Aug. 20, 2004

ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' women's soccer team has been picked to repeat as the American Southwest Conference champion and senior sweeper Mollie Porter was picked as the ASC preseason defensive player of the year. Hardin-Simmons, winners of six of the eight ASC titles and all six ASC West Division championships, totaled 194 points to easily outdistance second-place pick University of Texas at Dallas (168 pts.), last season's ASC East Division winner. A year ago, HSU went undefeated vs. the ASC West (8-0-0), won the conference championship tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship where they lost 2-1 to Virginia Wesleyan University. The Cowgirls finished 16-4-0 for the year. Porter claimed her second straight ASC West Division Defensive Player of the Year citation and was an NSCAA/adidas All-South Region Second Team honoree after helping Hardin-Simmons post 13 shutouts over the 20-game season. HSU tied for 13th in NCAA Division III shutout percentage ranking. The 14 ASC head coaches voted Mississippi College third (162 pts.), Texas Lutheran University fourth (160 pts.) and Austin College fifth (143 pts.). UTD and Austin College each received one first-place vote. East Texas Baptist University and University of Texas at Tyler tied at sixth with 123 points to complete the upper half of the league. LeTourneau University listed eighth (77 pts.), followed by University of Mary Hardin-Baylor at ninth (74 pts.). University of the Ozarks and Schreiner University each received 73 points to tie for 10th-place. McMurry University (48 pts.), Louisiana College (33 pts.) and Concordia University at Austin (14 pts.) listed 12th, 13th and 14th, respectively. American Southwest Conference women's soccer teams begin the 2004 season as early as September 1. The conference championship tournament is scheduled November 5-7 with the league's top six-seeded squads vying for the title and the ASC automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship.