The Occidental College Tigers have been picked to claim what would be their first conference title in program history according to the 2023 SCIAC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll, as voted by the league’s head coaches.
The conference’s stoutest defense in 2022 surrendered only nine goals in 11 league contests (0.82 per game). Oxy welcomes back a pair of All-SCIAC First Team defenders in Lukas Howlett and Evan Karp, as well as First Team fifth-year senior Joey Schwartz and Second Team first-year Tyler Na-Nakornpanom who combined to score 13 goals, with Schwartz also chipping in three assists.
Five other teams received first-place votes in the tightest preseason poll on record, with the University of Redlands narrowly edging out Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges as the top challenger to the Tigers. The Bulldogs must replace some of the conference’s top talent but also return a pair of standouts in Second Team defender Skylar Darwen and midfielder Jarette Alexis Barajas, who co-led the top-scoring team in the conference in points with five goals and two assists despite starting just half of the season’s 16 games. Darwen added a pair of goals and assists as one of only two Bulldogs to start all 16 games.
The league has high expectations as new head coach Edward Cartee arrives at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges from West Region powerhouse Trinity (Texas) University. The Stags welcome back 2021 Second Team pick Rafael Otero as well as leading scorer Eric Sanchez (five goals, one assist in 12 games) and star goalkeeper Kevin Box, who posted an .838 save percentage and 0.87 goals-against average in 2022.
SCIAC Tournament final hero Jackson Busby, who volleyed home the game-winner on a bicycle kick in the 110th minute, is the lone All-Conference returner for Chapman University which has to replace two-time Offensive Athlete of the Year Aidan Wall. The Panthers dropped just a single game in conference play with four ties.
California Lutheran University benefits from the return of both senior leaders from last season in Defensive Athlete of the Year Tyler Sherard and forward Chris Pelaez as graduate students. The pair combined for eight goals, with Pelaez also leading the team with five assists for a team that lost just two games in the regular season before Sherard suffered an injury in the SCIAC Tournament.
Pomona-Pitzer Colleges were tabbed for sixth place needing to replace midfield fulcrum Matthew Carlson, but have Second Team defender Niclas Ulrich and forward Giri Mase back in Claremont. Mase potted four goals in just seven starts while Ulrich bagged two with an assist. The Sagehens’ opponent in a double-overtime first round matchup of last year’s SCIAC Tournament, the University of La Verne welcomes back a trio of Second Team choices in goalkeeper Matthew Logan Reese, defender Oscar Mendoza and electric winger Owen Osagiede. Reese saved 83 percent of shots he faced, making 86 stops over 13 games as he established himself as the clear-cut first choice for the Leopards between the posts while Mendoza played the fourth-most minutes on the squad. Osagiede is back as a graduate student on the heels of a breakout five-goal campaign where he took a quarter of the team’s shots, putting 59 percent on frame.
Caltech boasts arguably the brightest young duo in the conference between Newcomer of the Year Etienne Casanova and First Team forward Ishaan Mantripragada. The pair accounted for 41 percent of the Beavers’ offensive output in 2022 with seven goals and five assists to register the program’s second-highest win total in the last 30 years. Whittier College rounded out the poll with two big names returning in forward Lawrence Dydell and midfielder Rowan Slater, who combined for six goals and seven assists last fall.
2023 SCIAC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Occidental, 65 points (3 first-place votes)
2. Redlands, 63 pts (1)
3. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 62 pts (1)
4. California Lutheran, 56 pts (1)
5. Chapman, 55 pts (2)
6. Pomona-Pitzer, 44 pts (1)
7. La Verne, 27 pts
8. Caltech, 17 pts
9. Whittier, 16 pts
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