Marquette has been chosen to repeat as the Conference USA regular-season champion in a vote of the league's head coaches. The Golden Eagles won last year's regular season title with an unbeaten
10-0-1 mark and represented C-USA in the NCAA Championship for the second year in a row, winning its first round match for the second straight season. Marquette welcomes back eight starters this
fall, including two preseason all-conference selections in midfielder Kristen Jensen and forward Kate Gordon (17 goals last season). Saint Louis goalkeeper Meghann Burke, last season's Defensive
Player of the Year, has been selected as the 2001 preseason Player of the Year. Saint Louis was selected second. Burke, the lone goalkeeper on the preseason all-league team, led Conference USA in
goals against average (0.72) and shutouts (10) last season. She is joined by forward/midfielder Jenny Kehl in receiving preseason all-league honors. Cincinnati and Charlotte, which finished third
and fourth last season, respectively, have been chosen to flip spots this fall, with the 49ers edging out the Bearcats.
Conference Tournament: The top eight regular season finishers in
conference play will participate in the Conference USA Tournament, Nov. 7-10 in Milwaukee.
2001 C-USA Preseason Poll 1. Marquette 2. Saint Louis 3. Charlotte 4. Cincinnati 5.
Houston 6. TCU 7. East Carolina 8. South Florida 9. Tulane 10. UAB 11. Memphis 12. Southern Miss 13. DePaul 14. Louisville
2001 C-USA Preseason Awards PLAYER OF
THE YEAR Meghann Burke, Jr., GK, Saint Louis ALL-CONFERENCE Kara Bullinger, Sr., MF, Houston Meghann Burke, Jr., GK, Saint Louis Sherry Dick, Jr., F, TCU Kate Gordon, Jr., F,
Marquette Jill Hayes, So., F, Charlotte Kristen Jensen, So., MF, Marquette Jenny Kehl, Jr., MF/F, Saint Louis Colleen Lake, Jr., MF/F, Tulane Tia Opliger, Jr., MF, South Florida Denise
Peters, Sr., F, UAB Ann Thomas, Sr., F, Cincinnati Tricia Wiles, Jr., F, Southern Miss
