WINTHROP, Mass. – The 2022 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Soccer Tournament runner-up Johnson & Wales will try to take that leap back to the top in 2023 as the preseason favorite.
The Wildcats earned 205 points, including six first place votes, in this year's voting which was conducted by the league's 15 men's soccer head coaches last week.
JWU had an undefeated GNAC season last year, earning 32 points with a 10-0-2 conference (15-1-3 overall) record. That performance was good enough to earn the Wildcats the No. 2 seed in the GNAC Championship Tournament. In the postseason, they defeated No. 7 seed Lasell, 2-1, in the quarterfinal before pulling out a 2-1 overtime victory over No. 6 seed Emmanuel in the semifinal. However, their bid for their first GNAC title since 2019 was halted in the championship by No. 4 seed University of Saint Joseph (Conn.).
Saint Joseph's (Maine) claimed the second spot in this year's voting after finishing with an 11-2 conference (13-5-1 overall) record and 33 points a year ago. The Monks earned 197 points in the voting and three first place votes. They went into the 2022 tournament as the No. 1 seed and the defending GNAC Tournament Champions. However, their attempt at a repeat was stopped by eventual GNAC Champion USJ in the semifinal round.
Led by fifth-year Head Coach Will Pike '11, the Monks kick off the 2023 campaign with a non-conference game at Babson College, ranked 21st nationally in the final 2022 D3soccer.com poll, on Friday at 3:00 PM. St. Joe's returns four starters – including All-Conference honorees Will Wood (Franklin, N.H.), Rion Dos Santos (São Paulo, Brazil), and Gus Ford (Falmouth, Maine) – and feature a talented incoming group as the team looks to return to the top of the GNAC standings.
The USJ Blue Jays found themselves in the No. 3 spot in this year's poll with 192 points and four first places votes. They made a historic run through the GNAC Tournament as the No. 4 seed, knocking off Albertus Magnus, Saint Joseph's (Maine), and Johnson & Wales to claim the school's first-ever men's soccer tournament championship. In the NCAA Tournament, they fell to Franklin & Marshall, 2-0, in the opening round.
Norwich also earned a first place vote from the GNAC head coaches and earned a 180-point total to rank fourth. Meanwhile, Emmanuel's 164 points landed it fifth to round out the top-third of the ledger.
Albertus Magnus (149 points), New England College (115), and Lasell (99) wrapped up the top half of the poll in that order.
They were followed by Dean (95), Regis (83), Colby-Sawyer (76), and Rivier (75), while Elms ranked 13th in the poll with 60 points. Anna Maria and Mitchell closed out the voting with 56 and 54 points, respectively.
The 2023 GNAC Men's Soccer season kicks off on Friday, Sept. 1 with teams opening their non-conference slates. However, it won't be long until conference play gets underway as the first league play date is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 5. Teams will complete a 14-game single round robin conference season with the top-10 teams at the end of the regular season earning berths into the 2023 GNAC Men's Soccer Championship Tournament.
The postseason starts with a Play-In Round featuring the bottom four tournament seeds on Thursday, Oct. 26. The winners of those games will advance to the GNAC Quarterfinals on Saturday, Oct. 28 with the winners moving on to the semifinals on Tuesday, Oct. 31. The tournament will conclude with the GNAC Championship match on Saturday, Nov. 4 with winner claiming the title of GNAC Champion and earning the league's automatic qualifier into the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship.
2023 GNAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll
| 1. | Johnson & Wales | 205 (6 1st Place Votes) |
| 2. | Saint Joseph's (Maine) | 197 (3) |
| 3. | Univ. of Saint Joseph (Conn.) | 192 (4) |
| 4. | Norwich | 180 (1) |
| 5. | Emmanuel | 164 |
| 6. | Albertus Magnus | 149 |
| 7. | New England College | 115 |
| 8. | Lasell | 99 |
| 9. | Dean | 95 |
| 10. | Regis | 83 |
| 11. | Colby-Sawyer | 76 |
| 12. | Rivier | 75 |
| 13. | Elms | 60 |
| 14. | Anna Maria | 56 |
| 15. | Mitchell | 54 |
ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHEAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 16 member institutions and over 4000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
THANKS IN LARGE PART TO THE GNAC SPORTS INFORMATION OFFICE
