Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Cal Lutheran

Cal Lu had a bad year in 2025, finishing 2-11-5.  They played a lot of teams tight, with some ties and a lot of 2-1 and 1-0 losses, but that's partly because they went more defensive once they realized their offense was struggling.  And they did have a pretty tough non-conference schedule, with a road trip to play Colorado College and Whitman in Colorado Springs, but their 2026 schedule is arguably tougher, with games against Colorado College and Emory, although at home.

The bigger problem is that Cal Lu seems to be worse off roster-wise unless some freshman, transfers, and underclassmen take a big leap this year.  Their top two scorers have graduated, including 1st team All SCIAC MF Kane Reese, who is now playing professionally with SV 1890 Westerhausen in, I think, the 6th tier of German football.  They also lose D Jack Gominiak, who was 2nd team All SCIAC in 2024 and played almost every minute in 2025, MF Danny Rodriguez, who led the team in minutes, and D Caleb Merrill, who was a regular starter as a 5th year senior.  Plus, starting GK Isaak Tanaka graduated.  He's not quite as big a loss - literally, since he was listed at 5'8" - but he had 74 saves for a bad team and kept games close with his aggressive play.

I think their defense can continue to be strong.  6'5" defender Jackson Smart is a good presence and Shaw Nishizawa started every game as a freshman last season and is back.  They have a 6'3" transfer defender from LA Mission College, Pablo Leon, who started all but two games for a top juco program that made it to regionals. He could be one to watch.  They also have some options at GK, including Anthony Sound, who played 4 games last season, but his 4.90 GAA doesn't inspire confidence (although it was artificially raised by getting 90 minutes in the last game of the season against D1 Cal Baptist).  They also have a transfer keeper, 6'5 Jackson Bankers, who came from D2 Dallas Baptist.

I have no idea, however, where they are going to get offense.  It would be nice if Maximo Schelotto could regain his form from freshman year, when he scored 6 goals.  Schelotto, the son of Guillermo Barrios Schelotto (former player at Boca Juniors, Columbus Crew, and coach of the LA Galaxy), was apparently injured most of last season.  They also recruited transfer forward Liam Stoner of Pacific Lutheran, who played all 20 games last season for the Lutes, although he only scored 1 goal in two years with PLU.

[Kuiper]

The SCAC has released its Men's Soccer 2026 Preseason Poll (with first place votes in parentheses)

1. Colorado College (7)
2. Texas Lutheran (3)
3. Concordia
4. St. Thomas
5. Austin
6. LeTourneau
7. Hendrix
8. Centenary
9. Ozarks
10. Dallas

[Kuiper]

Willamette

Willamette showed glimpses of life last season, finishing 7-6-7, but suffering only 1 loss in its last 10 games, including winning 4 of its last 5 games.  Problem was that Freshman forward Ky Iliev, who was one of the reasons for real hope this season after scoring 9 goals and 4 assists and earning All NWC recognition, has departed and is playing community college.  They also lose 5 regular or frequent starters to graduation.  They do return starting GK Mikkel Jensen and several defenders who played a lot of minutes as freshmen and should be more ready right out of the box this season.  In general, however, they remain a pretty young team and this might be another year of growing pains as they try to fight back into the top tier of the NWC.  A road trip to SoCal to play Whittier and Pomona-Pitzer should be a good gauge as teams that would probably be competitive in the NWC, but wouldn't necessarily dominate.

One side note: They list CB Everett Caspell, a sophomore CB, as 6'10".  He started all 20 games last season and I watched enough NWC games that I definitely would have noticed at least on corners if there was a 6'10" guy in the middle of the Willamette scrum.  I think he's either 6'1" and that was a typo or this is the worst case I've seen of a coach exaggerating the height of a player on his team to get the opponents worried.

[Ron Boerger]

Willamette

One side note: They list CB Everett Caspell, a sophomore CB, as 6'10".  He started all 20 games last season and I watched enough NWC games that I definitely would have noticed at least on corners if there was a 6'10" guy in the middle of the Willamette scrum.  I think he's either 6'1" and that was a typo or this is the worst case I've seen of a coach exaggerating the height of a player on his team to get the opponents worried.

FWIW they listed him as 6'10" last season, too.  But his recruiting profile says 6'1".

