Contact: Chassidy Holloway, Assistant Executive Director, holloway@midwestconference.org
GRINNELL, Iowa — Picking up eight first-place votes and 80 points, the St Norbert College Green Knights were selected by the Midwest Conference (MWC) men’s soccer head coaches to repeat as league champions for the third year in a row.
The Green Knights went undefeated during the regular season last year and picked up their only Conference loss against Knox College in the tournament championship title game.
Despite the win, Knox College came in second in this year’s poll. The Prairie Fire earned the remaining two first-place votes and a total of 71 points. They will look to defend their tournament title and secure their fifth regular season crown, which they last won in 2017.
Lake Forest picked up 66 points for third place. The Foresters currently hold the record for the most Conference and tournament championship titles with seventeen and seven, respectively. Two of their three Conference losses last season came at the hands of St. Norbert and Knox. The Foresters finished last season fourth in the standings and qualified for the Conference tournament for the eighth consecutive year. In that span, the Foresters accumulated three league titles and three NCAA tournament appearances. Lake Forest will look to build on their successes from last season and reclaim their first league title since 2016.
In fourth place for the fourth year in a row are the Pioneers of Grinnell College with 54 points. Grinnell has not won a league title since the 1994 season despite several Conference tournament appearances and finishing as runners-up two out of the last three seasons. The Pioneers are always expected to be among the top four teams competing at the end of the season and this year is no different.
Rounding out the top five are the Rams of Cornell College in fifth place with 47 points. Cornell has improved tremendously over the past four seasons, climbing from the bottom of the league standings to last season’s third-place finish. Additionally, the Rams have totaled thirty wins over the last three seasons after only winning thirty in the previous twelve years combined. Last season’s finish earned the Rams their first Conference tournament berth since 1991 and high hopes for a top finish would be an understatement after shattering their program record for wins last season with fourteen.
The 2019 season kicks off on Friday, August 30 as nine of the league’s teams take action in non-conference matches and conference play begins Saturday, September 28. The 2019 MWC Men’s Soccer Tournament will be held on November 8-9 and will be hosted by the team that finishes the season as the #1 Seed and claims the regular season MWC championship.
Full preseason poll results can be found below followed by quick facts for all ten MWC teams.
Team (First-Place Votes), Points
2019 MWC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll
- St. Norbert College (8), 80 points
- Knox College (2), 71 points
- Lake Forest College, 66 points
- Grinnell College, 54 points
- Cornell College, 47 points
- Monmouth College, 44 points
- Illinois College, 31 points
- Beloit College, 29 points
- Lawrence University, 18 points
- Ripon College, 10 points
Beloit College Buccaneers
Head Coach: Duncan Gillis (3
rd Season)
2018: 4-13-1 (overall); 3-7 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 8
th
Starters Returning: 7
Key Returnees: Deji Agunbiade (Jr), Andrew Marchesi (So), Casey Wagner (Sr)
Cornell College Rams
Head Coach: Nate Grosse (6
th Season)
2018: 14-3-2 (overall); 6-2-1 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 5
th
Starters Returning: 4
Key Returnees: Facundo Benavidez (Sr), Sam Duff (Jr), Daniel Edwards (So), Justin Howe (So), Maxwell Ishmael (Sr), Enzo Vanzillotta (Sr)
Grinnell College Pioneers
Head Coach: Brian Jaworski (16
th Season)
2018: 8-7 (overall); 5-4 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 4
th
Starters Returning: 8
Key Returnees: Jasper Yang (Jr)
Illinois College Blueboys
Head Coach: Evan Philpott (1
st Season)
2018: 5-12-1 (overall); 2-6-1 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 7
th
Starters Returning: 10
Key Returnees: Ryan May (Sr), Raul Rubalcava (Jr), Brock Ziegemeier (Sr)
Knox College Prairie Fire
Head Coach: Brian O’Connor (2
nd Season)
2018: 16-5-1 (overall); 8-1 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 2
nd
Starters Returning: 4
Key Returnees: Alessandro Benelli (Jr), Nick Janulis (Sr), Jun Min (Sr), Raleigh Berry (Jr)
Lake Forest College Foresters
Head Coach: Dan Andrews (5
th Season)
2018: 10-7-1 (overall); 6-3 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 3
rd
Starters Returning: 3
Key Returnees: Gaston Aubert (Sr), Lucas Geib (Sr), Joao Godoy (Jr)
Lawrence University Vikings
Head Coach: Will Greer (3
rd Season)
2018: 4-14 (overall); 1-8 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 9
th
Starters Returning: 5
Key Returnees: Andrea Arivella (Sr), Nicholas Jatta (Jr), Hunter Lanton (So), Sam Parkhurst (Sr), Julien Riviere (Jr)
Monmouth College Scots
Head Coach: Kooten Johnson (7
th Season)
2018: 7-7-1 (overall); 4-4-1 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 6
th
Starters Returning: 9
Key Returnees: Alvaro Alvarez (Jr), Cadan Glattback (Sr), Lucas Sondgeroth (Sr)
Ripon College Redhawks
Head Coach: Marco Rhein (1
st Season)
2018: 3-12-1 (overall); 0-8-1 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 10
th
Starters Returning: 9
Key Returnees: James DeRose (Jr), Heath Dillenback (So), Noah Fish (Jr), Devin Hoaglin (Sr), Braden Kobus (So), Freddie Mannelli (So), Brad Schroeder (Jr)
St. Norbert College Green Knights
Head Coach: Derek Rhodes (8
th Season)
2018: 17-1-1 (overall); 9-0 (MWC)
2019 Projected MWC Finish: 1
st
Returning Starters: 8
Key Returnees: Seth Boldt (Jr), Domenic DeMaria (Jr), Josh Koleske (Sr), Anthony Masello (Sr), Ben Prange (Sr), Drake Vandermause (So), Evan Watzka (Sr), Jonnie Winkler (Jr)
Preseason Team Recognition:
Ranked #25 in the United Soccer Coaches Men's Soccer Preseason Top 25 Poll