NCAC coaches predict Kenyon to finish third

8/25/2026 1:05:00 PM

CLEVELAND -- Tuesday afternoon, the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) unveiled the results of its annual preseason men's soccer poll. The results, based on balloting of conference head coaches, had the Kenyon College Owls predicted to finish third in the highly-competitive nine-team league.

Sitting at the top of the 2026 preseason poll was defending champion DePauw University, which collected seven first-place votes and a total of 75 points. A close second was Denison University, which captured the other two first-place votes to go along with 73 points.

Kenyon, which posted an overall record of 7-4-7 in 2025, took the third-place spot in the poll with 57 points. The Owls went 3-2-3 in NCAC action one season ago and finished fourth in the final conference standings. The team gained the last spot in the four-team NCAC postseason tournament and fell, 3-2, to top-seeded DePauw.

Rounding out the top-five in the 2026 NCAC poll were The College of Wooster in fourth place with 50 points and Ohio Wesleyan University in fifth with 47 points.

Kenyon, a 14-time winner of the conference crown, including three titles since 2021, opens the 2026 season on Tuesday, September 1 with a home non-conference contest against Ohio Northern University. The 2026 Owls will have an entirely different look than last season, as 13 players on the 2025 team moved on and have been replaced by a first-year class of 13 players.

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