[Kuiper]

I'll put this here because we don't have a thread already that makes sense for the SAA and they have a couple of Texas teams anyway

SAA 2026 Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Trinity (8)
2. Southwestern (1)
3. Berry
4. Sewanee
5. Oglethorpe
6. Rhodes
7. Centre
8. Maryville
9. Millsaps

[Kuiper]

WIAC Preseason Poll and Preview

1. UW-Eau Claire
2. UW-Whitewater
3. UW-Platteville
4. UW-Stevens Point
5. UW-River Falls
6. UW-Stout

Team Capsules
 
UW-Eau Claire
Head Coach:  Casey Holm, 5th season at UWEC; 77-16-12
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  21/8
Starters Returning/Lost:  8/3
Returning All-WIAC:  Alek LaRoi, Sr., D (2024-Honorable, 2025-Honorable); Noah Malcook, Sr., F (2024-First, 2025-First); Tate McDermott, Jr., M (2024-First, 2025-First); Andrew Phillips, Sr., M (2025-Honorable); Ramzi Ouro, Sr., D (2025-First); Sean Redmond, Sr., M (2025-First)
 
Notable Returning Players:  Aiden Judickas, So., M; Carmelo Kasim, Sr., D; Charlie Mroz, Jr., GK; Elijah Post, Sr., M
 
 
UW-Platteville
Head Coach:  Jesse Tinney, 4th season at UWP; 36-11-15
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  26/10
Starters Returning/Lost:  4/7
Returning All-WIAC:  Westley Hankes, Jr., D (2025-Honorable); Roberto Salinas, So., M (2025-Co-Newcomer of the Year)
 
Notable Returning Players:  Chase Dwinal, Jr., D; Brady Harwood, Sr., M; Justin Williams, Sr., M; Caden Wits, So., M/F
 
 
UW-River Falls
Head Coach:  Evan Sassano, 6th season (3rd season at UWRF); 20-51-7 (overall) / 11-21-4 (at UWRF)
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  10/22
Starters Returning/Lost:  6/5
Returning All-WIAC:  Gabriel Abad Lobo, Jr., D (2025-Honorable); Carter Eklund, Jr., M (2025-First); Mateo Gonzalez, So., M (2025-First); Sorel Richardson, Sr., M (2024-First, 2025-First)
 
Notable Returning Players:  Mauricio Cuevas, Jr., D; Ben Harris, Jr., F; Noah Meschke, Jr., M
 
 
UW-Stevens Point
Head Coach:  Jordan Kayser, 3rd season at UWSP; 21-12-8
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 27/14
Starters Returning/Lost: 7/4
Returning All-WIAC:  Jaxon Buckley, So., F (2025-First/Co-Newcomer of the Year); Jacob Havlik, Jr., GK (2025-Honorable); Charlie McGinnis, Jr., D (2025-First); Riley Nycz, So., M (2024-Honorable); Connor Urban, Jr., D (2024-First, 2025-First)
 
Notable Returning Players:  Marcelo Chavez, Jr., M; Tyler Hagen, So., M; Noah Johnson, Sr., M;
Carter Smith, Jr., D
 
 
UW-Stout Polytechnic
Head Coach:  Cole Schwartz; 2nd season at UWST; 1-15-4
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  19/12
Starters Returning/Lost:  11/0
Returning All-WIAC:  Kevin Lowery, So., D (2025-Honorable); Eddie Puglisi, Jr., GK (2025-First); Marwan Kaddah, So., M (2025-First)
 
Notable Returning Players:  Landen Arnstad, So., M; Max Meeh, Jr., M; Roberto Perez, Jr., M; Patrick Zich, So., F
                                                                           
 
UW-Whitewater
Head Coach:  Tony Guinn, 14th season at UWW; 167-65-34
Letterwinners Returning/Lost:  23/6
Starters Returning/Lost:  7/4
Returning All-WIAC:  Mason Diercks, Sr., M (2025-First); James Kiraly, Jr., F (2024-First); Aidian Martin, Sr., M (2024-First); Hayden Saul, Sr., D (2024-First, 2025-First); Austin Waite, So., GK (2025-First/Goalkeeper of the Year)
 
Notable Returning Players:  Tyler Chrisman, So., M; Aidan Glancey, Sr., F; Adam Kaup, Sr., D; Mitchell Tackney, So., M

[Kuiper]

Wisconsin D3 Men's Soccer Preview

Th Instagram account, Wisconsin SoccerHub, just started following Wisconsin D3 soccer and posted a men's soccer preview and ranking.  The state has a lot of talent and good teams dispersed among multiple conferences.

