The Midwest Conference released its 2016 Men's Soccer Coaches Poll on Tuesday and Lake Forest College was the second-place team in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head men's soccer coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (nine points for first, eight for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
Although Lake Forest graduated the 2015 MWC Player of the Year, the Foresters return a pair of Second Team All-MWC selections in senior Ellis Rutili and junior Elyas Ingram, who finished among the league leaders in goals and assists, repsecitvely, last season. Second-year head coach Dan Andrews also expects to welcome back 16 other letter winners when the team reports to campus this week.
After playing a scrimmage at Elmhurst College on August 27, the Foresters will officially open the 2016 season at Benedictine University on Thursday, September 1. The first of Lake Forest's nine league games will be played at Beloit College on Sunday, September 18 and the regular season will conclude at the end of October. The top four teams in the conference will qualify for the MWC Tournament, which will be hosted by the league champion November 4-5.
Lake Forest won the 2015 MWC Tournament for its second postseason title in the last three years. The Foresters have also claimed two of the last four regular season championships and 16 since joining the MWC in 1974.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (9) | 81 |
| 2 | Lake Forest College (1) | 73 |
| 3 | Knox College | 64 |
| 4 | Grinnell College | 58 |
| 5 | Monmouth College | 43 |
| 6 | Illinois College | 42 |
| 7 | Lawrence University | 32 |
| 8 | Beloit College | 28 |
| 9 | Ripon College | 17 |
| 10 | Cornell College | 12 |