INDIANAPOLIS – Nationally-ranked Tiffin heads into its second season as a league member with the target on its back, selected first in the new Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour that was released Friday.
The 18th-ranked Dragons were one of two Great Midwest institutions represented in the Preseason Top-25 United Soccer Coaches Poll, joining No. 15 Ohio Valley as two of the best not only in the new Super Region 3, but the country.
Tiffin’s maiden voyage navigating the conference schedule under head coach Rudy Brownell in the program’s first attempt was one to remember in 2018.
The Dragons won the regular-season conference title before backing up the top seed billing all the way to a Great Midwest Championship tournament victory. Tiffin also cashed in a bid to the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional with only PK’s preventing advancement.
In this year’s coaches vote, Tiffin secured eight total first-place votes for a total of 98 points in the balloting. In a close finish for second, Cedarville received runner-up preseason status with 87 points.
The Yellow Jackets were in the hunt for the top overall seed for the conference tourney down to the final week of the regular season in 2018. Cedarville’s finished with 32 points in the league standings, trailing Tiffin by just one before the postseason seeding was finalized.
In a similar position were the Fighting Scots of OVU, crowned Midwest Region champs and one of the final eight teams left standing in the 2018 NCAA Championship bracket. Ohio Valley received the other three possible first-place votes after ending last season with an 18-6-1 overall record.
Opening in fourth was Lake Erie and the Storm showed drastic improvement from 3-11-0 in 2017 (first year as a conference member) to a playoff-qualifying 6-5-3 league record in 2018. LEC gave eventual champ Tiffin all it could handle in a conference championship battle that went into overtime.
Alderson Broaddus has qualified for the postseason in five of the six years as the Battlers open the new campaign picked fifth with 63 points. Ohio Dominican was close behind in sixth with 59 points.
Trevecca Nazarene was selected in seventh followed by Walsh and Malone and Kentucky Wesleyan, respectively.
Eleven teams were slotted in the preseason coaches poll as the 2019 Great Midwest Championship bracket shifts to a neutral site in Dayton, Ohio, at Roger Glass Stadium, on the campus of Chaminade Julienne High School.
New coaches around the conference landscape include Malone’s Tim Starr and Ohio Valley’s Jordan Valentine.
Eight teams will still qualify for the postseason in the fall before hopefully securing one AQ and/or one of seven at-large selections to the NCAA Championship field by the national committee.
The Great Midwest will be in the Midwest/Central Region (Super Region 3) along with the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). Each of the three leagues will receive an automatic qualifying bid with seven remaining at-large selections to be made by the national committee.
The Central Region will include the Great American Conference (GAC) and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA).
Great Midwest Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll presented by Under Armour
| School |
Points |
| 1. Tiffin (8 first-place votes) |
98 |
| 2. Cedarville |
87 |
| 3. Ohio Valley (3 first-place votes) |
79 |
| 4. Lake Erie |
72 |
| 5. Alderson Broaddus |
63 |
| 6. Ohio Dominican |
59 |
| 7. Trevecca Nazarene |
52 |
| 8. Findlay |
33 |
| 9. Walsh |
27 |
| 10. Malone |
23 |
| 11. Kentucky Wesleyan |
12 |