We’re about halfway through the NCAA Division 1 Men’s soccer season and we thought it might be a good time to share a mid-season report on how all 20 of our D1 Men’s programs have faired through this point. We’ll take you program by program and run you through each programs top players, results and where they rank up against the other 205 collegiate sides in the country and against our 20 DMV programs as well. We start off with the University of Virginia at the head of our rankings after a very successful 6-1-2 start to 2018, which has them ranked #5 in the country according to the RPI!

RPI Rankings and records current as of, October 7th

Coaches Poll rankings current as of, October 9th

TopDrawerSoccer rankings current as of, October 8th

1.) University of Virginia (UVA) – Charlottesville, VA

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #5

United Soccer Coaches Poll Ranking: #14

TopDrawerSoccer Ranking: #11

Record (W-L-T): 6-1-2

Season so far:

The University of Virginia’s Men’s soccer team has gotten off to a strong 6-1-2 start in 2018, with their lone loss coming last friday against #23 Duke in ACC play. The Hoos started their year off with 3 hard tests of their teams might, an opening day fixture against #19 New Hampshire was deadlocked until Joe Bell popped up to put away the game winning goal with 21 seconds left in regular time and get the year off to a 1-0 start. The Cavaliers would go on to tie their next 2 games in Double OT matchups against the University of Maryland (At Audi Field) and #21 Virginia Tech, in their ACC opener. The 2 ties didn’t slow them down though as they went on to win their next 5 games, conceding only once, before that eventual first loss at the hands of Duke. That loss wouldn’t be remembered for long though as the Cavaliers came out and beat #5 Denver, 3-0 at home this Monday, putting that loss firmly in their rear-view mirror. Up next for the Hoos is an away ACC matchup against Clemson this Friday night!

Player Notes:

• 4 players have played every minute this year: Joe Bell (CM), Aboubacar Keita (Freshman D), Colin Shutler (GK) and Robin Afamefuna (D)
• Those 4 players mentioned above and: Irakoze Donasiyano, Prosper Figbe, Nathaniel Crofts, Henry Kessler, Cabrel Happi Kamseu & Simeon Okoro have all started at least 9 matches of the 10 matches this year, making for a very predictable UVA lineup
• Still without Senior defender and 2x All-ACC CB, Sergi Nus, who is still recovering from a long term injury but should feature sometime soon this season!
• Top Points: Cabrel Happi Kamseu (4 goals), Nathaniel Crofts (2 goals, 3 assists), Joe Bell (1 goal, 4 assists) & Daryl Dike (3 goals)

 

2.) Virginia Tech (VT) – Blacksburg, VA

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #15

United Soccer Coaches Poll Ranking: #35 (11 Votes)

TopDrawerSoccer Ranking: #14

Record: 6-4-2

Season so far:

The Hokies have enjoyed a strong start to the year in terms of rankings, just recently falling out of the top 10 in the RPI after a strong start to the year! Despite suffering 4 losses the Hokies sit at #15 in the country due to their tough strength of schedule, the team started the year off with 3 strong exhibition results, beating West Virginia, Old Dominion and Villanova. After a very strong preseason, VT would start the year at 4-0-2, recording wins over Air Force, Gardner-Webb, South Florida and UNCG, while also tieing #10 UVA and UCF in back to back Double OT games. A fixture with #1 Wake Forest ended with WFU scoring the game winner in the 83rd minute, despite initially going up 1-0 into HT off of a PK from captain Jon Ingason. Since then the Hokies have gone 2-3, grabbing wins over Longwood (5-1) and Syracuse (2OT 1-0) but falling to South Carolina (2OT, 1-2), #18 NC State (0-1) & #3 UNC (1-2). The Hokies can hold their heads high knowing 3 of their 4 losses have come to ranked ACC sides, which may not hurt their RPI ranking (At-Large bid) but have hurt them in conference play, where they currently sit at 1-3-1. Next up for Virginia Tech is a Friday ACC matchup with Pitt at Thompson Field.

