2016 Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer season


The 2016 Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer season was the 26th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference.
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars were the defending regular season champions, while the Drake Bulldogs were the defending tournament champions.
The SIU Edwardsville Cougars defeated the host Missouri State Bears in the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Tournament final 1–0 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The regular season champion Loyola Ramblers received an at-large bid to the tournament, giving the MVC two entries for the first time since 2011.
Loyola defeated UIC 2–0 in the first round before falling in the second round at 15th ranked and 13th seeded Notre Dame 1–0.
SIUE tied at 13th ranked Michigan State before advancing to the second round in an epic penalty kick battle 9–8. The Cougars then tied at 11th ranked and 15th seeded Butler 0–0 and advanced to the third round on penalty kicks 5–4. SIUE finally fell at 2nd ranked and 2nd seeded Wake Forest 2–1.

Changes from 2015

The MVC expanded the conference schedule from six games to eight. Each of the seven schools played a home-and-home series with two conference opponents and single games against the other four. The teams playing home-and-home series will change each year.

Teams

TeamLocationStadiumCapacityHead CoachUniform supplier
Bradley BravesPeoria, IllinoisShea Stadium Jim DeRose adidas
Central Arkansas BearsConway, ArkansasBill Stephens Track/Soccer Complex Ross Duncan adidas
Drake BulldogsDes Moines, IowaCownie Sports Complex Gareth Smith adidas
Evansville Purple AcesEvansville, IndianaArad McCutchan Stadium Marshall Ray adidas
Loyola RamblersChicago, IllinoisLoyola Soccer Park Neil Jones Nike
Missouri State BearsSpringfield, MissouriRobert W. Plaster Stadium John Leamy adidas
SIU Edwardsville CougarsEdwardsville, IllinoisRalph Korte Stadium Mario Sanchez adidas

Season outlook

2016 Preseason MVC Coaches' Poll
RankTeam Points
1SIUE 45
2Drake 39
3Loyola34
4Missouri State 32
4Bradley25
6Central Arkansas12
7Evansville9

2016 Preseason MVC All-Conference Team
PlayerSchoolPositionClassHometown
Wes CarsonCentral ArkansasForwardSeniorFort Smith, Arkansas
Elliot Collier †LoyolaForwardJuniorHamilton, New Zealand
Jack GriffenMissouri StateMidfielderSeniorBeverley, England
Ivan GutierrezSIUEMidfielderSeniorHallandale Beach, Florida
Devyn JambgaSIUEForwardJuniorHarare, Zimbabwe
Logan KettererBradleyGoalkeeperSeniorRacine, Wisconsin
Austin Ledbetter †SIUEDefenderSeniorSt. Charles, Missouri
Fabian LifkaLoyolaMidfielderSophomoreKelkheim, Germany
Mueng Sunday †DrakeMidfielderSeniorCoralville, Iowa
Kyle Thomson †LoyolaMidfielderJuniorPark Ridge, Illinois
James Wypych †DrakeMidfielderSeniorWellington, New Zealand

† = Also on 2015 Preseason MVC All-Conference Team

Regular season

Rankings

NSCAA National Poll

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West Region rankings

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NCAA RPI

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MVC Players of the Week

Postseason

MVC Tournament

The second-seeded SIUE Cougars won the tournament, beating the tournament host and fifth-seeded Missouri State Bears 1–0 in the championship match. It was SIUE's second Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Tournament championship.

NCAA Tournament

SeedRegionSchool1st Round2nd Round3rd RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsChampionship
—4SIUE@ #13 Michigan State
Tied 1–1; won PK shoot-out 9–8		@ #11 Butler
Tied 0–0; won PK shoot-out 5–4		@ #2 Wake Forest
Lost 2–1		———
—2#17 Loyolavs UIC
Won 2–0		@ #15 Notre Dame
Lost 1–0		————

[2017 MLS SuperDraft]

RoundPick #MLS teamPlayerPositionCollegeOther
3
53
FC Dallas Austin LedbetterDefenderSIUE
4
71
Columbus Crew SC Logan KettererGoalkeeperBradley

Honors

2016 NSCAA NCAA Division I Men's All-West Region Teams

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2016 [CoSIDA] Academic All-America Teams

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Second Team

James Wypych. Senior Forward, Drake, 3.57 GPA, International relations

Third Team

Clark Emerson. Junior.Defender Bradley; 4.00 GPA, Finance

2016 [CoSIDA] Academic All-District Teams

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Only All-District players are eligible for the Academic All-America ballot.

