Contact: Chassidy Holloway, Assistant Executive Director, holloway@midwestconference.org
 
GRINNELL, Iowa – The Prairie Fire of Knox College have been selected to repeat as Midwest Conference men’s soccer champions as determined by the preseason coaches’ poll conducted among the league’s head coaches.
 
Knox received six first-place votes and 55 points to take the top honor. In 2019, the Prairie Fire won the league’s regular season title before falling to St. Norbert in the MWC tournament championship match.
 
Two first-place and 50 points landed Lake Forest College in second, followed by Grinnell College in third with 41 points.
 
Picked fourth is Cornell College tallying 32 points ahead of Lawrence University in fifth with 30 points.
 
Sixth and seventh place is separated by one point, with Monmouth College receiving 27 points and Illinois College earning 26 points.
 
Beloit College (14) and Ripon College (13) rounded out the poll.  
 
The 2021 men’s soccer season kicks off Wednesday, September 1 with 7 of the 9 teams playing non-conference matches, while Conference play opens Saturday, September 25.
 
The 2021 MWC Men’s Soccer four-team tournament will be played Friday through Saturday, November 5-6 hosted by the number one seed. The field of teams will be competing for the automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament.
 
Full preseason results and quick facts for all nine teams can be found below:
 
2021 MWC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll Results – Team (first-place votes), points
1. Knox College (6), 55 points
2. Lake Forest College (2), 50 points
3. Grinnell College, 40 points
4. Cornell College, 32 points
5. Lawrence University, 30 points
6. Monmouth College, 27 points
7. Illinois College, 26 points
8. Beloit College, 14 points
9. Ripon College, 13 points
 
Beloit College Buccaneers
Head Coach: Brad Williams (1^st Season)
2019: 5-11-2 (overall), 3-6 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: N/A
 
Cornell College Rams
Head Coach: Nate Grosse (8^th Season)
2019: 5-10-3 (overall), 3-4-2 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: Justin Howe (Sr - 2018 Newcomer of the Year)
 
Grinnell College Pioneers
Head Coach: Brian Jaworski (18^th Season)
2019: 7-9-1 (overall), 3-5-1 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: Jasper Yang (Sr)
 
Illinois College Blue Boys
Head Coach: Evan Philpott (3^rd Season)
2019: 6-12-2 (overall), 2-7 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: N/A
 
Knox College Prairie Fire
Head Coach: Brian O’Connor (4^th Season)
2019: 15-4-2 (overall), 8-1 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: Raleigh Berry (Fifth year)
 
Lake Forest College Foresters
Head Coach: Dan Andrews (7^th Season)
2019: 10-8-1 (overall), 8-1 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: N/A
 
Lawrence University Vikings
Head Coach: Will Greer (5^th Season)
2019: 8-8-1 (overall), 4-5 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: N/A
 
Monmouth College Scots
Head Coach: Ian Hatleli (1^st Season)
2019: 9-7-2 (overall), 4-3-2 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: Jaxon Coleman (Jr)
 
Ripon College Red Hawks
Head Coach: Marco Rhein (3^rd Season)
2019: 1-16-1 (overall), 0-9 (MWC)
All-Conference Returnees: N/A