PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 10 University of West Florida women's soccer team will start the year off at the Peach State in Columbus, Georgia, this weekend for matches against #2 Carson-Newman and Florida Tech. The Argos kick off against Carson-Newman on Friday at 4:30 pm ET at Walden Soccer Complex in Columbus, and will face Florida Tech at 9:30 am ET on Sunday at the same location.
Stats: http://www.csucougars. com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary
Video: https://www.facebook. com/csucougars/ 

Both contests this weekend will feature live video and live stats, which can be found at GoArgos.com or by clicking on the links above.
 
Peach State Bound
* UWF will be shaking things up a little this year and taking an early-season trip up to the state of Georgia. The Argonauts will begin their season with a top 10 matchup against Carson-Newman on Friday, August 31^st in Columbus, Georgia, before facing off against Florida Tech in a neutral site contest on Sunday, September 2^nd at the same location.
* West Florida will be looking for some revenge against Carson-Newman as Carson-Newman knocked West Florida out of the playoffs last year in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament. West Florida has fared well against teams from the state of Tennessee, with an overall record of 31-14-2. The Argonauts have a 2-1 all-time record against Florida Tech.
Preseason Poll
* For the 12th time in the last 15 seasons, the University of West Florida women's soccer team was picked as the league favorite in the Gulf South Conference preseason coaches' poll, released on August 7^th.
* UWF picked up 6 of 13 possible first-place votes, earning 161 total points in the poll. The Argonauts, who were ranked #10, are joined by two other GSC teams to enter the 2018 season ranked in the top 25 of the United Soccer Coaches Poll. Lee College is ranked #9, and Mississippi College comes in ranked at #18.
* West Florida had an impressive year in 2017, going 11-2-1 in conference play and outscoring conference opponents 40-9 in the regular season. That win total pushed UWF's all-time GSC record to 156-17, good for a .902 winning percentage.
* The Argonauts are the only team in Gulf South Conference history with at least 90 GSC wins (156), 410 goals scored in league play (575), or 10 wins in the NCAA Tournament (26). Additionally, the Argonauts have won a conference-best 10 titles and head coach Joe Bartlinski has been named the GSC Coach of the Year six times, also a league record.
 
Last Year Highlights
* Few programs could come close to matching what UWF women's soccer has done since 2000, and the 2016 campaign was one of the best in school history. West Florida picked up a second consecutive South Region Title making that 7 total now, won 17 matches and tallied 12 team shutouts.
* The Argonauts had three athletes that earned All-GSC honors last year.
 
The Returners
* The Reigning South Region Champions bring several returners and impact players back in 2018. Defensive Midfielder Isabella Garcia-Salas led the team with 2,011 minutes, started all 24 games, and scored 5 goals last season. Senior Midfielder Grace Busby also returns after playing in all 24 games last year. She ranked fourth on the team with 16 total points, and finished fourth on the team with 6 goals.
* Three Argonauts have been awarded Preseason All-GSC Team honors, Deneisha Blackwood, Savanna Soares, and Kayla Douglas. Despite missing six games due to injury, Blackwood ranked seventh in the GSC with nine goals and was eighth in the conference in points per game (1.06). She earned All-South Region honors from United Soccer Coaches and the D2CCA in 2017. Soares started all 24 games for West Florida and ranked third on the team with 1,925 minutes played. Douglas started 21 games for UWF and was second on the team with 1,928 minutes played as a defender, where she helped the UWF back line post a 0.73 goals against average over the last two years.