Spartans Picked Fifth in Pre-Season Poll

Aug. 23, 2011

East Lansing, Mich. - The No. 19 MSU men's soccer team has been tabbed fifth in the pre-season conference polls, as announced by the Big Ten Conference office on Tuesday, Aug. 23. The rankings were done by the seven conference coaches. The Conference also announced it's list of Players to Watch, and the three MSU players are seniors Rubin Bega (Harper Woods, Mich.) and Cyrus Saydee (Lansing, Mich.), and a returning all-Big Ten selection, junior Kevin Cope (Canton, Mich.)

Indiana emerged as the pre-season favorite in the coaches survey, followed by Ohio State, Penn State, and 2010 College Cup semifinalist Michigan in fourth place. The Spartans are followed by Northwestern and Wisconsin, respectively.

The Spartans lost eight players to graduation from last year's team which advanced to the NCAA Round of 16, but have nine seniors on the current team, which opens its season this Saturday when it hosts Detroit at DeMartin Stadium (2 p.m.) The Spartans once again will have a challenging slate ahead of them in 2011, as eight of the teams on their regular-season schedule participated in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

BIG TEN MEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
1. Indiana
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. Michigan
5. Michigan State
6. Northwestern
7. Wisconsin