# 2019 Summit League men's soccer season

The 2019 Summit League men's soccer season will be the 14th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season will begin in late August 2019 and conclude in mid-November 2019.
Denver enter the season as the defending regular season and tournament champions.
This is the final season for Purdue Fort Wayne as a Summit member. The Mastodons will leave for the Horizon League on July 1, 2020. The Summit will maintain its men's soccer membership at six with the return of the Kansas City Roos (formerly known as the UMKC Kangaroos), which will rejoin at the same date after seven seasons in the Western Athletic Conference.

## Head coaches

    As of the 2018 season
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Record at school | Summit record | NCAA Tournaments | NCAA College Cups | NCAA Titles |
| Eastern Illinois | Kiki Lara | Eastern Illinois (asst.) | 4 | 12–32–11 (.318) | 12–32–11 (.318) | 5–8–3 (.406) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Denver | Jamie Franks | Denver (asst.) | 5 | 46–8–8 (.806) | 46–8–8 (.806) | 19–0–3 (.932) | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Omaha | Bob Warming | Penn State | 2 | 468–248–83 (.638) | 7–8–1 (.469) | 4–1–0 (.800) | 14 | 2 | 0 |
| Oral Roberts | Ryan Bush | Oral Roberts (asst.) | 7 | 37–51–16 (.433) | 37–51–16 (.433) | 12–17–6 (.429) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Mike Harper | IPFW (asst.) | 13 | 62–129–19 (.340) | 62–129–19 (.340) | 19–46–6 (.310) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Western Illinois | Eric Johnson | Loras | 23 | 217–262–44 (.457) | 174–209–40 (.459) | 66–50–12 (.563) | 6 | 0 | 0 |

## Preseason
### Preseason poll

The preseason poll was released on August 19, 2019.
| | Team Ranking | Points | First Place Votes |
| 1. | Denver | 24 | 4 |
| 2. | Omaha | 21 | 2 |
| 3. | Purdue Fort Wayne | 16 | 0 |
| 4. | Oral Roberts | 13 | 0 |
| 5. | Western Illinois | 9 | 0 |
| 6. | Eastern Illinois | 7 | 0 |

### Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls were released in July and August 2019. Denver was the only Summit League program ranked in preseason polls across all major polls.
| United Soccer | CSN | Soccer America | Top Drawer Soccer |
| Eastern Illinois | — | — | — | — |
| Denver | 18 | 17 | 19 | 12 |
| Omaha | RV | RV | — | — |
| Oral Roberts | RV | RV | — | — |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | — | — | — | — |
| Western Illinois | — | — | — | — |

### Preseason Players to Watch

| Player | Nat. | School | Position | Class | Hometown (High school/Previous college/Previous club) |
| Jacob Stensson | SWE | Denver | MF | Junior | Stockholm, SWE (Brommapojkarna) |
| Preston Judd | USA | Denver | FW | Junior | Henderson, NV (Cal Baptist) |
| Edgar Mesa | ESP | Eastern Illinois | MF | Senior | San Miguel de Abona, ESP (BYU–Hawaii) |

## Regular season
### Early season tournaments

Early season tournaments will be announced in late Spring and Summer 2019.
| Team | Tournament | Finish |

### Conference results

Color Key: Home  • Away  • Win  • Loss  • Draw  • Postponed :
| Club | Match | Match | Match | Match | Match |
| Club | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Denver Pioneers (DEN) | EIU | WIU | ORU | OMA | PFW |
| Denver Pioneers (DEN) | 0–0 | 3–4 | 0–1 | Oct 26 | Nov 9 |
| Eastern Illinois Panthers (EIU) | DEN | ORU | UNO | WIU | PFW |
| Eastern Illinois Panthers (EIU) | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | Oct 26 | Nov 2 |
| Omaha Mavericks (UNO) | WIU | PFW | EIU | DEN | ORU |
| Omaha Mavericks (UNO) | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | Oct 26 | Nov 2 |
| Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (ORU) | PFW | EIU | DEN | OMA | WIU |
| Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (ORU) | 6–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | Nov 2 | Nov 9 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (PFW) | ORU | OMA | WIU | EIU | DEN |
| Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (PFW) | 0–6 | 0–1 | 0–2 | Nov 2 | Nov 9 |
| Western Illinois Leathernecks (WIU) | OMA | DEN | PFW | EIU | ORU |
| Western Illinois Leathernecks (WIU) | 1–3 | 4–3 | 2–0 | Oct 26 | Nov 9 |

### Positions by round

| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Oral Roberts | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Omaha | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Western Illinois | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Eastern Illinois | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Denver | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
* 2019 Summit League tournament

## Postseason
### Summit League tournament

* Semifinals
* 1
* 4
* 2
* 3

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | Region | School | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| TBD | | | | | | | | |

## 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 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 |
| Eastern Illinois | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Eastern Illinois | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Denver | USC | 18 | RV | RV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Denver | TDS | 12 | 12 | 14 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Omaha | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Omaha | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Oral Roberts | USC | NV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 24 | 20 | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Oral Roberts | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |
| Western Illinois | USC | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | None released | None released | None released | None released |
| Western Illinois | TDS | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | | | | |

### Regional rankings - USC West Region

| | Improvement in ranking |
| | Drop in ranking |
| RV | Received votes but were not ranked in Top 10 |
| NV | No votes received |
| | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 |
| Eastern Illinois | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Denver | 2 | NV | 10 | 10 | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Omaha | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Oral Roberts | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |
| Western Illinois | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV | NV |

## Awards and honors
### Player of the Week

| Week | Offensive Player of the Week | Offensive Player of the Week | Offensive Player of the Week | Defensive Player of the Week | Defensive Player of the Week | Defensive Player of the Week | Ref. |
| Week | Player | Position | Team | Player | Position | Team | Ref. |
| Sep. 3 | Reed Berry | FW | Oral Roberts | Miles Motakef | GK | Oral Roberts | |
| Sep. 9 | Dante Brigida | MF | Oral Roberts | Miles Motakef | GK | Oral Roberts | |
| Sep. 16 | Blake Cearns | FW | Purdue Fort Wayne | Will Palmquist | GK | Denver | |
| Sep. 23 | Dante Brigida | FW | Oral Roberts | Tor Erik Larsen | GK | Purdue Fort Wayne | |
| Sep. 30 | Juan Arias | MF | Oral Roberts | Miles Motakef | GK | Oral Roberts | |
| Oct. 7 | Tanguy Gueerineau | FW | Oral Roberts | Gustavo Vargas | DF | Oral Roberts | |
| Oct. 14 | Paul Kirdorf | MF | Western Illinois | Gonzalo Ledesma | DF | Omaha | |
| Oct. 21 | Ryan DeBois | FW | Western Illinois | Tim Trilk | GK | Western Illinois | |
| Oct. 28 | | | | | | | |
| Nov. 4 | | | | | | | |

### Postseason honors

2019 Summit League Men's Soccer Individual Awards :
* Award
* Offensive Player of the Year
* Defensive Player of the Year
* Goalkeeper of the Year
* Coach of the Year
* Newcomer of the Year
2019 Summit League Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Newcomer Team |

## 2020 MLS Draft

The 2020 MLS SuperDraft will be held in January 2020.
| Rnd. | Pick | Player | Pos. | Team | School |

## Homegrown players

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, 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. Players can play college soccer and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.
| Original MLS team | Player | Pos. | School | Ref. |