Men's DI Preseason Best XI teams announced
After a short offseason, the new men's Division I college campaign is set to kick off on August 26.
As usual, TopDrawerSoccer announces the Preseason Best XI teams, aiming to project the top players in college soccer for the upcoming season.
One of the knock-on effects (in a good way) of players receiving an extra season of elibility is that many players are using it. That's led to a number of returning players from the spring season; along with that, MLS teams built rosters at the start of the year, so very few players left in the summer to turn pro.
The bulk of the Preseason teams hail from the traditional powers, with Indiana, Stanford, Georgetown and Wake Forest well represented. Last year's College Cup squads are as well, including Marshall and Pittsburgh.
Preseason Best XI Teams
First Team
F: Victor Bezerra (Indiana), Zach Ryan (Stanford), Valentin Noel (Pittsburgh
M: Veljko Petkovic (Pittsburgh), Vitor Dias (Marshall), Dante Polvara (Georgetown), Dylan Teves (Washington)
D: Charlie Ostrem (Washington), Nico Benalcazar (Wake Forest), Jasper Loeffelsend (Pittsburgh)
GK: Roman Celentano (Indiana)
Second Team
F: Nicolo Mulatero (Missouri State), Kyle Holcomb (Wake Forest), Matthew Myers (High Point)
M: Noel Caliskan (Loyola Marymount), Sebastian Schacht (St. Mary's (CA)), Gino Vivi (UCF), Sean Zawadzki (Georgetown)
D: Spencer Glass (Indiana), Kyle Hiebert (Missouri State), Justin Malou (Clemson)
GK: Giannis Nikopolidis (Georgetown)
Third Team
F: CJ Tibbling (Seton Hall), Ousseni Bouda (Stanford), Diego Gutierrez (Creighton)
M: Noah Jensen (Oakland), Sebastian Chalbaud (High Point), Marc Ybarra (Michigan), Sofiane Djeffal (Oregon State)
D: Esai Easley (Grand Canyon), Bridger Hansen (New Hampshire), Nathan Dossantos (Marshall)
GK: Alec Smir (North Carolina)
Freshman Best XI
F: Caden Stafford (Maryland), Sandor Pelle (Yale), Ilijah Paul (Washington)
M: William Reilly (Stanford), Bailey Sparks (SMU), Zemi Rodriguez (American), Tommy Mihalic (Indiana)
D: D Kieran Sargeant (Georgetown), Dante Huckaby (Louisville), Jonas Buechte (Akron)
GK: Emmanuel Smalios (St. John's)
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