Austin Peay Sports Information
Brentwood, TN – Austin Peay State University women’s soccer team was picked to finish eighth for the 2015 Ohio Valley Conference season, according to the preseason poll voted on by coaches and sports information directors.
Head coach Kelley Guth has assembled a squad mixed with veterans – seniors Nikki Filippone, Shelby Olszewski, Courtney Sheppard and Taylor Van Wagner – and a promising recruiting class of 11 newcomers.
In addition, junior Gina Fabbro returns as the team’s leading goal scorer, with her 14 career tallies two shy of entering the top three in program history.
Defending tournament champions SIU Edwardsville was chosen as the preseason favorite in the poll, earning 187 points and 10 first-place votes. Southeast Missouri came in a close second place (184 points, seven first-place votes), followed by UT Martin (150 points, four first-place votes) and Jacksonville State (141 points, one first-place vote).
Murray State (138) and Morehead State (121) narrowly missed breaking into the top four, while Belmont (99), Eastern Kentucky (57), Tennessee Tech (38) and Eastern Illinois (32) rounded out the list.
Austin Peay received 63 points in the voting. In 2012, the Lady Govs picked up 92 points in an eighth-place ranking, and went on to defy the odds by competing in the OVC Championship game.
“Preseason rankings are essentially a reflection of how the opposing conference member sports information directors and coaches view your team, so I am not surprised based on last year’s outcomes,” Austin Peay head coach Kelley Guth said. “I know what our team is capable of and the potential that this group has this season. We can look at this preseason poll to motivate our team to ensure the preseason predictions are inaccurate.
“My expectations are that we improve every game and develop the necessary chemistry and communication to be a team that is going to be competing with every team in this league. I am confident that we have the potential within this group to earn ourselves a position in the postseason and compete for an OVC Championship this season.”
Austin Peay closes out its preseason schedule, 7:00pm, Saturday, against Evansville at Morgan Brothers Soccer Field. The regular season opener begins Friday, August 21st as UAB travels to Clarksville for a 7:00pm, start time.
