Schreiner men’s soccer lands mid-pack in first ASC preseason poll
The Mountaineers were picked fourth of six teams in the 2026 American Southwest Conference preseason poll, released following a vote by league head coaches and sports information directors.
Schreiner men’s soccer will enter a new conference this fall with something its football counterparts weren’t afforded: a vote of confidence.
The Mountaineers were picked fourth of six teams in the 2026 American Southwest Conference preseason poll, released following a vote by league head coaches and sports information directors. Schreiner collected 28 points — one more than fifth-place McMurry and five clear of last-place Howard Payne — as the program begins play in the ASC after moving over from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
It’s a respectable landing spot for a team coming off a 5-13-2 season in 2025, when the Mountaineers went 4-6-1 in SCAC play.
Senior defender Lewis Patterson gives Schreiner its lone representative on the conference’s 2026 Players to Watch list. Paterson returns after earning honorable mention all-conference recognition last season.
The top of the poll belongs to Mary Hardin-Baylor, and the voters weren’t shy about it. The Cru took 10 of 12 first-place votes and 69 points as they look to repeat as ASC regular-season champions. Mary Hardin-Baylor returns sophomore Hughston Taggart, the 2025 ASC goalkeeper of the year, along with forward Alex Bethke, the league’s preseason offensive player of the year.
The race for second could be tighter. Hardin-Simmons, the 2025 ASC tournament champion and the conference’s automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament, edged East Texas Baptist by a single point, 53-52, with each program collecting one first-place vote. The Cowboys enter the season under first-year head coach Austin Guest, while the Tigers return senior Jacob Wenzel, the preseason defensive player of the year.
Howard Payne, picked sixth, placed three players on the watch list: Kolby Lara, Xzavier Saldana and Adrian Villa.
2026 ASC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll (first-place votes in parentheses)
- Mary Hardin-Baylor, 69 (10)
- Hardin-Simmons, 53 (1)
- East Texas Baptist, 52 (1)
- Schreiner, 28
- McMurry, 27
- Howard Payne, 23
2026 ASC Preseason Players of the Year
Offensive: Alex Bethke, F, Mary Hardin-Baylor Defensive: Jacob Wenzel, D, East Texas Baptist
Schreiner’s 2026 Players to Watch selection
Lewis Patterson, D, Sr.
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