MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The No. 23 West Virginia men’s soccer team was voted to finish third in the MAC preseason coaches’ poll Monday.
In a vote by the league’s six head coaches, the Mountaineers earned 22 points, five points behind Western Michigan, which received 27 points, including one first-place vote, and was picked to finish second in the league.
Akron was selected to win the conference, garnering 35 total points and five first-place votes. SIU Edwardsville (15 points), Bowling Green (14 points) and Northern Illinois (13 points) rounded out the preseason poll.
In the MAC tournament champion poll, the Zips, who finished as the men’s College Cup runner-up last season, earned five of the six votes, with Western Michigan receiving the final tally.
The Mountaineers open the 2019 campaign Friday at Monmouth at 4 p.m. in West Long Branch, N.J.
