RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Following a season the culminated in the program’s first Great American Conference Women’s Soccer Championship title, Ouachita Baptist will enter the 2015 campaign as the league’s preseason favorite, following a vote of the GAC’s head coaches, the conference office announced on Tuesday.
The Tigers, runner up in 2011 and 2012, broke through by winning the GAC Championship on regular-season champion Southern Nazarene’s home field. They became the first non-top seed to claim the GAC Tournament crown. They return the two-time GAC Offensive Player of the Year Haley Hatcher. She enters her senior season as the third-most prolific scorer in Division II as she has averaged 2.05 points per game in her two seasons in Arkadelphia. The Tigers also bring back Tessa Woodcock, a First-Team All-GAC selection last year and the 2014 GAC Tournament MVP.
The GAC coaches voted Southwestern Oklahoma State second in the poll. The Bulldogs, after winning the 2012 and 2013 GAC regular-season and tournament titles, missed the tournament field in 2014. They return four All-GAC selections - Ashlee Beitinger, Charlotte Eastman, Cori Kelly and Olivia Butler and bring back Samantha Nunez, a former First-Team All-GAC selection, who redshirted in 2014.
Harding placed third in the poll. The Bisons finished second in the GAC last season. Coach Dr. Greg Harris brings back five All-GAC selections this season, highlighted by First-Team choice Melita Sutherland. She has earned All-GAC honors in each of her two seasons with the Lady Bisons. Midfielders Audrey Adkison and Melissa Minnich plus defender Larkin Hatcher and goalkeeper Kaitlyn Miller made the 2014 All-GAC Second Team.
Southern Nazarene, the defending regular-season champions, took fourth in the voting. The Crimson Storm received a pair of first-place votes. The Crimson Storm must replace a trio of First-Team All-GAC selections - Mallary Pineda, Bekah Stewart and Breana Harris, but will return Hannah Robinson, the 2014 GAC Freshman of the Year. She ranked second on the team, and in the top six in the GAC, in goals with six and in points with 13. Alyssa Glitzke, a Second-Team All-GAC forward, scored three game-winning goals to rank second in the GAC. Grace Self, who picked up three GAC Defender of the Week awards in 2014, netted the game-winning goal against Harding to secure the regular-season title.
At fifth in the poll, Oklahoma Baptist will enter its first season in the GAC following a championship in the Sooner Athletic Conference in its final season in the NAIA. Mikayla Lowery won SAC Freshman of the Year honors as she placed in the top six in both categories and Emma Beck led the league in saves.
East Central finished sixth in the balloting and Northwestern Oklahoma State rounded out the poll. The Rangers hired Craig Liddell to lead the team into their first season as a full Division II member. He inherits a squad that includes Briana Legaspi. She earned the GAC Goalkeeper of the Year Award in 2014 after she became the first goalkeeper to lead the conference in goals-against average, saves and save percentage in a single season.
The 2015 season opens on the weekend of September 3. Southern Nazarene hosts Eastern New Mexico on that opening Thursday night. On Friday, Harding and East Central head to St. Joseph, Missouri for the MIAA/GAC Challenge against Emporia State and Missouri Western State, respectively. Southwestern Oklahoma State travels to Minnesota State-Mankato, Northwestern Oklahoma State faces Northeastern Oklahoma State and the defending champion Ouachita Baptist Tigers host Rogers State. On Saturday the fifth, Oklahoma Baptist visits Newman.
