NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Despite adding five new talented faces and returning its leading scorer from the past two seasons, the Goldey-Beacom College women’s soccer team was picked 12th in the 2010 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference pre-season coaches poll announced by the league office, Mon., Aug. 16.
Looking to improve upon a 2-14 record in 2009, the Lightning earned 32 points in a vote of the league’s 13 head coaches.
Philadelphia, the 2009 regular season champion, topped the list with 160 points and eight first-place votes. The Rams were 13-5-3 last season and earned the No. 1 seed in the CACC Tournament before getting upended by No. 4 seed and eventual champion, Holy Family in the semifinals.
Holy Family meanwhile, was picked to finish No. 2 with 149 points and one first-place vote. They were followed by last year’s runner-up Georgian Court (148 points, three first-place votes), Chestnut Hill (127 points, one first-place vote) and Wilmington (123 points).
Dominican (98), Caldwell (93), Felician (81), Post (52) and Concordia (48) rounded out the top 10. Nyack (45) was 11th followed by GBC and Bloomfield (27).
Fourth-year GBC head coach John Cappiello announced the addition of five new talented recruits back in July. Tess Beukers (Calvert HS/Lusby, Md.), Kaitlin Doherty (St. Thomas More Preparatory/Magnolia, Del.), Alexandra Ford (Dover, Del./Dover), Samantha Luppino (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) and Danielle Semenza (Hazleton Area/Hazleton, Pa.) join the Lightning this Fall.
The Lightning also feature junior midfielder Karin Eriksson, who has led the team in scoring the last two seasons with nine goals per year. Through just two seasons, she already ranks third on the school’s all-time goals scored list with 18 career goals.
GBC will host an Alumni Game on Aug. 21 at 2 p.m. at Nancy Churchman-Sawin Field and also a scrimmage against Division I Delaware State on Aug. 24 at 3 p.m. Then the Lightning open the season at home against Lincoln University (Pa.) on Sept. 2 at 5 p.m.
CACC Women’s Soccer
2010 Preseason Poll
School 2009 Records Points
1. Philadelphia (8) 13-5-3/10-2 CACC 160
2. Holy Family (1) 13-9-1/8-3-1 149
3. Georgian Court (3) 15-8/10-2 148
4. Chestnut Hill (1) 11-8-2/8-3-1 127
5. Wilmington 9-7-2/8-3-1 123
6. Dominican 9-6-4/7-2-3 98
7. Caldwell 6-11-1/6-5-1 93
8. Felician 6-9-2/4-5-2 81
9. Post 5-13/3-9 52
10.Concordia 4-11/3-8 48
11. Nyack 3-12-2/2-8-2 45
12.Goldey-Beacom 2-14/1-11 32
13. Bloomfield 3-13-1/1-10-1 27
()-First Place Votes