NEW YORK – Champions of the 2016 men’s soccer regular-season title, the Providence Friars were unanimously picked by the men’s soccer coaches to repeat as the league winners in the 2017 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ Poll released by the conference on Wednesday, 10 days before the start of the men’s soccer season.
Providence redshirt senior forward
Mac Steeves was voted Preseason Offensive Player of the Year; Xavier senior defender
Cory Brown was named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and Georgetown junior
JT Marcinkowski was selected as Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year. All three preseason major award winners were the preseason selections in 2016.
The Friars, who advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals last season, collected all first place votes available (81 points), as the coaches are not allowed to vote for themselves. Creighton was picked to finish second in the poll and received the final first-place vote for 70 points. Providence knocked Creighton out of the NCAA Tournament last season, returning the favor after the Bluejays defeated the Friars on their home turf in the BIG EAST Championship.
Butler, last year’s BIG EAST tournament champion, was a close vote at third place with 68 points.
Villanova, Georgetown and Xavier rounded out the top six with 52 points, 46 points and 45 points, respectively. Marquette was picked seventh (30 points), while St. John’s was just behind with 27 points. Rounding out the bottom was DePaul with 21 points and Seton Hall with 10.
In addition to the preseason poll and major awards, the conference office also named its 12-member preseason all-league team which consisted of three forwards, five midfielders, three defenders and a goalkeeper. The vote includes an at-large selection. Due to a tie in the voting, where coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players, there is an extra member on this year’s squad. All 10 league coaches vote.
Providence’s top spot in the coaches’ poll was bolstered by Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Steeves, who returns to Friartown for his redshirt senior season after only playing just two games in 2016. Prior to last year’s injury, he was voted 2016 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch list. In the 2015 campaign, the redshirt senior forward led the team with 28 points off of 13 goals and two assists. Steeves enters 2017 tied for third all-time at Providence in career points (63) and goals (27).
The Friars fell one goal short of the College Cup in double overtime at UNC last year Providence finished with a 15-7 record, 7-2-0 in league play. In addition to Steeves, the Friars also added redshirt junior defender Mark Jecewiz to the preseason team. Jecewiz played in all 22 games and was a first team All-BIG EAST and NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region honoree. PC will be looking to fill the void left by midfielder Julian Gressel who was a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist in 2016 and accounted for 15 goals, six assists in last year’s campaign.
Creighton finished tied for third in the league last year at 5-3-1, but finished the year as runner up in the BIG EAST Championship. On the preseason all-conference team for the Bluejays this season was senior forward Ricky Lopez-Espin, on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch list for this year, and junior defender Lucas Stauffer. Lopez-Espin had five goals in league play, 10 goals overall in 2016 and was awarded All-BIG EAST and NSCAA All-Region second team honors. Stauffer had an assist while helping Creighton to a 0.85 goals against average in league action last season as he was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team.
Butler returns as the reigning BIG EAST tournament champions after defeating Creighton on their home field in early November 2016. The Bulldogs had their season end in the second round of the NCAA tournament as SIUE advanced via PK’s after a scoreless four periods. Despite a scoring loss in David Goldsmith, the Bulldogs retain much of their younger talent from last year, including preseason honorees sophomore midfielder/forward Lewis Suddick and junior midfielder Jared Timmer. Suddick was named to the 2016 BIG EAST All-Freshman Team and accounted for six goals in BIG EAST action last season, 11 overall. Timmer was a member of the BIG EAST All-Tournament squad and First Team All-BIG EAST team as he accounted for five assists and one goal in conference action.
Senior midfielder Andreas Bartosinksi represented
Villanova on the preseason all-league team after earned second team All-BIG EAST honors in 2016. Bartosinksi made all 21 starts in a campaign that saw Villanova make their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. The Wildcats tied for third in the league standings (5-3-1) with Creighton last year and advanced to the BIG EAST semifinals via PK’s.
