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Men's Soccer Picked To Finish Fourth In SLIAC Preseason Poll

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) released the 2017 Men’s Soccer Coaches Poll today and the Griffins came in at No. 4 with 59 points.

Men's Soccer Picked To Finish Fourth In SLIAC Preseason Poll
August 16, 2017

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) released the 2017 Men's Soccer Coaches Poll today and the Griffins came in at No. 4 with 59 points.

Spalding takes the top spot with 78 points, while reigning SLIAC Champions Westminster, are projected to finish in second at 75 points. Webster, meanwhile, finished one point ahead of Fontbonne to finish in third.

After starting the month of September 0-8-1 last year, the Griffins bounced back in a big way in October going 8-2 including surging on a six game winning streak. The team advanced onto the SLIAC Tournament for the 14th straight season as the No. 3 seed where they went toe-to-toe against No. 2 Westminster.

The Griffins trailed 1-0 against the Blue Jays late in the second half but David Keeven scored the equalizer in the 87th minute to force overtime. In the first OT, it was Westminster spoiling the comeback with them netting the game winner in the 98th minute eliminating the Griffins from the tournament and ending its season.

At the end of the year, plenty of hardware was handed out with Austin Willenbrock, Alex Smith and Greg Ferry being named to the All-Conference First Team. Andres Castro was named to the Second Team, while Ryan Dudley, Nick Wolf and Tony Pitaro earned Third Team honors.

Smith and Ferry also took home All-Tournament Team awards and Shay Garner was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team.

This season, the team does lose Willenbrock and Smith but manning the defense once again will be the duo of Ferry and Castro. Ferry, an Ayr, Scotland, native, finished with two goals on 24 shots last year while Castro compiled one assist.

Wolf came up big in the final month of the season where he scored five goals and handed out two assists to finish with a team-high 13 points. In goal, Pitaro will look to build off his 2016 numbers where he totaled 645:59 minutes in net, went 6-2 with a 1.53 goals against average which was fourth best in the conference.

To view the entire SLIAC Coaches Poll Release visit HERE.

The team will get its 2017 season underway on the road on September 2nd when they'll pay a visit to Rockford.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com for full updates and recaps on the men's soccer team.

SLIAC Preseason Poll

  1. Spalding- 78 (6)
  2. Westminster- 75 (3)
  3. Webster- 60 (1)
  4. Fontbonne- 59
  5. Greenville- 50
  6. Principia- 38
  7. Blackburn- 36
  8. Iowa Wesleyan- 25
  9. Eureka- 19
  10. MacMurray- 10