2023 W&L Men's Soccer Season Preview

No. 11 Generals picked to repeat as ODAC champions

8/23/2023 12:11:00 PM

LEXINGTON, Va. - The Old Dominion Athletic Conference released its 2023 Men's Soccer Preseason Poll on Thursday and Washington and Lee was selected as the preseason favorite with 144 points.

The Generals claimed 12 of the 13 first-place votes to top rival Lynchburg by 13 points. The Hornets were the recipients of the final first-place nod, and they were followed by Roanoke (123 points), Virginia Wesleyan (102) and Hampden-Sydney (95) in the Top 5.

W&L is coming off another highly successful season which included a 16-3-4 overall record, the seventh ODAC championship in program history and a third consecutive NCAA Tournament Round of 16 appearance (fourth in the last five seasons). The Generals dropped the season opener to then fifth-ranked Messiah in a rematch of the 2021 NCAA Quarterfinals, but regrouped to rattle off 15 straight games without a loss (11-0-4), the third longest such streak in program history and the second longest in a single season.

W&L went on to tie the 1993 Roanoke Maroons for most team goals in a single ODAC Tournament in successive 7-0, 6-1 and 2-1 wins. The offense then stayed hot in the NCAA Tournament with a pair of five-goal efforts to open NCAA Tournament play before dropping a 3-1 decision to No. 3 Kenyon in the Round of 16.

The Generals are led into the 2023 season by 10th-year head coach Mike Singleton, who earned his second straight ODAC Coach of the Year award in 2022. It marked the fourth time in the last five seasons that Singleton was named the conference’s top coach, and the fifth time overall in his W&L career. Singleton also added Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) Coach of the Year and United Soccer Coaches Regional Staff of the Year accolades last season.

2023 ODAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll

Washington and Lee University (12) 144 Pts.
University of Lynchburg (1) 131 pts.
Roanoke College 123 pts.
Virginia Wesleyan University 102 pts.
Hampden-Sydney College 95 pts.
Randolph-Macon College 91 pts.
Bridgewater College 75 pts.
Averett University 67 pts.
Guilford College 53 pts.
Shenandoah University 48 pts.
Randolph College 39 pts.
Ferrum College 30 pts.
Eastern Mennonite University 16 pts.

National Poll

The Generals will open up the 2023 season as the No. 11-ranked team in Division III following the release of the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Top 25. Defending national champion UChicago begins the season atop the national poll, followed by Williams College, Stevens Institute of Technology, University of Mary Washington and Kenyon College to round out the Top 5.

For a look at the complete United Soccer Coaches Preseason Top 25, click here. New polls will release every Tuesday around 4:00 pm ET throughout the regular season.

Our guys are very focused and we are coming off a great spring season where many ascended to bigger roles that will be key to our team’s success. Coupled with a great group of newcomers, our team is extremely deep in talent and if we play as a team thoroughly, we will have a fantastic year.

Head Coach Mike Singleton (10th Season)

2023 Schedule Overview

The Generals have 17 games slated for regular season play, spread out amongst seven home contests and 10 on the road, including three “neutral site” matchups. W&L will open the 2023 campaign at Emory University’s Sonny Carter Invitational on September 1, where they will take on Oglethorpe at 2:30 p.m., followed by the host Eagles the following day at 5:00 pm.

Four of the next five contests will also be on the road, with two at neutral locations. That stretch begins on September 5 against Stockton at the Maryland Soccerplex in Boyds, Md. After playing in their first home contest of the season on September 8 against Sewanee, the Generals will meet Otterbein on September 10 at Trace Fork Fields in Charleston, W.Va. The closing two road games of this five-game stretch (at Brevard, Sept. 17; at Virginia Wesleyan, Sept. 20) begins a season-long alternating pattern of two away games followed by two home games.

Of the final 10 games of the season, nine of which will be against ODAC opposition, six will be home and four will be on the road. Those home games will consist of Shenandoah (9/23), Roanoke (9/27), Randolph-Macon (10/7), Guilford (10/11), Christopher Newport (10/21) and Lynchburg (10/25), with road matchups against Averett (10/1), Hampden-Sydney (10/4), Randolph (10/14) and Bridgewater (10/18).

The season-opening games against Oglethorpe and Emory mark the fifth-straight fall in which all three teams will meet in an early-season invitational and the sixth straight with at least one of Oglethorpe or Emory on the W&L regular season slate. The Generals hold an all-time head-to-head record of 4-0-1 against the Stormy Petrels, with four consecutive wins, to a 3-4-2 all-time record against Emory.

W&L will see Brevard and Sewanee for the second season in a row and just the second and eighth all-time meetings, respectively. The Generals downed the Tornadoes, 5-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year, while battling the Tigers to a 1-0 win on September 10. The Generals have won all seven meetings against Sewanee, dating back to 1985, with five shutouts.

As has become customary on the non-conference schedule the past five seasons, the Generals will face-off against 21st-ranked Christopher Newport for the seventh time since 2017. W&L holds a 5-2-2 all-time record against CNU, including 4-0-2 in the last six, and past matchups between the Generals and Captains have produced some of the most thrilling in recent program history. Additionally, seven straight matchups in this series have been decided by one goal or less.

In ODAC play, the Generals went 7-1-2 in 2022, with the lone loss coming in the regular season finale against Guilford. In their seven conference wins, W&L outscored its opponents 24-4 and posted four shutouts.

