Aug. 13, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Notre Dame men's soccer team, which loses seven starters from last season's 9-6-3 squad, has been chosen to finish sixth in the 1999 BIG EAST preseason men's soccer regular season standings by a vote of the league's 12 head coaches.

The Irish enter their fifth season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference. Notre Dame has advanced to the eight-team post-season tournament in three of the four seasons it has been a league member. The Irish won the league tournament title and was a semifinal participant in 1997 after finishing fifth in the regular-season standings.

In 1998, Notre Dame was seventh in the standings with a final league record of 5-4-2. The Irish were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST tournament after losing 2-0 to eventual tournament champion St. John's.

The Red Storm are the preseason favorites in the upcoming campaign, followed by '98 league regular-season champion Connecticut, Rutgers, Georgetown and Seton Hall which round out the five team picked ahead of the Irish in the preseason poll.

Notre Dame opens up the '99 campaign on the road at Northwestern on Wednesday, September 1 at 4:00 p.m. before the home opener against Boston College on Saturday, September 4 at 7:30 p.m.

1999 BIG EAST Men's Soccer Preseason Poll

        
                                1998 Record   1998 Finish
                      BIG EAST    Overall    Regular Season
 1. St. John's (118)    8-2-1      16-5-3          2nd
 2. Connecticut (114)   9-2-0      17-4-0          1st
 3. Rutgers (93)        8-3-0      12-7-2          3rd
 4. Georgetown (79)     7-4-0      15-6-0          4th
    Seton Hall (79)     5-3-3      11-4-4     tied 5th
 6. NOTRE DAME (67)     5-4-2       9-6-3          7th
 7. Syracuse (61)       4-6-1       8-9-1     tied 8th
 8. Providence (54)     6-4-1       9-9-1     tied 5th
 9. Boston College (49) 2-8-1      5-10-2         10th
10. West Virginia (44)  4-6-1      11-8-1     tied 8th
11. Pittsburgh (23)     1-8-2       6-9-3         11th
12. Villanova (11)     1-10-0      5-12-0         12th

(  ) - points

Preseason Awards

Offensive Player of the Year: Peter Scavo, Seton Hall
Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Gbandi, Connecticut
Goalkeeper of the Year: Jonathan Conway, Connecticut

All-BIG EAST Team: Jonathan Conway, Rutgers (GK), Patrice Bernier, Syracuse (F/M), Jim Curtin, Villanova (B), Chris Gbandi, Connecticut (B), Gabriel Gervais, Syracuse (F/M), Medufia Kulego, St. John's (F), Dan Parkin, St. John's (B), Brian Piesner, Rutgers (M), Brent Rahim, Connecticut (M), Peter Scavo, Seton Hall (F), Gregory Strohmann, Seton Hall (M)