Creighton has been tabbed to win the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer crown, in a vote conducted by league coaches. Head Coach Mike Jacobs' University of Evansville Purple Aces are picked fourth after producing the nation's most improved record in 2006, and their best MVC finish since 1999.
In conjunction with the pre-season poll, the coaches also voted for a pre-season team, and the 13-player first-team unit is below. Included on that squad are Evansville seniors Cory Elenio and Dustin Awe. Junior Alec Dufty made the pre-season honorable mention squad. Elenio, a forward from Ann Arbor, Mich., finished second in the MVC in goals (8) and total points (20), and was chosen for both the All-Midwest Region and All-MVC teams. Awe, a midfielder from Wichita, Kan., led the MVC and finished 10th nationally in assists with nine. He was second team all-MVC and was selected as UE's Overall Most Valuable Player. Dufty, a goalkeeper from Raleigh, N.C., was chosen as UE's co-Most Valuable Defensive Player last season, and made the Honorable Mention All-MVC Team after allowing 1.82 goals per match and posting a 6-5-0 record.
Creighton, ranked No. 21 in the pre-season College Soccer News poll, is seeking a 16th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and return five starters from last year?s 13-5-3 squad which captured both The Valley regular-season (co-champ with Bradley) and tournament championships.
Defending MVC regular-season co-champion Bradley and Eastern Illinois return eight and nine starters, respectively, from last year's teams and are picked second and third in this year's pre-season poll, respectively.
After the top two picks in the poll, teams were tightly bunched for the next position with seven points separating the sixth pick (Missouri State-21 points) from the third pick (Eastern Illinois-28 points). Right behind EIU in the poll was Evansville, which earned 27 points while being tabbed by the coaches for a fourth-place league finish. Fifth was Drake, followed by Missouri State and Western Kentucky.
MVC Pre-Season Team:
F/M - Chris Cutshaw, So., Bradley
D - Grant Campbell, So., Bradley
D - Joe Donoho, Sr., Bradley
F - Byron Dacy, Jr., Creighton
D - Chris Schuler, So., Creighton
GK - Matt Allen, Sr., Creighton
M - Keith Gorczyca, Sr., Drake
M - Brad Earl, Sr., Eastern Illinois
F - Brad Peters, Jr., Eastern Illinois
M - Mick Galeski, Sr., Eastern Illinois
F - Cory Elenio, Sr., Evansville
M - Dustin Awe, Sr., Evansville
M - Dustin Downey, Jr., Western Ky.
Honorable mentions: M/F - Tim Bohnenkamp, Creighton; D - Andy Cooper, Missouri State; GK - Alec Dufty, Evansville; GK - Lance Parker, Missouri State; GK - Pat Rickman, Western Kentucky; M-Tony Schmitz, Creighton; M - Kevin Shrout, Drake.
