After winning their third conference title in four years, the Lipscomb women's soccer team was once again tabbed the league favorite in the ASUN Preseason Coaches Poll, announced by the conference office on Thursday.
The Bisons landed four players on the preseason All-ASUN squad, while also bringing home two of the three superlative honors.
Juniors Molly Grant, Kelli Beiler, Shelby Craft, and sophomore CJ Graham were the four representatives for the Purple and Gold on the Preseason All-Conference team. Graham took home the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year title while Craft was unanimously selected as the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Reigning two-time ASUN Defensive Player of the year, Craft earned her unanimous selection following a season in which she amassed a First Team All-ASUN selection, an ASUN Tournament MVP selection, and a USC First Team All-Region selection. Craft is coming off another sensational campaign, despite a positional shift. She anchored a historic defense last season that led the country with 13 shutouts while holding opponents to just .60 goals per game overall (16th in DI) and .54 in ASUN action.
Craft's play led Lipscomb to just 13 goals allowed on the entire season, with only five coming against ASUN teams. In their 12 games against league opponents, the Bisons pitched nine shutouts, including in all three tournament games. In addition to locking down the defensive end of the pitch, her freedom to attack resulted in four goals and two assists for 10 points while leading the Bisons to their third ASUN title in four seasons.
Earning ASUN Goalkeeper of the Year, ASUN First Team honoree, ASUN All-Academic selection and Second Team USC All-Region in 2021, Graham became the third Bison to garner the Goalkeeper of the Year award after posting one of the top campaigns in the country between the pipes. She led the nation and tied an ASUN record with 13 shutouts, nine of which she logged against ASUN opposition, while ranking sixth in save percentage (.862), 16th in GAA (.603) and 23rd in goalie minutes (1940)
In conference play, she pitched six shutouts, allowed just five goals and posted an .839 save percentage and 0.54 GAA before blanking all three ASUN tournament opponents on the way to the program's third conference title in four years. After she recorded a conference-best 10 shutouts, Graham topped the league with a .863 save percentage and a 0.57 goals-against average while starting in goal in all 17 matches for Lipscomb. The North Carolina native earned 12 wins between the pipes this season with seven coming in league action.
An All-ASUN Second Team and USC Second Team All-Region selection last season, Grant put together a breakout season in Nashville in which she proved to be one of the most dangerous attacking weapons in the league with eight goals, five assists and 21 points. She started all 21 games for the Bisons and finished top-5 in every ASUN offensive category - assists (3rd), points (3rd), game-winning goals (3rd - 3), goals (4th), and total shots (5th - 51).
The striker found another level in postseason play, showing up on the scoresheet in every game on Lipscomb's way to the ASUN Championship while tallying eight total points in just the first two matches of the ASUN Tournament. The junior drove an offense that led the ASUN in total goals (41), total points (117), total assists (35), shots on goal (7.29), assists per game (1.67) and ranked second in scoring offense (1.95).
After a season in which she led the ASUN in goals scored (9), game-winning goals (4), ranked second in points (18) and earned an ASUN First Team selection in the spring of 2021, Beiler suffered a season-ending injury in just the second game of last season which sidelined the 2021 Preseason All-Conference selection and Bison team leader. In her All-Conference '21 campaign, Beiler scored 8-of-9 goals against league foes on just 24 shots (.333 SH%).
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