FULLERTON, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton women's soccer team was picked to finish fourth in the Big West Conference Preseason Coaches poll it was announced on Monday. The league also announced the Preseason All-Big West team with Kaya Hawkinson as the sole representative for the Titans.
Fullerton, who finished third in the regular season conference standings and were knocked out in the semi-finals against Cal Poly in the Big West Tournament, tallied 79 votes in fourth place and received one first-place vote. Last year's Big West regular season and tournament champions UCI received 91 points and 5 first place votes. Cal Poly and Long Beach came in tied in second place with 86 points and Cal Poly had 3 first place votes and Long Beach State had 2.
The coaches selected 11 players representing ten teams to the 2022 preseason All-Big West Women's Soccer Team. The team consists of six seniors, four juniors and one sophomore. Every institution but UC Riverside had at least one representative named to the team and UC was the only school with two representatives.
This is the first time Hawkinson was given preseason honors. She was previously a member of the All-Freshman team in 2018 and was named an Honorable Mention in 2019. Hawkinson is coming off a big offseason where she made her debut internationally for the Philippines National Team and helped lead them to World Cup Qualification in February and their first ever international trophy in July in the AFF Cup.
No. School (Points, 1st Place Votes)
1. UC Irvine (91, 5)
2. Cal Poly (86, 3)
Long Beach State (86, 2)
4. Cal State Fullerton (79, 1)
5. UC Davis (55)
6. UC Santa Barbara (52)
7. Hawai'i (47)
8. UC San Diego (39)
9. UC Riverside (34)
10. CSUN (20)
11. CSU Bakersfield (16)
*First-place votes in parentheses
The Titans open up the 2022 season against last year's National Runner-Up and the No. 3 team in the country, BYU on Thursday August 18th at 7:00 p.m..