2018 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season explained

2018 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season
Color:	0088CE
Color Text:	FFFFFF
League:	NCAA Division I
Sport:	Soccer
Pixels:	175px
Duration:	August 24, 2018 – October 28, 2018
No Of Teams:	9
Season:	Regular Season
Season Champs:	Indiana
Second Place:	Wisconsin
Draft:	2019 MLS SuperDraft
Draft Link:	2019 MLS SuperDraft
Top Pick:	Griffin Dorsey, 9th overall
Picked By:	Toronto FC
Mvp:	FW: Jack Hallahan MF: Giuseppe Barone DF: Andrew Gutman GK: Trey Muse
Finals:	Tournament
Finals Link:	2018 Big Ten Conference Men's Soccer Tournament
Finals Champ:	Indiana
Finals Runner-Up:	Michigan
Finals Mvp:	Andrew Gutman
Seasonslistnames:	Big Ten Conference men's soccer
Prevseason Link:	2017 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season
Prevseason Year:	2017
Nextseason Link:	2019 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season
Nextseason Year:	2019

The 2018 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season was the 28th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The regular season began on August 24, 2018, and concluded on October 28, 2018. The season culminated with the 2018 Big Ten Conference Men's Soccer Tournament to determine the conference's automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. Michigan entered the season as the defending regular season champions, while Wisconsin entered the season as the defending tournament champions.

Indiana went on to win both the regular season and the tournament, winning all eight of their Big Ten Conference games. They defeated Michigan in the Big Ten Men's Soccer Championship Game.

With the Big Ten title, Indiana earned the conference's automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Tournament, where Maryland, Michigan, and Michigan State joined as at-large berths. The conference had the strongest showing in the NCAA Tournament, where three of their four berths reached the College Cup (Final Four) of the tournament. Big Ten side, Maryland, would defeat Akron in the National Championship Game to win their fourth NCAA title, and their first since 2008.

Concluding the tournament, Indiana senior and captain, Andrew Gutman, won the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year Award as well as the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy. Gutman would forgo an opportunity to sign a homegrown contract with the Chicago Fire and signed with Celtic in Scotland. Indiana sophomore forward, Griffin Dorsey was the highest Big Ten player selected in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft, being drafted by Toronto FC ninth overall. Eleven other Big Ten players were selected in the MLS SuperDraft, the most of any collegiate conference, and an additional four signed homegrown player contracts with their parent MLS clubs.

Background

Head coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school^[1]	Big Ten record	NCAA Tournaments^[2]	NCAA College Cups	NCAA Titles
Indiana	Todd Yeagley	Wisconsin	8	^[3]			9	2	1
Maryland	Sasho Cirovski	Hartford	25	^[4]			24	8	2
Michigan	Chaka Daley	Providence	6	^[5] ^[6]			2	0	0
Michigan State	Damon Rensing	Michigan State (assistant)	9	^[7]			7	0	0
Northwestern	Tim Lenahan	Lafayette	18				9	0	0
Ohio State	John Bluem	Fresno State	22				9	1	0
Penn State	Jeff Cook	Bethlehem Steel (asst.)	1				0	0	0
Rutgers	Dan Donigan	Saint Louis	9				2	0	0
Wisconsin	John Trask	UIC	9				2	0	0

Preseason

Preseason poll

The preseason poll was released on August 15.^[8]

	Team Ranking
1.	Indiana
2.	Michigan State
3.	Maryland
4.	Michigan
5.	Wisconsin
T-6.	Ohio State
T-6.	Penn State
8.	Northwestern
9.	Rutgers

Preseason national polls

Five of the programs were ranked in one of the five major preseason polls. CollegeSoccerNews.com and Hero Sports use a Top 30 ranking throughout the season, while United Soccer, Soccer America, and TopDrawer Soccer use a Top 25 ranking throughout the season.

	United Soccer^[9]	CSN^[10]	Hero Sports^[11]	Soccer America^[12]	TopDrawer Soccer^[13]
style= width=75	Indiana	2	2	2	1	5
style= width=75	Maryland	NR	23	22	16	21
style= width=75	Michigan	21	17	28	11	15
style= width=75	Michigan State	7	4	10	4	9
style= width=75	Northwestern	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
style= width=75	Ohio State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
style= width=75	Penn State	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
style= width=75	Rutgers	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
style= width=75	Wisconsin	12	26	13	NR	18

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Three Big Ten teams participated in four early season tournaments, three of which they themselves hosted.

