SEATTLE, Wash. - Coming off its fifth GNAC title in six years and second NCAA Far West regional crown in three seasons, the Seattle University men's soccer team is ranked 12th in the preseason NSCAA/adidas national Division II poll and is also a co-favorite to win the GNAC title.
Seattle University and Seattle Pacific each received 2? first place votes in the GNAC coaches poll and finished with 25 ballot points each. The two Seattle schools shared the 2006 conference crown and were the GNAC representatives in last season's NCAA Tournament. Western Washington was picked third, followed by conference newcomer Montana State Billings and Saint Martin's, which enters its first season of men's soccer as an intercollegiate sport.
Finishing 14th in last year's final poll, Seattle University is the highest GNAC and West Region team in the national rankings. Seattle Pacific, the only other GNAC school in the national rankings, is 22nd in the preseason poll. Outside of their two meetings with the Falcons, the Redhawks will face three other schools that are in the preseason rankings. On Sept. 2, Seattle will play at 16th-ranked Cal State Dominguez Hills, followed by a match on Sept. 4 at 17th-ranked Cal State Los Angeles. Seattle's final home match of the regular season will come on Oct. 29 against Incarnate Word, the 21st-ranked team in the preseason Division II poll.
Seattle will be led this season by senior Jason Cascio, the 2006 GNAC player of the year. Cascio scored 16 goals last season, tying the second highest single-season total in GNAC history. Seattle also returns five other starters, including All-GNAC performers John Fishbaugher and Eric Forner. Also returning is Cameron Mertens, the GNAC Co-Freshman of the Year last season, and Jordan Jennings, the starting goalkeeper at the end of the season as the Redhawks made their run to the Elite Eight.
The men's soccer team begins the regular season at the Sonoma State Seawolf Classic in Rohnert Park, Calif. On Aug. 24, Seattle University faces Humboldt State beginning at 2:30 p.m., followed by a match against Sonoma State, which is in the "also receiving votes" category of the national poll, on Aug. 26 at 2 p.m. Seattle's home opener comes on Sunday, Sept. 9, against Notre Dame de Namur beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Championship Field.
The mission of the Seattle University athletics department is to champion the holistic development of student-athletes inspiring a vital and engaged campus community through the development and maintenance of a premier, nationally prominent NCAA Division II athletics program, in the spirit of the Jesuit tradition. The university is beginning the process by which it will become a Division I member of the NCAA.