Logo
Logo
Logo
Twitter   Facebook
Women's Soccer Voted Commonwealth Leader
Posted: 8/25/2011
Women's Soccer sits at #1 in the Commonwealth to start the 2011 season. The Falcons hope to celebrate a fifth straight conference championship later this year.

Grantham, PA – One day after Messiah men’s soccer took home a unanimous vote as preseason leader in the Commonwealth, the women did the same thing.

The Falcons have now been appointed as the preseason favorite in the Commonwealth for Women’s Soccer, earning a unanimous vote from coaches around the conference (Video - Commonwealth feature follows Freedom).

The vote from the conference coaches may come as little surprise to the Falcon faithful, as conference and national rankings have consistently favored Messiah for most of the last decade. Still, nothing is being taken for granted as the program starts a fresh season with, as usual, high expectations for work ethic, team building, and player development.

This season, the program will chase down its fifth consecutive Commonwealth Conference Championship, and eleventh in the past 12 years. The team will also look to build on last year’s near-perfect campaign that saw the Falcons advance to their seventh straight NCAA Division III Final Four before falling to Hardin-Simmons University in the title game. The loss was the lone blemish on a 24-1 record.

Scott Frey returns for his eleventh year as head coach in 2011, leading the Falcons’ chase for their fourth NCAA Division III National Championship in the past six years. The team will be led by four returning All-Commonwealth players, including juniors Alex Brandt and Corrine Wulf, and the 2010 Commonwealth Rookie of the Year Alicia Frey. In addition to six newcomers joining the roster this year, the team will welcome back 2009 NSCAA/Adidas NCAA Division III National Player of the Year Erin Hench who missed nearly all of 2010 with a knee injury.

Messiah opens the season on Friday, Sept. 2 when they play host to Wittenburg University (Oh.) in the Messiah Classic in Grantham, Pa. The Falcons will oppose Swarthmore College (Pa.) on the second day of the Messiah Classic on Sept. 3.

2011 Commonwealth Conference Women’s Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Messiah 49 pts. (8)
2. Arcadia 42 pts.
3t. Elizabethtown 29 pts.
3t. Lebanon Valley 29 pts.
5. Widener 28 pts.
6. Alvernia 27 pts.
7. Albright 12 pts.
8. Lycoming 8 pts.