ALBANY, Georgia -- The Peach Belt Conference will welcome Albany State University as an associate member in women's soccer beginning in the fall of 2019.
"We're thrilled to welcome Albany State as an associate member," said commissioner David Brunk from the league office in Augusta. "Athletics Director Sherie Cornish Gordon and head coach Alexandria Pickrell have done an outstanding job of creating a program that will be a good fit for our conference."
Albany State is a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) but the league does not sponsor women's soccer. Peach Belt Conference women's soccer is among the best in all of NCAA Division II. In 2017, three different PBC teams were ranked among the top 25 during the season and the league sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament. PBC women's soccer teams have won the NCAA Southeast Region in five of the last seven years; Columbus State has reached the NCAA final four in two of the last three years including an appearance in the 2015 national championship game.
"We are ecstatic to join the Peach Belt Conference as an associate member," says Athletics Director Sherie Gordon. "It has been a strategic priority since the fall of 2016 to identify a home for the women's soccer program. Our goal is to provide great opportunities for our athletic teams to compete for conference championships and joining the PBC strategically positions our women's soccer team with a great opportunity. We look forward to working with Commissioner Brunk, his staff, and the fellow institutions of the PBC."
ASU head coach Alex Pickrell, who played collegiate soccer at West Florida, was a part of two UWF team that competed at the 2012 and 2013 National Championships hosted by the Peach Belt. West Florida won the national title in 2012.
"On behalf of our student-athletes and staff, we are very excited and honored to join the Peach Belt Conference," states Pickrell who will be entering her second season at the helm of the ASU program. "The PBC is an outstanding conference with a tradition of excellence in soccer that the Golden Rams are proud to become a part of. We are excited and would like to thank Commissioner Brunk and our Athletics Director Sherie Gordon for their support of the women's soccer program at ASU."
As a full NCAA Division II member institution, the Albany State women's soccer team will immediately eligible to receive the NCAA automatic bid, given to the tournament champion. The Golden Rams will play a full conference schedule in the fall of 2019; ASU student-athletes will be eligible for all conference honors and awards.
Albany State is now one of twelve schools playing women's soccer in the Peach Belt. Albany State added women's soccer as a sport last season (2017-18) and will be one of four institutions that holds an associate membership in the Conference. Embry-Riddle, Nova Southeastern, Florida Institute of Technology are associate members in men's and women's track and field.
Albany State faced three members of the Peach Belt during their inaugural campaign last season, Clayton State, Georgia College and Young Harris College.
The Peach Belt Conference enters its second quarter-century as one of the premier leagues in NCAA Division II. The league is home to 36 national championships and 28 national finalists. The conference currently holds championships in 15 sports, seven for men and eight for women. They are men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, baseball, softball, men's and women's golf and men's and women's track and field.
ALBANY STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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