DENVER- Seattle U was selected by the league's head coaches as favorite to win 2017 WAC women's soccer competition. Redhawks defender
Stephanie Spiekerman was voted Preseason Defensive Player of the Year while CSU Bakersfield's midfielder
Sabrina Delgado took the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year honor. Both awards were also voted by the league's head coaches who could not vote for their own student-athlete.
Reigning champion Seattle U took the top spot on the preseason rankings with seven first-place votes for 49 points. Kansas City grabbed the final first-place vote which brought their total to 36 to take second place. Third place was taken by Grand Canyon with 34 points, while Utah Valley and CSU Bakersfield grabbed the same amount of points, 32, to tie for fourth place. UTRGV was voted sixth, followed by NM State and Chicago State.
The preseason all-conference team showed diversity with six of the eight teams being represented. Seattle U had players on both offensive and defensive sides of the ball with forward
Natasha Howe and defenders
Hannah Carrothers and Spierkerman elected to the team. Grand Canyon also had three players who were stretched throughout the field as forward
Milla Benedetti, defender
Madison Cox and goalkeeper
Blakely Fraasch were elected as part of the lineup. Kansas City was represented by two of their midfielders in
Reighan Childers and
Lexie Howard. Utah Valley midfielder
Breanna DeWaal, CSUB's Delgado and UTRGV's forward
Sarah Bonney rounded out the rest of the 11-player roster.
2017 Preseason Women's Soccer Coaches Poll
| Rank |
Team (1st Place) |
Points |
| 1. |
Seattle U (7) |
49 |
| 2. |
Kansas City (1) |
36 |
| 3. |
Grand Canyon |
34 |
| 4t. |
Utah Valley |
32 |
| 4t. |
CSU Bakersfield |
32 |
| 6. |
UT Rio Grande Valley |
18 |
| 7. |
NM State |
15 |
| 8. |
Chicago State |
8 |
2017 Preseason All-WAC Team
Milla Benedetti, Sr., F, Grand Canyon
Sarah Bonney, So., F, UTRGV
Natasha Howe, Sr., F, Seattle U
Sabrina Delgado, Jr., MF, CSU Bakersfield
Reighan Childers, Jr., MF, Kansas City
Breanna DeWaal, So., MF, Utah Valley
Lexie Howard, Jr., MF Kansas City
Madison Cox, Sr., D, Grand Canyon
Stephanie Spiekerman, Sr., D, Seattle U
Hannah Carrothers, Jr., D, Seattle U
Blakely Fraasch, Sr., GK, Grand Canyon
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Sabrina Delgado, CSU Bakersfield
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Stephanie Spiekerman, Seattle U