UT Women's Soccer Picked Fourth in SSC Preseason Coaches Poll

MELBOURNE, Fla. - Sunshine State Conference women's soccer coaches have voted Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as the top squad heading into the 2021 season. With 89 points and five first-place votes in the poll, the Eagles are expected to win the program's first regular-season championship. The University of Tampa was picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll.

Rollins College lands in second place with 86 points and two first-place votes, while Nova Southeastern University comes in third with 80 points. The University of Tampa just landed ahead of Barry University, 74-73, for fourth place. However, the fifth-ranked Buccaneers pulled in the remaining four first-place votes.

Lynn University sits in the middle of the poll (51 points) and is followed in the voting by Saint Leo University (41 points) and Palm Beach Atlantic University (39 points). Florida Tech (25 points), Eckerd College (24 points), and Florida Southern College (23 points) hold the final three positions in the ranking.

Due to COVID-19, the last time SSC women's soccer teams competed for the league championship was in 2019. Barry and Rollins shared the title that season, recording 24 points in the standings with identical 8-2 conference records. It was Embry-Riddle, however, that went on to win the league tournament title. A program first for the Eagles.

Embry-Riddle, Nova Southeastern, and Rollins represented the SSC in the 2019 NCAA Division II Tournament. NSU advanced to the regional final by defeating the University of Montevallo and Mississippi College. The Eagles defeated the Tars in the first round and Lee University in the second round to set up an All-SSC south region championship game. The Sharks took the championship final, 2-1, and became the first team to represent the SSC in the national quarterfinals since 2015. NSU fell in the elite eight to Flagler College. 

Tampa owns the league's most recent women's soccer national title (2007) and is just one of three SSC programs with a national championship trophy (Barry [3] and Lynn [1]). Since administrators added women's soccer as a league sport, SSC teams have reached the national quarterfinals 11 times, the semifinals seven times, and the national title game three times, winning it all twice.

Florida Southern opens up the SSC season on September 2nd, hosting Edward Waters College, while Eight other league teams get underway the next day. Conference play starts with a three-game slate on Saturday, September 18th. Tampa (No. 25) is the lone SSC representative in the 2021 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II preseason women's poll, which was released on Wednesday, August 4th.

Below are the full results of the 2021 SSC preseason coaches' poll. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their teams (points: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses).

2021 SSC WOMEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON COACHES POLL