The Pirates finished last season with a 9-8-3 overall record and placed fourth in the BIG EAST National Division with a 4-6-1 mark, qualifying for the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 2006. Seton Hall defeated St. John's, 1-0, in the first round of the conference tournament for its first postseason victory since 1999, before falling to eventual BIG EAST Champion West Virginia in the quarterfinals.

Seton Hall sixth-year head coach Kazbek Tambi returns nine starters and 18 letterwinners from last year's team, including junior Katie Ritter (Hagerstown, Md.), who led the team with six goals in 2011

The Pirates welcome back three of their four starting defenders in senior Taylor Mims (Miller Place, N.Y.), senior Cristina Barthel (Freehold, N.J.) and junior Meghan Hayes (Fredon, N.J.).

Senior forward Stephanie Soma (Franklin, Mass.), junior midfielder Ashley Clarke (Paramus, N.J.), junior midfielder Amie Ruhe (Monrovia, Md.) and junior midfielder Marie Klemme (Berlin, Germany) also return for the 2012 campaign.

Notre Dame University received 12 of a potential 15 first-place votes to tally 109 points and land on the top of the National Division rankings according to the BIG EAST coaches; the Fighting Irish placed third in the division a year ago.

Louisville picked up a pair of first-place votes to finish second with 98 points, Georgetown finished third with 83 points and Rutgers received the final first-place ballot to place fourth with 78 points.

Villanova edged Seton Hall by just two points to grab the fifth position in the coaches' ballot with DePaul (33 points) coming in seventh and Cincinnati (29 points) finishing eighth.

Marquette, who finished last year in a tie for first place in the American Division, was the coaches' selection to repeat as division champs, finishing first in the poll behind 13 first-place ballots to tally 97 points. Connecticut received the other two first-place votes to come in second with 84 points after a sixth-place finish in the division a year ago.

USF finished third in the coaches' poll with 57 points, Providence and Syracuse each picked up 52 points to tie for fourth place, St. John's came in sixth with 50 points and Pittsburgh received 21 points to land seventh.

Louisville junior forward Christine Exeter was the BIG EAST Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and Marquette senior Ally Miller was the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year selection. Syracuse junior Brittany Anghel and Villanova junior Jami Kranich split Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year accolades.

The 2012 BIG EAST Championship will kick off with first round games at campus sites on Thursday, Oct. 25, with quarterfinal matchups to follow on Sunday, Oct. 28. The University of Connecticut will host the semifinals and final at Joseph J. Marrone Stadium in Storrs, Conn., on Friday and Sunday, Nov. 2 and 4.

Seton Hall hosts Fordham University in the team's only exhibition contest of the preseason on Saturday, Aug. 11, at Owen T. Carroll Field in South Orange, N.J., at 7 p.m. The Pirates' regular season will get underway on Friday, Aug. 17, at home against Long Island University starting at 7 p.m.