CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Fresh off their first week of practice, the CSU Buccaneers women’s soccer team received recognition in the Big South Preseason Coaches’ poll as Coach Eric Terrill’s squad was picked to finish sixth overall in the 2012 rankings.

Winthrop forward Krystyna Freda was selected as the League’s Preseason Attacking Player of the Year, while Radford defender Tyler Drake was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Campbell University was selected first among all schools in the Preseason Coaches’ poll, as announced by the Big South offices on Monday morning.

"There is a lot of respect around the conference for both our team and our program," commented Terrill. "We return two seniors and five upperclassmen to the squad, so we are still a young team but the coaches around the conference respect us. We’re going to strive to finish higher than that and better than that, and look forward to the upcoming season."

Charleston Southern is coming off of a 9-8-2 season (4-5-1 Big South) which saw it finish seventh in the regular season standings, before falling to Winthrop in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Big South Conference Tournament.

The Buccaneers begin their journey back to the postseason on Friday, August 17th, as CSU hosts the Bulldogs of The Citadel at the CSU Soccer Field. Kickoff between the two cross-town rivals is set for 4 p.m.