Soccer team ranked preseason No. 11
The women’s soccer team is ranked No. 11 in the NSCAA/adidas Division III Preseason top 25 Poll, as announced by the NSCAA.
The Bears finished 2004 with a program-best 17-3-1 record and advanced to the NCAA Sectional Finals for the third time in school history.
WUSTL also won a share of its third University Athletic Asso-ciation championship in school history.
Fourth-year head coach Wendy Dillinger has guided the Bears to a 41-11-7 (.754) record in three seasons, while claiming two UAA titles and making two NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Bears return 17 letter-winners and eight starters from last year’s squad, including junior midfielders Talia Bucci and MeghanMarie Fowler-Finn. Bucci, a first-team all-UAA selection in 2004, started all 21 games and recorded four goals and six assists. Fowler-Finn, a first-team all-UAA and Central Region honoree, led the Bears with 11 goals and 26 points in 2004.
WUSTL takes the field for its season opener at 1 p.m. Sept. 2 against No. 17 DePauw University in the Bob Baptista Invitational in Wheaton, Ill.
The Bears will face top-ranked Wheaton College (Ill.) the following day at 5 p.m.
Football team picked to win conference
The football team is once again the favorite to win the 2005 UAA championship, according to the Preseason Conference Coaches Poll that was recently released.
Winners of four straight UAA titles, Washington U. finished with 15 points (all first-place votes); Carnegie Mellon University (11 points) was picked to finish second, Case Western Reserve Uni-versity (seven points) third, and the University of Chicago (three points) fourth.
The Bears finished 2004 with a 6-4 record en route to their fourth-straight UAA crown. WUSTL, which has won 15 straight conference games, won five of its last six games to secure its 12th straight winning season.
WUSTL’s eight UAA titles came in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Case Western Reserve took second place in the UAA last season with a 2-1 conference mark, while Carnegie Mellon (1-2) placed third and Chicago (0-3) fourth.
The Red and Green, which return three starters on offense and eight on defense, open 2005 on Sept. 3 at Mount Union College; UAA play commences Oct. 8 at Chicago.
Soccer seeks seventh conference crown
The men’s soccer team will look for its seventh UAA title and 17th appearance in the NCAA tourney when it kicks off the 2005 season Sept. 3 against Millsaps College.
The Bears return 20 letter-winners and seven starters from a team that went 12-5-2 overall and 3-2-2 (T-3rd) in conference play last season.
Seniors David Borton, Seth Schreiber and Rob Weeks lead the way. Borton tallied three goals and two assists in 18 games in 2004, while Schreiber started 14 of the 19 games for the Red and Green. A 2004 first-team all-UAA and third-team all-Central Re-gion honoree, Weeks netted a team-best eight goals and three assists for WUSTL. His career numbers include 16 goals and eight assists, including eight game-winning goals.
Washington U. begins 2005 with nine non-conference contests before facing UAA-rival Emory University in Atlanta on Oct. 1.
Core runners return after strong 2004
The men’s and women’s cross country teams enjoyed another fine season in 2004, and have their cores returning this year.
The women finished a program-best third at the NCAA Championships and won their third straight UAA title, marking another banner season for the Bears. They return four of their five top runners from 2004 in senior Steph Felz, juniors Lindsay Harkema and Beth Herndon, and sophomore Tyler Mulkin. All four earned all-Midwest Region accolades, helping the Red and Green to second place at Regionals.
Seniors Greg Reindl and Brennan Bonner lead the WUSTL men this fall. Both earned all-Midwest Region last year and helped the Bears to a second-place showing at the conference meet. Reindl also represented WUSTL’s men at the NCAA Championships.
The Bears open 2005 Sept. 3 by hosting the WUSTL Early Bird Meet at Saint Louis Priory High School.