BYU-Hawai'i predicted to capture PacWest Women's Soccer title
Jill Haar picked by coaches as the Preseason Player
of Year
QUEEN CREEK, AZ - With first-place votes scattered among four different teams, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i has been chosen to capture the 2007 Pacific West Conference Women's Soccer Championship this year with senior forward Jill Haar (Diamond Bar, CA/Walnut) expected to lead the club as the league's Preseason Player of the Year.
The PacWest and the four institutions from Hawai‘i are sponsoring women's soccer for just the second year, but the Seasiders won a narrow preseason tabulation that featured seven first-place votes scattered among four teams.
BYU-Hawai‘i picked up two first-place votes, as did Dixie State and Hawai‘i Hilo, while last year's champion Notre Dame de Namur (NDNU) claimed one. Dixie State, in its first season of full competition in the PacWest, was picked to finish second in the league, followed by NDNU. Grand Canyon received no first-place votes but garnered enough high selections on the ballots to stand fourth.
Even with a pair of first-place picks, Hawai‘i Hilo still ranked fifth in the preseason poll. Hawai‘i Pacific and Chaminade were tagged sixth and seventh, respectively.
Haar was a First Team All-PacWest selection last year and one of three Seasiders chosen for the PacWest Preseason All-Conference squad.
Sophomore forward Emily Means (San Ramon, CA/California), the 2006 Freshman of the Year and an All-PacWest First Team pick in 2006, and senior defender Sarah Norton (Cedar City, UT/Cedar City), a Second Team All-PacWest choice, were also placed on the preseason team.
The Preseason Defensive Player of the Year went to junior back Tessa Chesser (Phoenix, AZ/Shadow Mountain) of Grand Canyon, while the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year was awarded to Dixie State senior netminder Suzanne Hunt (Lehi, UT/Lehi). Both players were also preseason all-conference choices.
Dixie State junior forward Nicolette Trickey (St. Johns, AZ/St. Johns) and Grand Canyon junior forward Vanessa Young (San Diego, CA/El Sereno) joined their respective teammates as preseason picks. Young was a First Team All-Conference choice in 2006.
Hawai‘i Hilo rounded out the selections with senior forward Karen Weatherby (Arroyo Grande, CA/Arroyo Grande) and junior back Healani Leite-Ah Yo (Hilo, HI/Kamehameha). Leite-Ah Yo was a Second Team All-PacWest choice last year, while Weatherby was a First Team selection and the 2006 Player of the Year.
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