DENVER - Seattle U has been voted the preseason favorite to win the 2016 Western Athletic Conference men’s soccer title while defender Kyle Bjornethun and forward David Olsen were selected as WAC Preseason Defensive and Offensive Player of the Year, respectively. The preseason poll and player honors were deleted by a vote of the league’s 11 head coaches who could not vote for their own team or players.
A near unanimous selection to repeat at the WAC regular-season champs, the Redhawks collected nine first place votes and 99 total points to take the top spot. Utah Valley earned the remaining two first place votes to take second with 87 points while 2014 champion UNLC was picked third with 79 points. CSU Bakersfield was selected fourth and San José State edged out Grand Canyon for the fifth spot with the Lopes predicted to finish sixth. Houston Baptist was picked seventh, followed by Air Force, UIW, UMKC and UT Rio Grande Valley.
Bjornethun and Olsen, both named to the 2016 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, highlight the 2016 Preseason All-WAC squad with midfielder Sergio Rivas joining his teammates on team. Bjornethun is the reigning WAC Defensive Player of the Year and Rivas was the 2015 WAC Freshman of the Year. Both Bjornethun and Olsen concluded the 2015 season by being named NSCAA All-Americans.
The season officially opens on Friday, Aug. 26 when the Redhawks begin play at the Akron Classic in Akron Ohio.
Preseason Coaches’ Poll
Place, Team (first place votes), Pts.
1. Seattle U (9) 99
2. Utah Valley (2) 87
3. UNLV 79
4. CSU Bakersfield 68
5. San José State 59
6. Grand Canyon 54
7. Houston Baptist 47
8. Air Force 41
9. UIW 34
10. UMKC 21
11. UT Rio Grande Valley 16
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
David Olsen, Jr., F, Seattle U
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
Kyle Bjornethun, Sr., D, Seattle U
Preseason All-WAC Team
David Olsen, Jr., F, Seattle U
Danny Musovski, Jr., F, UNLV
Skyler Milne, Sr., F, Utah Valley
Rory Knibbs, Sr., F, San José State
Sergio Rivas, So., MF, Seattle U
Paul Hoffmeister, Jr., MF, Utah Valley
Jonathan Colunga, Sr., MF, San José State
Kyle Bjornethun, Sr., D, Seattle U
Alex Neff, Sr., D, Utah Valley
Amer Sasivarevic, Sr., D, Grand Canyon
Richard Garness, Sr., GK, UNLV