Team	Tournament	Finish
Indiana	adidas/IU Credit Union Classic	1st
Northwestern	Lakeside Classic	1st
Ohio State	Dayton Classic	4th
	Wolstein Classic	3rd

Postseason

Big Ten Tournament

See main article: 2018 Big Ten Conference Men's Soccer Tournament.

The Big Ten Tournament was held from November 3 - 11. The semifinal and championship rounds were held at Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana.^[14] Indiana won the Big Ten Tournament, defeating Michigan in the final.^[15]

NCAA Tournament

See main article: 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament.

Seed	Region	School	1st Round	2nd Round	3rd Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
2	Bloomington	Indiana	bgcolor=#ddd		W 4–0 vs. Connecticut – (Bloomington, IN)	W 2–0 vs. Air Force – (Bloomington, IN)	W 1–0 vs. #7 Notre Dame – (Bloomington, IN)	L 0–2 vs. #11 Maryland – (Santa Barbara, CA)	bgcolor=#ddd
11	Lexington	Maryland	bgcolor=#ddd		W 1–0 vs. NC State – (College Park, MD)	W 2–0 vs. #6 Duke – (Durham, NC)	W 1–0 vs. #3 Kentucky – (Lexington, KY)	W 2–0 vs. #2 Indiana – (Santa Barbara, CA)	W 1–0 vs. Akron – (Santa Barbara, CA)
—	Bloomington	Michigan	T 1–1 (W 11–10 PK) vs. Princeton – (Ann Arbor, MI)	T 0–0 (L 11–12 PK) vs. #7 Notre Dame – (South Bend, IN)	bgcolor=#ddd		bgcolor=#ddd		bgcolor=#ddd		bgcolor=#ddd
—	Louisville	Michigan State	W 2–0 vs. UIC – (East Lansing, MI)	W 2–1 (OT) vs. #4 Louisville – (Louisville, KY)	W 1–0 vs. #13 Georgetown – (Washington, DC)	W 2–1 vs. James Madison– (East Lansing, MI)	L 1–5 vs. Akron – (Santa Barbara, CA)	bgcolor=#ddd
		W–L–T (%):						Total:

Rankings

National rankings

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV		No votes received

	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Final
Indiana		2	6	4	2	2	2	2	4	2	2	2	2	1	None released				3
	5	5	3	5	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	3	3	1	1	1	1	3
Maryland		RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	15	None released				1
	21	21	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	RV	NV	NV	22	RV	10	10	8	7	3	1
Michigan		21	NV	RV	RV	21	19	14	16	18	RV	RV	RV	RV	None released				24
	15	15	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	22	18	17	RV	NV	NV	NV	21	21	21	21
Michigan State		7	5	3	4	5	5	13	8	13	12	17	RV	RV	None released				4
	9	9	11	13	7	7	9	16	13	14	20	17	19	25	7	5	4	4
Northwestern		NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	None released				NV
	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Ohio State		NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	None released				NV
	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Penn State		NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	None released				NV
	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Rutgers		NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	None released				NV
	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Wisconsin		12	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	RV	RV	NV	NV	NV	RV	NV	None released				NV
	18	18	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

Week	Offensive			Defensive
	Player	Position	Team	Player	Position	Team
Week 1^[16]	A.J. Palazzolo	MF	Indiana	Jimmy Hague	GK	Michigan State
				Miha Mišković	GK	Northwestern
Week 2^[17]	Andrew Gutman	DF	Indiana	Trey Muse	GK	Indiana
Week 3^[18]	DeJuan Jones	FW	Michigan State	Miha Mišković	GK	Northwestern
Week 4^[19]	William Herve	MF	Maryland	Jackson Ragen	DF	Michigan
Week 5^[20]	Ryan Sierakowski	FW	Michigan State	Ryan Gallagher	DF	Penn State
Week 6^[21]	Umar Farouk Osman	FW	Michigan	Dean Cowdroy	GK	Wisconsin
Week 7^[22]	Noah Melick	FW	Wisconsin	Patrick Nielsen	DF	Michigan State
				Josh Levine	GK	Penn State
Week 8^[23]	Andrew Gutman	DF	Indiana	Dani Marks	DF	Penn State
Week 9^[24]	Trevor Swartz	MF	Indiana	Dean Cowdroy	GK	Wisconsin
Week 10^[25]	Andrew Gutman	DF	Indiana	Trey Muse	GK	Indiana

