Owensboro, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan men's soccer team has been picked to finish seventh out of 11 teams in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in the 2025 season, as announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.
"[Our ranking] is definitely motivating. Last year's group went on a historic run, for sure, and our main goal is to repeat last year's good fortune," head coach John Fusco said. "This new group has many other factors motivating them, so if we put everything together, we'll have a strong chance of emulating that success once again."
The Panthers were picked ninth in the conference last year before making a run to the G-MAC Championship for the first time in program history. Wesleyan will look to prove the doubters wrong once again in the upcoming campaign.
Wesleyan received 68 points in the annual Great Midwest Men's Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, comfortably ahead of Walsh in eighth with 52 points.
Tiffin came out on top in the poll with 105 points and six first place votes. Findlay earned four first place votes and totaled 94 points to finish second, and Lake Erie rounded out the top three with 90 points. Interestingly, Thomas More earned the final first place vote but slotted in fifth in the overall poll with 76 points, right behind Ashland in fourth with 77 points.
The Panthers, who went 10-6-4 (7-4-3 G-MAC) in 2024, have many returners from last year's historic group, highlighted by captains Haakon Torvbraaten, Hannes Gronevik, and Cole Greenshields. Additional returning contributors from that group include Cal Nolan, Braeden Myers-Curry, Jersey Lopez, and Pavel Valchev, among many others.
"Being picked low again just makes us more motivated," Torvbraaten said. "We've been here before and proved what we are capable of. Last year wasn't luck, and we are ready to earn that respect all over again."
Wesleyan opens the 2025 campaign at home against Missouri – St. Louis on September 4th at 5:00 PM.
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