The Midwest Conference released its 2017 Men's Soccer Coaches Poll on Monday and Lake Forest College shared second place 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.
The 2016 Foresters claimed the program's third conference title in the last five seasons and their league-high 17th since joining the MWC in 1974. The team returns MWC Offensive Player of the Year John Cappuccitti, a forward who led the conference in goals and points per game, as well as fellow First Team All-MWC defender Elyas Ingram, the league leader in assists. Third-year head coach Dan Andrews also expects to welcome back Second Team All-MWC forward Gaston Aubert and 16 other letter winners when the team reports to campus this week.
Lake Forest will officially open the 2017 season in Michigan at Hope College on Friday, September 1, and the Foresters will play at Calvin College the next day. The first home game will be against Trinity International University on September 7 and league play begins in Iowa with games at Cornell College on September 23 and Grinnell College on September 24. The regular season will conclude on October 28 and the top four teams in the conference will advance to the MWC Tournament, which will be hosted by the league champion November 3-4.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (7) | 79 |
| 2t | Knox College (2) | 70 |
| 2t | Lake Forest College (1) | 70 |
| 4 | Grinnell College | 57 |
| 5 | Monmouth College | 42 |
| 6 | Cornell College | 37 |
| 7 | Illinois College | 35 |
| 8 | Lawrence University | 24 |
| 9 | Beloit College | 23 |
| 10 | Ripon College | 13 |