Albion College went undefeated (7-0-1) against its Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rivals during the second round of conference play last year, and based on their finish, rival coaches have installed the Britons as one of the favorites in the chase for the league championship in women's soccer this fall.
Albion received a first place vote and were picked to finish second behind Hope College, the defending conference regular season co-champion and tournament champion.
Senior Jenna Urso and sophomore Emily Wolford, all-MIAA second team picks a year ago, are back to lead the Britons, as well as seniors Athena Balcoff, Molly Hancock, Samantha LaRocca, Mikela Ray, Maggie Troost, and Maddie Willerer.
"We didn't get to the MIAA Tournament (last year), but going undefeated in the last eight games is certainly something to build from," Head Coach Eric Scott, '01, said. "It's up to the players to take whatever momentum we had at the end of last year and do what say they want to do. We can't rely on having good athletes or whatever happened last year. We need to come out and train at a good pace to make sure we can maintain that level of consistency we had at the end of last season."
Albion has a pair of home contests against Ohio Northern University and John Carroll University over Labor Day weekend to prepare for its MIAA opener, a Sept. 6 home date with Hope.
The complete MIAA preseason poll, with first place votes in parenthesis, follows. Hope (4) 54 points, Albion (1) 49, Calvin College (1) 46, Kalamazoo College (2) 40, Adrian College 36, Alma College 36, Trine University (1) 29, Olivet College 23, Saint Mary's College 11.
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