ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Tusculum College has been picked to finish fourth in the South Atlantic Conference Women's Lacrosse preseason poll, as voted upon by the conference's nine head coaches and released Tuesday.

Junior midfielder Madison Malone was voted first-team preseason All-Conference for the Pioneers, who will begin their third season in 2017 having qualified for the SAC Championship in each of their first two years as a varsity program.

Last year, Tusculum went 11-6 overall and finished tied for fourth place with a 4-4 mark in conference games. The Pioneers defeated Brevard 15-8 in the opening round before being knocked out in the semifinals by eventual champion Queens University of Charlotte.

Malone was named first-team All-SAC and was selected to last year's SAC All-Tournament team after setting a SAC single-season record with 46 assists. Malone also had 20 goals and finished the season with 66 points, tied for the most in a season in program history. Malone also led the Pioneers and ranked fifth in the SAC with 64 draw controls, and was tied for fourth with 33 caused turnovers. Malone was also second on the team with 41 ground balls.

The Maple Grove, Minnesota native recorded at least one point in all 16 games in which she played, and set a school single-game record with eight assists against Lincoln Memorial. Malone had two or more assists in 11 of her 16 contests, including five against both North Greenville and Newberry and four each against Lenoir-Rhyne and Coker.

Malone is the program's career lead with 74 assists, ranks second in school history with 115 points and is fifth with 41 goals. She is also the program career leader in ground balls (96) and caused turnovers (58) and is second in draw controls with 91.

Queens University of Charlotte, which has not lost a conference regular-season or postseason match in the three-year history of SAC women's lacrosse, received all eight first-place votes it was eligible to receive and had 80 points to top the survey. Lenoir-Rhyne was given the other first-place vote and had 72 points to rank second, followed by Wingate (64) and Tusculum (61). The rest of the order consisted of Catawba (50 points), Brevard (46), Coker (38), Newberry (30) and Lincoln Memorial (27).

Tusculum plays its season opener at Erskine on Saturday, February 4 and hosts Converse for its opening game on Pioneer Field on Saturday, February 18. The Pioneers begin their SAC schedule with a home match against Brevard on Wednesday, March 1.

2017 South Atlantic Conference Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll

2017 Women's Lacrosse Preseason All-South Atlantic Conference
First Team
A- Caitlyn Nemeth, Brevard
A- Hanna Scott Queens
A- Abigail Pauus, Queens
A- Brittany Andrews, Wingate
MF- Kelly Dowd, Queens
MF- Paulena Dempsy, Wingate
MF- Nicolette Salay, Catawba
MF- Madison Malone, Tusculum
D- Lindsay Ordemann, Coker
D- Marabeth Durden, Coker
D- Aarika Kaester, Queens
D- Morgan Insel, Wingate
GK- Ines Flueck, Lenoir-Rhyne
                                                       
Second Team
A- Faith Kent, Coker
A- Alexandra Bruder, Queens
A- Torrey Schwitkis, Lenoir-Rhyne
A- Shannon O'Neal, Wingate
MF- Aubriana Benedetto, Lenoir-Rhyne
MF- Claudia Jenkins, Coker
MF- Hannah Scott, Catawba
MF- Amara Moss, Lincoln Memorial
D- Emily Kessler, Lenoir-Rhyne
D- Taylor Winters, Lenoir-Rhyne
D- Melissa Saganich, Lincoln Memorial
D- Noreen McAllister, Lenoir-Rhyne
GK- Arion Pierre, Wingate