Postseason honors

2018 Big Ten Men's Soccer Individual Awards^[26]
Award	Recipient(s)
Offensive Player of the Year	Chris Mueller, Wisconsin
Defensive Player of the Year	Grant Lillard, Indiana
Midfielder of the Year	Eryk Williamson, Maryland
Goalkeeper of the Year	Jimmy Hague, Michigan State
Coach of the Year	Chaka Daley, Michigan
Freshman of the Year	Mason Toye, Indiana

2018 Big Ten Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams
First Team Honorees	Second Team Honorees	All-Freshman Team Honorees	Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Forwards: Chris Mueller, Sr., Wisconsin Mason Toye, Fr., Indiana Jack Hallahan, So., Michigan Midfield: Eryk Williamson, Jr., Maryland Ken Krolicki, Sr., Michigan State Jake Rozhansky, Sr., Maryland Francesco Moore, Jr., Indiana Defense: Grant Lillard, Sr., Indiana Jimmy Fiscus, Sr., Michigan State Andrew Gutman,Jr., Indiana Goalkeeper: Jimmy Hague, Jr., Michigan State	Forwards: Griffin Dorsey, Fr., Indiana Francis Atuahene, Jr., Michigan DeJuan Jones, Jr., Michigan State Ryan Sierakowski, Jr., Michigan State Midfield: Abdi Mohamed, Jr., Ohio State Charles Mertz, Jr., Michigan Mark Segbers, Sr., Wisconsin Defense: Donovan Pines, So., Maryland Timmy Mehl, Jr., Indiana Marcello Borges, Jr., Michigan Goalkeeper: Trey Muse, Fr., Indiana	Mohammed Zakyi, Michigan Marc Ybarra, Michigan Umar Farouk Osman, Michigan Garrett Opperman, Northwestern Ethan Beckford, Penn State Mason Toye, Indiana Griffin Dorsey, Indiana Trey Muse, Indiana Tommy Katsyiannis, Northwestern Vincent Borden, Rutgers Bryce Washington, Rutgers	Jack Griffith, Sr., Indiana Andrew Samuels, Jr., Maryland Tristan Jacob, Sr., Michigan Brad Centala, Sr., Michigan State Francisco Tomasino, Sr., Northwestern Hunter Robertson, Sr., Ohio State Dani Marks, Jr., Penn State Erik Sa, Sr., Rutgers Isaac Schenkler, Jr., Wisconsin

National awards

Award	Winner	School	Ref.
Hermann Trophy	Andrew Gutman	Indiana	^[27]
TDS National POTY Award			^[28]

2019 MLS draft

See main article: 2019 MLS SuperDraft.

Five 2018 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season players were drafted in the first round of the 2018 draft (Griffin Dorsey - 6th, Dayne St. Clair - 7th, DeJuan Jones - 11th, Chase Gaspers - 15th, Ryan Sierakowski - 23rd)^{[29] [30]} and 12 were drafted overall in the draft.^{[31] [32]}

		Player		Team	School
1	6		FW	Toronto FC	Indiana (So.)
1	7		GK	Minnesota United	Maryland (Sr.)
1	11		MF	New England Revolution	Michigan State (Sr.)
1	15		DF	New England Revolution	Maryland (R-Sr.)
1	23		FW	Portland Timbers	Michigan State (Sr.)
2	28		DF	Colorado Rapids	Michigan (Jr.)
2	30		GK	FC Cincinnati	Michigan State (R-Sr.)
2	32		DF	New York Red Bulls	Indiana (Sr.)
2	33		DF	Houston Dynamo	Maryland (Sr.)
2	34		MF	Montreal Impact	Maryland (Sr.)
3	71		DF	Portland Timbers	Indiana (Sr.)
4	76		MF	Colorado Rapids	Michigan (Jr.)

Homegrown players

The Homegrown Player Rule is a Major League Soccer program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008,^[33] every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the MLS SuperDraft.

To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year.^[34] Players can play college soccer and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.

