BIG EAST Men’s Soccer 2025 Preseason Rankings and All-Conference Team revealed

NEW YORK – Akron and Georgetown earned the top spots in their respective divisions, as the BIG EAST Conference announced the Preseason Coaches’ Poll and all-conference awards. No. 21 Akron was selected by the league’s men’s soccer coaches to finish as the top team in the Midwest Division, while No. 25 Georgetown was selected to win the East Division.

DePaul’s Noeh Hernandez was voted BIG EAST Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, Seton Hall’s Agustin Resch garnered the preseason Defensive Player of the Year award and Akron’s Mitch Budler earned the preseason accolade of Goalkeeper of the Year.

Georgetown, the 2024 BIG EAST tournament champion as the fourth seed, topped the East Division preseason poll with 65 points and 10 first-place votes. Providence, the tournament runner-up and East Division Co-Champions followed suit with 56 points and the remaining two first-place votes. In the Midwest Division, after topping the Midwest Division in 2024 with a 7-0-1 record, Akron leads the way with 65 points and 10 first-place votes. Receiving two first place votes, Creighton ranks second with 57 points.

Projected to finish third in the East Division, 2024 EAST Division Co-Champion St. John’s received 45 points, while Connecticut ranks fourth with 34 points.

Rounding out the East Division, Seton Hall ranks fifth with 30 points, while Villanova tallied 16 points.

Following Akron and Creighton, Xavier checks in at third in the Midwest Division with 41 points. Rounding out the rankings, Marquette has been picked fourth with 34 points, followed by DePaul with 26 points and Butler with 23 points.

A member of the 2024 All-BIG EAST First Team and the reigning BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year, Hernandez will once again look to lead the Blue Demons offensive attack entering his junior campaign. Hernandez tallied eight goals and nine assists a season ago to total 25 points. He capped the regular season ranked third in the league in goals, first in assists and second in points. He led DePaul to its best offensive season in nearly three decades with goal involvement in 17 of the team’s 32 goals in 2024. Hernandez notched a point in 11 of his 17 appearances and eight of those performances were multi-point outings.

In his first season as a full-time starter, Resch earned 2024 All-BIG EAST Second Team honors. The rising senior went the distance in 9 of 17 contests last season, totaling 1,450 minutes on the pitch. Defensively, he anchored a back line that collected eight clean sheets, the most shutouts in a season for the Pirates since 2004.

A stalwart in net for the Zips, Budler started all 21 games in 2024 registering a 0.93 goals against average and a league-leading nine shutouts on the strength of 51 saves and a .729 save percentage. The reigning BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year and All-BIG EAST First Team honoree, Budler played 1,846 minutes in net and capped the year with a 12-4-4 record. Over his illustrious career, he boasts a 29-10-15 record with a 0.93 goals against average, 132 saves and 4,864 minutes played on the pitch.

A total of 11 student-athletes were named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team, including Hernandez, Resch and Budler. Georgetown leads the way with four individuals on the list, followed by Providence with two.

All-BIG EAST honors and preseason polls were decided by a vote of the league’s head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own team or players. The 2025 season gets underway on Thursday, Aug. 21. Conference action begins Friday, Sept. 19.

BIG EAST Preseason Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Poll

East Division
(first-place votes)
1. Georgetown (10)         65
2. Providence (2)              56
3. St. John’s                        45
4. Connecticut                   34
5. Seton Hall                      30
6. Villanova                        16

Midwest Division
(first-place votes)
1. Akron (10)                        65
2. Creighton (2)                  57
3. Xavier                                41
4. Marquette                      34
5. DePaul                            26
6. Butler                               23

Preseason BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year
Noeh Hernandez, Jr., M, DePaul

Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Agustin Resch, Sr., D, Seton Hall

Preseason BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Mitch Budler, R-Sr., GK, Akron

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team
Mitch Budler, R-Sr., GK, Akron *
Josemir Gomez, Sr., F, Butler
Noeh Hernandez, Jr., M, DePaul *
Mitch Baker, So., F, Georgetown
Tate Lampman, So., D, Georgetown
Matthew Van Horn, Jr., M, Georgetown
Zach Zengue, Sr., M, Georgetown
Bruno Rosa, Sr., F, Providence
Diego Batista, Sr., M, Providence
Antonio Biggs, Gr., D, St. John’s
Agustin Resch, Sr., D, Seton Hall *

*Unanimous Selection