2019 Big East Conference men's soccer season


The 2019 Big East Conference men's soccer season was the seventh season for the realigned Big East Conference. Including the history of the original Big East Conference, this was the 24th season of men's soccer under the "Big East Conference" name. The regular season began on August 30 and concluded on November 2.
Entering the season, Georgetown were the defending conference tournament champions, while Creighton were the defending conference regular season champions. Georgetown successfully defended their Big East Tournament title, and also won the regular season.
Four Big East teams earned berths into the NCAA Tournament, where Georgetown won the NCAA Tournament Championship in penalty kicks against Virginia. This was Georgetown's first national championship in men's soccer, and their first College Cup appearance since 2012. Elsewhere, St. John's and Providence reached the Sweet Sixteen, losing to Virginia and Clemson, respectively, while Butler was eliminated in the first round by West Virginia.

Background

Previous season

Coaching changes

Ahead of the 2019 season, Creighton head coach Elmar Bolowich was hired by professional soccer club, Jacksonville Armada FC. Johnny Torres was hired to replace Bolowich.
SchoolOutgoing coachManner of
departure
Date of
vacancy
Position in tableIncoming coachDate of
appointment
Creighton Elmar BolowichResignedPreseason Johnny Torres

Head coaches

TeamHead coachPrevious jobYears at
school
Overall recordRecord at
school
Big East
record
NCAA
Tournaments
NCAA
College Cups
NCAA
Titles
Ref.
ButlerMichigan 9200
CreightonCreighton 1000
DePaulColgate 2000
GeorgetownNotre Dame 14610
MarquetteMilwaukee14700
ProvidenceFranklin Pierce8720
Seton HallLIU Post2800
St. John'sMontclair State292041
VillanovaVillanova 12100
XavierNorthwestern 10400

Preseason

Preseason poll

The preseason poll was released on August 21, 2019.

Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls were released in July and August 2019.
United
Soccer
CSNSoccer
America
Top Drawer
Soccer
Butler
CreightonRVRV
DePaul
Georgetown13121111
Marquette
Providence
Seton Hall
St. John's
Villanova
XavierTBD

Preseason All-Conference Teams

All conference teams were announced in conjunction with the preseason poll.
AwardRecipient
Preseason Offensive Player of the YearDerek Dodson, Georgetown
Preseason Defensive Player of the YearDylan Nealis, Georgetown
Preseason Goalkeeper of the YearPaul Kruse, Creighton
Preseason All-Big EastDerek Dodson, Georgetown
Preseason All-Big EastIfunanyachi Achara, Georgetown
Preseason All-Big EastC.J. Tibbling, Seton Hall
Preseason All-Big EastSamson Sergi, Xavier
Preseason All-Big EastLuka Prpa, Marquette
Preseason All-Big EastSkage Simonsen, St. John's
Preseason All-Big EastTiago Mendonca, Providence
Preseason All-Big EastJared Timmer, Butler
Preseason All-Big EastDylan Nealis, Georgetown
Preseason All-Big EastPatrick Seagrist, Marquette
Preseason All-Big EastMax de Bruijne, DePaul
Preseason All-Big EastPaul Kruse, Creighton

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Early season tournaments will be announced in late Spring and Summer 2019.

Postseason

Big East Tournament

The 2019 Big East Tournament was held from November 9–17, 2019. Georgetown won the championship against Providence.

NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament will begin in November 2019 and conclude on December 17, 2019.
SeedRegionSchool1st Round2nd Round3rd RoundQuarterfinalsSemifinalsChampionship
33GeorgetownBYEW 5–0 vs. PittW 5–1 vs. LouisvilleW 2–1 vs. #4 WashingtonW 2–0 vs. #7 StanfordT 3–3 vs. Virginia –
161St. John'sBYEW 2–0 vs. SyracuseL 0–3 vs. #1 Virginia –
4ProvidenceW 2–0 vs. NJITW 3–2 vs. #15 Penn StateL 1–2 vs. #2 Clemson –
3ButlerL 1–5 vs. West Virginia –

Rankings

National rankings

Regional rankings - USC East Region

Wk
1
Wk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Butler1098NVNVNV967866
CreightonNV89557NVNVNVNVNVNV
DePaulNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV
Georgetown111124421111
MarquetteNVNV10RV9NVNVNVNVNVNVNV
ProvidenceNVNVNV6710786654
Seton HallNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV
St. John's532242213345
Villanova9669NV9109NVNVNVNV
Xavier22710NVNVNVNVNVNVNVNV

Awards and honors

Player of the week honors

Postseason honors

All-Americans

Consensus All-Americans
Dylan Nealis – Georgetown

To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors based on a point system computed from the four different all-America teams. The point system consists of three points for first team, two points for second team and one point for third team. No honorable mention or fourth team or lower are used in the computation. The top five totals plus ties are first team and the next five plus ties are second team.

2020 MLS Draft

The 2020 MLS SuperDraft was held on January 9, 2020.
PlayerTeamSchool
13MFInter MiamiGeorgetown
110DFNew York Red BullsMarquette
125FWToronto FCGeorgetown
234FWHouston DynamoMarquette
244FWOrlando CityProvidence
249MFColumbus CrewProvidence
480MFNashville SCCreighton
493MFNew York Red BullsSt. John's
4102DFLos Angeles FCCreighton

Homegrown players

The Homegrown Player Rule is a Major League Soccer program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008, every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the MLS SuperDraft.
To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. Players can play college soccer and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.
No players in the Big East Conference signed homegrown contracts.