WOMEN'S NEWS ... The
Soccer America Women's Preseason
All-Americans were released today. Heading the team is
Casey Nogueira, the 2008 Soccer America Women's Player of the Year and one of three North Carolina
seniors on the Preseason All-American first team along with
Whitney Engen and
Tobin Heath. Florida State, Notre Dame
and UCLA are the only teams with two players named to the first and second teams.
Of note, seven of the Preseason All-Americans missed the 2008 postseason because they were with the U.S.
under-20 national team that won last year's world championship in Chile. UConn's
Brittany Taylor, a first-team preseason selection, was injured and missed
the entire season.
* No women's coach is more excited than Portland's
Garrett Smith that there will be no international championships during the
2009 postseason. Just about every major program lost at least one player during the NCAA Tournament to the U.S. U-20s. The Pilots, whose record 19-game winning streak ended when they fell to
Stanford in the quarterfinals, were without three starters --
Elli Reed,
Keelin Winters and
Michelle Enyeart. Throughout her career,
Sophie Schmidt has missed time to represent various Canadian teams. When you consider that Reed,
Winters, Enyeart and Schmidt will be available all fall, that
Kendra Chandhoke returns after redshirting last season, and U-17 defender
Cloee Colohan joins the backline that returns everyone, Portland will be as deep as any team in the country. "We are going to have players on the bench this year
that would start in most years," Smith
told the Oregonian. "It's a talented group."
*
Florida is
picked to repeat as SEC champion for the fourth
consecutive year in the preseason poll released today. The Gators return eight starters, including All-SEC performers
Ashlee Elliott and
Lauren Hyde, from last season's squad that went 11-0-0 in league play. Florida is also picked to win the East, ahead of Georgia. In the West, LSU was first, ahead
of Auburn.