Aug. 19, 2010

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Utah Valley and NJIT have been selected by the Great West women's soccer coaches to repeat as tops of their respective divisions in the 2010 season.

In the West Division, Utah Valley, the defending Great West Conference champion, received 15 points, including three first-place votes. The Wolverines won the inaugural title in 2009 after defeating Houston Baptist, 1-0, in the championship match. Runner-up HBU finished second in the poll with 12 points and one first-place vote. North Dakota and South Dakota rounded out the West Division, receiving eight and five points, respectively.

The East Division Preseason Poll standings were NJIT with 15 points and three first-place votes, followed by Howard with 12 points and one first-place vote. Delaware State garnered seven points and South Carolina State tallied six points.

The 2010 Great West women's soccer season begins Friday, August 20, with seven teams seeing action. Howard will travel to Temple, North Dakota will play at North Dakota State, Delaware State will host UMBC, Houston Baptist will host Sam Houston State, South Carolina State will host Navy, South Dakota will travel to SIU-Edwardsville and Utah Valley will square off against Southern Utah at Rio Tinto Stadium, home of 2009 MLS Cup Champion Real Salt Lake, in Sandy, Utah. NJIT will open its season on August 27, when it hosts Monmouth.

The first GWC contest of the season will take place on September 26, when Howard hosts NJIT. The 2010 Great West Conference champion will be crowned at the championship tournament on November 5-9, in Houston, Texas, hosted by Houston Baptist.