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
Team Location Stadium Capacity Head coach Uniform supplier Bradley Braves Peoria, Illinois Shea Stadium Jim DeRose adidas Central Arkansas Bears Conway, Arkansas Bill Stephens Track/Soccer Complex Ross Duncan adidas Drake Bulldogs Des Moines, Iowa Cownie Sports Complex Gareth Smith adidas Evansville Purple Aces Evansville, Indiana Arad McCutchan Stadium Marshall Ray adidas Loyola Ramblers Chicago, Illinois Loyola Soccer Park Neil Jones Nike Missouri State Bears Springfield, Missouri Robert W. Plaster Stadium John Leamy adidas SIU Edwardsville Cougars Edwardsville, Illinois Ralph Korte Stadium Mario Sanchez adidas
Season outlook 2016 Preseason MVC Coaches' Poll Rank Team (1st-place votes) Points 1 SIUE (4) 45 2 Drake (1) 39 3 Loyola 34 4 Missouri State (2) 32 4 Bradley 25 6 Central Arkansas 12 7 Evansville 9
2016 Preseason MVC All-Conference Team Player School Position Class Hometown (High school) Wes Carson Central Arkansas Forward Senior Fort Smith, Arkansas (Fort Smith Southside H.S.) Elliot Collier † Loyola Forward Junior Hamilton, New Zealand (Saint Paul's Collegiate) Jack Griffen Missouri State Midfielder Senior Beverley, England (Beverley Grammar School) Ivan Gutierrez SIUE Midfielder Senior Hallandale Beach, Florida (Hallandale H.S) Devyn Jambga SIUE Forward Junior Harare, Zimbabwe (Harare International School) Logan Ketterer Bradley Goalkeeper Senior Racine, Wisconsin (The Prairie School) Austin Ledbetter † SIUE Defender Senior St. Charles, Missouri (CBC H.S) Fabian Lifka Loyola Midfielder Sophomore Kelkheim, Germany (Taunusgymnasium Koenigstein) Mueng Sunday † Drake Midfielder Senior Coralville, Iowa (Iowa City West H.S.) Kyle Thomson † Loyola Midfielder Junior Park Ridge, Illinois (Maine South H.S.) James Wypych † Drake Midfielder Senior Wellington, New Zealand (St. Patrick's College) † = Also on 2015 Preseason MVC All-Conference Team
Regular season
Rankings
NSCAA National Poll Source =
+ Legend Increase in ranking Decrease in ranking Not ranked previous weekor no change in ranking
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 FinalBradley — — — — — — — — — — — — — —Central Arkansas — — — — — — — — — — — — — —Drake — — — — — — — — — — — — — —Evansville — — — — — — — — — — — — — —Loyola — — rv 18 17 12 14 13 15 1114 13 17 21Missouri State — — — — — — — — — — — — — —SIUE — — — — — — — — — — — — — 22
West Region rankings Source = Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 FinalBradley — — — — — — — — — — — — —Central Arkansas — — — — — — — — — — — — —Drake — — — — — — — — — — — — —Evansville — 10 10 7 7 9 10 10 9 8 8 8 —Loyola 5 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 —Missouri State — — — 9 9 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 —SIUE 986— — — 9 7 7 7 7 5 —
NCAA RPI Source = Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 FinalBradley144145156167172186187199193Central Arkansas204203203188168165159159161Drake127133139117120137154156157Evansville7795861069280928888Loyola485448111621Missouri State158144128138132127142130134SIUE116991081119384817348
MVC Players of the Week DateOffensive Player of the WeekClassPositionSchoolDefensive Player of the WeekClassPositionSchool August 29 Wes Carson Senior Forward Central Arkansas Nick Burtenshaw Junior Defender Missouri State September 6 Niklas Brodacki Freshman Forward Central Arkansas Grant Stoneman Sophomore Defender Loyola September 12 Steven Enna Junior Forward Drake Grant Stoneman Sophomore Defender Loyola September 19 Jared Robinson Senior Forward Evansville Grant Stoneman Sophomore Defender Loyola September 26 Emmerich Hoegg Senior Forward Missouri State Andrew Chekadanov Junior Goalkeeper Loyola October 3 Devyn Jambga Junior Forward SIUE Logan Ketterer Senior Goalkeeper Bradley October 10 Alec Lasinski Sophomore Forward Loyola Kyle Dal Santo Junior Goalkeeper SIUE October 17 Niklas Brodacki Freshman Forward Central Arkansas Marc Olsen Freshman Goalkeeper Central Arkansas October 24 Niklas Brodacki Freshman Forward Central Arkansas Marius Kullmann Freshman Defender Loyola October 31 Zac Blaydes Sophomore Midfielder Evansville Austin Ledbetter Senior Defender SIUE November 7 Niklas Brodacki Freshman Forward Central Arkansas Marc Olsen Freshman Goalkeeper Central Arkansas
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
