UW-Milwaukee men's soccer draws preseason rankings in two national polls

Aug. 18, 2006

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Four-time defending Horizon League champion University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee opens the 2006 season with high expectations, returning nine starters and 17 letterwinners. Apparently those hopes are justified, according to the results of two national preseason polls released recently.

UW-Milwaukee enters the season ranked 24th in the nation according to Soccer America, while College Soccer News tabbed the Panthers 28th among its national top 30.

The Panthers posted a 14-4-5 overall record and were ranked 24th in the final National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas national poll last fall, seeing their season end in the second round against national runner-up University of New Mexico after defeating Bradley University in the first round. This year's group starts the season next Friday (Aug. 25) at the University of Tulsa to open the NIKE Invitational. The feature match of the weekend comes Sunday (Aug. 27) when UWM faces a Southern Methodist University group which is ranked seventh by the NSCAA and second by both Soccer America and College Soccer News.

Defending national champion University of Maryland heads the NSCAA and CSN preseason polls, while the University of North Carolina is the top choice in the Soccer America canvass. The rest of the NSCAA's top five includes the University of Connecticut, New Mexico, the University of Virginia and North Carolina. SA's listing has Virginia third, followed by Maryland and UCLA, while the CSN top five puts North Carolina third ahead of Connecticut and Penn State University.

The Panthers are picked second in the Horizon League's preseason coaches' poll. The University of Detroit Mercy holds the top spot in that poll with 44 points, edging UW-Milwaukee (43) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (41) among loop sideline bosses. Detroit captured the regular-season League title last fall, but fell 1-0 to the Panthers in the League Championship.

Note: The three major national preseason polls and the Horizon League preseason coaches' poll can be found on the PDF version of this release.