NEW ORLEANS - The 2019 Sun Belt Women's Soccer season is set to begin with six matches slated on Thursday, August 22.
The 2019 campaign will also feature the return of the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in Kaylee Davis and Heather Martin. The duo leads the Texas State Bobcats who open the season with two home matches in Incarnate Word and Prairie View.
Davis and Martin were picked as the Sun Belt’s Preseason Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. The duo are coming off historic program seasons. Davis set a Bobcat mark with seven match-winning goals while her 18 total tallies tied the program mark and was tied for third in the nation. Martin posted new program records for GAA, save percentage and solo shutouts.
At the beginning of August, Davis was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. The award is given to the most outstanding male and female soccer player each year. The Allen, Texas native is the first Texas State player ever to be selected to the watch list and first women’s Sun Belt honoree since 2011.
As a team, the Bobcats were selected as the preseason favorites to claim the Sun Belt title. They return 20 players from last year’s championship team including eight starters.
Thursday's action gets started on the pitch with Louisiana taking on UTSA at 4:30 p.m. CT followed by Coastal Carolina hosting North Florida at 5 p.m. CT. Georgia Southern and Maryland get underway at 6 p.m. CT and Little Rock-Memphis kicks off at 7 p.m. CT. Georgia State takes on Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. CT and Arkansas State will face UT Martin, also at 7 p.m. CT.
AROUND #SUNBELTWSOC
• The Lance Key era officially gets underway on Thursday when the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns women’s soccer team faces UTSA in the first day of the 2019 Cardinal Classic in Beaumont, Texas. The Ragin’ Cajuns return 18 letter winners from last year’s team and added nine newcomers.
• A total of 22 matches are set for the opening weekend on the pitch with six slated for Thursday, Aug. 22, five for Friday, Aug. 23, and 11 on Sunday, Aug. 25.
• The 2019 Sun Belt Women's Soccer Championship is set for Nov. 6 through 10 at the Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Ala. The top eight teams will battle it out on the pitch for the right to represent the league in the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament.
• Appalachian State opens the 2019 season on the road with a pair of tough tests in the reigning Big South Conference champions in Radford on Friday and the No. 23 ranked Wake Forest on Sunday.
• The reigning Sun Belt tournament Champions, Little Rock, will open their 2019 season with a tough test in No. 20 Memphis. Little Rock's matchup with Memphis marks the 11th meeting in the teams' history. The Tigers own an 8-2 series advantage.
• Arkansas State, fresh off a 3-0 thumping of Arkansas-Pine Bluff gets underway on Thursday night w
• Coastal Carolina returns its top three scorers from last season with senior Hannah Miller (five goals and two assists) earning Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference honors. Classmate Baylee Price (three goals and one assist) finished tied for second on the team a year ago with seven points.
• Josh Moffet begins his interim stint with the Georgia Southern Eagles as they travel to Maryland to take on the Big Ten foe in a first-ever match between the two programs. Moffet takes over for recently departed Brian Dunleavy.
• After a productive off-season and a gritty performance against Stephen F. Austin in an exhibition match Friday, ULM head coach Keyton Wheelock and the women's soccer team are ready to battle Grambling State and Southeastern Louisiana to start the season.
• Georgia State concluded the 2018 campaign with an 8-10-2 (5-4-1 SBC) record and made its first appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament since 2015. The blue and white had a slow start to the season but bounced back in a major way during the second half of the year, stringing together four consecutive conference victories from late September to the end of October – a feat that the program hadn’t accomplished in 14 years.
• South Alabama, picked to finished second in the league, returns six of their top seven scorers from last year. Brenna McPartlan also returns for the Jaguars - the teams' leading scorer from 2018.
• The Troy Trojans open the 2019 regular season this weekend, hosting the Trojan Classic. The four-team tournament features a pair of games on Friday before concluding with two more games on Sunday. The weekend tournament also marks the beginning of head coach Ged O'Connor's third season at Troy.