2002 NWC Men's Soccer Coaches Poll - Northwest Conference Skip To Main Content

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2002 NWC Men's Soccer Coaches Poll

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2002 NWC Men's Soccer Coaches Poll

Whitworth Selected to Repeat in 2002
 

NWC Men's Soccer Coaches' Pre-Season Poll: 2001 records
School (1st) Pts. All NWC
1. Whitworth (Wash.) (6) 68 14-5-2 10-3-1
2. Puget Sound (Wash.) (1) 55 12-7-1 8-5-1
3. Linfield (Ore.) 40 12-7 9-5
4. Willamette (Ore.) 32 7-8 6-8
5. George Fox (Ore.) 29 10-7-1 9-5
6. Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) 27 6-8-2 5-7-2
7. Pacific (Ore.) (1) 25 6-9-2 3-9-2
8. Whitman (Wash.) 22 4-12-3 2-10-2
(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis).

Defending champion Whitworth College has been picked to repeat as Northwest Conference titlists in men's soccer, according to a poll of NWC head coaches. The Pirates picked up six of eight first place votes and 68 total points in the poll, well ahead of second place Puget Sound.

Whitworth, which finished last season 14-5-2 overall and advanced to the NCAA West Regional final, must replace All-American defender Matt Stueckle and All-NWC goal keeper Doug Lupton. But the Pirates return second team All-NWC players Rawley Doggett, a defender, and Scott Kerwien, a midfielder.

Puget Sound (12-7-1 in 2001) returns a pair of first team All-NWC players from last season. Chris Raymond is a three-time All-NWC forward and Justin Hughes is an all-conference midfielder. The Loggers picked up one first place vote and 55 total poll points.

Linfield (40 points) finished third in the poll and must replace a pair of key players from last season's 12-7 runner-up team. The Wildcats lost NWC Player of the Year Shannon Hopkins and All-NWC forward Chris McDonald to graduation.

Only ten points separated the fourth through eighth places in the poll. Willamette (32 points) finished fourth and returns All-NWC forward Mike Semenza. George Fox (29), last season's co-runner up with Linfield, must replace Merrick Brownlee and Bryan Erickson, a pair of first team all-stars. Pacific Lutheran (27) followed in sixth place. Pacific (25) is seventh in the poll despite picking up the other first place vote. Whitman (22) rounded out the voting in eighth place.

The season gets underway for many of the schools on Friday, August 30th.