Kicking Off 2016
BIG EAST women’s soccer teams hit the ground running on Friday as all 10 squads open their 2016 seasons tomorrow evening. Eight of 10 schools will play twice over the weekend, with Seton Hall holding off until Monday to play its second tilt and DePaul pausing until next Thursday for their second match. BIG EAST squads will combine for matches against 12 different conferences, including three against teams from the Big Ten and the Colonial, and two against both the Atlantic-10 and Mid-American. Teams will be tested against five squads coming off NCAA Championship berths, with Providence facing semifinalist Rutgers and Georgetown hosting a Stanford squad which advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals. Both Rutgers (No. 10) and Stanford (No. 5) also enter the season ranked in the NSCAA Top 25. Xavier and St. John’s will also face NCAA Tournament-tested teams in Evansville and Albany while the Friars open the season on Friday against Boston College which is also coming off an NCAA berth and received votes in the national preseason poll.
Preseason Recap
Georgetown was the BIG EAST coaches’ unanimous pick to win the league crown this year with junior midfielder Rachel Corboz expected to be the conference’s top offensive threat. St. John’s Diana Poulin is the early favorite to become a three-time BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year, while Marquette’s Morgan Proffitt stood out as the league’s top defensive player. After Georgetown, only 11 points separated picks two through five in the preseason poll, with DePaul (64), Marquette (61), Butler (55) and St. John’s (53) all within reach of one another. The top six teams at season’s end earn BIG EAST Championship invites, which has proven to be an open contest as 2015 saw a title game featuring the No. 4 and 6 seeds, with No. 4 Butler coming away with the crown. Full for the full preseason release, click
HERE.
A Brief Look Back At 2015
The 2015 season was a memorable one as the BIG EAST saw three teams earn bids into the NCAA Tournament, including Butler which not only claimed its first BIG EAST title but made its first NCAA appearance in program history. Four players garnered All-America honors, including two who will return to the pitch in 2016 – Georgetown’s Rachel Corboz and Butler’s Serina Kashimoto. St. John’s had its finest season in program history, going 15-4-1 and earning an NCAA bid, while Providence set a school record for wins with 13 and advanced to its first BIG EAST title game since 1993. Six BIG EAST teams finished in the top 100 of the RPI (Georgetown, 38; St. John’s, 42; DePaul, 63; Providence, 70; Butler, 79; Marquette, 83), the most since conference realignment, and for the third time in three years, the league crowned a different champion (Marquette, 2013; DePaul, 2014; Butler, 2015).
Weekend Schedule
Friday
Towson at Georgetown, 4 p.m.
Fordham at DePaul, 4 p.m.
Delaware at Villanova, 4:30 p.m.
CCSU at St. John’s, 5 p.m.
Evansville at Xavier, 6:30 p.m.
Seton Hall at Saint Joseph’s, 7 p.m.
Ohio at Butler, 7 p.m.
RV Boston College at Providence, 7 p.m.
Iowa at Creighton, 8 p.m.
Marquette at Nebraska, 8:05 p.m.
Sunday
#5 Stanford at Georgetown, Noon
Butler at Eastern Michigan, 1 p.m.
Xavier at Eastern Kentucky, 1 p.m.
UMKC at Creighton, 2 p.m.
Drexel at Villanova, 4 p.m.
Providence at #10 Rutgers, 7 p.m.
Albany at St. John’s, 7:30 p.m.
Marquette at Kansas, 8 p.m.
All Times Eastern