IU men’s soccer kicks off their 2024 season tomorrow, and they’ll do so as a national top-10 program and the consensus favorite to repeat as league champions.
Big Ten men’s soccer coaches unanimously selected Indiana to repeat as Big Ten Champions as the conference office published its 2024 season preview this week.
Several members of the team also received individual preseason honors from the Big Ten and Top Drawer Soccer.
Three players on IU’s 2024 roster earned first-team All-Big Ten honors last season: Patrick McDonald, Samuel Sarver and Justin Weiss.
All three were named Big Ten Players to Watch Tuesday in the conference preview.
The trio also featured in the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Top 100 list. Five Hoosiers earned selection in the ranking – tied for the most nationally. Sarver (No. 13), McDonald (37), sophomore Alex Barger (45), Weiss (60) and sophomore Collins Oduro (80) represent IU in the list.
Top Drawer Soccer also honored Sarver in its Preseason Best XI second team. The senior returns after an All-America campaign in 2023, leading IU in goals (8), assists (6) and points (22). He also ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten in goals points and game-winning goals (5). With 19 goals and 14 assists, Sarver has totaled 52 points in his career. Last season he became the 50th Hoosier to reach the 50-point milestone and the first junior to do it since Nikita Kotlov in 2012.
Indiana now has two of the conference’s leading producers from 2023 after Weiss joined the program as a graduate transfer. Behind Sarver, Weiss finished third in the conference in points with 21 during his senior first-team All-Big Ten season at Northwestern.
McDonald returns after earning a third-round selection by Toronto FC in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft. The senior midfielder has totaled six goals and eight assists in his career and established career highs in both categories (three goals, five assists) last season.
Barger and Oduro will look to build on freshman momentum after playing important roles from the jump in 2023. Oduro was one of two Hoosiers to start all 24 matches last season, contributing five goals and two assists. Barger started 23 matches while featuring in the full-back positions.
Indiana kicks off its 2024 season on Friday (Aug. 23) at Saint Louis before playing its home opener on Thursday, Aug. 29, against Notre Dame in a rematch of the 2023 Elite Eight matchup.
Big Ten Preseason Poll
1. Indiana (Unanimous)
2. Penn State
3. UCLA
4. Washington
5. Michigan State
6. Ohio State
7. Maryland
8. Northwestern
9. Rutgers
10. Michigan
11. Wisconsin
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