Georgetown’s Marcinkowski helped the Hoyas, who were picked fifth in the preseason poll, to four shutouts, tallying 63 saves and a 1.23 GAA in 2016, after a breakout rookie year in 2015 where he earned First Team All-BIG EAST, as well as BIG EAST Freshman of the Year honors. He started all 21 games for the Blue & Gray, and posted a 0.69 GAA on the season, totaling 63 saves. He went 16-2-3 in the net and managed nine shutouts. In addition to Marcinkowski, Georgetown will be led by senior midfielder Christopher Lema, a 2016 All-BIG EAST First Team veteran who accounted for three assists in BIG EAST play and five overall for the season. The Hoyas finished 3-4-2 last season and just missed the league tournament,
Defensive Player of the Year Brown started all 19 matches for
Xavier in 2016, registering three points (one goal, one assist) and playing every available minute in 17 of 19 matches. He anchored the backline in five shutouts and ranked second on the team with 1,771 minutes played. Brown, a Nelson, New Zealand native, is coming off a season that saw him named the program's second BIG EAST Defender of the Year. The honor marked a fifth straight season with a major conference award for Xavier men's soccer. Brown represented Xavier on this year’s preseason all-conference team after earning first team honors in 2016 and 2015 and second team honors as a freshman in 2014. Brown was one of two unanimous selections to the 2017 preseason all-league squad. The Musketeers finished 4-4-1 in league action last season, 8-8-3 overall.
Marquette, who was picked to finish sixth, returns the young talents of preseason honoree Luka Prpa, who made a splash in 2016 with his debut campaign as BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. Prpa finished his rookie season with five goals, one assist in league play and 26 points (10g, 6a) overall. The Golden Eagles lost senior defender John Pothast, an All-BIG EAST Second Team member to graduation but returns much of their starters from a year ago.
Picked seventh in the poll,
St. John’s boasted the final selection to the preseason All-BIG EAST team in unanimous pick Harry Cooksley. Cooksley was an All-BIG EAST First Team honoree in 2016 and earned second team NSCAA All-Region honors. The senior forward scored two goals with one assist in his junior BIG EAST campaign, with 16 points (5 goals, 6 assists) overall.
DePaul lost midfielder Simon Megally, Kevin Beyer and Erik Rodriguez to graduation last year, but returns seven seasoned vets to a squad that finished 4-5-0 in the league standings in 2016 and fell short of advancing in the BIG EAST Championship by a 3-1 Villanova PK advantage.
Seton Hall finished at 2-6-1 last year, 4-11-2 overall. The Pirates will have to replace starting keeper Julian Spindler and starters Alex Pozesky and Shawn Morrison, but All-BIG EAST second teamer Andres Arcila and sophomore Jonathan Jimenez return to the pitch.
BIG EAST men’s soccer action kicks off on Aug. 25 with all 10 teams in action on that opening Friday. League play starts Saturday, Sept. 16. All five games will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
2017 Men’s Soccer Preseason Honors
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
Mac Steeves, Providence, RS-Sr., F *
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
Cory Brown, Xavier, Sr., D *
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year
JT Marcinkowski, Georgetown, Jr. *
2017 Men’s Soccer Preseason All-BIG EAST #
Ricky Lopez-Espin, Creighton, Sr., F
Mac Steeves, Providence, RS-Sr., F
Harry Cooksley, St. John’s, Sr., F ^
Lewis Suddick, Butler, So., M
Jared Timmer, Butler, Jr., M
Christopher Lema, Georgetown, Sr., M
Luka Prpa, Marquette, So., M
Andreas Bartosinksi, Villanova, Sr., M
Lucas Stauffer, Creighton, Jr., D
Mark Jecewiz, Providence, RS-Jr., D
Cory Brown, Xavier, Sr., D ^
JT Marcinkowski, Georgetown, Jr., GK
2017 BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Preseason Coaches’ Poll
First place votes in ( )
| 1. Providence (9) |
81 pts. |
| 2. Creighton (1) |
70 |
| 3. Butler |
68 |
| 4. Villanova |
52 |
| 5. Georgetown |
46 |
| 6. Xavier |
45 |
| 7. Marquette |
30 |
| 8. St. John’s |
27 |
| 9. DePaul |
21 |
| 10. Seton Hall |
10 |
^ - denotes unanimous selection
# there is an extra player on the preseason All-BIG EAST team due to a tie in voting
* - won Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in 2016