Player Notes:

• Only GK, Mathijs Swaneveld, has played every minute for the Hokies but 10 players have made at least 7 starts this year including: Jon Ingason, Rory Slevin, James Kasak, Sivert Haugli, Will Mejia, Kristo Strickler, David Sanz, Nico Quashie, Marc Hoppler
• After being named a NJCAA 1st Team All-American in 2017, Sophomore Transfer Nikal Clarke was unable to play the first several games due to NCAA transfer rules, but would go on to play in 3 straight games once cleared on the backline, is currently out with an injury
• Top Points: Kristo Strickler (5 goals, 1 assist), Nico Quashie (4 Goals), Jon Ingason (3 goals) and James Kasak (1 goal, 4 assists)

 

3.) University of Maryland (UMD) – College Park, MD

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #28

Record: 4-4-3

Season so far:

The Terps have not been their usual self, their record sits at 4-4-3 but they also have one of the strongest schedules in the country and have done a lot of rotation with their group of players, due to changeover as well as injuries. Head Coach, Sasho Cirovski has rotated so much that 17 players on the UMD roster currently have over 200 minutes, 4 freshman included. After finishing 2017 on the back of a 7 game losing streak, 2018 got off to a bad start with the Terps losing 2-0 to the University of Washington. The group would come back to record 2 very solid results with 0-0 ties against 3x defending National Champions, Stanford & 2015 Natty Champs, UVA. A 1-0 loss to UCLA would follow, with 2x defending NJCAA Champ and new recruit, Mohammed Kamara scoring for the Bruins. The Terps followed that game up with back to back wins for the first time in 2018, recording wins over West Virginia & Northwestern, in their Big Ten opener! Over the course of Maryland’s past 5 matches they’ve gone 2-2-1, dropping games in conference play against Michigan State & Wisconsin, but beating both Rutgers & Coastal Carolina before tying a strong Georgetown side on Monday, 0-0. Next up for the Terrapins is a matchup with #1 Indiana in Bloomington this Friday night!

Player Notes:

• GK Dayne St.Clair has played every minute of 2018 with a veteran group of Donovan Pines, Johannes Bergmann, Andrew Samuels & Amar Sejdic the only other players to play over 800 minutes
• The Terps currently have 17 different players who have started a game this year, the following players have started in more than 4 games, excluding those already named above: Eli Crognale (9), Paul Bin (9), William James Herve (7), Matt Di Rose (7), Sebastian Elney (7), Ben Di Rosa (6), DJ Reeves (5), Eric Matzelevich (5)  & Chase Gasper (5)
• Top Points: William James Herve (3 goals, 2 assists), Eric Matzelevich (1 goal, 3 assists), Amar Sejdic (2 goals) & Paul Bin (1 goal, 2 assists)
• Lots of turnover from 2017, Keegan Kelly & Miles Stray both transferred out to SDSU, Jorge Calix to Coastal Carolina & Giovanni Vasquez (Sitting out Fall) is not with the team this season.

4.) Georgetown University (GU) – Washington, DC

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #41

Record: 6-3-3

Season so far:

The Hoyas have gotten off to a strong 6-3-3 start, grabbing wins over South Carolina, Radford, Yale, Duke, DePaul & Butler and tieing some very strong opposition in 3x National Champs, Stanford, Maryland and Marquette. The Hoya’s 3 losses have been spread out through the year so far and haven’t hurt the Hoya’s ranking too much due to their strong out of conference schedule partnered with a tough BIG East conference. The 3 losses also have come in very close encounters, losing out of conference games against Louisville and Coastal 2-1 and losing their conference opener to Xavier on a 86th minute winner, 2 minutes after the Hoyas had tied the game up. The Hoyas last result was a 0-0 tie with Maryland on Monday, they will get a few days of training in before hosting Villanova at Shaw Field this Saturday in Big East play.

