INDIANAPOLIS – The Rockhurst University men’s soccer team has been voted by the league coaches to successfully defend its Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship, it was announced by the conference office Thursday. The Hawks, who finished the 2012 campaign with an 18-3-2 record, earned 14 of the 16 first-place votes and 223 total points in the GLVC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll.
Drury University placed second in the preseason rankings, followed by Quincy University, Bellarmine University and Lewis University in the top five.
Rockhurst returns 10 starters, including six All-GLVC honorees, from last year’s unit that captured its third GLVC Championship on its home turf prior to ending its season with a 2-1 loss in overtime to 12th-ranked Saginaw Valley State in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional finals. The Hawks, who last week paced three GLVC squads at No. 6 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/Continental Tire NCAA Division II preseason poll, will be led this year by senior goalkeeper Ryan Bass and senior forward Mark Magee – the 2012 GLVC Offensive Player of the Year. Bass was a second-team NSCAA Division II All-America selection for the second year in a row, while Magee earned second team honors after being a first-team selection in 2011. The Hawks are guided by Tony Tocco, the 2008, 2011 and 2012 GLVC Coach of the Year, who is also the second-winningest men’s soccer coach in the country (618 wins in 42 years).
Drury heads into the 2013 campaign ranked second in the conference with 200 points and 24
th in the country, as it was announced by the NSCAA on Tuesday. Ryan Swan’s Panthers are coming off a 12-5-2 season in which they advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the second time in the past four years, and return all offensive starters from a unit that netted 49 goals last season.
Quincy finished a close third in the conference voting with 195 points. Mike Carpenter’s squad, which also earned a first-place vote in the poll, returns from a 12-2-6 campaign in 2012 where the Hawks reached the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. Leading the way for Quincy will be All-American junior center back Chris Garavagila, who was also named the GLVC Defensive Player of the Year.
The University of Southern Indiana placed sixth in the preseason poll with 137 points, followed by the University of Indianapolis (135, one first-place vote) and the University of Missouri-St. Louis (135) tied for seventh, and McKendree University (121) and William Jewell College (121) tied for ninth. Rounding out the poll was Missouri S&T (89), GLVC newcomer Truman State University (79), the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (60), Maryville University (38), Saint Joseph’s College (37), and the University of Illinois Springfield (26).
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 Nov. 3 with the four remaining teams heading to the top remaining seed site for the semifinals and final on Nov. 8 and 10.
The 2013 regular season will open on Sept. 5 with six GLVC teams in action. Conference play is slated to start on Sept. 13.
The complete 2013 GLVC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll follows:
2013 Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll
Team (First-place votes) Total Points
|
1. |
Rockhurst (14) |
223 |
|
2. |
Drury |
200 |
|
3. |
Quincy (1) |
195 |
|
4. |
Bellarmine |
175 |
|
5. |
Lewis |
149 |
|
6. |
Southern Indiana |
137 |
|
T-7. |
Indianapolis (1) |
135 |
|
T-7. |
Missouri-St. Louis |
135 |
|
T-9. |
McKendree |
121 |
|
T-9. |
William Jewell |
121 |
|
11. |
Missouri S&T |
89 |
|
12. |
Truman State |
79 |
|
13. |
UW-Parkside |
60 |
|
14. |
Maryville |
38 |
|
15. |
Saint Joseph’s |
37 |
|
16. |
Illinois Springfield |
26 |