By: Joshua Schroeder, NACC Assistant Commissioner
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Dominican University has been named the favorite to win the 2022 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) men's soccer title according to the league's preseason poll released Thursday.
The 2021 NACC Tournament champion Stars received 328 points and 17 of a possible 26 first-place votes in the poll, which consists of rankings by each of the league's head coaches and head athletics communications professionals. Defending regular-season champion St. Norbert College ranks second with 310 points and eight first-place votes, while Milwaukee School of Engineering (272) edged Benedictine University (256) for third place. Concordia University Wisconsin (239) sits fifth and Aurora University is sixth.
Concordia University Chicago ranked seventh with 161 points and the remaining first-place vote followed by Wisconsin Lutheran College (135), Illinois Institute of Technology (120), and Lakeland University (119). Marian University (103), Rockford University (66), and Edgewood College (38) round out this year's poll.
Fall 2021 Recap: St. Norbert went 10-2-0 in NACC play, finishing atop the ladder with 30 points in just its first season in the league. Stalwarts Benedictine and Dominican both went 9-2-1 and were level second on 28 points. The Stars, seeded second in the NACC Tournament, blitzed the Eagles, 5-1, in one semifinal, while the top-seeded Green Knights edged past fourth-seeded MSOE, 1-0. In the final, Dominican and St. Norbert played to a 1-1 draw with the visiting Stars capturing the tournament crown in a penalty-kick shootout. Dominican fell to St. Olaf, 3-0, in an NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship first-round match.
New Coaches: The lone new head coach in the NACC this season is Chad Flanders at Concordia Chicago. Flanders most recently served as an assistant men's coach at Aurora. Prior to Aurora, he served as the Technical Director at Campton United Soccer Club in St. Charles, Illinois from 2012-18. Flanders also led the men's program at Central Arkansas from 2003-11, guiding the program as it transitioned from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I.
2022 Schedule: The 2022 NACC schedule gets underway Thursday, Sept. 1 with 10 nonconference games as all but Edgewood, Lakeland and St. Norbert take to the pitch. Edgewood follows on Friday, Sept. 2 with a match at Grace Christian (Mich.), while Lakeland hosts Ripon and St. Norbert entertains Luther in season openers on Saturday, Sept. 3. The league slate begins with six matches on Wednesday, Sept. 14 as Concordia Chicago entertains Benedictine, Illinois Tech travels to Dominican, Wisconsin Lutheran hosts Marian, Lakeland welcomes St. Norbert, Edgewood ventures to MSOE, and Aurora is at home against Concordia Wisconsin. Rockford drew the opening bye in the NACC schedule and will travel to Marian in its league opener on Saturday, Sept. 17.
NACC Tournament: The top six teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the NACC's postseason tournament. First-round games are slated for Sunday, Oct. 30, followed by semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 2, and the tournament final on Saturday, Nov. 5. The tournament champion receives the NACC's automatic berth into the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship.
Rules Changes: There are two major rule changes that may pique the interest of the more casual observers of collegiate soccer. First is the elimination of overtime during the regular season. All regular-season games tied after 90 minutes of play will be considered draws. The second also concerns overtime play but in the postseason. If a postseason game - NACC or NCAA - is tied after 90 minutes of regulation play, the teams will play two full 10-minute overtime sessions. If one team has more goals after the two extra sessions, they are the winner. If the teams are still tied, the match progresses to a penalty-kick shootout as was previously the case. This second rule change eliminates the "golden goal" or "sudden victory" aspect of overtime.
2022 NACC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll
| Institution |
Points |
| Dominican (17) |
328 |
| St. Norbert (8) |
310 |
| MSOE |
272 |
| Benedictine |
256 |
| Concordia Wisconsin |
239 |
| Aurora |
219 |
| Concordia Chicago (1) |
161 |
| Wisconsin Lutheran |
135 |
| Illinois Tech |
120 |
| Lakeland |
119 |
| Marian |
103 |
| Rockford |
66 |
| Edgewood |
38 |
Note: First-place votes in parentheses.