2019 Mid-American Conference men's soccer season

2019 Mid-American Conference men's soccer season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Soccer
Duration	August 30, 2019 – November 2, 2019
Number of teams	6
2020 MLS SuperDraft
Top draft pick	Tom Smart, 45th overall
Picked by	LA Galaxy
Regular Season
Season champions	Akron
Runners-up	Western Michigan
Tournament
Champions	West Virginia
Runners-up	Bowling Green
Mid-American Conference men's soccer seasons
← 2018 2020 →

2019 Mid-American Conference men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Akron	4	–	0	–	1			6	–	10	–	2
Western Michigan	2	–	1	–	2			11	–	6	–	2
SIUE	2	–	1	–	2			8	–	5	–	4
Northern Illinois	2	–	3	–	0			7	–	10	–	1
Bowling Green	2	–	3	–	0			13	–	7	–	1
West Virginia ‡	0	–	4	–	1			10	–	9	–	2
‡ – 2019 MAC Tournament champion + – Invited to the 2019 NCAA tournament As of 25 November 2019 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: MAC

The 2019 Mid-American Conference men's soccer season will be the 27th season of men's varsity soccer in the Mid-American Conference.

Akron enters the season as the conference tournament champions. West Virginia enters the season as the defending conference regular season champions.

Background

Previous season

Main article: 2018 Mid-American Conference men's soccer season

The 2018 season was the 26th season of men's varsity soccer in the Mid-American Conference. Akron won the 2018 MAC Men's Soccer Tournament against Western Michigan. ^[1] With the MAC Tournament title, Akron earned an automatic bid into the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. MAC regular season champions, West Virginia, earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia and Akron were unseeded in the tournament meaning both programs began in the first round.

In the tournament, West Virginia advanced past LIU Brooklyn before losing in Georgetown in the second round. Akron reached the NCAA College Cup for the second consecutive season, and for the sixth time in program history. This came after defeating Rider, Syracuse, Wake Forest, three-time defending champions Stanford, and Michigan State. In the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship Game, Akron lost to Maryland, 0–1 off of a penalty kick from Amar Sejdič. ^{[2] [3]}

Coaching changes

Ahead of the 2019 season, SIUE head coach Mario Sanchez was hired by professional soccer club, Louisville City FC. ^[4] Cale Wassermann was hired to replace Sanchez. ^[5]

School	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
SIU Edwardsville	Mario Sanchez	Hired by Louisville City FC	November 30, 2018	Preseason	Cale Wassermann	January 17, 2019

Teams

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Coach	Uniforms supplier
Akron Zips	Akron, Ohio	FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field	4,000	Jared Embick	adidas
Bowling Green Falcons	Bowling Green, Ohio	Cochrane Stadium	1,000	Eric Nichols	Nike
Northern Illinois Huskies	DeKalb, Illinois	NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex	1,500	Ryan Swan	adidas
SIU Edwardsville Cougars	Edwardsville, Illinois	Ralph Korte Stadium	4,000	Cale Wassermann	adidas
West Virginia Mountaineers	Morgantown, West Virginia	Dlesk Stadium	1,600	Marlon LeBlanc	Nike
Western Michigan Broncos	Kalamazoo, Michigan	WMU Soccer Complex	500	Chad Wiseman	adidas

Preseason

Preseason poll

The preseason poll was released on August 26, 2019. ^[6]

	Team Ranking	Points	First
1.	Akron	35	5
2.	Western Michigan	27	1
3.	West Virginia	22	0
4.	SIUE	15	0
5.	Bowling Green	14	0
6.	Northern Illinois	13	0

Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls were released in July and August 2019. United Soccer Coaches, Soccer America, and TopDrawer Soccer have a Top 25 poll, while College Soccer News has a Top 30 poll.

	United Soccer [7]	CSN [8]	Soccer America [9]	Top Drawer Soccer [10]
Akron	3	3	2	2
Bowling Green	—	—	—	—
Northern Illinois	—	—	—	—
SIUE	—	—	—	—
West Virginia	23	2	—	2
Western Michigan	—	—	—	—

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Early season tournaments will be announced in late Spring and Summer 2019.

Team	Tournament	Finish
Bowling Green	Chicago Classic	1st
SIUE	Michigan Classic	3rd
Western Michigan	Bronco Soccer Fest	1st

Conference results

Color Key: Home •Away •Win •Loss •Draw •Postponed
Club	Match
	1	2	3	4	5
Akron Zips (AKR)	BGSU	WMU	SIUE	NIU	WVU
	Oct	Oct	Oct	Oct	Nov
Bowling Green Falcons (BGSU)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
	Oct	Oct	Oct	Oct	Nov
Northern Illinois Huskies (NIU)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
	Oct	Oct	Oct	Oct	Nov
SIU Edwardsville Cougars (SIUE)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
	Oct	Oct	Oct	Oct	Nov
West Virginia Mountaineers (WVU)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
	Oct	Oct	Oct	Oct	Nov
Western Michigan Broncos (WMU)	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
	Oct	Oct	Oct	Oct	Nov

Standings

Conference											Overall								Qualification
Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts		Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Akron	5	4	0	1	10	4	+6	13		18	6	10	2	21	23	−2	20	2019 MAC Men's Soccer Tournament
2	Bowling Green	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Northern Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	SIUE	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Western Michigan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Updated to match(es) played on August 3, 2019. Source: MAC

Postseason

MAC Tournament

Main article: 2019 MAC Men's Soccer Tournament

The 2019 MAC Tournament was held from November 12–17, 2019.

