Defending champ Oxnard sits atop tight race in first men's soccer poll of the season

SAN BERNARDINO - Early season polling in any sport can make for some difficult choices for voters.

There’s the small sample size for some teams. How do you factor in past results for perennial powers? And how do you separate the field when there are 11 teams who have not suffered a loss through the first two-and-a-half weeks of play?

That was the challenge for the sports information professionals voting in the first 3C2A men’s soccer poll of the 2023 season. In the end, the top team in the first poll ended up being the team that topped the state in 2022.

With four first place votes, defending state champion Oxnard holds the top spot in the season’s first poll. But the Condors advantage at the top is narrow, with three teams with 12 points of the top spot. Oxnard (3-0-1) received 145 points in the poll, just nine points clear of No. 2 Fullerton (136 points, 5-1-0), and 12 points ahead of two teams tied at No. 3: Fresno City (3-0-1) and Norco (4-0-2).

Norco leads three teams in the top 11 from the Inland Empire Athletic Conference. San Bernardino Valley, with a record of 5-0-2, rounds out the top five with 110 points in the voting. And College of the Desert (3-0-3) landed in a four-way tie for 11^th, with 53 points.

Perennial powers also made their way into the poll. El Camino, whose only loss was to No. 3 Norco, landed at No. 6. And back-to-back state finalist Mt. San Antonio has picked up four draws in its first six games – including a 1-1 final against Oxnard on Tuesday – to land at No. 9 in the poll. 

(Bill Norris, CCCSIA)