Despite the loss, the team was well acknowledged in its postseason awards with Head Coach Brian Hoener winning his third Coach of the Year award. Natalie Sipole, Anna Whitaker and Tayler Pulvirenti were named to the First Team, while Meredith Wendt and Leann Smith collected Second and Third Team Honors respectively.

Pulvirenti, Sipole and Ellen Weaver also took home All-Tournament Team hardware and Heather Wiegmann was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team.

This season, the team returns 16 players and seven starters. They'll look to replace Pulvirenti in net but offensively Coach Hoener brings back leading goal scorer Meredith Wendt as she finished with 14 goals and 32 points. Also returning offensively is Jacey Pate (10 g, 4 a), Ellen Weaver (9 g, 4 a) and Casey Lisenbardt (6 g) and they'll look to build off their 2016 standout numbers.

Also back on the squad is 2016 First Team Selectee Whitaker and Maddie Redohl as they helped lead the team to eight shutouts last year which led the conference.

To view the entire SLIAC Coaches Poll Release visit HERE.

The Griffins will get its 2017 season underway on September 1st when they'll pay a visit to Elmhurst. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com for updates and recaps on the women's soccer team.

SLIAC Coaches Poll

  1. Webster - 80 (8)
  2. Fontbonne - 73 (2)
  3. Westminster- 61
  4. Spalding - 60
  5. Greenville - 48
  6. Principia - 43
  7. Blackburn - 32
  8. MacMurray - 26
  9. Eureka - 17
  10. Iowa Wesleyan - 10