Men's Soccer Picked To Finish 8th In SCAC Preseason Poll
The Centenary men's soccer team was picked to finish 8th in the conference in the preseason poll released on Tuesday.
UWANEE, Ga. -- Colorado College, last year's co-regular season champion, has been selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2025 SCAC men's soccer title in voting conducted exclusively by the league's head coaches.
The Tigers, who secured back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 2002, advanced to the Second Round for the second-straight year in 2024. Colorado College has amassed an impressive 22-0-5 record in SCAC play over the last three seasons and has not dropped a conference contest since October 2021.
Head coach Scott Palguta, the league's reigning Coach-of-the-Year, returns five first or second team all-conference players from a year ago. Offensively, the Tigers bring back their top three point scorers from a year ago in All-SCAC Second Team performers senior Oliver Ramirez and juniors Wyatt Linggi and Jack Hilliard. The trio combined for 18 goals, 12 assists and 48 total points in 2024. Defensively, CC welcomes back First Team All-SCAC goalkeeper junior Alex Wolter and Second Team All-SCAC defender, Rex Karjin. Wolter and Karjin will bolster a defense that posted a league best 0.48 goals-against average.
Palguta, who has amassed a 123-41-24 career mark at Colorado College, enters his 11th season at the helm of the Tigers and has etched his name as the second-winningest coach in program history.
CC received 11 of the possible 12 first-place votes in the preseason balloting, ending with 142 points. University of St. Thomas, who has advanced to five consecutive SCAC Tournament finals, winning three, collected the final first-place vote and finished second in the coaches' poll with 127 points.
Concordia University (Texas), which enters its second season in the SCAC and has won nine or more games in every full season since 2018, amassed 117 points to claim third.
Texas Lutheran University, which won the 2019 SCAC Tournament title and is coming off back-to-back .700-plus winning percentage seasons for the first time since the Bulldogs joined the SCAC prior to the 2013 season, was picked fourth with 114 total points.
After securing the most points on the league table last season since 2018, Austin College rounds out the top five with 91 points. SCAC debutant LeTourneau University was selected sixth with 72 points as the Yellow Jackets welcome in a new era under Head Coach TJ Milby.
Hendrix College, which returns to the SCAC since departing following the 2011 season, secured seventh in the coaches' poll with 65 points. Centenary College, coming off its most wins since the 2019 season, picked up 59 points to sit eighth. Schreiner University, a season after securing the most points on the SCAC table since 2015, was voted ninth by the league coaches with 54 points.
Rounding out the preseason standings is the University of the Ozarks in 10th with 48 points, McMurry University 11th with 28 points and University of Dallas in 12th with 19 points. The War Hawks and Crusaders will have a new look this season as both programs' welcome first-year leaders in Lorenzo Segura at McMurry and Chase Reynolds at Dallas.
The SCAC men's soccer season begins on Friday, August 29, with several teams competing in non-conference action over Labor Day weekend. The first conference matches of the season are scheduled for the last weekend in September. The 2025 SCAC Men's Soccer Tournament, which returns to a six-team format for the first time since the 2020-21 Covid-19 shortened season, will be held the first week of November at the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex. Quarterfinal matches will be contested on Thursday, November 6, the semifinal matches on Friday, November 7 and the championship match will be played Sunday, November 9.
2025 SCAC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll
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| 1. | Colorado College (11) | 142 |
| 2. | University of St. Thomas | 127 |
| 3. | Concordia University (Texas) | 117 |
| 4. | Texas Lutheran University | 114 |
| 5. | Austin College | 91 |
| 6. | LeTourneau University | 72 |
| 7. | Hendrix College | 65 |
| 8. | Centenary College | 59 |
| 9. | Schreiner University | 54 |
| 10. | University of the Ozarks | 48 |
| 11. | McMurry University | 28 |
| 12. | University of Dallas | 19 |