The 2023 ODAC Men's Soccer Tournament will commence with the Quarterfinals on October 28 at each of the top four seeds. The semifinals will then be played on November 1 at the two highest remaining seeds, followed by the championship game at the highest remaining seed on November 4.

Key Returners

The Generals return three of seven All-ODAC players from last season’s team, including their leading goal and point scorer in junior Weyimi Agbeyegbe. Agbeyegbe not only led the team in goals (16) and points (38) as a sophomore, but he was also atop the ODAC leaderboard in both categories as well. Agbeyegbe’s efforts were rewarded when he claimed First Team All-Region and All-ODAC accolades at the end of the season.

Junior PJ Ryan is back as a leader on the defensive unit following his second consecutive Third Team All-ODAC nod. Ryan played in 18 games and helped the team post a 1.09 goals-against average, and he also logged five points on two goals and an assist on the offensive end. Sophomore goalkeeper Will Joseph rounds out the returning all-conference players as a Second Team All-ODAC performer as a first-year. Joseph claimed the starting goalkeeper reigns in the second game of the season and proceeded to start 21 of the final 22 games of the year, notching a 0.87 GAA in 1,764:19 of action with six shutouts.

Other key components that return to the pitch for the Blue and White are seniors Grant McCarty and Park Bruner and sophomore Matteo Adler. McCarty played in 20 games last season and was fifth on the team with six goals and 13 points. McCarty played some of his best soccer in W&L’s biggest games of the season, as all six of his goals came in October and November, including one goal in each of the team’s first two NCAA Tournament games and an assist in the Round of 16.

Bruner proved to be one of the team’s top facilitators in 2022, finishing third on the team with nine assists. Like McCarty, Bruner also shined late in the season with six of his helpers coming from October 15 and later, including at least one assist in three of the team’s six postseason contests.

Adler looks to build on an impressive rookie campaign that saw him total the fourth-most points (17) on the team on seven goals and three assists. Adler scored in his first collegiate appearance, the season opener against fifth-ranked Messiah, and scored one goal in three of the Generals’ postseason games, including the ODAC Quarterfinals and Semifinals.

Evan DiPaula has seen time in both the midfield and the defensive unit over his previous three years, while mostly playing defense in his 34 career appearances.

With DiPaula’s help, the W&L defensive unit has yielded a 0.943 goals-against average and 20 shutouts over the last three years. DiPaula also saw an offensive highlight during his junior season, with his first collegiate goal coming in a 5-2 win over Muhlenberg in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

An economics and mathematics double-major, DiPaula is a five-time W&L Scholar Athlete and three-time ODAC All-Academic Team selection. He is also the founder and president of the W&L Sports Analytics Club and he completed an investment banking internship this past summer.

Weyimi Agbeyegbe has been one of the Generals’ top scoring options over the last two seasons, and he enters his junior campaign with 54 points on 21 goals and 12 assists in 45 appearances.

Agbeyegbe topped a strong rookie campaign with an even more impressive sophomore season, logging a team-best 38 points on 16 goals and six assists, while playing in all 23 games. His level of play increased in W&L's biggest games last season, as he scored in all six of the Generals' postseason games, tallying seven goals. He was named United Soccer Coaches First Team All-Region and was a First Team All-ODAC and VaSID All-State selection.

Off the field, Agbeyegbe serves as the men's soccer team representative for the Generals Athletes Mental Awareness Club. The business administration major also completed an internship over the summer working for JP Morgan as a Commercial Banking Analyst in New York and Dallas.

PJ Ryan returns for the Generals in 2023 as one of the team’s top defensive players. He has been a consistent performer for the Blue and White, logging 38 appearances over his first two seasons.

With Ryan’s efforts on the defensive unit, the Generals have yielded a 0.96 GAA and 17 shutouts over the last two seasons. Ryan has also been a contributor on the offensive end with totals of nine points on three goals and three assists in his two seasons. Five of those points came last year on two goals and one assist, as he collected his second consecutive All-ODAC Third Team citation.

Off the field, Ryan has claimed W&L Scholar Athlete, ODAC All-Academic and College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District laurels as a cognitive & behavioral science major. He also serves as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and he interned at Hoofbeats Animal Therapy over the summer.

Upcoming Milestones and Records

Despite only two seasons under his belt, junior Weyimi Agbeyegbe enters his third year on campus looking to make moves up a few program statistical leaderboards. Agbeyegbe ended the 2022 season by scoring at least one goal in six consecutive games. That streak enters this season as the second longest in program history, trailing Dylan Ritch’s ’19 seven-game run in 2018.

Agbeyegbe can also move into the program’s Top 10 all-time career points list with 13 more points and all-time game-winning goals leaderboard with an additional four. Agbeyegbe currently holds 54 career points (21g, 12a) in 45 career games, with three game-winning goals.

Senior Park Bruner has netted 10 assists in his career coming into the 2023 season, which leaves him just four away from tying Brian Pirkle ’05 and Tim Henry ’66 for 10th in program history. Sophomore goalkeeper Will Joseph can also break into a career Top 10, as five more clean sheets would give him 11 to tie Kirk Mancer ’83 and Kevin Carney ’81 for ninth.

As a program, the W&L men’s soccer team has seen some of its brightest moments and most successful seasons over the last 10 years. Across the last eight traditional fall seasons, the Generals are averaging 15.3 wins per season. If the 2023 team can match that average, that would give the program an even 600 all-time wins.