Four 2018 Big Ten Conference men's soccer season players signed homegrown contracts with their parent clubs ahead of the 2019 MLS season.

Original MLS team	Player		School	class=unsortable	Ref.
Chicago Fire			Indiana (Sr.)	^[35]
D.C. United			Maryland (Jr.)	^[36]
New England Revolution			Indiana (So.)	^[37]
Seattle Sounders FC			Indiana (So.)	^[38]

External links

• Big Ten Men's Soccer

Notes and References

1. Web site: Big Ten Men's Soccer Record Book. Big Ten Conference. July 18, 2017. December 21, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161221090825/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/big10/sports/m-soccer/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/MSOCRecordBook.pdf. dead.
2. Web site: NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Brackets. National Collegiate Athletic Association. ncaa.org. July 17, 2017.
3. Web site: Todd Yeagley. iuhoosiers.com. Indiana University. November 11, 2018.
4. Web site: Sasho Cirovski. umterps.com. University of Maryland. November 11, 2018.
5. Web site: Michigan Men's Soccer Year-by-Year Results. mgoblue. Board of Regents of the University of Michigan. November 11, 2018.
6. Web site: 2018 Men's Soccer Record Book. issuu.com. Issuu Inc.. November 11, 2018.
7. Web site: Damon Rensing. msuspartans.com. Michigan State Spartans Athletics. November 11, 2018.
8. Web site: Indiana Unanimously Claims First Place In Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll . https://web.archive.org/web/20180909035520/https://bigten.org/news/2018/8/15/indiana-unanimously-claims-first-place-in-mens-soccer-preseason-poll.aspx?path=msoc . dead . September 9, 2018 . . September 8, 2018 . August 15, 2018.
9. Web site: 2018 NCAA DI MEN - PRESEASON . United Soccer Coaches . August 7, 2018 . August 7, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121210/http://unitedsoccercoaches.org/web/Rankings/College_Rankings/NCAA_DI_MEN/web/Rankings/NCAA/DI_MEN.aspx . December 15, 2018 . dead .
10. Web site: College Soccer News 2018 Preseason National Poll . CollegeSoccerNews.com . August 21, 2018 . August 21, 2018 .
11. Web site: D1 Mens Soccer Rankings . HERO Sports News . August 21, 2018 . August 21, 2018.
12. Web site: Soccer America Preseason Men's College Top 25 . Soccer America . August 24, 2018 . August 24, 2018 .
13. Web site: Men's DI Top 25 . Advanced Sports Media, LLC . August 21, 2018 . August 21, 2018 .
14. Web site: Big Ten 2018-2019 Championship/Tournament Schedule . https://web.archive.org/web/20180909073657/https://bigten.org/sports/2018/8/20/championships-2019-schedule.aspx . dead . September 9, 2018 . . September 8, 2018.
15. Web site: Indiana wins Big Ten men's soccer title. Peegs.com. en-US. 2019-01-14.
16. Web site: Indiana, Michigan State and Northwestern Earn Weekly Men’s Soccer Awards . https://web.archive.org/web/20180909035709/https://bigten.org/news/2018/8/28/indiana-michigan-state-and-northwestern-earn-weekly-mens-soccer-awards.aspx?path=msoc . dead . September 9, 2018 . . September 8, 2018 . August 28, 2018.
17. Web site: Indiana Earns Men’s Soccer Player of the Week Awards . https://web.archive.org/web/20180909035617/https://bigten.org/news/2018/9/4/indiana-earns-mens-soccer-player-of-the-week-awards.aspx?path=msoc . dead . September 9, 2018 . . September 8, 2018 . September 4, 2018.
18. Web site: Michigan State and Northwestern Earn Weekly Men’s Soccer Honors . https://web.archive.org/web/20180912022128/https://bigten.org/news/2018/9/11/michigan-state-and-northwestern-earn-weekly-mens-soccer-honors.aspx . dead . September 12, 2018 . . September 11, 2018 . September 11, 2018.
19. Web site: Michigan and Maryland Earn Weekly Men’s Soccer Honors. https://web.archive.org/web/20181226133903/https://bigten.org/news/2018/9/18/michigan-and-maryland-earn-weekly-mens-soccer-honors.aspx?path=msoc. dead. December 26, 2018. Big Ten Conference. en. 2018-12-26.
