Big South Announces 2025 Preseason Women's Lacrosse Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Three-time defending Big South Women’s Lacrosse Champion
Mercer University has been voted the preseason favorite in the annual preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the Conference office. The Bears are the preseason favorite for the third time in four years of associate membership. In addition, Furman attacker
Anna Roser (Easton, Md.) is the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Mercer’s
Ansley Walters (Canton, Ga.) is the Preseason Midfielder of the Year, and Bears’ defender
Abby Soltys (Gainesville, Va.) is the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honoree.
Mercer received seven of the nine first-place votes and finished with 79 points to win the Big South Women’s Lacrosse crown in 2025. The Bears enter the 2025 campaign with seven letterwinners and four starters returning from the 2024 squad that won the regular-season title with aN 8-0 Big South record. Since becoming associate members in 2022, Mercer is 25-1 in Big South matches and a perfect 6-0 in the conference tournament with three championship crowns.
High Point finished second in the preseason poll with 73 points and collected the two remaining first-place votes. Associate member
Furman was third with 62 points, while associate member
Wofford finished fourth in the voting with 55 points. Radford followed in the fifth spot at 41 points.
Longwood landed in sixth-place with 35 points, and
Winthrop received 26 points for the seventh position in the poll.
Presbyterian College placed eighth with 22 points, with
Gardner-Webb (ninth, 12 points) rounding out the preseason ranking.
Roser was a First Team All-Big South honoree in 2024 after leading the Big South with a school-record 66 goals and finishing fifth in the league with 77 points. She started all 18 games and added 11 assists to rank fourth on the squad. Roser tallied two game-winning goals, contributed 18 ground balls, seven caused turnovers and four draws. She was named Big South Co-Offensive Player of the Week on Feb. 20 after scoring a school single-game record nine goals in a 19-15 win over Kennesaw State, and tallied multiple goals in a contest in all but two games. Roser ended the season with seven goals in back-to-back contests against Radford and High Point, dished out a season-best three assists during a 17-16 road win at Longwood, and had season highs of three ground balls and three draws in the season opener against No. 21 Clemson.
Roser received 17 total points (two first-place votes) in this year’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year voting, ahead of High Point attacker
Esprit Cha (14 points, four first-place votes) and Wofford attacker
Bria Foley (13 points, two first-place votes).
Walters was the 2024 Big South Freshman of the Year and also earned Second-Team All-Conference honors. She was the Big South Freshman of the Week four times in 2024, including three-straight weeks from Feb. 27-March 12. Walters played all 20 games with 19 starts and notched 22 goals with six assists for 28 points. She picked up 34 ground balls, caused a team-high 27 turnovers to rank fifth in the Big South, and won 48 draw controls. Walters scored a goal against Virginia Tech in her collegiate debut, and posted hat tricks against Coastal Carolina, Furman and Longwood. In eight Big South contests last season, she scored seven times and tallied 10 points, along with 19 draw controls, 13 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers.
She collected four first-place votes and 17 total points in this year’s Preseason Midfielder of the Year voting, just ahead of High Point’s
Mandy Brockamp (15 points, two first-place votes) and Radford’s
Mady Cheney (13 points, two first-place votes).
Soltys was a Second-Team All-Big South honoree last season. She played in all 20 matches (19 starts) and tallied 46 ground balls -- third-most in the Big South. Her 21 caused turnovers tied for ninth in the conference, and she won 22 draw controls in 2024. Soltys picked up a season-high six ground balls at High Point during the regular-season, and won eight draw controls against Longwood on April 13. She was part of a Mercer defense last season that led the Big South in both overall goals against average (12.55) and in league matches (7.88).
She collected six first-place votes and 21 total points in this year’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year voting, ahead of High Point goalkeeper
Ava Welsh (14 points, two first-place votes), and Presbyterian defender
Avery West (10 points, one first-place vote).
Roser, Walters and Soltys also earned spots on the preseason All-Conference team, which is listed below. The team is comprised of three attackers, three midfielders, three defenders, one goalkeeper and three at-large selections, as well as any ties.
The first Big South conference match is scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, and the 2025 Big South Women’s Lacrosse Championship tournament is slated for April 29-May 4. The top six teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the conference tournament, which will feature first round matches April 29 at the higher seed, with the semifinals and finals contested at the No. 1 seed. The champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2025 WOMEN’S LACROSSE PRESEASON POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Mercer (7) |
79 |
| 2 - High Point (2) |
73 |
| 3 - Furman |
62 |
| 4 - Wofford |
55 |
| 5 - Radford |
41 |
| 6 - Longwood |
35 |
| 7 - Winthrop |
26 |
| 8 - Presbyterian College |
22 |
| 9 - Gardner-Webb |
12 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
ATT
- Anna Roser, Sr., Furman
ATT - Bria Foley, Sr., Wofford
ATT - Esprit Cha, Sr., High Point
MF - Ansley Walters, Soph., Mercer
MF - Sophia Buzelis, Sr., Furman
MF - Mandy Brockamp, Sr., High Point
D - Abby Soltys, Sr., Mercer
D - Sydney Martin, Jr., High Point
D - Barrett Rowe, Jr., Wofford
GK - Ava Welsh, Soph., High Point
AL - Caroline Glus, ATT, Jr., Mercer
AL - Mady Cheney, MF, Jr., Radford
AL - Avery West, D, Jr., Presbyterian
PRESEASON OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Anna Roser, ATT, Sr., Furman
PRESEASON MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR
Ansley Walters, Soph., Mercer
PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Abby Soltys, D, Sr., Mercer