NEW YORK – Champions of the 2017 men’s soccer tournament title, the Georgetown Hoyas were picked by the men’s soccer coaches as the preseason favorite in the coaches’ poll released by the conference on Wednesday, 10 days before the start of the men’s soccer season.
Butler junior forward Brandon Guhl was voted Preseason Offensive Player of the Year; Georgetown senior defender Brendan McDonough was named Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and Providence redshirt senior Colin Miller was the unanimous vote for Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.
The Hoyas received seven first-place votes and a total of 79 points. Butler, the 2017 regular-season champions earned the remaining three first-place votes and a total of 73 points. Both Georgetown and Butler represented the league in the NCAA Tournament field last season. The coaches were not allowed to cast ballots for themselves. Xavier, the 2017 Men’s Soccer Championship Runner-Up, was picked to finished third in the league with 60 points.
Creighton, Providence and Marquette rounded out the top six as the Bluejays and Friars tied at fourth with 54 points and the Golden Eagles picked up 37 points. St. John’s was picked seventh with 33 points with Villanova close behind with 31. With both teams welcoming new coaches in 2018, Seton Hall (20 points) and DePaul (9 points) finished out the preseason standings.
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.
Georgetown’s top spot in the coaches’ poll was bolstered by Preseason Defensive Player of the Year McDonough, one of the four unanimous selections in the preseason all-conference team and one of two BIG EAST players on the Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy Watch List. The second-year team captain appeared in 18 games with 17 starts in 2017 as he led a defense that posted eight shutouts and allowed just 15 goals on the year. As a junior, he was named First Team All-Great Lakes Region by the United Soccer Coaches as well as being a First Team All-BIG EAST honoree. In his career, he has tallied 42 games played with 35 starts. In addition to McDonough, the Hoya offensive duo of Derek Dodson and Achara were also named to the preseason All-BIG EAST team. Dodson, a sophomore forward/midfielder is the reigning BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, he was voted Second Team All-BIG EAST in 2017 and Third Team All-Region with a tally of 10 goals, two assists, three being game winners. Achara missed half the season with an injury but in 11 games played managed to tally seven goals, two being game-winners and an assist. Georgetown finished last season 14-4-2, 6-2-1 in league action and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Southern Methodist in double overtime.
Butler, who won last year’s regular-season title with a 8-1-0 BIG EAST slate and 14-5-2 overall record, advanced to the NCAA Tournament Third Round in 2017 before losing to No. 1 seed Wake Forest on the road. The Bulldogs return reigning BIG EAST Co-Offensive Player of the Year Guhl, who headlines a line up of three preseason All-BIG EAST players. Guhl, like McDonough, was also on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. The junior forward, also a unanimous pick to the preseason All-BIG EAST team, led the BIG EAST with 13 goals and 31 points, which included five game-winners. He NCAA Tournament action, Guhl scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Lipscomb in the first round before netting the game-winner at VCU in the second round. He was named First Team All-Region in his first year with the Bulldogs after transferring from SMU. In addition to Guhl, Butler senior defender Joe Moulden was also a unanimous vote to the preseason All-BIG EAST team. Moulden scored two goals and added an assist, while leading a Butler back line that limited opponents to just 1.10 goals per game, a 0.80 shot percentage and 13.7 shots per game. He was named to the BIG EAST Second Team in 2017 as well as Third Team All-Region. Jared Timmer, a 2016 All-BIG EAST First Team honoree, completed the Bulldog trio on the Preseason All-BIG EAST team. Timmer missed last season due to injury but the junior midfielder started all 20 matches and led the league in assists (9) in 2016.
Xavier finished fourth in the conference standings last season with a 5-4-0 record, 11-6-3 overall. The Musketeers had a pair of players voted to preseason team with senior midfielder Simen Hestnes and redshirt senior defender Cameron Taylor. Hestnes tallied 21 points for the Musketeers in 2017 with seven goals and seven assists. He was a member of the All-BIG EAST Second Team and All-Region Second Team. Taylor was also a member of the 2017 All-BIG EAST Second Team. In addition to his strength on the back line, he also tallied 16 points for Xavier with six goals, four assists including two game-winners.
Redshirt senior keeper Miller, the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year, leads a pair of Providence preseason honorees, as the Friars were picked to finish fourth alongside Creighton. Miller had a 1.08 goals against average, .762 save percentage and boasted five shutouts in a season where the Friars finished at 5-8-5, 2-2-5 in BIG EAST action. In BIG EAST play, Miller had a .89 goals against average and a .795 save percentage with four shutouts. He was unanimously picked as the Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year. Along with Miller, junior midfielder Danny Griffin also earned BIG EAST preseason honors. Griffin scored two goals with an assist in 18 starts last season. Both goals were in BIG EAST action.
Creighton senior midfielder Joel Rydstrand was picked to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team after tallying eight assists and one goal in a 9-7-2 season. The Bluejays finished 3-4-2 overall to qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament, tying with the Friars with 11 points last season.
Picked sixth in the poll, Marquette boasted the final selection to the preseason All-BIG EAST team in junior midfielder Luka Prpa. Prpa had 10 points last season with five assists and a goal and was voted to the 2017 All-BIG EAST Second Team. The Golden Eagles closed out 2017 with a 3-11-2 record, 3-5-1 in BIG EAST play.
St. John’s finished third in last year’s final standings with a 9-7-3 record and 5-2-2 league slate. The Red Storm was picked to finish seventh this year after graduating BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year Harry Cooksley and BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year David Enstrom.
Villanova finished at 7-11-0 last season, 2-7-0 in BIG EAST play, but returns All-BIG EAST Second Team member Shane Bradley to the pitch. Seton Hall was eighth in the 2017 standings. The Pirates welcome new head coach Andreas Lindberg to the sidelines, but lose All-BIG EAST Second Team honoree Andres Arcila. DePaul went 5-11-2 in 2017, 2-6-1 in the league. The Blue Demons, like the Pirates, will have a new face heading the sidelines in head coach Mark Plotkin.
BIG EAST men’s soccer action kicks off the weekend Aug. 24 with all 10 teams in action. League play starts Saturday, Sept. 15. All five opening games will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
2018 BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Preseason Honors
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
Brandon Guhl, Butler, Jr., F
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
Brendan McDonough, Georgetown, Sr., D
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year
Colin Miller, Providence, RS-Sr., GK ^
2018 Men’s Soccer Preseason All-BIG EAST #
^ Brandon Guhl, Butler, Jr., F
Derek Dodson, Georgetown, So., F/M
Achara, Georgetown, Jr., F
Danny Griffin, Providence, Jr., M
Simen Hestnes, Xavier, Sr., M
Luka Prpa, Marquette, Jr., M
Joel Rydstrand, Creighton, Sr., M
Jared Timmer, Butler, RS-Jr., M
^ Brendan McDonough, Georgetown, Sr., D
^ Joe Moulden, Butler, Sr., D
Cameron Taylor, Xavier, RS-Sr., D
^ Colin Miller, Providence, RS-Sr., GK
2018 BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Preseason Coaches’ Poll
First place votes in ( )
| 1. Georgetown (7) |
79 pts. |
| 2. Butler (3) |
73 |
| 3. Xavier |
60 |
| T4. Creighton |
54 |
| T4. Providence |
54 |
| 6. Marquette |
37 |
| 7. St. John’s |
33 |
| 8. Villanova |
31 |
| 9. Seton Hall |
20 |
| 10. DePaul |
9 |
^ - denotes unanimous selection
# there is an extra player on the preseason All-BIG EAST team due to a tie in voting