Pac-12 Men’s Soccer back on the pitch for 2017
• The 2017 Pac-12 men’s soccer season begins on Friday, August 25 with five of six teams competing. WASHINGTON kicks off the 2017 Pac-12 men's soccer season against New Mexico at 8 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Washington.
• Reigning two-time NCAA Champion STANFORD claimed the preseason top-ranked spot according to the United Soccer Coaches poll. Washington comes in at No. 11 and UCLA is No. 21.
• Breaking a seven-year streak, the Pac-12 coaches tabbed Stanford as the 2017 favorite over rival UCLA, which is ranked second in the preseason coaches poll. Washington followed in third, SAN DIEGO STATE is fourth, and OREGON STATE edged out CALIFORNIA for fifth and sixth, respectively.
• Stanford’s 2016 co-Pac-12 Player of the Year Foster Langsdorf and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Tomas Hilliard-Arce highlight the star-studded Preseason All-Pac-12 team. 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Washington’s Handwalla Bwana, UCLA’s junior Erik Holt, and SDSU’s senior Adam Allmaras also appear on the team.
• San Diego State’s Pablo Pelaez, and Stanford’s Tomas Hilliard-Arce and Foster Langsdorf represent the Pac-12 on the preseason MAC Hermann trophy watch list.Twenty-eight players from NCAA Division I schools around the country have been marked as potential contenders for the 2017 Missouri Athletic Club’s (MAC) Hermann Trophy. The MAC Hermann Trophy is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer, presented annually to one male and one female athlete.
• Seven Pac-12 student-athletes appear on the TopDrawerSoccer Preseason Best XI. Stanford tied for the most of any school with four players featured on the teams. Stanford’s Tomas Hilliard-Arce was selected for the first team; San Diego State’s Pablo Pelaez and Stanford’s Foster Langsdorf are on the second team; Stanford’s Drew Skundrich is on the third team; and UCLA’s Brandon Terwege, Stanford’s Logan Panchot, and Washington’s Blake Bodily are on the freshman team.
• Four Pac-12 men’s soccer teams were selected to participate in the 2016 NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship, tied for the second-most conference representatives in the field-Stanford, Washington, San Diego State, and UCLA. Stanford went on to win its second consecutive NCAA title after defeating Wake Forest, becoming the first repeat champion since Indiana in 2003-04.
• All six Pac-12 men’s soccer teams kick off the 2016 season on Aug. 25-26. This season, Pac-12 Networks airs 33 matches, including 24 Conference games.