Wisconsin Soccer Central

The preseason accolades continue to roll in for a trio of college soccer players based in Milwaukee.

UW-Milwaukee senior midfielder Laurie Bell was named to the first team of the College Soccer News Preseason All-American team this week.

The Englishman earlier landed on the preseason watch list for the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy and made the top team of the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI. He had 13 goals and four assists last fall, earning first-team All-America honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Marquette had two players on the CSN preseason team: Defender Axel Sjoberg made the second team, while fellow junior C. Nortey was a third-team selection.

Sjoberg, a 6-foot-7 center back from Stockholm, Sweden, had two goals and three assists in 2013. Nortey, a striker from Accra, Ghana, who also is on the Hermann watch list, had a team-high 10 goals and two assists for the Golden Eagles last year.

• Junior David Selvaggi, who sat out last season after transferring from DePaul, scored in the 29th minute as 12th-ranked Marquette drew Tulsa 1-1 in its exhibition opener Sunday afternoon at Valley Fields in Milwaukee. Senior goalkeeper Charlie Lyon made three saves in holding the Golden Hurricane scoreless in the first half; they scored a 75th-minute equalizer against sophomore backup Brady Walsh. The Golden Eagles take on Ohio State on Friday night at the Shindigz National Soccer Festival in Fort Wayne, Ind., and wrap up their exhibition slate against Wright State at 1:30 p.m. Sunday back at Valley Fields.
• Freshman forward Marcus McCrary (Madison La Follette) scored both of his team's goals in a 25-minute span in the first half as Ohio State beat West Virginia 2-1 in an exhibition opener Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. McCrary found the back of the net in the 15th and 40th minutes for the Buckeyes.
• Freshman Tom Barlow scored off a pass from sophomore Skyler Felt in the 29th minute  as No. 21 UW blanked visiting Illinois-Chicago 1-0 in its exhibition opener Sunday night in front of 870 fans at the McClimon Complex. Freshman Adrian Remeniuk played the first 80 minutes in goal and sophomore Connor Revsbeck, a transfer who played at UW-Milwaukee in 2012, finished off the clean sheet. The Badgers play at Creighton on Friday night in Omaha, Neb., and at No. 1 Notre Dame on Monday night in South Bend, Ind., to close out their exhibition schedule – the game will be streamed live online. The Fighting Irish beat UW 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA tournament last fall and went on to win the national championship.
• Junior Patrick Hodan (Milwaukee Marquette) converted a 14th-minute penalty kick as Notre Dame tied Bradley 2-2 on Tuesday in Peoria, Ill.
• The UW-Milwaukee men tied both of their exhibition matches on their home turf at Engelmann Stadium, drawing Creighton 0-0 on Sunday and NCAA Division II UW-Parkside 2-2 on Thursday night. Junior Agustin Rey and sophomore Liam Anderson combined for nine saves in the shutout against the Bluejays, and both keepers kept clean sheets during their half-hour stints against the Rangers. Bell scored both goals against Parkside, netting the opener on a 13th-minute penalty and adding the equalizer in the 73rd. The Panthers open the regular season next Friday at home against DePaul. Sophomore midfielder Ryan Shogren (Madison La Follette) set up a header by junior defender Elliott Schultz (Sussex Hamilton) in the 33rd and scored the second goal for the Rangers, who kick off their season Sept. 4 with a home game against St. Francis (Ill.) at Wood Road Field in Somers.
• Sophomore Audi Jepson (Green Bay Preble) had a brace and Faycal Oulahbib and Tyler Swanner also scored as UW-Green Bay dropped St. Thomas (Minn.) 4-0 in an exhibition game Thursday night at Santaga Stadium. The Phoenix, under interim coach Marc Baumbach, will play host to UW-Parkside in their final exhibition match at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
• UW has two conference matches set for live broadcasts on Big Ten Network: the league opener against Big Ten Conference newcomer Rutgers on Sept. 12 at the McClimon Complex (7 p.m.) and at Penn State at 1 p.m. Oct. 26. The network also will air the Big Ten tournament semifinals Nov. 14 and the final on Nov. 16.
• Marquette (13-6-2 last season) is ranked 12th in the College Soccer News Preseason Top 30, while UW (14-5-2) and UW-Milwaukee (15-3-2) also received votes in the poll.
• Brad Swenby (Muskego/UW-Milwaukee) was named a volunteer assistant for the Indiana men's program, the same role he served for the UW men in 2009 and '10. He was an assistant overseeing goalkeepers for the men's and women's teams at NCAA Division II Lewis (Ill.) for the past two seasons and also has  coached at UW-Milwaukee – with the women's program in 2005 and the men's program in 2009.
• The UW women's team is scheduled to make at least one appearance on BTN this season, Sept. 12 at Michigan State. The match kicks off at 2:30 p.m. The network also will show the Big Ten tournament semifinals Nov. 7 and the final Nov. 9.
• UW sophomore midfielder Rose Lavelle was named a Preseason All-American by Soccer America, one of three sophomores to make the 25-player list. The U.S. Under-20 women's national team standout had six goals and assists and was the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year last fall.
• The Badgers (10-7-2 last season) are ranked 21st in the Soccer America Women's Preseason Top 25, which also includes Marquette (18-4-0) at No. 12.
• Junior Heidi Hartmann and senior Emily Friedl (Kenosha) scored first-half goals as the UW-Green Bay women blanked NAIA Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 2-0 in an exhibition game Monday at Santaga Stadium. The match was called after 47 minutes due to inclement weather. The Phoenix open the regular-season at 4 p.m. Friday at home against Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis.