Western Michigan has been picked in a poll of Missouri Valley Conference head coaches to win the 2026 MVC Men’s Soccer title.
The Broncos, who earned five first-place votes and 44 total points in the poll, are coming off their second MVC tournament title in three years after winning the 2025 crown as a six seed. Western Michigan gave up just one goal in last year’s Conference tournament to advance to its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament. The Broncos picked up a victory at Clemson, before falling to No. 16-seeded Furman in the second round, moving to 6-3-1 in the NCAA postseason event since joining The Valley.
Drake and Evansville each picked up a first-place vote, collecting 40 and 34 points, respectively, in the preseason poll. The Bulldogs, who shared a piece of the regular-season title with the Purple Aces and former member Northern Illinois, return 12 players in 2026 who made an appearance in at least 75% of the team’s matches a season ago. Evansville, who earned a share of its first MVC regular-season title in 2025, was the top seed in last year’s Conference tournament, hosting the championship match in front of 1,810 fans, which marked the largest on-campus crowd for an athletic event at UE since 2014.
UIC rounded out the top half of the preseason men’s soccer poll, tallying 29 points. The Flames’ offense was one of the best in the nation last year, leading the MVC in points, goals and assists, while ranking inside the top 25 in Division I in all three categories.
2026 MVC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll (Top 4)
Number in parenthesis is the number of first-place votes
1. Western Michigan (5) – 44 pts.
2. Drake (1) – 40 pts.
3. Evansville (1) – 34 pts.
4. UIC – 29 pts.
A total of 11 student-athletes were honored as a part of the preseason all-conference team. Six of the league’s seven programs had at least one student-athlete recognized as Drake led the way with four honorees.
2026 MVC Men’s Soccer Preseason All-MVC
GK – Tomas Butkovic, Drake
D – Braxton Arpachinda, Western Michigan
D – Sam DeLong, Drake
D – Cole Schrage, Drake
D – Christian Shannon, Western Michigan
M – Paul Claes Nielsen, Belmont
M – Devin Shepherd, Evansville
M – Darrell Turcios, UIC
F – Mitch Coughlon, Bradley
F – Preston Kipnusu, Drake
F – Sahel Yessen, Western Michigan