Marquette Soccer Vs The USC Preseason Polls

Hey, who likes preseason college soccer polls?

Well, if you’ve gotten this far, then the answer is probably you. ‘Sup.

Back on August 6th, United Soccer Coaches (or USC, for speed reasons) released their preseason college soccer top 25s. Since we’re just slowly getting around to mentioning it, then you’ve probably accurately guessed that neither Marquette’s men’s nor women’s teams are ranked to start the 2019 campaign. That’s not surprising, so we’re not going to jump up and down to shout about it.

What we’re doing to do instead is talk about the teams on the respective schedules that are ranked in the preseason top 25 for both Louis Bennett’s team and Markus Roeders’ team, as well as the teams that are merely receiving votes. It’s a preseason poll, so there’s going to be a giant pile of wiggle room right now on who is and is not earning votes.

MEN’S SOCCER

There’s just one team on Marquette’s schedule that will start the season ranked in the USC top 25, and if you’ve been paying attention to men’s soccer long enough, you can guess who it is.

It’s Georgetown, of course. The official Big East preseason poll isn’t out quite yet, but I would expect that the Hoyas will be the easy favorite to win the league. They’re coming in at #13 in the country with 379 points, nestled in between Virginia at #12 with 390 points and Louisville at #14 with 268 points.

There are three teams on the schedule in the giant pile of squads receiving votes to start the year. Creighton is the only Big East team in there, unofficially ranked #32 in the country with 12 points. Wisconsin is one point and one step in front of them at 13 and #31 respectively. Saint Louis is the last member of the group at just four points, placing them at #46 on the rankings if you think about them going out that far. Like I said, it’s a giant pile of teams receiving votes, essentially doubling the top 25. Such is life in the preseason when there’s an increasing amount of uncertainty on every ballot the closer and closer you get to the #25 spot.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Like the men’s team, Marquette’s women’s squad will face four teams that got a preseason ballot turned in with their name on it somewhere. The difference here is that two of the teams are ranked while two are merely receiving votes.

As was the case with the men’s side of the aisle, Georgetown is the lone Big East team in the top 25. Here, the Hoyas start the year ranked #7 in the country after going all of 2018 without a loss until the national semifinals. They nearly landed in the #6 spot, as Penn State turned up there with 678 points against just 676 for Georgetown. Duke is a bit down the road at #8 with 619 points.

Wisconsin is the other ranked team on the slate to start the year. They come in at #16 in the country with 283 points in the polling. There was a big drop off between #15 and #16 as South Carolina is one spot ahead of the Badgers with 383 points. Vanderbilt is just barely behind UW at #17 with 273 points.

Butler gives the Big East two teams receiving votes in the polling, although just barely. The Bulldogs snagged three points to end up as the unofficial #46 team in the country. Minnesota is the fourth and final team getting votes on Marquette’s schedule. If they wanted to, they could call themselves the #33 team in the country after earning 33 points. That’s very nice and tidy, isn’t it?

The Marquette men’s soccer team starts off the 2019 season with a home game against UAB. First kick is set for 7pm Central on Friday, August 30th. The women’s squad opens up with a road game against Colorado State on Thursday, August 22. They will play three straight road games to open the season before making their way back to Valley Fields for the home opener on Sunday, September 1st. It will be Michigan coming to town then, with first kick set for 2:30pm.