Aug. 10, 2010
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State, the defending Mountain West Conference champions, were picked to finish in a second-place tie with Utah in the league's preseason coaches' poll, the conference announced Tuesday afternoon.
The 2009 regular-season champion, Brigham Young, was picked to win the Mountain West after earning six first-place votes and 48 points overall. The Aztecs and Utes, meanwhile, each received 37 points and one first-place tally. Following the top three were TCU (35 points), New Mexico (24), Wyoming (21), UNLV (15) and Air Force (7), respectively.
San Diego State returns 10 letterwinners and four starters from a season ago, including all-conference performer Megan McQueeny and all-MWC tournament picks Aubree Southwick and Michaela DeJesus. SDSU was scheduled to return 12 letterwinners and six starters this season, but Cat Walker suffered an ACL injury, which is sidelining her for the year, and Tiffany Hurst is set to utilize her redshirt year in 2010. The Aztecs are led by fourth-year head coach and 2009 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year Mike Friesen.
SDSU is coming off a banner season in which it won its first MWC tournament title by defeating BYU on its home field, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998 and finished with a 15-4-5 record. In league play, the Aztecs fell just short of claiming their first regular-season championship after posting an unbeaten mark of 5-0-2. The Cougars ended the conference campaign at 6-0-1 and pocketed the MWC crown.
San Diego State will play its lone exhibition game this Saturday, Aug. 14, at Long Beach State at 5 p.m. PT. The Aztecs will get their regular season underway on Aug. 20 when they hit the road and take on Santa Clara at 7 p.m. PT. The game with the Broncos will be the first of four straight away from SDSU Sports Deck. Following the SCU game, San Diego State will play at Sacramento State (Aug. 22), Central Florida (Aug. 27) and Florida (Aug. 29), before coming home for four consecutive contests on Montezuma Mesa, including a date with 21-time and defending national champion North Carolina on Sept. 12 at 1:30 p.m. PT.
| 2010 MWC PRESEASON WOMEN'S SOCCER COACHES' POLL | ||
| Pl. | Team (1st place votes) | Points |
| 1. | BYU (6) | 48 |
| T2. | San Diego State (1) | 37 |
| T2. | Utah (1) | 37 |
| 4. | TCU | 35 |
| 5. | New Mexico | 24 |
| 6. | Wyoming | 21 |
| 7. | UNLV | 15 |
| 8. | Air Force | 7 |