Player Notes:

• The Hoyas have a very solid core of 16 players who have played in at least 11 of their encounters so far this year, the following players (11) have started at least 8/12 games: Peter Schropp, Giannis Nikopolidis, Sean O’Hearn, Matt Ledder, Derek Dodson, Kyle Zajec, Achara, Dylan Nealis, Jacob Montes, Brendan McDonough & Edson Martinez
• Other players who have featured heavily are Rio Hope-Gund (2 goals), Riley Strassner (12 GP, 1 A), Foster McCune (12 GP, 1A), Ethan Lochner (12 GP, 1 G, 2 A) & Sean Zawadzki (12 GP, 1 A)
• Top Points: Derek Dodson (5 Goals), Kyle Zajec (3 Goals, 4 Assists), Achara (4 Goals, 1 Assist) & Dylan Nealis (1 Goal, 4 Assist)

5.) James Madison University (JMU) – Harrisonburg, VA

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #44

United Soccer Coaches Poll Ranking: #31 (21 Votes)

Record: 7-3-2

Season so far:

After opening the season with a big 4-0 win over Gardner-Webb, the Dukes went into 3 straight Double OT games, including both games on their trip to California, and came out with an unlucky 0-2-1 record against Air Force, Cal State Fullerton & UC Irvine. Those dropped games set them up for a 4-0 streak over the next 18 days, grabbing wins over Radford, #21 Drexel, Northeastern & Delaware, scoring 11 goals, while only conceding once. Two games against ranked sides from North Carolina followed with the Dukes dropping the first against #14 UNCW before getting a solid tie against #17 NC State in Double OT. Over the last week the Dukes have grabbed 2 big CAA wins with 3-1 and 1-0 results over the College of Charleston as well as William & Mary. Next up for the CAA leaders is their final away conference game, at Hofstra this Saturday night!

Player Notes:

• 26 players have seen field time for JMU this fall in just 12 games, 20 of those have played at least 200 minutes
• 8 players have featured in all 12 games, 5 more have played in at least 11: TJ Bush, Brandon Clegg, Yannick Franz, Melker Anshelm, Thomas Shores, Fernando Casero, Tim Estermann, Aaron Ward-Baptiste, Billy Metzler, Peik Koskinen, Carson Jeffris, Max Poelker & Brennen Burton
• Top Points: Aaron Ward-Baptiste (5 goals, 2 assists), Manuel Ferriol (3 goals, 3 assists), Carson Jeffris (3 goals, 2 assists), Billy Metzler (3 goals, 1 assist) & Tim Estermann (3 goals)

 

6.) Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) – Richmond, VA

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #55

United Soccer Coaches Poll Ranking: #37 (6 votes)

Record: 7-4-1

Season So Far:

The VCU Rams opened up 2018 with a tough 2-0 loss to Georgia Southern, but rebounded immediately with 3 straight cleansheet wins over Radford (3-0), Temple (1-0) & Santa Clara (1-0). Head Coach Dave Giffard, usually schedules a very tough out of conference schedule for the Rams and 2018 was no different with their next 4 matchups coming against #4 Indiana, Pitt, #20 Old Dominion & Akron. The Rams grabbed a big 4-0 #DMVDerby win over ODU but fell in close games to Pitt (0-1) & Akron (3-4) with the Indiana game being the outlier, a 5-0 defeat at currently #1 ranked Indiana, last year’s national championship finalist. Since that tough stretch of games the Rams have faced 4 conference opponents in La Salle, UMass, Duquesne & Saint Louis, coming out with a 3-0-1 record and keeping 4 straight clean sheets. Next up for VCU is a Saturday conference matchup with George Washington!