	First Round					Semifinals					Championship
						1	Akron	0
	4	Bowling Green	2			4	Bowling Green	1
	5	Northern Illinois	1								4	Bowling Green	0
											6	West Virginia	1
						2	Western Michigan	2
	3	SIUE	0			3	West Virginia	3
	6	West Virginia	1

NCAA Tournament

Main article: 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament

The NCAA Tournament will begin in November 2019 and conclude on December 17, 2019.

Seed	Region	School	1st Round	2nd Round	3rd Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship

Rankings

National rankings

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV		No votes received

		Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Final
Akron	USC	3	21	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV				None released
	TDS	2	2	12	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Bowling Green	USC	NV	RV	25	RV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV				None released
	TDS	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Northern Illinois	USC	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV				None released
	TDS	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
SIUE	USC	NV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV				None released
	TDS	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
West Virginia	USC	23	21	RV	20	RV	23	RV	NV	NV	NV				None released
	TDS	25	25	24	NV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Western Michigan	USC	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	RV				None released
	TDS	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Regional rankings - USC North Region

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 10
NV		No votes received

The United Soccer Coaches' North Region includes teams from the Mid-American Conference, the Big Ten Conference, and the Horizon League.

	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12
Akron	6	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Bowling Green	8	2	5	7	9	7	8	9	8
Northern Illinois	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
SIUE	5	8	NV	NV	NV	NV	10	6	6
West Virginia	3	4	2	6	2	3	9	10	NV
Western Michigan	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	10	7	4	4

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

Week	Player	Position	Team	Ref.
Week 1	Noah Heim	GK	SIUE	[11]
Week 2	Anthony Bowie	FW	Western Michigan	[12]
	Achille Robin	DF	Bowling Green
Week 3	Robles Grajer	FW	West Virginia	[13]
Week 4	Jorge Gonzalez	FW	SIUE	[14]
Week 5	Andres Muriel Albino	MF	West Virginia	[15]
Week 6	Anthony Bowie	FW	Western Michigan	[16]
Week 7	Charlie Sharp	MF	Western Michigan	[17]
Week 8	Alex Welch	MF	Northern Illinois
Week 9
Week 10

Postseason honors

2019 MAC Men's Soccer Individual Awards
Award	Recipient(s)
Offensive Player of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year
Midfielder of the Year
Goalkeeper of the Year
Coach of the Year
Freshman of the Year

2019 MAC Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams
First Team Honorees	Second Team Honorees	All-Freshman Team Honorees	Sportsmanship Award Honorees

National awards

Award	Winner	School	Ref.

2020 MLS Draft

Main article: 2020 MLS SuperDraft

The 2020 MLS SuperDraft will be held in January 2020.

Rnd.	Pick	Player	Pos.	Team	School

Homegrown players

Further information: Homegrown Player Rule (Major League Soccer)

The Homegrown Player Rule is a Major League Soccer program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008, ^[18] every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the MLS SuperDraft.

To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. ^[19] Players can play college soccer and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.

Original MLS team	Player	Pos.	School	Ref.

References

1. Fagerlin, A. J. (November 13, 2017). "Zips Claim 14th MAC Tournament Title in Victory over Western Michigan". The Buchtelite. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
2. "Maryland beats Akron to win men's soccer title". ESPN.com. December 10, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
3. Bryant, Victor. "Maryland wins its fourth men's soccer national championship by beating Akron, 1-0, on second-half penalty kick". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
4. "Mario Sanchez resigns as SIUE men's soccer head coach position". EdGlenToday.com. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
5. "MEN'S SOCCER: Cale Wassermann named SIUE men's soccer coach". The Edwardsville Intelligencer. January 18, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
6. "Akron Selected to Capture 2019 MAC Men's Soccer Title". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
7. "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 NCAA DI Men — National Pre-Season Poll — August 6, 2019". United Soccer Coaches. August 6, 2019. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2019.
8. "College Soccer News 2019 Preseason National Poll". collegesoccernews.com. CollegeSoccerNews.com. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
9. "Soccer America Men's College Preseason Top 25". socceramerica.com. Soccer America. August 28, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
10. "College Soccer National Ranking - Preseason". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
11. "Heim Tabbed as Men's Soccer Player of the Week". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
12. "Bowie and Robin Share Player of the Week Honors". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
13. "Robles Grajera Honored as Men's Soccer Player of the Week". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
14. "Gonzalez Named Men's Soccer Player of the Week". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
15. "Muriel Albino Named Men's Soccer Player of the Week". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
16. "Western Michigan's Bowie Earns MAC Player of the Week Honors". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
17. "Sharp Named MAC Men's Soccer Player of the Week". getsomemaction.com. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
18. "MLS Draft 2013: Homegrown player initiative rises as draft declines". Sporting News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
19. "MLS 2012 Roster Rules". Archived from the original on February 20, 2012.

External links

• MAC Men's Soccer