NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Saint Louis is a near-unanimous choice to win the 2022 Atlantic 10 Conference women's soccer title in balloting by A-10 head coaches, the league office announced Thursday.
 
The Billikens received 14 of 15 first-place votes and totaled 224 points.
 
Dayton, which received the other first-place nod, finished second in the voting with 197 points. League newcomer Loyola Chicago (189) was third, while defending regular-season champion VCU (180) and Massachusetts (170) rounded out the upper third of the 15-team conference.
 
The middle portion of the poll finds La Salle (120) sixth, Saint Joseph's (116) seventh, Richmond (109) eighth, Rhode Island (108) ninth, and Duquesne (79) and George Washington (79) tied for 10th.
 
George Mason (65), St. Bonaventure (62), Davidson (52) and Fordham (50) round out the preseason prediction.
 
A league-high five Billikens landed on the preseason All-Conference team. Sixth-year defender Brionna Halverson, senior midfielder Abbie Miller and junior goalkeeper Emily Puricelli made the list after earning first-team All-Conference plaudits in 2021. They are joined by sophomore forward Emily Gaebe, the 2021 A-10 Rookie of the Year and a second-team All-Conference selection, and fifth-year midfielder Hannah Friedrich, who begins the season needing 12 points and three assists to become SLU's career leader in those categories.
 
Saint Louis, a 9-0 winner over Lindenwood in exhibition play Wednesday night, travels to Evansville for a second and final exhibition game Saturday, Aug. 13, at 1 p.m. The Billikens open the regular season Thursday, Aug. 18, at home vs. No. 8 Arkansas in a 7 p.m. kickoff.