With six returning starters, including its top three scorers, the UCSB men’s soccer team has been picked as the favorite to win the Big West Conference regular season title.
The Gauchos, winners of the Big West Tournament last season, received six of the seven first-place votes in a pool of the conference’s coaches. Cal Poly grabbbed the remaining vote.
UCSB, which has claimed three of the last five Big West regular season championships, collected 48 points overall. The Mustangs were picked to finish second with 40 points while Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine received 32 and 30 points, respectively. Cal State Northridge (20 points), UC Davis (14) and UC Riverside (12) rounded out the poll.
The Gauchos return their top three goal scorers in Sam Garza (9 goal, 6 assists), sophomore David Opoku (6 goals, 5 assists) and senior Luis Silva (6 goals, 4 assists). The trio combined for 21 of the team’s 40 goals last season and each received All-Big West accolades.
UCSB also returns veteran defensive midfielder Machael David, outside defenders Peter McGlynn and James Kiffe, central defender Tim Pontius, forward Michael Nonni and key reserves Nick Ryan, Fifi Baden and Josue Madueno.
The Big West Conference is not alone in its high expectations for the Gauchos this season. UCSB has also been highly touted nationally and most recently was ranked No. 8 in Top Drawer Soccer’s Preseason Tournament 48 rankings. The rankings are the website’s running attempt to project the NCAA Tournament qualifiers, including every automatic conference berth.
The top-20 ranking is the Gauchos’ third during the preseason, following a No. 9 placement by College Soccer News and No. 14 rank by the NSCAA.
2011 Big West Men’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll
No. School…Pts.
1. UC Santa Barbara (6)…48
2. Cal Poly (1)…40
3. Cal State Fullerton…32
4. UC Irvine…30
5. Cal State Northridge…20
6. UC Davis…14
7. UC Riverside…12
( ) First-place votes
