SAN MATEO, Calif. – No. 17 Loyola Marymount has been selected to repeat as West Coast Conference men’s soccer champions in the 2021 fall season, as the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll was announced.
The preseason poll and the All-WCC team were selected by a vote of the conference’s eight head coaches. Coaches cannot vote for their own teams and student-athletes.
LMU, ranked No. 17 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason national poll, received seven first place votes for a total of 49 points in the preseason poll. The Lions, who captured the conference title in the 2021 spring season, are coming off an appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. LMU completed the WCC slate with a 5-0-2 conference record in the spring. The Lions return several standouts from the 2021 spring season, including WCC Offensive Player of the Year, Noel Caliskan, and WCC Goalkeeper of the Year, Jacob Jackson.
Saint Mary’s earned one first place vote and totaled 43 points overall to place second in the WCC preseason poll. The Gaels, who finished 4-2-1 during conference play during the 2021 spring season, own the nation's best record across the previous three seasons at 40-4-3. SMC spent the entire regular season in the top-25 of the United Soccer Coaches national poll in the spring of 2021.
Third through fifth place in the preseason poll is separated by just five points, with Portland receiving 31 points, San Diego garnering 28 points and Santa Clara earning 26 points. Pacific was selected to finishing sixth (21 points), San Francisco was picked seventh (18 points) and Gonzaga (8 points) was picked eighth in the WCC preseason poll.
The 2021 All-WCC preseason men’s soccer team includes a number of individuals from all-conference selections during the 2021 spring season. Major individual award winners Caliskan, Jackson and San Francisco’s Nonso Adimabua headline the list. Adimabua was voted the WCC Freshman of the Year during the 2021 spring season. Three additional First Team All-WCC selections from the spring are on the 2021 preseason all-conference team, including Sebastian Schacht of Saint Mary’s, Javier Ruiz Duran of Santa Clara and Alex Churness of San Diego.
The 2021 WCC fall men’s soccer season begins the first week of October. The seven-match conference schedule runs through Nov. 13.
2021 WCC Preseason Men's Soccer Poll
| Place |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. |
LMU (7) |
49 |
| 2. |
Saint Mary’s (1) |
43 |
| 3. |
Portland |
31 |
| 4. |
San Diego |
28 |
| 5. |
Santa Clara |
26 |
| 6. |
Pacific |
21 |
| 7. |
San Francisco |
18 |
| 8. |
Gonzaga |
8 |
2021 Preseason All-WCC Men's Soccer Team
| Name |
Institution |
Year |
Position |
| Nonso Adimabua |
San Francisco |
So. |
F |
| Jake Arteaga |
Portland |
Sr. |
M |
| Noel Caliskan |
LMU |
Jr. |
M |
| Alex Churness |
San Diego |
Jr. |
F |
| Nick Fernandez |
Portland |
So. |
M |
| Ryan Her |
Pacific |
Jr. |
M |
| Jacob Jackson |
LMU |
Jr. |
GK |
| Demitrius Kigeya |
Gonzaga |
Jr. |
F |
| Yazid Omri |
Pacific |
Jr. |
M |
| Javier Ruiz Duran |
Santa Clara |
Sr. |
F/M |
| Sebastian Schacht |
Saint Mary’s |
Sr. |
M |