Tulsa Men’s Soccer Team Picked Second in The American; Alex Lopez Named Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year

The Tulsa men's soccer team was picked to finish second in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, while Alex Lopez was tabbed as The American Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year, and Lopez, Wes Bottenburg and Malik Henry-Scott were named to the preseason all-conference team.

The Golden Hurricane is coming off a 10-win season that included an NCAA Tournament Third Round appearance and finished the 2022 campaign ranked No. 15 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. Tulsa returns 13 letterwinners, including seven starters from a year ago, and welcomes 18 newcomers.

A 5-10 junior goalkeeper from Madrid, Spain, Lopez was named The American Goalkeeper of the Year, was a first-team all-conference selection and earned United Soccer Coaches all-East Region second team accolades in each of his first two seasons. He has started in 31 of 32 games, logged 2,917 minutes in goal, has 89 saves for a 0.754 saves percentage and has allowed 29 goals for a 0.89 goals-against average. This also marks the second-straight year that he was chosen as the preseason Goalkeeper of the Year.

Bottenburg, a 6-0 sophomore defender from Utrecht, Netherlands, was tabbed to The American all-Rookie team last season, as well as earned league weekly honors once and national weekly accolades three times. He started in all 16 games, tallied two goals and was instrumental in TU recording eight shutouts a year ago.

A 5-10 senior forward from Plano, Texas, Henry-Scott was named to The American all-conference second team as a sophomore and picked up The American all-rookie team honors during the 2020-21 covid season. He has earned weekly conference honors once and national weekly accolades three times. Henry-Scott has started in 37 of 47 career contests and has 13 goals and six assists for 32 points.

Preseason Coaches' Poll

FIU (5)
Tulsa (3)
SMU
South Florida (1)
Memphis
Charlotte
Florida Atlantic
UAB
Temple

(#) denotes first place votes

Offensive Player of the Year
Alexander Petraeus, So, F, SMU

Defensive Player of the Year
Mads Westergren, Jr., M, SMU

Goalkeeper of the Year
Alex Lopez, Jr. Tulsa

Preseason All-Conference
Jonathan Nyandjo, Sr., M, Charlotte
Ian Pitcher, Jr., D, Charlotte
Tom Abrahamsson, Gr., D, FAU
Bernardo Dos Santos Monteiro, Jr., F, FIU
Yushi Nagao, Gr., M, FIU*
Alberto Cruz, So., F, Memphis
Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos, Jr., F, Memphis
Shion Soga, Jr., M, South Florida
JP Jordan, Jr., M, SMU
Alexander Petraeus, So., F, SMU
Mads Westergren, Jr., D, SMU*
Wes Bottenburg, So., D, Tulsa*
Malik Henry-Scott, Sr., F, Tulsa
Alex Lopez, Jr., GK, Tulsa

* Denotes unanimous selection

Tulsa Men’s Soccer Team Picked Second in The American; Alex Lopez Named Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year

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Players Mentioned

Wes Bottenburg

Malik Henry-Scott

Alex Lopez

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