Aug. 7, 2012

Irving, Texas - Tulsa senior defender Claire Hulcer was tabbed to the All-Conference USA Preseason Women's Soccer Team, as announced today by the league office. The Golden Hurricane was also picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll by the league's coaches.

A two-year letterwinner, Hulcer has started 33 of 36 games at TU, has netted three goals and has had six assists for 12 points, and has been a part of 12 shutouts. She was named to the All-C-USA second team, was selected as the TU "Player of the Match" five times, and was the C-USA Defensive Player of the Week once a year ago.

"It is a well-deserved honor for Claire," Head Coach Kyle Cussen said. "She has done a great job, not only this summer in preparing for this year, but in all of her time at TU. I think she has really blossomed and matured into a great team leader, and is someone we are going to rely on in the backfield. We have a lot of depth in our backline and goalkeepers, but Claire is a big part of that and was a big part of our two shutout records last year."

TU finished with a 10-8-3 overall record in 2011, picked up four wins in C-USA to finish sixth in the league and advanced to the C-USA Championship for just the second time since joining the league in 2005. The 2011 season marked the first time since 2000 that Tulsa posted double-digit wins and a winning record, and the Hurricane set two new school records for shutouts in a season (11) and consecutive shutouts (5).

"It is very encouraging and gratifying," Cussen said. "I think this is the highest we've been ranked in the preseason poll in the last five years. This shows where we've come from and that we've caught the eye of the other coaches in our league. Our number one goal is to get to the conference tournament, so we will work all season to get there."

Five-time defending C-USA Champion Memphis has been selected as the league's preseason favorite, followed by UCF and Colorado College to round out the top three.

2012 PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE USA TEAM
Jessie Ayers, So., MF, Colorado College (Seattle, Wash.)

Brittney Lyman, Sr., F, Colorado College (Arvada, Colo.)

Christabel Oduro, Jr., MF/F, Memphis (Brampton, Ontario)

Jessica Howard, Jr., MF/F, Rice (Dallas, Texas)

Lauren LaGro, Sr., D, Rice (Dallas, Texas)

Quinney Truong, So., MF/F, Rice (Fort Worth, Texas)

Mallory Baum, Sr., MF, SMU (Keller, Texas)

Claire Hulcer, Sr., D, Tulsa (St. Louis, Mo.)

Marissa Diggs, Jr., D, UCF (Rowlett, Texas)

Tishia Jewell, Sr., F, UCF (Satellite Beach, Fla.)

Azia Nicholson, Jr., D/MF, UTEP (Grand Prairie, Texas)
2012 C-USA PRESEASON POLL
(as selected by C-USA coaches)

1. Memphis

2. UCF

3. Colorado College

4. SMU

5. Rice

6. Tulsa

7. East Carolina

8. UTEP

9. UAB

10. Houston

11. Marshall

12. Southern Miss