Time to keep previewing some Big East fall sports!
We’ve already made preseason picks for volleyball and women’s soccer here at Anonymous Eagle, so go click those links if you haven’t seen those yet. Today, we’re going to take a crack at predicting how the Big East coaches will vote in the preseason awards for men’s soccer. This is important: We’re going to TRY to figure it out and probably come hilariously short of getting anything right. Why? Because the Big East is incredibly short on returning
players from last year’s end of season all-conference players.
GOOD NEWS: Lots of new faces are going to be given a chance to shine all across the league. BAD NEWS: It’s very hard to figure out who those guys are going to be ahead of time.
Alright, let’s just dive right in and muck about to see what happens, shall we?
Preseason Big East Offensive Player of the Year: Noeh Hernandez, DePaul
The Big East has just three guys returning who were 1) on one of last year’s three all-Big East teams and 2) top 10 in points per game last season. Hernandez is the top returning guy in points per game, coming in second overall last year behind the absolutely absurd numbers that Akron’s Emil Jaaskelainen put up. Hernandez also led the Big East in assists per game, and I always love to give attention to the guys making the play that set up the play when I’m putting these lists and awards together. Is there a chance this could go to Butler’s Josemir Gomez, who was second in the BE in goals per game behind Jaaskelainen last season? Sure, but Hernandez was fourth in that category at the end of last season.
Preseason Big East Defensive Player of the Year: Agustin Resch, Seton Hall
There are no All-Big East First Team defenders returning from last season. There is only one Second Team defender returning. Congrats to Agustin Resch for being that guy.
Could this easily go to Georgetown sophomore Tate Lampman, who was Freshman of the Year last year and got a call-up to the United States U-19 team training camp in May? Sure! There’s those two reasons as well as the “the coaches will probably just favor a Georgetown guy anyway” reason.
Preseason Big East Goalkeeper of the Year: Mitch Budler, Akron
Ah, finally, an easy one. The Big East coaches said Budler was the best keeper in the league last year, and he returns for 2025. Done and done.
(Pssssst. Georgetown’s Tenzing Manske had a better goals-against average and a better save percentage than Budler did last year, and he’s back for 2025, too. Not saying, just saying.)
Preseason All-Big East Team
Miguel Arilla, Creighton, M
Mitch Budler, Akron, GK
Joost de Schutter, Butler, M
Josemir Gomez, Butler, F
Noeh Hernandez, DePaul, M
Tate Lampman, Georgetown, D
Agustin Resch, Seton Hall, D
Bruno Rosa, Providence, F
Scott Testori, UConn, F
Matthew Van Horn, Georgetown, M
Zach Zengue, Georgetown, F
We’ll start with the easy part, as Hernandez, Resch, and Budler get the escort to the front of the line to this 11 man squad. From there, things got a little squishy, particularly because there are just two defenders returning from last year’s end of season all-conference teams. With that in mind, Lampman goes straight into the list here, not just for that reason, but for the reason that I pointed out that he might actually be the preseason DPOY, too.
With only two defenders that I can legitimately point at as best in the league — stats on “best defender” are hard to come by to figure out who the coaches might like, and so on — that leaves me with seven more spots to fill with forwards and midfielders. I made the call to push Gomez into the list even though he was a Third Teamer last season because of his actual production even if the coaches didn’t vote for him. Same goes for Arilla, who is the aforementioned third guy who is returning from an all-BE nod while finishing top 10 in points per game last year.
That gets me to five more spots. Two of them go to Zengue and Van Horn, who were First Teamers last season. Three to go. Conveniently, there are three guys — de Schutter, Rosa, and Testori — who were Second Team last season, and that rounds us out at 11. I feel comfortable saying that I’ve gotten at least one of these picks wrong, because I suspect the coaches have a third defender that they’ll vote for, but such is life.
Top Teams
East Division
1 — Georgetown
2 — Providence
3 — UConn
4 — Seton Hall
Midwest Division
1 — Butler
2 — Akron
3 — DePaul
4 — Creighton
Okay, we’ll start here: Yes, I have picked Butler to go from 1-7-0 in Big East play last year to win the Midwest Division. They’re the only team in the division with more than one guy on my all-conference team, so there you go. Is it likely that Akron repeats after going 7-0-1 and generally being a national power in men’s soccer? Sure. Do I have any evidence for that based on returning players? Not really! DePaul and Creighton round out the divisional picks because they’ve got returning firepower on the offensive end. I was tempted to go full homer and say Marquette is in there somewhere, but Miguel Arilla exists, and that’s that.
In the East Division, Georgetown has three preseason all-BE guys on my list, best in the conference, so that’s my pick over there. The rest of the division is a bit of a jumble, partially because everyone not named Villanova finished within five points of each other last season, including a tie for first between Providence and St. John’s at 17 points. Yep, no mention of the Johnnies in this top four because they don’t have any all-Big East guys heading into the season.
I went out to four teams on both sides of the league because there is an eight team Big East tournament this season, at least according to Georgetown’s schedule release. It’s not four from each side, just the two division winners and then the next six best point totals, but this is the best way to approximate who’s going to get into the postseason.
Follow Anonymous Eagle on social media
Facebook: AnonymousEagle
Instagram: AnonymousEagleSBN
Bluesky: AnonymousEagle
More from anonymouseagle.com:
- Interested in writing about Marquette sports? AE is looking for new contributors!
- Which Marquette Guy Had The Best NBA Summer League Performance?
- Chrissy Thomas Named New WLax Assistant Coach
- Aussie Wing Nash Walker Commits To Marquette
- An Early Summer Check On The Proposed Milwaukee Soccer Stadium Site
- Big East MBB Summer Vibe Check: Xavier
- Big East WBB Summer Vibe Check: Georgetown
- A new look coming for Anonymous Eagle in August
