The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference is predicting the La Roche men's soccer team will earn their eleventh straight postseason appearance after choosing the Redhawks to finish fourth in today's preseason poll. Penn State Behrend is the preseason pick to win the AMCC while Behrend's Chris Ralph is the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and Franciscan's Leo Herrmann is the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
The Redhawks finished the 2016 season ranked fifth in the AMCC Regular Season standings and advanced to the Tournament Semifinals for the third time in the past four years. La Roche was solid on both sides of the field last season ranking third in the AMCC in goals and fifth in goals against.
Junior midfielder Ximo Vicent and sophomore goalkeeper Austin Gorman were chosen as 2017 AMCC Preseason Players to Watch.
Vicent, a 2-Time AMCC All-Conference performer, is a preseason player to watch for the second straight season. Last season, Vicent led the Redhawks with 22 points (5th in AMCC), 10 assists and 6 goals. He was also named AMCC Offensive Player of the Week on October 29, 2016.
Gorman won AMCC Defensive Player of the Week the same day Vicent won Offensive honors. He ranked fourth in the AMCC with 84 saves, and third with a .764 save percentage and 1.48 goals against average.
The Redhawks open the 2017 schedule with a September 2 date at Otterbein University before returning to campus for five straight home games. La Roche will travel to D'Youville in their conference opener on September 23 and travel to defending AMCC Champion Penn State Behrend on September 21.