Wisconsin Soccer Central

In addition to being the "midfield maestro" for the Marquette men's soccer team, Bryan Ciesiulka stands out off the field, too.

He was named one of 30 candidates for the 13th annual Senior CLASS Award for men's soccer. The Senior CLASS Award, an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, is presented to a college senior who excels in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition.

Ciesiulka, heading into his third season as the Golden Eagles' captain, was a second-team CoSIDA Academic All-American and was named the Big East Conference Scholar-Athlete for men's soccer last fall. He also led a campaign that raised nearly $32,000 for the Feed My Starving Children organization, resulting in 110,000 meals for malnourished children in Haiti, and recruited 300 volunteers to put together to meal packages. More about Ciesiulka's community projects

A three-year member of the Marquette Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Ciesiulka was a second-team All-Big East selection last fall as he helped lead the Golden Eagles to a 16-4-1 record and their first NCAA tournament berth in 15 years.

The Senior CLASS Award field will be trimmed to 10 finalists midway through the season, with media, coaches and fan voting to determine the winner. The award will be presented during the NCAA Men's College Cup in December in Chester, Pa.

• Kentucky defender Steven Perinovic (Kettle Moraine) was named to the Preseason All-Conference-USA men's team. The center back played all 21 matches last fall, scoring one goal and leading the team with 1,892 minutes. One of his new teammates this season is junior forward Justin Laird (Hartford), a transfer from Wright State.
• Viterbo freshman forward Liz Conejo (Sun Prairie), who had a hat trick in a 5-1 win over Cardinal Stritch in her first collegiate match Saturday, was the Midwest Collegiate Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

POLLING PLACE

After splitting its first two matches of the season, falling to Portland 1-0 and beating Portland State 3-2, the Marquette women's team fell six places to No. 20 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.

The Golden Eagles are third in the first Northeast Region rankings of the season – they are in the Northeast Region because they play in the Big East Conference.

• The University of Wisconsin, which beat Connecticut 3-2 and Illinois State 4-1 on the season's opening weekend, is third in the NSCAA Great Lakes Region poll.
• Marquette slipped one place to No. 14 in this week's TopDrawerSoccer.com women's poll, while the University of Wisconsin was among the other teams considered. On the men's side, the Golden Eagles are ninth in the TDS preseason poll. The website will be doing a more traditional Top 25 each week this season, rather than the 64-team women's rankings and 48-team men's rankings it has done in recent years.
• In the Soccer America women's Top 25, Marquette dropped 12 spots into a tie for 25th.
• UW-Parkside, which was 14-5-1 last season, is 19th in the NSCAA Division II preseason poll.
• The UW-Milwaukee women's non-conference schedule is tied for the 24th-toughest in the country, according to rankings compiled by Chris Henderson of All-White Kit.
• Three state men's teams are in the NSCAA preseason polls: Marquette is 12th in Division I, UW-Platteville is 17th in Division III and Cardinal Stritch is 20th in NAIA.
• Marquette also is ranked in the Soccer America Preseason Men's Top 25, checking in at No. 10.

COACHING CHANGES

Ashley Bares (Ozaukee/Marquette) is back with the Golden Eagles, joining associate head coach Frank Pelaez on Markus Roeders' staff.

Bares was a standout player, setting state scoring records in high school, finishing in the top 10 in several offensive categories during her career at Marquette and starring for Icelandic club Stjarnan in the Úrvalsdeild – she is believed to be the first Wisconsin athlete to play in the UEFA Champions League.

"We are excited to welcome Ashley back to Marquette," Roeders said in a news release. "Her passion, excitement and knowledge of Marquette and our family environment will bring tremendous value to our program.  She enjoyed a great career at Marquette and played on championship winning teams. She is absolutely passionate about soccer, brings great energy and loves to win. Her knowledge of how we work at Marquette will make for a smooth transition."

• Jesse Marsch (Racine Case) is a volunteer assistant in the men's program at Princeton, his alma mater, as he hopes for another opportunity to coach in Major League Soccer. The 39-year-old Marsch left his position with the Montreal Impact last November by mutual consent after the team's first season in the league. Read more about what Marsch has been up to in the last few months in this article on the MLS website.
• Tom Oatley, who has played for the Milwaukee Wave for the past four seasons, was named a volunteer assistant at Western Michigan, his alma mater. The defender had 10 goals and 12 assists in 58 regular-season matches and two assists in eight playoff games for the Wave. Oatley previously was a volunteer assistant for new Western Michigan coach Chad Wiseman at Olivet (Mich.).
• Former Major League Soccer defender Wes Hart (UW) is in his first season as an assistant for the Florida State women's program. Hart spent the past eight years with the Colorado Rush, and was the Director of Coaching Academy for the club the past three years.