20. Web site: Michigan State and Penn State Earn Weekly Men’s Soccer Honors. https://web.archive.org/web/20181226133940/https://bigten.org/news/2018/9/25/michigan-state-and-penn-state-earn-weekly-mens-soccer-honors.aspx?path=msoc. dead. December 26, 2018. Big Ten Conference. en. 2018-12-26.
21. Web site: Michigan and Wisconsin Earn Weekly Men’s Soccer Honors. https://web.archive.org/web/20181226232619/https://bigten.org/news/2018/10/2/michigan-and-wisconsin-earn-weekly-mens-soccer-honors.aspx?path=msoc. dead. December 26, 2018. Big Ten Conference. en. 2018-12-26.
22. Web site: Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin Earn Weekly Men’s Soccer Honors. https://web.archive.org/web/20181226232613/https://bigten.org/news/2018/10/9/michigan-state-penn-state-and-wisconsin-earn-weekly-mens-soccer-honors.aspx?path=msoc. dead. December 26, 2018. Big Ten Conference. en. 2018-12-26.
23. Web site: Indiana and Penn State Earn Weekly Men’s Soccer Honors. https://web.archive.org/web/20181226133854/https://bigten.org/news/2018/10/16/indiana-and-penn-state-earn-weekly-mens-soccer-honors.aspx?path=msoc. dead. December 26, 2018. Big Ten Conference. en. 2018-12-26.
24. Web site: Indiana and Wisconsin Earn Weekly Men’s Soccer Honors. https://web.archive.org/web/20181226133826/https://bigten.org/news/2018/10/23/indiana-and-wisconsin-earn-weekly-mens-soccer-honors.aspx?path=msoc. dead. December 26, 2018. Big Ten Conference. en. 2018-12-26.
25. Web site: Indiana Sweeps Weekly Men’s Soccer Honors. https://web.archive.org/web/20181226232508/https://bigten.org/news/2018/10/30/indiana-sweeps-weekly-mens-soccer-honors.aspx?path=msoc. dead. December 26, 2018. Big Ten Conference. en. 2018-12-26.
26. Web site: 2018 Big Ten Men’s Soccer Postseason Awards.
27. Web site: Andrew Gutman, Catarina Macario named Hermann Trophy winners . . . March 10, 2019 . January 4, 2019.
28. Web site: Staff . 2018 Men’s Division I Postseason Awards . . March 10, 2019 . December 17, 2018.
29. Web site: MLS SuperDraft 2019: Full Results . Hero Sports . March 10, 2019 . January 11, 2019.
30. Web site: Jones . Matt . MLS SuperDraft 2019: Complete Round-by-Round Results and Twitter Reaction . . . March 10, 2019 . January 11, 2019.
31. Web site: Ten Big Ten Students Selected in 2019 MLS SuperDraft . https://web.archive.org/web/20190112052139/https://bigten.org/news/2019/1/11/mens-soccer-ten-big-ten-students-selected-in-2019-mls-superdraft.aspx . dead . January 12, 2019 . . March 10, 2019 . January 11, 2019.
32. Web site: Clark . Travis . 2019 MLS SuperDraft Grades . MLSSoccer.com . March 10, 2019 . January 11, 2019.
33. Web site: MLS Draft 2013: Homegrown player initiative rises as draft declines. Sporting News. 2019-03-10. 2013-03-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20130312005637/http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2013-01-16/mls-draft-2013-fc-dallas-new-england-revolution-la-galaxy-schellas-hyndman-gyasi. dead.
34. Web site: MLS 2012 Roster Rules . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120220005943/http://www.mlssoccer.com/2012-mls-roster-rules . 2012-02-20 .
35. Web site: Fire add Jeremiah Gutjahr on Homegrown deal College Soccer. TopDrawerSoccer.com. en. 2019-03-10.
36. Web site: D.C. United reaches deal with Maryland star Donovan Pines. Goff. Steven. January 18, 2019. The Washington Post. March 10, 2019.
37. Web site: New England Revolution sign forward Justin Rennicks to Homegrown deal. Rosano. Nick. January 18, 2019.
38. Web site: Sounders take Air Force standout Tucker Bone in first round of 2019 MLS SuperDraft. Baker. Geoff. January 11, 2019. The Seattle Times.