INDIANAPOLIS – The Rockhurst University men’s soccer team has been voted by the league coaches to win the 2012 Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship, it was announced by the conference office Thursday. The Hawks, who finished the 2011 campaign with a 17-2-3 record, earned 13 of the 16 first-place votes and 222 total points in the GLVC Preseason Poll.
Rockhurst advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship before falling in a scoreless shootout to No. 21 Millersville to end the 2011 season. Despite the elimination, the Hawks concluded the year on a strong note, going 14-0-3 after starting the campaign with a 3-2 mark.
While Rockhurst was the clear preseason favorite, the next three positions were separated by just seven points. Quincy University, which claimed its first-ever GLVC Championship last year, ranked second in the poll with 189 points and one first-place vote. The University of Indianapolis followed in third with 187 points and Lewis University was fourth with 182 points and a first-place vote.
Also earning a first-place vote from the conference coaches was Bellarmine University, which ranked fifth overall with 173 points, just three tallies ahead of Drury University in sixth with 170 points.
Three Missouri-based schools followed intrastate foe Drury in the poll. Missouri S&T garnered 151 points to place seventh in the poll, followed by the University of Missouri-St. Louis (119) and William Jewell College (109) in eighth and ninth, respectively.
One of the league’s newest members, McKendree University, was selected to finish in 10th place in its inaugural season in the league. The Bearcats earned 97 total points in the poll, while the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (88), University of Southern Indiana (79), Saint Joseph’s College (62), Maryville University (45), University of Illinois Springfield (27) and Kentucky Wesleyan College (20) rounded out the poll.
The 16 GLVC men’s soccer teams will compete in a 15-game round robin schedule during the regular season with the top eight teams earning a berth to the GLVC Championship Tournament. The top four seeds will host quarterfinal matches on campus on Oct. 28 with the four remaining teams heading to the top remaining seed site for the semifinals and final on Nov. 2 and 4.
The 2012 regular season will open on Aug. 30 with six GLVC teams in action. Conference play is slated to start on Sept. 7.
The complete 2012 GLVC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll follows:
2012 Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll
Team (First-place votes) Total Points
|
1. |
Rockhurst (13) |
222 |
|
2. |
Quincy (1) |
189 |
|
3. |
Indianapolis |
187 |
|
4. |
Lewis (1) |
182 |
|
5. |
Bellarmine (1) |
173 |
|
6. |
Drury |
170 |
|
7. |
Missouri S&T |
151 |
|
8. |
Missouri-St. Louis |
119 |
|
9. |
William Jewell |
109 |
|
10. |
McKendree |
97 |
|
11. |
UW-Parkside |
88 |
|
12. |
Southern Indiana |
79 |
|
13. |
Saint Joseph’s |
62 |
|
14. |
Maryville |
45 |
|
15. |
Illinois Springfield |
27 |
|
16. |
Kentucky Wesleyan |
20 |