Mid-American Conference

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference announced Monday that the Akron Zips have been selected to repeat as men's soccer regular season and tournament champions in 2015 by the six head coaches of the Mid-American Conference.

The reigning champion Zips, under third-year head coach Jared Embick, received three of the six first place votes from the head coaches. Akron (13-6-2 / 4-1 MAC) brings back nine starters led by a trio of 2014 First-Team All-MAC performers in senior goalkeeper Jake Fenlason, senior defenseman Andrew Souders and junior midfielder Adam Najem. 

Also receiving first place votes were Western Michigan (8-7-4 / 2-2-1 MAC) with two votes and West Virginia (11-7-1 / 3-1-1 MAC) with one. The Broncos return 10 seniors and all 11 starters from last season, while the Mountaineers have nine starters returning.

Following Akron in the poll were Western Michigan and West Virginia who tied in votes for a second place finish. Rounding out the rest of the conference were MAC Tournament Runner-Up Bowling Green (14-6-1 / 2-2-1 MAC), Buffalo (5-10-2 / 1-2-2 MAC) and Northern Illinois (3-9-5 / 0-4-1 MAC).

Also voted on by the coaches was the predicted 2015 MAC Tournament Champion.  Akron was also the top vote getter receiving three of the six votes.  Western Michigan received two championship votes and West Virginia garnered the final vote.

The season is slated to open Friday, August 28th when five of the leagues six teams open at home against nonconference opponents.   Conference play is set to start Saturday, October 3rd when Northern Illinois travels to Bowling Green. Click Here for the complete schedule.