NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Saint Louis is a near-unanimous choice to win the 2023 Atlantic 10 Conference women's soccer title in balloting by A-10 head coaches, the league office announced Monday.
 
The Billikens received 14 of 15 first-place votes and totaled 224 points.
 
Dayton, runner-up to SLU in the 2022 regular-season standings and A-10 Championship, finished second in the voting with 202 points. VCU (199) was third, while Massachusetts (173) and Loyola Chicago (158) rounded out the upper third of the 15-team conference. Massachusetts received the remaining first-place vote.
 
The middle portion of the poll finds Saint Joseph's (134) sixth, Duquesne (124) seventh, La Salle (110) eighth, Fordham (97) ninth and Richmond (95) 10th.
 
George Washington (88), Davidson (59), Rhode Island (53), George Mason (47) and St. Bonaventure (37) round out the preseason prediction.
 
Six Billikens landed on the 11-player preseason All-Conference team. Graduate forward/midfielder Emily Groark, graduate midfielder Abbie Miller, senior defender Lyndsey Heckel, senior forward Caroline Kelly and junior forward Emily Gaebe made the list after earning first-team All-Conference plaudits in 2022. They are joined by senior goalkeeper Emily Puricelli, a second-team All-Conference selection a year ago.
 
Saint Louis, ranked No. 21 by United Soccer Coaches and No. 13 by College Soccer News in preseason national polls, opens the regular season Thursday, Aug. 17, at No. 13/10 BYU in Provo, Utah. Game time is 8 p.m. Central, and streaming is available on ESPN+.