Here's its preseason ranking of all the Wisconsin teams:

1. UW-Eau Claire
2. UW-Stevens Point
3. UW- Whitewater
4. Edgewood
5. MSOE
6. UW-Superior
7. UW-Platteville
8. St. Norbert
9. Ripon
10. Carroll

[Kuiper]

In Trinity's first preseason context, they took on St. Mary's (D2).

St. Mary's won 2-1 on a second half goal

Solid result for Trinity.  Here was their starting lineup. 

[Kuiper]

Northwest Conference Preseason Poll

1. Whitman
2. Pacific Lutheran
3. Puget Sound
4. Willamette
5. Whitworth
6. George Fox
7. Pacific
8. Linfield
9. Lewis & Clark

I think Whitman has lost too many of its top players to be comfortable in that top position.  Pacific Lutheran has its top scorer (Bliskis) coming back and most of its starters. Regardless, it should be a good battle at the top of the table again.

[D3Navy]

In Trinity's first preseason context, they took on St. Mary's (D2).

St. Mary's won 2-1 on a second half goal

Solid result for Trinity.  Here was their starting lineup. 

Hmm.  This didn't match reality.  I was there.  These were not the players on the field at the start and Salinas didn't play.

I hope the team learned a lot.  Particularly how to defend the counterattack.  St Mary's sliced through them.

Onward.

[Kuiper]

In Trinity's first preseason context, they took on St. Mary's (D2).

St. Mary's won 2-1 on a second half goal

Solid result for Trinity.  Here was their starting lineup. 

Hmm.  This didn't match reality.  I was there.  These were not the players on the field at the start and Salinas didn't play.

I hope the team learned a lot.  Particularly how to defend the counterattack.  St Mary's sliced through them.

Onward.

Thanks for the intel.  I was a little surprised they even posted a starting lineup for a preseason scrimmage, but it didn't look implausible, so I reposted it here.

I'm a little surprised they didn't look like they knew how to defend a counterattack.  Trinity has had to defend against counterattacks for years given that they often have possession in the opponent's half.  Of course, they lost Luke Chandler, who was a stalwart at CB the last two years and if Luke Mayfield or Daniel Uriquidi weren't available for this match, that would hurt quite a bit.  They also demand a lot of all their players to counter press in that situation and if they have new players, that can take some time to get right.

[D3Navy]

In Trinity's first preseason context, they took on St. Mary's (D2).

St. Mary's won 2-1 on a second half goal

Solid result for Trinity.  Here was their starting lineup. 

Hmm.  This didn't match reality.  I was there.  These were not the players on the field at the start and Salinas didn't play.

I hope the team learned a lot.  Particularly how to defend the counterattack.  St Mary's sliced through them.

Onward.

Thanks for the intel.  I was a little surprised they even posted a starting lineup for a preseason scrimmage, but it didn't look implausible, so I reposted it here.

I'm a little surprised they didn't look like they knew how to defend a counterattack.  Trinity has had to defend against counterattacks for years given that they often have possession in the opponent's half.  Of course, they lost Luke Chandler, who was a stalwart at CB the last two years and if Luke Mayfield or Daniel Uriquidi weren't available for this match, that would hurt quite a bit.  They also demand a lot of all their players to counter press in that situation and if they have new players, that can take some time to get right.

Most of those players did play at some point during the match,  they didn't all start together.  In the first half, Trinity had solid possession in St Mary's half. Not as much in the second half. In general, D2 St. Mary's players were quicker and a little more technically competent, usually winning contested possession. I think Trinity realizes they have some work to do.

[Ron Boerger]

Also, it was St. Mary's second exhibition, Trinity's first.

One of St. Mary's players, defender Jeth Flores, transferred in from St. Thomas.  The Celt captain started in 15 of the Celts' 16 gaes last season, scoring twice and tallying four assists.