SUWANEE, Ga. -- In exclusive balloting by the league's head coaches, defending SCAC Tournament Champion University of St. Thomas (Texas) is the preseason favorite to win the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s soccer title.
The Celts, who posted a 16-2-3 record last season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, earned seven of the nine first-place votes cast by league coaches to finish atop the poll with 79 points. Trinity University, coming off its second-straight SCAC Regular Season title, received the remaining two first-place votes and finished second in the poll with 74 total points. Colorado College, which posted its first unbeaten record in SCAC play (4-0-4) in program history last year, earned 59 points and was selected third on the preseason poll. Rounding out the top four, Southwestern University, who a season ago secured the program’s most wins in SCAC play (six) since 2018, checked in at fourth with 57 points.
Texas Lutheran University was the coaches’ fifth choice in the preseason rankings with 46 points, and Austin College, coming off its highest SCAC winning percentage since 2019, secured the sixth position with 26 points. Rounding out the coaches’ selections were Schreiner University in seventh (25 points), Centenary College in eighth (21 points) and the University of Dallas in ninth (19 points).
St. Thomas welcomes back five All-SCAC players led by a pair of First Team honorees in Taty Aleman and Daniel Castro. Aleman paced the SCAC a year ago with 20 goals, while Castro finished third with 17 as the dynamic duo combined for 83 points (37 goals and nine assists). Senior forward Ian Alvarez also returns after scoring six goals (tied for eighth in the SCAC) and securing All-SCAC Honorable Mention accolades. On the defensive side of the pitch the All-SCAC brother combination of goalkeeper Rodrigo and midfielder Diego Lazo are back after both earned Second Team honors last season. Rodrigo led the SCAC with 10 wins in 2022 and finished third with a .741 save percentage, while Deigo helped the Celts post the second-best goals-against average in the SCAC at 0.95.
Ian Clerihew returns for his seventh season at the helm of the St. Thomas program after earning SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors for the second-straight season. Clerihew has guided the Celts to three-straight SCAC Tournament finals – emerging victorious in the last two – and 43 total wins in the team’s first four seasons of conference competition.
The SCAC men’s soccer season begins on Friday, September 1, with several teams competing in early season tournaments over the Labor Day weekend. The first conference matches of the year are scheduled for Friday, September 29. The 2023 SCAC Men’s Soccer Tournament will be held in November at Sabercat Stadium in Houston, Texas as semifinal matches will be contested on Friday, November 3rd and the championship match being played on Sunday, November 5th.
2023 SCAC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll
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| 1. | University of St. Thomas (7) | 79 |
| 2. | Trinity University (2) | 74 |
| 3. | Colorado College | 59 |
| 4. | Southwestern University | 57 |
| 5. | Texas Lutheran University | 45 |
| 6. | Austin College | 26 |
| 7. | Schreiner University | 25 |
| 8. | Centenary College | 21 |
| 9. | University of Dallas | 19 |
