2016 CC Preseason Poll | Preseason Guide
LANCASTER, Pa. – Fresh off its first back-to-back playoff appearances in nearly a decade, the Ursinus College women's soccer team was projected fifth in the Centennial Conference preseason poll, the league office announced Wednesday morning.
Swarthmore, the 2014 CC champion, just edged out defending titlist Johns Hopkins to claim the top spot in the forecast, garnering 86 points and six first-place votes to the Blue Jays' 85 points and four first-place ballots. McDaniel was chosen third with 72 points, with Gettysburg (64) and the Bears (55) rounding out the top five. Ursinus was followed by Haverford (51), Dickinson (46), Muhlenberg (33), Franklin & Marshall (30), and Washington College (18).
Ursinus, which qualified for the CC playoffs from 2003 to 2007, returns almost its entire lineup from a squad that reached the CC semifinals a year ago before dropping a 3-0 decision to nationally ranked Swarthmore. With three all-conference performers and a host of starters back in the fold, this year's edition appears poised to take the next step.
Senior midfielder Jeannie Jasinski headlines the roster of returning talent after pacing the Bears in goals (10) and points (22) en route to a second team All-CC nod a year ago; she became only the fourth player in school history to reach double-digit markers in a single season. With her next goal, Jasinski will become just the fifth player in program history to reach 20 for her career, and she already stands seventh all-time with 41 points on her ledger. Jasinski will be joined in the midfield by juniors Katie Bell (1 goal, 1 assist in 18 starts) and Kendall Couch (2 goals, 4 assists, 9 starts).
The Bears will be spurred up front by an honorable mention all-league star in senior forward Erin Farrell, who notched six goals and a pair of assists last season, and a couple of weapons coming off impressive rookie campaigns in Mackenzie Groff (5 goals, 4 assists) and Kasey Sheahan (3 goals, 2 assists). Senior Jacqueline Smiler registered a goal and two helpers last season.
Junior Anna Budny is the linchpin of a defense that also brings back classmate Phoebe Shoap – who scored two goals and started all but one game last year – and senior Katie O'Shea (8 starts in 19 appearances) in front of senior goalkeeper Courtney Sullivan, who has started 35 games between the pipes over the last two campaigns. Sullivan posted a 1.13 goals-against average, saved 80.4 percent of shots she faced, and fell one shy of the school record with six shutouts a year ago.
With so much of its nucleus back, head coach Kelly Wakeman and the Bears have their sights set on their first trip to the CC championship game since 2007. The journey begins at Misericordia on Thursday, September 1, the first of five consecutive road games to open the season. Ursinus opens up its Patterson Field slate on Saturday, September 17 against Gettysburg in a rematch of last year's thrilling first-round game that was decided in penalty kicks.