JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The United Athletic Conference (UAC) has announced the women’s soccer preseason awards and coaches poll ahead of the start of the 2026 season.
EKU was tabbed as the unanimous decision in the coaches poll garnering seven first-place votes. The Colonels finished the 2025 season with a 10-4-5 record and clinched the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) Championship after defeating top-seeded Lipscomb in the regular season finale.
Maria Schuller from Little Rock was voted as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year after a stellar 2025 season. The junior forward played and started in 17 games for the Trojans last year where she led the Ohio Valley Conference in points (17) and goals (12) as well as points and goals per game. The Little Rock native was the first Trojan to earn All-Region honors since the 2019 season and she found herself named All-OVC First Team, the OVC Forward of the Year and to the All-South Region Third Team.
Adelyn Speight out of North Alabama was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year after earning Second Team All-ASUN honors last season. The senior out of Edwardsville, Ill. totaled 1,730 minutes while starting all 19 games for the Lions. Speight anchored a backline that totaled nine shutouts with a 0.63 goals per game mark allowed to opponents. Coined the “Speight Wall of Florence,” Speight earned Academic All-ASUN and CSC Academic All-District honors.
Jordan LeVasseur from EKU was named the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year after totaling eight wins, six shutouts, 115 saves and a 0.83 goals against average in 2025. The sophomore was rated the No. 39 freshman in the country according to TopDrawerSoccer in route to earning ASUN All-Freshman Team, Second Team All-ASUN and United Soccer Coaches All-South Region honors. In her first season of collegiate soccer, the Michigan native totaled 115 saves and had a 90 percent save rate. She recorded eight wins and six shutouts during the 2025 season with five games with double digit saves, including an 18-save game against Duquense which was the second-most saves in a single game in EKU history and the third-most saves in a single game in NCAA soccer during the 2025 season.
2026 United Athletic Conference Preseason Women’s Soccer Coaches Poll
1. EKU* (7)
2. North Alabama (1)
3. Little Rock
T4. Abilene Christian
T4. Central Arkansas
6. Tarleton State
7. Austin Peay
8. West Georgia
*denotes a unanimous decision
() - number of first place votes
2026 United Athletic Conference Preseason Women’s Soccer Awards
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Maria Schuller, Little Rock
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Adelyn Speight, North Alabama
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year: Jordan LeVasseur, EKU
Preseason All-UAC Team
F- Avery May, EKU
F- Ana Manning, EKU
F- Maria Schuller, Little Rock
F - Lauren Link, EKU
M- Chiara Premoli, EKU
M- Avery Stojakovich, North Alabama
M- Sakiko Manabe, Central Arkansas
D- Rachel Robinson, EKU
D- Adelyn Speight, North Alabama
D- Candice Kilderry, Little Rock
D- Avery Smith, North Alabama
GK- Jordan LeVasseur, EKU
*12-member team due to a tie in voting
About the United Athletic Conference
The newly rebranded United Athletic Conference (UAC) is a competitive NCAA Division I conference sponsoring sixteen (16) sports and championships with nine (9) full member institutions including Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas), the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Little Rock, Ark.), Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tenn.), the University of Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, Ky.), the University of North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas), the University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, Texas), and the University of West Georgia (Carrollton, Ga.) with the University of West Florida (Pensacola, Fla.) as an affiliate member in football.