The Billikens went 12-5-3 and won their second straight Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and postseason titles last year. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
DeMarcus Dixon
Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, MO — The first NCAA Division I national men’s soccer poll was released on Tuesday, and in a move that caught some by surprise Saint Louis University was ranked in the Top 25.
No one questions that the Billikens will be good again this year. Most experts consider them one of the favorites to win both the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and postseason championships, which Saint Louis has done the last two seasons.
But with many of its top players from the past two seasons now playing professionally around the world, many believed it might take some time for SLU to mesh together and find its rhythm.
Don’t count the folks that conduct the United Soccer Coaches national preseason poll among them though, as they ranked the Billikens No. 24 in their first poll of the new season.
Saint Louis will have as many as eight new starters and several new players in key reserve spots once the season begins. But it will also be doing it with what Top Drawer Soccer ranked the No. 1 recruiting class in the country heading into this season. So maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that the national experts consider this year’s edition of the Billikens one of the Top 25 teams in country.
Defending national champion Syracuse was ranked No. 1 in the poll, with national runner-up Indiana ranked No. 2. Kentucky, Duke, and Pittsburgh rounded out the Top 5, with Washington, Stanford, Creighton, Clemson, and North Carolina-Greensboro closing out the Top 10.
SLU soccer fans will get their first look at the new-look Billikens on August 13, when the team will host an exhibition game against Notre Dame. Saint Louis will play two other preseason games (August 16 against St. Louis Community College and August 19 against Illinois-Chicago), before opening its regular season on August 24 against Butler.
The home opener at Hermann Stadium is set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m.
NCAA MEN’S SOCCER NATIONAL – PRE-SEASON POLL – AUGUST 1, 2023
| Rank | School | Prev | 1st Votes | Total Points | W-L-T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Syracuse University | 1 | 4 | 188 | 18-2-5 |
| 2. | Indiana University | 2 | 1 | 180 | 14-4-7 |
| 3. | University of Kentucky | 6 | 1 | 172 | 15-1-5 |
| 4. | Duke University | 3 | 1 | 167 | 13-2-4 |
| 5. | University of Pittsburgh | 8 | 0 | 154 | 12-5-5 |
| 6. | University of Washington | 11 | 0 | 143 | 15-2-3 |
| 7. | Stanford University | 7 | 0 | 142 | 12-2-6 |
| 8. | Creighton University | 9 | 0 | 127 | 13-5-6 |
| 9. | Clemson University | 13 | 0 | 113 | 13-7-1 |
| 10. | University of North Carolina-Greensboro | 5 | 0 | 111 | 13-2-6 |
| 11. | Marshall University | 12 | 1 | 109 | 11-4-4 |
| 12. | University of Vermont | 4 | 0 | 102 | 16-4-2 |
| 13. | University of Portland | 10 | 0 | 92 | 15-3-3 |
| 14. | University of Maryland | 17 | 0 | 80 | 11-4-5 |
| 15. | University of Virginia | 16 | 0 | 78 | 10-4-5 |
| 16. | University of Tulsa | 15 | 0 | 74 | 10-5-2 |
| 17. | Georgetown University | 20 | 0 | 72 | 12-6-3 |
| 18. | Wake Forest University | 24 | 0 | 66 | 14-6-0 |
| 19. | Southern Methodist University | 18 | 0 | 64 | 10-6-1 |
| 20. | Cornell University | 14 | 0 | 63 | 14-4-1 |
| 21. | Florida International University | 19 | 0 | 53 | 13-5-2 |
| 22. | University of Akron | 23 | 0 | 50 | 11-4-5 |
| 23. | University of New Hampshire | 21 | 0 | 30 | 15-4-1 |
| 24. | Saint Louis University | 25 | 0 | 27 | 12-5-3 |
| 25. | University of Pennsylvania | RV | 0 | 24 | 13-3-2 |
Records shown are final 2022 records
Also receiving votes: UCLA (18), University of Denver (17), West Virginia University (15), Lipscomb University (14), Providence College (13), Western Michigan University (10), Rutgers University (10), Missouri State University (8), University of Louisville (7), Ohio State University (4), Oregon State University (2), University of South Carolina (1).