With the new school year here and the fall sports heating up, it’s time to take a look at some of the news and notes for some of the local college soccer and volleyball teams.
SOCCER
The Oral Roberts University men’s soccer team was picked to finish 4th in the 2019 Summit League preseason coaches’ poll. The Golden Eagles’ Junior Chavez was named preseason player to watch.
Denver was predicted to win The Summit League title by the league’s six head coaches. This marks the seventh consecutive season that the Pioneers have been tabbed as the league favorite by the coaches.
The Pioneers, winners of at least a share of the last six regular season crowns, collected four of the possible five first-place votes. Rounding out the preseason league standings are Omaha, Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, Oral Roberts and Purdue Fort Wayne.
The ORU women’s team shut out Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday, 7-0, to pick up the Golden Eagles first win of the season (1-1-0). Junior forward Drishana Pillay highlighted the night scoring three goals and one assist, totaling seven points.
The 2019 Tulsa women’s soccer season kicked off last weekend at the Cowgirl Classic. The Golden Hurricane shutout Texas Southern, 7-0, on Friday night, and were set to play the host, McNeese State, on Sunday in Lake Charles, La.
TU has 18 returners from last year, including eight starters, and welcomes eight newcomers to the roster. Head Coach Kyle Cussen, who is in his 12th season at the helm, is the programs’ winningest coach with 98 wins in 11 seasons. He also has a career 208-168-42 mark in 21 years as a head coach.
TU senior forward Anna Williams was named to the American Athletic Conference Preseason All-Conference Team. Last year, she ranked fifth in points (22), sixth in goals (9), 13th in assists (4) and 16th in shots (38).
Tulsa men’s soccer player Chase Bromstedt was a unanimous selection to the American Athletic Conference Preseason All-Conference Team. Last year, Bromstedt was selected to The American all-conference second team, while ranking sixth in assists (6), eighth in points (14) and 10th in goals (4) among the league’s best.
VOLLEYBALL
ORU is predicted to finish in a tie for fourth place in The Summit League volleyball preseason coaches’ poll. With 61 total points and five first-place votes, Denver was picked for the sixth-consecutive season to take the regular-season crown, with South Dakota picked to finish second. Only eight points behind the Coyotes was Omaha with 51 total points as the Mavericks claimed the third spot. In a tie for fourth place with ORU was Purdue Fort Wayne, followed by North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Western Illinois.
As the P.A. announcer at ORU, I can tell you this volleyball team is going to be fun to watch this season, and just might fool a lot of people by finishing higher than fourth in the Summit League.
The University of Tulsa’s Taylor Horsfall was named to The American Preseason All-Conference Volleyball Team. This marks the second time that Horsfall has been named to the American Athletic Conference preseason list.
A native of Houston, Texas, the defensive specialist/libero has climbed the record books at Tulsa. Horsfall is a two-time all-conference selection and was named The American Libero of the Year in 2017. She set the program record for most digs in a match (44) and the conference record for digs in a season (755). For her career, she has set three single-game records for digs in a match and ranks third in career digs at Tulsa with 1,684.
The AAC also released the coaches’ preseason poll, ranking the Golden Hurricane in fourth place with 81 points. This ties Tulsa highest ranking which occurred during the 2014 and 2015 campaigns.