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College men: 2014 conference preseason polls, honors

09/01/2014, 9:30am CDT

By ERIC ANDERSON

UW-Milwaukee is the team to beat in Horizon League soccer this fall.

The Panthers' run to the league's tournament title and their first NCAA berth since 2005 left an impression on conference men's coaches, who made them the favorites in this year's race. Their women's team also is the Horizon preseason favorite.

Milwaukee received 62 points and six of the nine first-place votes in the men's preseason coaches' poll. Illinois-Chicago, which won the regular-season title ahead of the Panthers in 2013 but dropped a 2-0 decision to them in the tournament final, was second with 56 points and three first-place votes.

UW-Green Bay, under the direction of interim coach Marc Baumbach this season after Dan Popik's resignation last month, was picked to finish last in the league. Belmont has joined the Horizon League for men's soccer only, giving the league nine teams.

Place	Team	1st-place votes	Points
1	UW-Milwaukee	6	62
2	Illinois-Chicago	3	56
3	Oakland		44
3	Cleveland State		44
5	Valparaiso		38
6	Wright State		34
7	Detroit		16
7	Belmont		16
9	UW-Green Bay		14

BIG EAST CONFERENCE

Last fall, Marquette and Georgetown finished tied atop the Big East Conference standings. A year later, conference coaches don't see much changing.

The Golden Eagles and Hoyas each received 75 points in the preseason coaches' poll – though Georgetown has a slight advantage, having claimed five first-place votes compared to four for Marquette.

Golden Eagles junior defender Axel Sjöberg was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and was earned one of 15 spots on the Preseason All-Big East team. Two teammates joined the center back on the honor squad: Junior forward C. Nortey and sophomore midfielder Louis Bennett II (Shorewood).

Place	Team	1st-place votes	Points
T1	Georgetown	5	75
T1	Marquette	4	75
3	Creighton	1	63
4	St. John's		54
5	Providence		48
6	Butler		43
7	Xavier		38
8	Villanova		23
9	Seton Hall		19
10	DePaul		12

BIG TEN CONFERENCE

After losing 13 seniors and having defender A.J. Cochran forego his senior season to sign with Major League Soccer, the University of Wisconsin was picked by coaches to finish seventh in the new-look Big Ten Conference.

Newcomer Maryland, which joined the league along with Rutgers to make it a nine-team conference, is the preseason favorite. Badgers junior midfielder Drew Conner, senior defender-midfielder David Caban (Kenosha Tremper) and senior midfielder-forward Jacob Brindle were among the Big Ten Players to Watch.

Place	Team
1	Maryland
2	Michigan State
3	Michigan
4	Penn State
5	Indiana
6	Northwestern
7	Wisconsin
8	Rutgers
9	Ohio State

GREAT LAKES VALLEY CONFERENCE

Place	Team	1st-place votes	Points
1	Indianapolis	8	213
2	Quincy (Ill.)	4	204
3	Rockhurst (Mo.)	3	198
4	Lewis (Ill.)	1	189
5	Drury (Mo.)		170
6	Bellarmine (Kent.)		154
7	Missouri-St. Louis		132
8	Missouri S&T		115
9	Southern Indiana		111
10	Truman State (Mo.)		105
11	UW-Parkside		75
12	McKendree (Ill.)		74
13	Illinois-Springfield		67
14	William Jewell (Mo.)		62
15	Maryville (Mo.)		26
16	St. Joseph's (Ind.)		25

WISCONSIN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Place	Team
1	UW-Oshkosh
2	UW-Whitewater
3	UW-Superior
4	UW-Platteville
5	Finlandia (Mich.)

NORTHERN ATHLETICS COLLEGIATE CONFERENCE

Place	Team	1st-place votes	Points
1	Dominican	20	240
2	Benedictine	2	194
3	Aurora (Ill.)		187
4	Milwaukee School of Engineering		186
5	Concordia (Wis.)		170
6	Edgewood College		133
7	Wisconsin Lutheran		113
8	Marian		76
9	Lakeland		75
10	Concordia (Ill.)		53
11	Rockford (Ill.)		25

MIDWEST CONFERENCE

Place	Team	1st-place votes	Points
1	Carroll	2	86
2	St. Norbert	1	84
3	Lake Forest (Ill.)	6	83
4	Knox (Ill.)	1	75
5	Grinnell (Iowa)	1	66
6	Monmouth (Ill.)		56
7	Lawrence		53
8	Illinois College		43
9	Ripon College		28
10	Beloit College		22
11	Cornell (Iowa)		13

COLLEGE CONFERENCE OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN

Place	Team	1st-place votes	Points
1	Wheaton (Ill.)	5	47
2	North Park (Ill.)	2	41
3	Carthage	1	38
4	Elmhurst (Ill.)		34
5	North Central (Ill.)		21
6	Illinois Wesleyan		19
T7	Augustana (Ill.)		12
T7	Millikin (Ill.)		12

UPPER MIDWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Place	Team	1st-place votes	Points
1	St. Scholastica (Minn.)	7	49
2	Minnesota-Morris	1	42
3	Northwestern (Minn.)		38
4	Bethany Lutheran (Minn.)		31
5	Martin Luther (Minn.)		22
6	Crown (Minn.)		19
7	Northland College		13
8	North Central (Minn.)		10