FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The Piedmont women's soccer team was selected first in the USA South Preseason Coaches Poll on Wednesday. The Lady Lions are coming off of back-to-back USA South Athletic Conference championships and will be led by first-year head coach Timmy McCormack in 2017.
Piedmont finished the 2016 season with a 15-7-1 record which included an impressive run in the USA South tournament. Entering the tournament as the #3 seed, PC won four straight games to take its third conference championship since 2013.
In 2017, the conference welcomes new league members Berea College, Brevard College and Pfeiffer University. Brevard and Pfeiffer will not be included in the polls as they are each reclassifying from Division II and are not eligible for championship honors this season. With the addition of these three teams, Berea and Brevard will join the West Division and Salem College will move to the East Division with Pfeiffer.
The Lady Lions received six first-place votes to go along with 48 total points to take the top spot in the West Division. Maryville and Covenant each received one first-place vote with Maryville voted second with 41 points while Covenant took third with 39 points.
Piedmont opens the season on September 1 against Birmingham Southern. The two teams will kick-off their season at Maryville College at 2 p.m.
