GREENSBORO, N.C. — Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) soccer coaches picked Guilford College’s women’s team seventh and the Quakers’ men eighth in their annual preseason polls, released Tuesday. Defending league champion Lynchburg College owns the top spot in the women’s poll, while Randolph College was picked to repeat as champions by a single point over Roanoke College.
Guilford’s women received 74 points in the poll. Now in his 11th year, head coach Eric Lewis returns 13 letter winners from last year’s 10-8-2 club. Among those returning are sophomore Hannah Schiltz (Ashland, Mo. /Southern Boone), who led the Quakers in points with 10 goals, and senior Jaclyn Nucci (Gambrills, Md. /South River (Anne Arundel C.C.)), who contributed six goals and four assists in 2011. The Quakers, who went 5-4-2 in league play last year, open the 2012 season in the Meredith Labor Day Classic Saturday (9/1) versus Berry College.
Jeff Bateson enters his seventh season as Guilford’s head men’s soccer coach after a 6-9-2 season (3-7 ODAC) in 2011. He returns 20 letter winners from a year ago and looks to senior Freddy Gomez (Valparaiso, Chile/Williams (N.C.)) for offensive leadership. Gomez, a First Team All-ODAC pick in 2011, led the Quakers and finished second in the ODAC in goals (11) and points (23). The Quakers open the season this Friday night at home against crosstown-rival Greensboro College at 7:00 p.m.
2012 ODAC Men's Soccer Coaches' Poll 2012 ODAC Women’s Soccer Coaches’ Poll (First-place votes in parentheses) 1. Randolph 115 (7) 1. Lynchburg 144 (12) 2. Roanoke 114 (5) 2. Virginia Wesleyan 130 (1) 3. Lynchburg 95 3. Washington and Lee 118 4. Washington and Lee 80 4. Roanoke 110 5. Hampden-Sydney 72 5. Bridgewater 106 6. Virginia Wesleyan 71 6. Shenandoah 87 7. Eastern Mennonite 67 7. Guilford 74 8. Guilford 51 8. Randolph-Macon 69 9. Randolph-Macon 49 9. Eastern Mennonite 53 10. Bridgewater 45 10. Emory & Henry 45 11. Shenandoah 17 11. Randolph 35 12. Emory & Henry 16 12. Hollins 25