Player Notes:

• 9 of VCU’s players have started in 11 of VCU’s 12 matches so far this year, making for a very consistent lineup, those players are: Siad Haji, Peter Pearson, Joseph Gonnella, Fortia Munts, Ryo Shimazaki, Eli Lockaby, Ulrik Edvardsen, Simon Fitch, Zeron Sewell & Mario Sequeira
• Other players who have featured heavily: Jared Greene (12 GP, 6 GS), Travis Cooke (12 GP, 1 GS), Martin Ngoh (10 GP), Luke Murphy & Oquin Robinson (8 GP, Both)
• Top Points: Siad Haji (5 goals, 7 assists), Jared Greene (4 goals, 2 assists) & Peter Pearson (2 goals, 1 assist)

 

7.) Loyola University MD – Baltimore, MD

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #67

Record: 6-3-1

Season so far:

The Greyhounds are off to a 6-3-1 start through 10 games and are 2-1-1 in conference play, with 5 more Patriot League matchups and an out of conference game with Cleveland State to go, Loyola are in a great position to get a 10 win season before heading into postseason play. The Hounds started off the season with a 3-2 record in out of conference play, dropping matches to Villanova (0-1 OT) and UConn (2-3) but picking up wins over Rutgers, Mount St.Mary’s & St.John’s. Since the start of conference play, 20 days ago, Loyola have gone 3-1-1, their lone loss a dropped 1-0 result against Bucknell. During that 3-1-1 run they have collected wins over Princeton (1-0), Navy (4-1) and Army (2-0), while also tieing last years conference champions, Colgate in Double OT. Next up for the Greyhounds it a Friday night conference matchup with Boston University.

Player Notes:

• 14 players have featured in all 10 games, giving the Greyhounds a solid core of starters and first players off of the bench
• Players who have started at least 7 games: Brian Saramago, Barry Sharifi, Gabriel Carlsson, Sam Brown, Nico Brown, Davey Mason, Morgan Lussi, Jake Dengler, Chase Vosvick, Jonathan Sousa & Jacob Denison
• Top Points: Brian Saramago (5 goals, 5 assists), Barry Sharifi (3 goals, 2 assists), Gabriel Carlsson (1 goal, 3 assists) & Sam Brown (2 goals, 1 assist)

8.) Old Dominion University (ODU) – Norfolk, VA

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #96

Record: 7-3-2

Season so far:

The RPI rankings have done Old Dominion no favor so far, currently ranking them 96th out of 206 teams despite the team holding a solid 7-3-2 record as well as a 4-1 record in conference play. Heading into conference play the Monarchs stood at 2-1-1, opening the year with a win over Radford and grabbing a 3-0 win over Santa Clara in the 43rd ODU Classic, their other results were a 2-2 Double OT tie with Georgia Southern and a lone loss came against Temple University, led by former Maryland & Baltimore Celtic coach, Brian Rowland. Besides a 4-2 loss at Marshall on September 29th, Old Dominion have grabbed impressive conference wins over UNC Charlotte, New Mexico, South Carolina and FAU. Outside of conference play the Monarchs were humbled 4-0 by VCU but grabbed a 3-2 OT win over in-state rival, William & Mary and most recently got a very impressive 1-1 Double OT tie with #1 North Carolina on Tuesday.

Player Notes:

• 13 players on the ODU side have featured in at least 10 of the Monarchs 12 games, including: Max Wilschrey, Niko Klosterhalfen, James Ellis, Sebastian Hauret, Tom Wustenberg, Ryan McLaughlin, Hans Kroschwitz, Deniz Dogan, Kostas Mylonas, Luke Campbell, Daniel Bloyou, Jimmy Filerman & Mertcan Akar
• Others who have featured heavily: Daniel Corona (8 GP), Roger Rojas-Goodbold (8 GP) & David Tombini (4 GP)
• Top Points: Max Wilschrey (10 goals, 3 assists), Niko Klosterhalfen (4 goals, 6 assists), Daniel Corona (3 goals, 1 assist)

 

9.) George Washington University (GW) – Washington, DC

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #114

Record: 5-5-1

Season so far:

