The Wabash College soccer team received one first-place vote and tied for third in the 2017 North Coast Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll.
 
The Little Giants received 72 total points in the poll. Kenyon earned the top spot with 98 points and eight of the ten available first-place votes. Ohio Wesleyan placed second with 81 points and the remaining first-place vote. Oberlin tied with Wabash for third with 72 points. DePauw placed fifth with 71 points. Denison (51 points), Allegheny (34), Hiram (28), Wooster (28), and Wittenberg rounded out the top ten spots.
 
"Being picked third is a sign of respect for what we've accomplished as a team over the past five seasons," Wabash head soccer coach Chris Keller said. "It feels good to get some recognition, but we have a lot of work to do to get to that level once again."
 
Wabash finished third in the final 2016 standings with a record of 11-6-2 overall and a conference mark of 6-2-1. The Little Giants earned one of four berths to the NCAC Men's Soccer Tournament before losing 2-1 to second-seeded Oberlin.
 
Spase Dorsuleski, a two-time All-NCAC and 2016 All-Great Lakes Region selection as a defender, will be one of the leaders of the Wabash squad in 2017. A starter in all 19 games for the Little Giants, Dorsuleski ranked third in the NCAC with three game-winning goals last season and finished with five total for the year. He helped Wabash to seven shutout victories out of the team's 11 total wins.
 
"Spase is an All-America caliber defender," Keller said. "He will have a huge role in leading a young defensive unit."
 
Dorsuleski will be joined by returning starter Christian Stiverson in the back. Stiverson played in 17 games with 13 starts. Jacques Boulais was the third-leading scorer for the Little Giants last season, notching three goals and four assists for 10 total points. David Riggs added four goals and an assist last season, coming off the bench in all but three of his 16 games played. Alexiz Arellano anchors the midfield for the Little Giants. He played in 18 games with 16 starts in 2016, scoring two goals and three assists. Cory Sims is a three-year captain for the Wabash team. He started 12 of 17 games last year with two goals.
 
"Losing three starting defenders and a starting goalkeeper provides some questions about how we will play in the back," Keller said. "But we return the whole front end of the team and added some pace with some freshmen. We're excited to see that. We created more scoring opportunities in the scrimmage last week against Manchester. We left a lot of attacks out on the table. We're excited to work with the final third to get that group to click."
 
Perhaps the biggest test for Wabash will come at the goalkeeper position. David Daugherty played in two game last season as backup to all-conference and all-region goalie Dayton Jennings. Daugherty will compete against freshmen Demitri Lee and Chad Wunderlich for the starting job in net for the Little Giants in 2017.
 
"All three goalkeepers have been very good in practice," Keller said. "Obviously there are big shoes to fill with the graduation of Dayton Jennings. These three give us a lot of qualities. They're big and athletic and keep pushing each other in practice. Now we have to find out how they'll perform on game day to see who will take control of the net for our team.
 
"We've had some ups and downs in the preseason practices," Keller said. "Some guys have been injured, we have some players working their way back from injuries from last season. Mike Gore and Michael Tanchevski are returning after suffering ACL injuries last year. The level of competition in practice is high. The freshmen players performed well in the scrimmage last week. Moving into the start of the season I think some of the freshmen will definitely be in the mix. We'll see what happens during this first half of the season in non-conference play. This year's senior class has done a great job providing leadership for our younger players."
 
Wabash opens the 2017 season Friday at 4 p.m. at Franklin College.