Before the women’s soccer team takes to the turf, Atlantic 10 coaches and officials have predicted the Colonials will finish seventh in the conference.
Coaches also named junior forward Kristi Abbate and senior defender Alex Brothers to their Preseason All-Conference Team, the league announced Monday.
The Coaches’ Poll anticipates a second-straight seventh-place finish for GW, whose 2013 campaign ended with the team’s first A-10 Championship appearance in 11 years. But the addition of Davidson has pushed the number of teams in competition to 14, and the Wildcats could prove a wild card during conference play.
The voting from the 14 head coaches did not predict any shakeups in the league power rankings. GW received 110 total points, while the Dayton Flyers, with 189 points, topped the pre-season poll for the sixth consecutive season.
Following the Flyers were defending champions La Salle, then VCU, Saint Louis, Massachusetts and George Mason, all favored above the Colonials. Rounding off the bottom six, after GW, were Richmond, Saint Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure, Duquense, Davidson, Rhode Island and Fordham, which earned 42 points, the lowest score.
The top eight finishers will travel to Dayton to play in the A-10 Championship in early November, when the Colonials will look to improve on last year’s first-round loss to La Salle. With the A-10 coaches putting GW in the middle of the pack, the Colonials will likely rely heavily on experienced players Abbate and Brothers to fight through the entire conference season.
Now in her third year as a starter, Abbate was an All-Rookie selection during her freshman campaign and earned All-Conference Second Team honors after the 2013 season. Abbate went without a goal last season, but made impact with two game-winning assists and by taking 34 shots with 11 attempts on target.
She has also maintained a presence atop the pitch, starting all 36 contests for the Colonials in the past two seasons while seeing action as both a forward and midfielder.
Another high-impact player, Brothers enters her senior season as the team’s MVP after three years as a starter and a shut-down defender. Before she was named MVP at the end of last season, Brothers was part of the Colonials back line that limited opponents to a .086 shot percentage and recorded eight shutouts, the most since 1994.
If Abbate and Brothers meet expectations, GW will be in a stronger position to exceed what coaches and officials anticipate of the team as it strives for a strong season to help its championship seeding.
Now that the coaches have spoken, the players will get their first, though unofficial, chance to set their own expectations. The Colonials will play Wednesday at 5 p.m. in an exhibition match against American at the Mount Vernon Campus field.
