DENVER - UNLV is the preseason favorite to win the 2017 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer title while Rebels senior forward
Danny Musovski and Seattle U junior defender
Nathan Aune were selected as the WAC Preseason Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's 11 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.
The Rebels collected five first place votes and 90 total points to take the top spot. Defending regular season champion Utah Valley earned three first place votes and was just a point back at 89 to earn the second spot while Seattle U earned the remaining three first place votes to total 87 points for third. 2016 tournament finalist Air Force was picked fourth with 72 points followed closely by Grand Canyon in fifth with 70 points. CSU Bakersfield was sixth with 54 points and San José State was selected seventh, followed by UT Rio Grande Valley in eighth and UIW in ninth. Houston Baptist and Kansas City tied for 10th to round out the poll.
Musovski is joined on the Preseason All-WAC squad by midfielder teammate
Timo Mehlich while Aune is joined by midfielder teammate
Sergio Rivas. Air Force has three players as forward
Austin Dewing, midfielder
Tucker Bone and goalkeeper
John Wendt were all honored. Utah Valley had a pair selected as forward
Paul Hoffmeister joined defender
Giovanny Vazquez on the squad. Grand Canyon forward
Niki Jackson and CSU Bakersfield defender
Jamie Carey-Morrell rounded out the 11-member team.
2017 Preseason Men's Soccer Coaches Poll
| Rank |
Team (1st Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. |
UNLV (5) |
90 |
| 2. |
Utah Valley (3) |
89 |
| 3. |
Seattle U (3) |
87 |
| 4. |
Air Force |
72 |
| 5. |
Grand Canyon |
70 |
| 6. |
CSU Bakersfield |
54 |
| 7. |
San José State |
37 |
| 8. |
UT Rio Grande Valley |
33 |
| 9. |
UIW |
29 |
| T10. |
Houston Baptist |
22 |
| T10. |
Kansas City |
22 |
2017 Preseason All-WAC Team
Austin Dewing, Jr., F, Air Force
Paul Hoffmeister, Sr., F, Utah Valley
Niki Jackson, Sr, F, Grand Canyon
Danny Musovski, Sr., F, UNLV
Tucker Bone, Jr., MF, Air Force
Timo Mehlich, So., MF, UNLV
Sergio Rivas, Jr., MF, Seattle U
Nathan Aune, Jr., D, Seattle U
Jamie Carey-Morrell, Sr., D, CSU Bakersfield
Giovanny Vazquez, Sr., D, Utah Valley
John Wendt, Sr., GK, Air Force
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Danny Musovski, UNLV
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Nathan Aune, Seattle U