HUDSONVILLE, Mich. – The Trine University men's soccer team was voted to place third in the 2023 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Preseason Coaches Poll.
The point totals are determined by votes cast by the association's coaches, who cannot vote for their own team, with low point total receiving the top spot.
For the 17th consecutive season, the Calvin University Knights took home the top spot in the Coaches Poll, and this season the program swept all seven possible first-place votes. Hope College was second overall with the final remaining first-place vote and 13 points. Trine was third at 19 points.
Head Coach David Jacobs is entering his seventh season at the helm of Trine men's soccer. He has an overall record of 56-39-12 after securing a 9-7-3 mark in the 2022 campaign. In MIAA action, the team finished in a tie for third place in the league table with a 3-2-2 mark.
All four All-MIAA recipients from one season ago return to this year's team. Senior midfielder and First Team All-MIAA honoree Francesco Mazzei will have a hand in the offensive and the defensive side of the pitch. Three returning Second Team All-MIAA returners include senior midfielder Joey Donovan, junior defender Luke Kearns, and sophomore defender Gavin Hardy.
Along with the leadership of some of the top players in the conference, the team also brings back the program's leading goal scorer in the NCAA DIII era, Tyler Murphy. Murphy was named Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators last season for his efforts on the field and in the classroom.
There are eight student-athletes in the team's 2023 senior class: Mazzei, Donovan, Murphy, Luis Rodriguez, Aidan McGonagle, Alhasan Yahya, Alhusain Yahya and Abraham Antar. The rest of the squad includes two juniors, eleven sophomores and ten freshmen.
The regular season kicks off on Friday, September 1 when the Thunder venture to the College of Wooster to take on the Scots at 5 p.m.