District 5 (IL, IN, MI, OH)

Clark Emerson. Junior. Bradley; 4.00 GPA, Finance
Kirill Likhovid, Senior, Loyola,3.53 GPA; Communication networks & security
Jacob Taylor. Junior, Bradley, 3.78 GPA, Mechanical engineering

District 6 (AR, IA, LA, MN, MO, MS, ND, SD, WI)

Steven Enna, Junior, Drake, 3.55 GPA, Business studies
James Grunert, Senior, Drake, 3.79 GPA, Health sciences
Chris Holmes, Sophomore, Central Arkansas, 4.00 GPA, Undecided
Ben LeMay, Senior, Drake, 3.78 GPA, Pharmacy MBA
Rob Oslica, Junior. Missouri State, 3.70 GPA, Cell & molecular biology
Liam Priestley, Junior, Missouri State, 3.48 GPA, Finance
Phil Woods, Senior Missouri State, 3.82 GPA, Entertainment management
James Wypych. Senior, Drake, 3.57 GPA, International relations

2016 NSCAA NCAA Division I Men's Scholar All-America Teams

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Second Team
PositionNameClassSchoolMajorGPAHometown
GoalkeeperAndrew ChekadonovSeniorLoyola University ChicagoAccounting3.61St. Louis, Missouri
MidfielderIan McGrathJuniorUniversity of EvansvilleExercise Science3.35New Lenox, Illinois

NSCAA 2015-16 College Team Academic Award

Source:
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America annually recognizes college and high school soccer programs that have excelled in the classroom by posting a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Six of the MVC's seven teams were honored this year. The schools, their head coaches, and their team GPAs are:
Bradley University, Jim DeRose, 3.18
Drake University, Gareth Smith, 3.33
University of Evansville, Marshall Ray, 3.19
Loyola University of Chicago, Neil Jones, 3.20
Missouri State University, Jon Leamy, 3.02
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Mario Sanchez, 3.26

2016 MVC awards

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2016 MVC All-Conference First Team

PlayerSchoolPositionClassHometown
Andrew ChekadanovLoyolaGoalkeeperR-JuniorSt. Louis, Missouri
Devyn JambgaSIUEForwardR-JuniorHarare, Zimbabwe
Niklas BrodackiCentral ArkansasForwardFreshmanNorrkoping, Sweden
James WypychDrakeMidfielderSeniorWellington, New Zealand
Jared RobinsonEvansvilleForwardSeniorPowell, Ohio
Emmerich HoeggMissouri StateForwardR-SeniorCrestview, Florida
Ian McGrathEvansvilleMidfielderJuniorNew Lenox, Illinois
Mueng SundayDrakeMidfielderSeniorCoralville, Iowa
Elliot CollierLoyolaForwardJuniorHamilton, New Zealand
Brody KrausselLoyolaMidfielder/ForwardJuniorMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Austin Ledbetter SIUEDefenderSeniorSt. Charles, Missouri
Grant Stoneman LoyolaMidfielder/DefenderR-SophomoreSaint Charles, Illinois
Ryan Howe LoyolaMidfielderR-SeniorRockford, Illinois

2016 MVC All-Conference Second Team

PlayerSchoolPositionClassHometown
Kyle Dal SantoSIUEGoalkeeperJuniorBolingbrook, Illinois
Alec Lasinski LoyolaForwardSophomoreAnn Arbor, Michigan
Wes CarsonCentral ArkansasForwardSeniorFort Smith, Arkansas
Kyle Thomson LoyolaMidfielderJuniorPark Ridge, Illinois
Jack Griffin Missouri StateMidfielderSeniorBeverley, England
Zac BlaydesEvansvilleForwardSophomoreMidway, Kentucky
Mohamed AwadSIUEMidfielderJuniorHamilton, New Zealand
Kirill Likhovid LoyolaMidfielder/DefenderSeniorArlington Heights, Illinois
Andrew Kendall-Moullin SIUEDefenderSeniorFaribault, Minnesota
Robbie Oslica Missouri StateDefenderJuniorOzark, Missouri

2016 MVC All-Freshman Team

PlayerSchoolPositionHometown
Niklas BrodackiCentral ArkansasForwardNorrkoping, Sweden
Jonathan Gilkes Central ArkansasMidfielderBoras, Sweden
Marc Olsen Central ArkansasGoalkeeperCopenhagen, Denmark
Antonio Sanchez DrakeMidfielderCoralville, Iowa
Simon Waever EvansvilleDefenderHolte, Denmark
Marius Kullmann LoyolaDefenderFulda, Germany
Lachlan McLean SIUEForwardSydney, Australia

2016 MVC All-Tournament Team

Source=
2015 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Soccer Tournament MVP— Austin Ledbetter, SIUE
PlayerSchoolPosition
Richard OlsonBradleyForward
Wes CarsonCentral ArkansasForward
Mueng SundayDrakeMidfielder
Ian McGrathEvansvilleMidfielder
Zac BlaydesEvansvilleForward
Ryan HoweLoyolaMidfielder
Kevin EngesserLoyolaMidfielder/Defender
Rob OslicaMissouri StateDefender
Jake BuckleMissouri StateMidfielder/Forward
Emmerich HoeggMissouri StateForward
Kyle Dal SantoSIUEGoalkeeper
Devyn JambgaSIUEForward
Keegan McHughSIUEMidfielder
Austin LedbetterSIUEDefender

2016 MVC Men's Soccer Scholar-Athlete Teams

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The criteria for the All-MVC honor parallels the CoSIDA standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average. Also, students must have participated in at least 75 percent of the regular-season matches or played in the league tournament. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution.