WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The Monmouth University men have been selected to finish tied for second place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference preseason poll, the league announced Tuesday afternoon.

Sophomore forward Julian Gomez (Fairview, NJ/St. Benedict’s), sophomore forward Ben Zakowski (Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock), sophomore midfielder Luke McBeth (Glasgow, Scotland/Saint Ninians/Lindenwood), and fifth year defender George Akampeke (Bolgatanga, Ghana/Bolgatanga) were named to the Preseason All-MAAC Team.

After being picked eighth in last spring’s preseason poll, the Hawks won the 2020-21 MAAC Championship and defeated Bowling Green University in the first round of the NCAA Division I Tournament. In a must-win regular season finale at Niagara Univeristy, Monmouth erased a 3-1 halftime deficit to earn a 4-3 extratime win. As the No. 6 seed, the Hawks defeated No. 3 Niagara University, No. 2 Rider University, and No. 1 Quinnipiac University, all on the road, for the title.

The team then made history with the first regulation win in the NCAA Tournament. All 11 starters return from last season.

 

Preseason Poll Results

1.     Quinnipiac – 115 (7)

t-2. Fairfield – 96 (1)

t-2. Monmouth – 96 (3)

4. Rider – 89

5. Marist – 71

6. Iona – 59

7. Niagara – 55

8. Saint Peter’s – 48

9. Manhattan – 46

10. Siena – 33

11. Canisius – 18

 All-MAAC Team

Preseason Player of the Year – Brage Aasen, Quinnipiac

Forward

Brage Aasen, Quinnipiac

Julian Gomez, Monmouth

Tomas Svecula, Quinnipiac

Ben Zakowski, Monmouth

Midfield

Luke McBeth, Monmouth

Paulo Soares, Quinnipiac

Francisco Gomez Olano, Rider

Back

George Akampeke, Monmouth

Luke Allen, Quinnipiac

Cormac Pike, Fairfield

Henry Weigand, Quinnipiac

Goalie

Jared Mazzola, Quinnipiac

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.