Cougars picked to repeat as men's soccer conference champs | Courtesy of Shutterstock
Cougars picked to repeat as men's soccer conference champs | Courtesy of Shutterstock
The Southern Illinois-Edwardsville men's soccer team has been picked to repeat as Missouri Valley Conference champions.
The Cougars topped a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, earning four first-place votes, according to a news release on www.siuecougars.com. SIUE had points in the poll, followed by Drake, which received 39 points including a first-place vote; Loyola with 34 points; and Missouri State with 32 points and two first-place votes.
The rest of the poll had Bradley fifth with 25 points, Central Arkansas sixth with 12 points and Evansville with nine points.
Three Cougars were named to the preseason all-conference team: defender Austin Ledbetter, midfielder Ivan Gutierrez and forward Devyn Jambga.
SIUE is scheduled to open the regular season by hosting Northern Illinois at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26. In their preseason slate, the Cougars had scoreless draws with No. 9 Notre Dame on Aug. 14 and at Kentucky on Aug. 16 before topping Dayton 1-0 Aug. 21 at home.
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