AAC Soccer Pre-Season Poll

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Despite the Fighting Koalas finishing as AAC tournament runner up, Reinhardt is the team to beat in 2012, according to the Appalachian Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Coaches' Poll released Thursday.

The Lady Eagles received seven of the 10 possible first-place votes for a total of 97 points to be listed as the favorite. Reinhardt won both the AAC regular-season and tournament championships, going 7-0 in conference play during the regular-season and 3-0 in tournament play. The Lady Eagles defeated Columbia 4-0 in the tournament title game as they advanced to the NAIA National Championship Tournament and finished the year 14-4-2 overall.

Tennessee Wesleyan is projected to place second with two first-place votes and 82 points. Montreat and Milligan both collected 68 points to occupy the third and fourth spots with Montreat picking up the final first-place vote. Union rounds out the top five with 64 points.

Rounding out the field are: Columbia (56 points) in sixth, Bryan (54) in seventh, Point (24) in eighth, St. Andrews (20) in ninth and Virginia Intermont (17) in 10th.

The Fighting Koala soccer team added a strong Freshman class and returned a solid 10+ veterans to this year's roster. Columbia takes the field in their first official 2012 season game on the road against Emmanuel College on Monday, August 20th. To see their full schedule click here.

Parts of this article provided by the AAC conference.