FHSU Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State Men's Soccer will open the 2025 season ranked No. 23 in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll for NCAA Division II. The Tigers are in the Preseason Top 25 Poll for the first time since 2022. The Tigers ended the 2024 season ranked No. 24 in the nation, while the program made its 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Fort Hays State won the Great American Conference Tournament Championship in 2024, earning the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. As the No. 10 seed in the national tournament, the Tigers knocked off No. 7 seed Davenport 1-0 in the opening round of the tournament in Super Region 3 and then fell in overtime to No. 2 seed McKendree 3-2. McKendree went on to play in the national semifinals before losing to eventual national champion Lynn University.
Fort Hays State finished the 2024 season with a 13-4-4 record overall. The Tigers return one All-American in midfielder Tadhg Walsh, who led NCAA Division II in assists going into to the NCAA Tournament last year with 15. That broke the single-season record for assists at FHSU, topping the old mark of 14 set by Derick Gonzalez in 2017. Walsh joins Elias Ovelar Semeniuk as returning all-region performers from last year. The pair is also among a group of four returners who earned all-conference honors last year, which includes Bastian Carlman and Jackson Elgas.
Walsh was the team leader in points last year, adding five goals to his 15 assists for 25 points in 2024. Ovelar Semeniuk was the team leader in goals with nine and added three assists, producing 21 points for the season. Carlman had 18 points with eight goals and two assists.
The Tigers have one nationally ranked opponent in their non-conference slate, a September 11 meeting in Hays with No. 3 preseason ranked CSU Pueblo, which joined McKendree as a national semifinalist last year. The Thunderwolves were the national runner-up the two seasons prior (2022, 2023).
In conference play, the Tigers will see preseason No. 20 ranked Rogers State twice, while Southern Nazarene is among the teams receiving votes in the poll.
Below is the 2025 United Soccer Coaches Preseason Top 25 Poll for Men's Soccer in NCAA Division II.
Rank School Prev W-L-T
1 Lynn University 1 20-0-2
2 University of Charleston 2 22-2-1
3 Colorado State University-Pueblo 3 17-4-3
4 McKendree University 4 16-1-7
5 Clayton State University 5 13-4-4
6 Fort Lewis College 6 14-4-6
7 Saginaw Valley State University 7 13-6-2
8 Felician University 8 17-4-2
9 Coker University 9 15-3-1
10 Midwestern State University 10 15-3-3
11 California State University-Los Angeles 11 12-3-6
12 Franklin Pierce University 13 12-3-5
13 University of West Florida 14 12-3-4
14 Tiffin University 15 14-6-1
15 Post University 16 13-5-4
16 University of Findlay 17 12-4-5
17 University of Colorado-Colorado Springs 18 14-3-4
18 Cal Poly Pomona 19 14-2-7
19 Southern New Hampshire University 20 14-2-3
20 Rogers State University 21 9-5-7
21 Auburn University Montgomery 22 11-3-6
22 Western Oregon University 23 14-5-1
23 Fort Hays State University 24 13-4-4
24 California State University-Dominguez Hills 25 10-5-6
25 Converse University RV 9-1-9
Receiving Votes: Bloomsburg University, Gannon University, Concord University, Lewis University, Mars Hill University, Maryville University of St. Louis, University of the District of Columbia, Southern Nazarene University, Davenport University, Point Loma Nazarene University, Westmont College, Flagler College, Francis Marion University