ARLINGTON, Texas – Defending conference tournament champion California Baptist was unanimously chosen as the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) preseason favorite in the 2023 WAC Men’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll that was released on Thursday afternoon.
 
California Baptist received the maximum eight first-place votes and 64 voting points to enter the season based on polling of the WAC’s nine men’s soccer head coaches. San José State placed second with one first-place vote and 49 points. Air Force (47 points), Seattle U (46 points) and Grand Canyon (37 points) rounded out the top five teams in the predicted order of finish.
 
Air Force senior forward Thaddaeus Dewing captured 2023 WAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year accolades coming off a standout season for the Falcons. Dewing was a first-team all-conference performer representing top-seeded Air Force in 2022, ranking second in the WAC with 11 goals, 26 total points and 1.53 points per match. Dewing added six goals and 16 points across nine conference starts a season ago.
 
California Baptist senior defender Thomas Beecham was voted the 2023 WAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Beecham was named to the All-WAC First Team and all-tournament team for the conference tournament winning Lancers in 2022, starting 20 games as a junior for CBU. Beecham helped lead CBU to the best goals against average in the conference (0.94) and the second-fewest total goals allowed (20) across all matches involving WAC teams last season.
 
San José State graduate student David Sweeney was chosen as the 2023 WAC Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year entering his final season with the Spartans. Sweeney was a second-team all-league choice as a senior in 2022 after compiling a 10-5-4 mark and a 0.99 goals against average in 19 starts. Sweeney led all WAC goalkeepers with eight solo shutouts and a 0.42 shutouts per match average last season.
 
San José State led all WAC teams with four players on the 2023 preseason all-conference team, followed by three players each from California Baptist and Utah Valley. Air Force and Grand Canyon were also represented. 
 
2023 WAC Men’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll
 

Rank	Team (1st-Place Votes)	Points
1.	California Baptist (8)	64
2.	San José State (1)	49
3.	Air Force	47
4.	Seattle U	46
5.	Grand Canyon	37
6.	Utah Valley	33
7.	UTRGV	25
8.	UNLV	13
9.	Utah Tech	10

 
2023 WAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Thaddaeus Dewing, Sr., F, Air Force
2023 WAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Thomas Beecham, Sr., D, California Baptist
2023 WAC Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year: David Sweeney, Grad, San José State
 
2023 Preseason All-WAC Team
GK – David Sweeney, Grad, San José State
D – Thomas Beecham, Sr., California Baptist
D – Antonio Gomez, Sr., California Baptist
D – Joel Garcia, Sr., San José State
D – Kasper Poulsgaard, Sr., San José State
D – Leon Olacio, Sr., Utah Valley
MF – Alejandro Silva, Jr., Utah Valley
MF – Beau Leroux, Jr., San José State
MF – Innocent Jibril Rodet, R-Jr., Grand Canyon
F – Thaddaeus Dewing, Sr., Air Force
F – Luis Mueller, Sr., California Baptist
F – Mark Andros, So., Utah Valley