Seed Region School 1st round 2nd round 3rd round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship — 4 SIUE @ #13 Michigan StateTied 1–1; won PK shoot-out 9–8 @ #11 ButlerTied 0–0; won PK shoot-out 5–4 @ #2 Wake ForestLost 2–1 — — — — 2 #17 Loyola vs UICWon 2–0 @ #15 Notre DameLost 1–0 — — — —
2017 MLS SuperDraft
Round Pick # MLS team Player Position College Other FC Dallas Austin Ledbetter Defender SIUE Columbus Crew SC Logan Ketterer Goalkeeper Bradley
Honors
2016 NSCAA NCAA Division I Men's All-West Region teams Source:
Player School Position Class Hometown (High school/Previous college) First Team Andrew Chekadanov Loyola University Chicago Goalkeeper Junior St. Louis, Missouri (Parkway Central) Austin Ledbetter Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Defender Senior St. Charles, Missouri (CBC) Grant Stoneman Loyola University Chicago Defender R-Sophomore Saint Charles, Illinois (Wheaton Academy/Wisconsin) Ian McGrath University of Evansville Midfielder Junior New Lenox, Illinois (Lincoln-Way West HS) Elliot Collier Loyola University Chicago Forward Junior Hamilton, New Zealand (Saint Paul's Collegiate) Second Team Ryan Howe Loyola University Chicago Defender (Midfielder) R-Senior Rockford, Illinois (Boylan Catholic) Brody Kraussel Loyola University Chicago Midfielder (Forward) Junior Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Muskego) Niklas Brodacki University of Central Arkansas Forward Freshman Norrkoping, Sweden (IFK Norrkoping) Emmerich "Rick" Hoegg Missouri State University Forward R-Senior Crestview, Florida (Choctawhatchee High) Devyn Jambga Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Forward R-Junior Harare, Zimbabwe Third Team Kyle Dal Santo Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Goalkeeper R-Junior Bolingbrook, Illinois (Benet Academy) Rob Oslica Missouri State University Defender Junior Ozark, Missouri (Ozark) Simon Waever University of Evansville Defender Freshman Holte, Denmark (Skovlyskolen) Jack Griffin Missouri State University Midtielder Senior Beverley, England (Beverley Grammar School) Mueng Sunday Drake University Midfielder Senior Coralville, Iowa (Iowa City West) Jared Robinson University of Evansville Forward Senior Powell, Ohio (Olentangy Liberty HS) James Wypych Drake University Forward Senior Wellington, New Zealand (St. Patrick's College)
2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America teams Source:
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 Source:
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 Source:
Second Team Position Name Class School Major GPA Hometown Goalkeeper Andrew Chekadonov Senior Loyola University Chicago Accounting 3.61 St. Louis, Missouri Midfielder Ian McGrath Junior University of Evansville Exercise Science 3.35 New Lenox, Illinois
NSCAA 2015-16 College Team Academic Award Source:
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) 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 Source= 2016 MVC Men's Soccer Individual Awards Award Recipient(s)Player of the YearAustin Ledbetter, SIUEOffensive Player of the YearNiklas Brodacki, Central ArkansasDefensive Player of the YearAustin Ledbetter, SIUEGoalkeeper of the YearAndrew Chekadanov, LoyolaFreshman of the YearNiklas Brodacki, Central ArkansasCoaching Staff of the YearLoyola (Neil Jones, Nate Boyden, Michael Mauro, Jeff DeGroot) MVC Fair Play AwardLoyola and Missouri State
2016 MVC All-Conference First Team
Player School Position Class Hometown (High school/Previous college) Andrew Chekadanov Loyola Goalkeeper R-Junior St. Louis, Missouri (Parkway Central) Devyn Jambga SIUE Forward R-Junior Harare, Zimbabwe (Harare International School) Niklas Brodacki Central Arkansas Forward Freshman Norrkoping, Sweden (IFK Norrkoping) James Wypych Drake Midfielder Senior Wellington, New Zealand (St. Patrick's College) Jared Robinson Evansville Forward Senior Powell, Ohio (Olentangy Liberty HS) Emmerich Hoegg Missouri State Forward R-Senior Crestview, Florida (Choctawhatchee High) Ian McGrath Evansville Midfielder Junior New Lenox, Illinois (Lincoln-Way West HS) Mueng Sunday Drake Midfielder Senior Coralville, Iowa (Iowa City West) Elliot Collier Loyola Forward Junior Hamilton, New Zealand (Saint Paul's Collegiate) Brody Kraussel Loyola Midfielder/Forward Junior Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Muskego) Austin Ledbetter SIUE Defender Senior St. Charles, Missouri (CBC) Grant Stoneman Loyola Midfielder/Defender R-Sophomore Saint Charles, Illinois (Wheaton Academy/Wisconsin) Ryan Howe Loyola Midfielder R-Senior Rockford, Illinois (Boylan Catholic)
2016 MVC All-Conference Second Team