Long Beach State is the pick to win the 2019 Big West women’s soccer title according to a vote of the nine head coaches in their annual preseason poll Thursday.
  
 In addition, the coaches selected a 11-player preseason all-conference team.
    
The Beach collected five first-place votes for 76 points in earning the favorite’s role. UC Santa Barbara finished second in the voting with 69 points and one first-place vote. UC Irvine rounded out the top three in the poll with 65 total points and two first-place tallies. The remainder of the poll included Cal State Fullerton in fourth place with 42 points, CSUN and UC Riverside tied for fifth with 35 points, and Hawai‘i (31), UC Davis (28) and Cal Poly (24). The Mustangs garnered the lone remaining first-place vote.
  
 Long Beach State returns four starters from a 2018 squad that captured both the Big West regular season and tournament championships. Senior forward Katie Pingel ranked third on the team in both goals (4) and points (11) en route to All-Big West Second Team accolades. Senior midfielder Taylor Bistline also offers some scoring punch as her three goals was fourth-best on the squad and helped her to honorable mention all-conference recognition. Juniors Kaylee Ramirez and Sarah Pilster also are returning starters, while forward Elysia Laramie likely gets an increased role after earning Big West All-Freshman Team acclaim on two goals and two assists. The Beach finished 12-5-3 overall and 5-1-2 (17 points) in Big West play, generating the program’s fifth regular season title and seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament.
    
UC Santa Barbara finished in second place last year with 16 points (5-2-1) and won 13 games overall, equaling its total from 2015. The Gauchos leaned heavily on All-Big West First Team performer Shaelan Murison, who ranked second in the league with 10 goals and 24 points. The team also welcomes back Big West All-Freshman Team defender Lauren Hess among six returning starters.
    
UC Irvine claimed third place in last year’s conference standings and reached the Big West Tournament for the third consecutive year. The Anteaters bring back six starters and 15 letterwinners from a squad that finished 8-7-4 overall and 4-1-3 (15 points) in the Big West. Key returnees include All-Big West First Team senior standouts Aleah Kelley and Maddie Newsom, along with defender Kala McDaniel who landed a spot on the league’s All-Freshman Team.
    
Cal State Fullerton is led by senior forward Atlanta Primus, a six goal scorer last year.
    
The preseason all-conference team is headlined by three Long Beach State representatives in Bistline, Laramie and Pingel, and three more from UC Irvine – Kelley, senior Jessica Miclat and Newsom.  UC Riverside had two honorees in seniors Annie Bailey and Amanda Roy.  CSF’s Primus and UCSB’s Murison also made the list, as did CSUN senior Amanda Martin.

2019 PRESEASON COACHES POLL

2019 PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

       
            
            
           
          
      
        
       
        
        
        
        
       
        

( ) First-place votes