NWC POLL: Bruins Picked to Finish 8th in 2012 NWC Men’s Soccer as Del Rio Era Begins
NEWBERG, Ore. - A new era begins at George Fox University this fall as Luis Del Rio, a proven winner at Woodburn (Ore.) High School, assumes the reins of the men’s soccer program with the hope of leading the Bruins higher than the eighth-place finish in the 2012 Northwest Conference race predicted for them in a pre-season poll of the league’s eight coaches.
Del Rio, who led Woodburn to a 51-4 record from 2009-11 and state championships in 2010 and 2011, welcomes back 15 letter winners and eight starters in an effort to improve upon last year’s 2-15-1 overall record and 0-13-1 NWC record that landed the Bruins in eighth for the fourth year in a row. Headlining the list of returnees is sophomore forward Luke Hammer, who led the team and tied for fourth in the conference with seven goals scored.
George Fox collected eight points in the balloting by the NWC coaches, who picked every team to finish the 2012 season in the same spot each ended in 2011. Last year’s co-champions, Pacific Lutheran University, which won the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament, and Whitworth University, are the frontrunners this season with 50 points and 45 points respectively.
PLU, which is ranked No. 25 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America / Continental Tire DIII Men’s Soccer National Pre-season poll, had five first-place points. The Lutes, led by NWC Coach of the Year John Yorke, will have to fill the offensive void created by the graduation of Spencer Augustin and Chad Kearns, the NWC’s top two leading scorers last season.
Whitworth finished with two first-place votes despite graduating all seven All-NWC players from a year ago, including six First Team members. The Pirates will be led by honorable mention All-NWC selections Robby Ubben at forward and Colin Shockman at defender.
The University of Puget Sound was third in the poll with 33 points and the final first-place vote. Second Team All-NWC goalkeeper Chris McDonald will once again anchor the Loggers’ defense, while fellow Second Team selections Carson Swope at midfielder and Andrew White at forward will pace the offense.
Whitman College with 30 points and Willamette University with 27 points were fourth and fifth in the poll. First Team All-NWC forward Leland Matthaeus will be the leading returnee for the Missionaries. The Bearcats return Second Team All-NWC forwards Erik Kaufman and Adan Vazquez.
Pacific University’s 20 points put the Boxers in sixth place, coming off an injury-plagued campaign in 2011 in which the team started 18 different lineups. Honorable mention All-NWC midfielder Alex Arrington will lead the Boxers.
Linfield College with 13 points preceded George Fox in seventh. The Wildcats also have a new head coach in Chuck Bechtol, a 1992 Linfield graduate.
The first game of the season will be on Aug. 26 when Pacific hosts the University of Fraser Valley (British Columbia). George Fox gets going on Saturday, Sept. 1, hosting the Oregon Institute of Technology at 7:00 p.m. at the Austin Athletic Complex. That game will be part of a doubleheader with the Bruin women’s team, which will play the Oregon Tech women at 5:00 p.m.
|
2012 NWC Men's
2011 records |
||||
|
School |
(1st) |
Pts. |
All |
NWC |
|
1. Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) |
(5) |
50 |
15-4 |
12-2 |
|
2. Whitworth (Wash.) |
(2) |
45 |
14-3-1 |
12-2 |
|
3. Puget Sound (Wash) |
(1) |
39 |
11-6 |
10-4 |
|
4. Whitman (Wash.) |
|
30 |
9-8-2 |
9-5 |
|
5. Willamette (Ore.) |
|
27 |
6-9-2 |
5-8-1 |
|
6. Pacific (Ore.) |
|
20 |
5-12-1 |
5-8-1 |
|
7. Linfield (Ore.) |
|
13 |
2-14-1 |
1-12-1 |
|
8. George Fox (Ore.) |
|
8 |
2-15-1 |
0-13-1 |
(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Coaches cannot vote for their own team).