Aug. 18, 2009

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The Great West Conference women's soccer coaches have selected Utah Valley and NJIT as the favorites for the inaugural Great West Conference women's soccer season. The preseason poll was announced Tuesday by the league office.

Utah Valley garnered all four first-place votes in its division to make the Wolverines a clear preseason favorite. UVU was followed by Houston Baptist, North Dakota and South Dakota respectively in the west.

In the East Division, NJIT picked up two first-place votes followed by South Carolina State and Howard, which each received one first-place vote. Delaware State rounded out the east voting.

The 2009 GWC division champions will be named upon completion of a double-round robin format within the respective divisions. Conference standings will be determined by a point system with three points given for a win and one point awarded for a tie.

The Great West Conference champion will then be decided by an eight-team, single-elimination tournament to be hosted by NJIT on November 6-9 at Newark, N.J. The seeding for the tournament will be based upon final regular season standings within each division. The No. 1 and No. 4 seeds and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds from opposite divisions will play in the first round.

GWC 2009 Preseason Women's Soccer Poll

East Division

1. NJIT (2) 14 pts.

2. SCSU (1) 10 pts.

3. Howard (1) 9 pts.

4. Delaware State 7 pts.

West Division

1. Utah Valley (4) 16 pts.

2. HBU 10 pts.

3. North Dakota 8 pts.

4. South Dakota 6 pts