Macon, Ga. ­ Jacksonville University is the favorite to win the 2001 Atlantic Sun Women’s Soccer Championship as the Dolphins earned six of a possible 11 first-place votes in the annual preseason poll as voted on by the league’s head coaches.

Troy State, under head coach Qasim Sheikh, is expected to finish last in the conference at No. 11. TSU received 19 overall votes.

Jacksonville received 122 overall votes and returns seven starters from a team that won the 2000 conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Dolphins finished last season with a 19-3 overall record and a perfect 9-0 mark in conference play.

Perennial conference power UCF (six-time conference champion) is picked to finish second as the Golden Knights received three first- place votes and tallied 111 points in the preseason poll.

UCF was last season’s preseason favorite, but finished the season at 8-11-1 overall and was upset in the semifinal round of the 2000 conference tournament

Florida Atlantic, which lost 2-1 in last season’s conference championship match to Jacksonville, is slated to finish third (107 points) as the Lady Owls received the other two first place votes. Florida Atlantic finished the season at 14-6 overall and 7-2 in league play.

The top six regular season finishers will advance to the 2001 Atlantic Sun Women’s Soccer Championship which will be held on November 8-10 in Orlando, Fla., on UCF’s campus. The winner will earn the A-Sun’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.