ROSEMONT, Ill. – Penn State has been selected to win the 2022 Big Ten Conference men’s soccer championship, according to a poll of the Big Ten coaches released Monday.
The defending Big Ten regular season and tournament champion Nittany Lions, were picked first in the 2022 Big Ten preseason poll by the conference’s nine head coaches. Indiana finished second in this year’s preseason poll while Maryland was chosen third. Rounding out the top five in the team voting were Michigan and Rutgers.
The conference also unveiled the 2022 Big Ten Players to Watch List on Monday, as selected by the conference coaches. Highlighting the list are 11 individuals who earned conference recognition in 2021-22, including six first-team All-Big Ten selections in Indiana’s Daniel Munie, Maryland’s Josh Bolma, Michigan State’s Jack Beck, Northwestern’s Justin Weiss, Ohio State’s Laurence Wootton and Penn State’s Peter Mangione.
Mangione was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2021-22, while Munie was the Defensive Player of the Year and Bolma was tabbed the Freshman of the Year.
The 2022 Big Ten men’s soccer season kicks off this weekend, with seven teams opening play on Thursday and the remaining two making their 2022 debut on Friday.
The complete 2022 Big Ten Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll and Players to Watch List can be found below:
2022 BIG TEN MEN’S SOCCER PRESEASON POLL
1. Penn State
2. Indiana
3. Maryland
4. Michigan
5. Rutgers
6. Michigan State
7. Northwestern
8. Wisconsin
9. Ohio State
2022 BIG TEN MEN’S SOCCER PLAYERS TO WATCH LIST
Herbert Endeley, Sr., M, Indiana
Daniel Munie, RS-Sr., D, Indiana
Ryan Wittenbrink, RS-Sr., M, Indiana
Josh Bolma, RS-So., F, Maryland
Malcolm Johnston, Sr., M, Maryland
Niklas Neumann, Sr., GK, Maryland
Bryce Blevins, Jr., M, Michigan
Kevin Buca, Grad., M, Michigan
Iñaki Rodriguez, Sr., M, Michigan
Jack Beck, Grad., M, Michigan State
Grayson Mercer, Jr., F, Michigan State
Will Perkins, RS-Sr., D, Michigan State
Vicente Castro, Sr., M, Northwestern
Ethan Dudley, Grad., D, Northwestern
Justin Weiss, Jr., F, Northwestern
Xavier Green, Sr., M, Ohio State
Laurence Wootton, Jr., M, Ohio State
Deylen Vellios, Jr., D, Ohio State
Obafemi Awodesu, Jr., D, Penn State
Seth Kuhn, Grad., M, Penn State
Peter Mangione, Jr., F, Penn State
Matt Acosta, So., M, Rutgers
MD Myers, Sr., F, Rutgers
Jackson Temple, Sr., F, Rutgers
Tim Bielic, Jr., M, Wisconsin
Inaki Iribarren, Sr., M, Wisconsin
Ignasi Marques, Sr., M, Wisconsin