UH-H athletics: Men’s soccer voted third in preseason coaches poll
The top three teams in the final 2023 Pacific West Conference men’s soccer standings were only separated by 1.5 games, and if you believe the league’s coaches, 2024 could be very much the same.
Point Loma won its first-ever PacWest men’s soccer title last fall and is picked to repeat in the annual preseason coaches poll. Point Loma received 10 first place votes and four second place nods for a total of 192 poll points. But the Sea Lions weren’t only program that conference coaches thought could win the title this year.
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Westmont, who finished second last season in its first year in the PacWest, received two first place votes. Upstart Hawai’i Hilo, who was slated ninth of 11 teams in the 2023 preseason poll, charged all the way up to third place in the final standings. They received a first place vote, as did 2022 co-champ Biola.
You might have noticed that there were 11 teams in the 2023 standings and there will be 14 in 2024. The PacWest welcomes three new schools this year—Jessup University, Menlo College and Vanguard University. All three are former members of the Golden State Athletic Conference and the NAIA, just like six current members of the PacWest.
2024 PacWest Conference men’s soccer preseason coaches poll
1. Point Loma (10)
2. Westmont (2)
3. Hawai’i Hilo (1)
4. Dominican
5. Biola (1)
6. Azusa Pacific
7. Concordia
8. Menlo
9. Vanguard
10. HPU
11. Fresno Pacific
12. Academy of Art
13. Jessup
14. Chaminade
In its final seven matches during the 2023 season, Point Loma had six wins and a tie to claim the conference title. They would go on to win an NCAA playoff match over Simon Fraser (3-1) before falling to perennial power CSU Los Angeles (1-0). The Sea Lions have 18 returnees from that squad, and head coach Phil Wolf welcomes back eight starters. Those returning starters include PacWest Defender of the Year Milo Libby along with All-PacWest picks Milan Diklic, Felix Calero, Austin Lavell and Gael Ruiz. Wolf added four transfers as well to help bolster the line-up in Juan Barragan-Mano (UC Irvine), Reinier ter Riet (Sonoma State), Emmett Layman (Fort Lewis) and Parker Million (UC Colorado Springs).
Westmont made a very good first impression as a PacWest newcomer in 2023. They finished 7-2-1 in conference play, just one game back of the Sea Lions (8-1-1). Head coach Morgan Cathey has 21 returnees, including four All-PacWest selections in Landon Amaral, Daniel Tuscano, Leonel Olivio Ortiz and Barrett Goodman. Nine of those 21 returnees for Cathey saw starting time last year, adding up to two first place votes this week and 169 poll points.
Hawai’i Hilo was the surprise of the conference last fall (7-3), but they won’t sneak up on anyone in 2024. Second-year head coach Diego Marroquin has 18 returnees, seven of those with starting experience. First Team All-PacWest defender Koki Hamada will lead the team from the back row, along with fellow all-conference pick goalkeeper Christian Souza. Another defender Colby Lee was a 2023 All-PacWest pick, giving the Vulcans a tough last line of defense. Marroquin has also added seven transfers, including former Dominican standout Aboubacar Cisse. Hilo received one first place vote and 163 poll points.
Dominican, the 2022 co-PacWest champ, was just two poll points behind the Vulcans with 161. Head coach David Frank has 26 players back, including the PacWest Player of the Year Diego Grande. Lex Bernier joins Grande as a fellow First Team all-conference pick, and also back in the fold for Frank are Third Team selections Armando Jimenez and Alejandro Reyes. Last year, the Penguins finished 6-2-2 in conference play for fourth place.
Biola picked up a first place vote and 138 poll points. Head coach Joey O’Keefe has 22 players back, including four all-conference selections. The 2023 PacWest Freshman of the Year Luca McGreevey-Couchman is one of those, along with Ethan Hardin and Tom Irion. The fourth is HPU grad transfer Leandro Weingaertner, a First Team pick for the Sharks last year.
Azusa Pacific is tabbed sixth with 127 poll points. Head coach Dave Blomquist, in his 17th season at APU, has 20 players back including eight starters. That starting list includes All-PacWest selections Fritz Oestreicher, Mario Shuteriqui and Gabriel Oropeza. Concordia rounds out the top half in seventh place with 102 poll points. New Golden Eagle leader Erik Kirsch has eight starters back including all-conference selections Kevin Sanchez and Wyatt Burris. Kirsch has also added seven transfers to the mix.
Two of the three conference newcomers occupy the next two spots. Menlo checks in at No. 8 with 89 poll points and Vanguard is ninth with 77. Menlo head coach Keith Lambert led the Oaks to the GSAC title last year with a 6-0-1 conference mark and they were 10-2-5 overall. Nine starters return. Vanguard coach Jesus Miramontes also had nine starters back from a team that finished second in the GSAC and was 9-2-6 overall.
HPU (71 poll points) is next, followed by Fresno Pacific (63), Academy of Art (53), Jessup (40) and Chaminade (25). HPU head coach Chris Fisher has six starters returning, FPU’s Jaime Ramirez (in his 35th season) has seven starters back, Academy of Art’s Danny Kirkland has five starters and six transfers, Jessup’s Greg Lazaga has eight returning starters and Chaminade’s Joshua Woodard welcomes back eight.
All 14 PacWest teams will get into counting action over the long weekend of September 5-8, and conference play begins Sept. 25-28 with nine match-ups, including early blockbusters Point Loma at Dominican and Westmont at Biola.