The Colonials sit at .500 on the year after 11 games and are 1-2 in Atlantic 10 play. George Washington’s woes have come mostly on the road where they stand at 1-4-1, whereas their record stands at 4-1 at GW. Two consecutive wins over Stony Brook and American opened up the season with a strong 2-0 start for the Colonials, with Sophomore midfielder Oscar Haynes-Brown, scoring 7x and assisting 1x in those 2 matches. Following their 2-0 start the team would go on a 3 game losing streak dropping 1 goal games versus Lehigh, Brown and Providence consecutively. After their 3 game skid, GW would earn back to back results with a 1-0 win over NJIT and a 3-2 OT victory over Binghamton leading way to a strong 0-0 tie with Nationally Ranked, Duke. Since conference play started 2 weeks ago, GW has dropped their opening two A10 fixtures away at Davidson (2-3 OT) and at George Mason (0-3) before returning to DC to give St.Bonaventure a 4-0 beating in their last game out. Next up for George Washington is a Saturday matchup with local side, VCU!

Player Notes:

• 24 total players have seen the field for George Washington this fall with 8 players having made at least 9 starts this fall, including: Marcelo Lage, Thor Arne Hofs, Joshua Yurasits, Reese Moore, Haukur Hilmarsson, Oscar Haynes-Brown, Colin Anderson and Grant Barrientos
• Other players who have featured heavily: Brady O’Connor (11 GP, 2 goals), Gabriel Seemungal (9 GP, 7 GS), Dylan Lightbourn (11 GP, 2 goals), Alastair Berry (10 GP, 6 GS) & Max Holdsworth (11 GP, 3 assists)
• Total Points: Oscar Haynes Brown (11 goals, 2 assists), Joshua Yurasits (1 goal, 4 assists) & Brady O’Connor (2 goals, 1 assist)

10.) University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) – Baltimore County, MD

NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking: #115

Record: 5-4-2

Season so far:

The Retrievers have encountered an up and down season so far, sitting at 5-4-2 and 1-2 in conference play. UMBC opened the year up with 3 straight wins over Temple, Rutgers & the College of Charleston, in convincing fashion, scoring 7 goals. September was a rough month for the team going 1-4-1 in total and 0-2 in American East play. The month started off with a 2-0 loss to Air Force before beating the Naval Academy 2-0 off of goals from forwards, Tre Pulliam and Cesar Marconi. The win was followed up by a loss at Western Michigan, a Double OT tie with Howard and 2 more shutout losses to New Hampshire and Vermont. October has trended upwards so far though for the Retrievers as they look to get back on track in Conference play, last Saturday they got off to the best possible start with a 3-1 win in a feisty matchup with UMass-Lowell which saw 4 players get red cards including 3 Retrievers. Goals from Kyle Saunderson and Matt Bailey twice helped seal the win and a 0-0 tie in Philadelphia on Tuesday continued the positive results in October. Next up for UMBC is a Saturday matchup with Hartford at Retriever Soccer Park.

Player Notes:

• 16 players have featured in at least 8 of the teams 11 games, the following players have started at least 7 games: Cesare Marconi, Jackson Becher, Jordan Ehart, James Gielen, Matt Bailey, Colin Weyant, Trey Vinson, Patrick Jean-Gilles, Tre Pulliam, Kyle Saunderson & Ciaran O’Loughlin
• After starting the first 8 games of his freshman season as the backup, Former Baltimore Celtic & USYNT GK Quantrell Jones has stepped into the net for the Retrievers and is 2-0-1 as the starter, contributing 2 shutouts and being named the America East Rookie of the Week
• Top Points: Cesare Marconi (3 goals, 3 assists), Matt Bailey & Tre Pulliam (2 goals, 1 assist each), Jackson Becher (1 goal, 2 assists) & James Gielen (2 goals)

Teams 11-20 won’t be in this week’s edition, but will be in all further RPI updates!