FAYETTE, Iowa- The Peacocks men's soccer begin their season at home on Thursday Sept. 4
th, at 5 p.m. against St. Cloud State (Minn.).
Jason Carlson enters his fourth season in his second stint with Upper Iowa, which began in 2022. This marks his eighth season overall with the Peacocks, dating back to 2013. Carlson previously led the program from 2013 to 2017 before departing to coach at Florida Southern (2017–2019) and later at Mount Olive (2020–2021).
MEET THE PEACOCKS: RETURNERS
Upper Iowa returns several key players from last season. This includes three of the top five players from last season in minutes total will return:
Dexter Garrett (1393 min),
Alejandro Sanchez (1325 min) and
JJ Gonzalez-Hayes (997 min).
Julian Mesen returns for his sophomore campaign. During his freshman campaign Mesen scored 3 goals on six shots with a limited amount of time (502 min).
Gonzalez-Hayes finished second in the GLVC last season with 58 saves behind Quincy's (Ill.) George Roke. His season high of 11 saves in one game last season came against Lincoln (Mo.) on Oct 18, 2024.
MEET THE PEACOCKS: FRESH FACES
The Peacocks will have a total of 13 new players on this year's rosters. This includes 12 freshman and one transfer.
Jeremiah Goko from Limestone (S.C.) and
Noah Nymark-Pedersen from Eastern Oklahoma State are the only incoming transfers for the Peacocks.
"We have high expectations of all of our seniors. They have been here for 3-4 years and have been committed to this program. The spring and summer these guys really did a great job of putting in the work and showing up fit. Overall, we are going to be a fairly young team, but with a great group of senior leaders, we have high expectations to compete," said Coach Carlson.
GLVC POLL
UIU was picked 14
th in the 2025 Preseason Coaches' Poll. Lewis was picked first with seven first-place votes and McKendree came second with six first-place votes. Maryville and Indianapolis each received one first-place vote.
2025 GLVC MEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON POLL
| Place |
School |
Points (1st-Place Votes) |
| 1. |
Lewis |
186 (7) |
| 2. |
McKendree |
184 (6) |
| 3. |
Maryville |
168 (1) |
| 4. |
Indianapolis |
167 (1) |
| 5. |
Missouri-St. Louis |
123 |
| 6. |
Drury |
116 |
| 7. |
Rockhurst |
114 |
| 8. |
Illinois Springfield |
113 |
| 9. |
Lincoln |
105 |
10.
11. |
Missouri S&T
Quincy |
87
59 |
| 12. |
Truman State |
56 |
| 13. |
William Jewell |
41 |
| 14. |
Upper Iowa |
38 |
| 15. |
Southwest Baptist |
18 |
COACH CARLSON'S THOUGHTS ON THE CONFERENCE
"I think you can take any of the top half of our conference and any of them can win it. There is no doubt that this conference is one of the best in the country for men's soccer. That is one of the great things about playing in the GLVC, every game is going to be a battle and our guys are ready for it."
LOOKING AHEAD
After the season opener at Harms-Eischeid Field Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 4, against St. Cloud State (Minn.), the Peacocks will travel to Davenport, Iowa, on Saturday, Sept. 6, to take on Saint Ambrose.
Upper Iowa will face Viterbo (Wis.) on Sept. 11 and Parkside (Wis.) on Sept. 14 before beginning conference play against Indianapolis.
The 2025 GLVC Tournament take place from Nov. 9–16. The top eight teams in the conference will compete in a single-elimination tournament, with the top four seeds hosting first-round games on Nov. 9. The semifinals and finals take place Nov. 13–16 at Creve Coeur Park in St. Louis, Missouri.
ABOUT THE HUSKIES
St. Cloud State and Upper Iowa will meet for the fifth straight year, with the Peacocks leading the series 4-2. The Huskies got the better of the last matchup, picking up a 7-2 win in St. Cloud, Minn. Last season, they also played two other GLVC opponents — losing 1-0 to Truman State early on, then later grabbing a 3-2 win over Illinois-Springfield.
The Huskies return eight key players from last year's team. Leading the group is 2024 All-GLIAC Honorable Mention Andrew Holmes, who played in all 18 games and led the team in minutes with 1,526. Head coach Sean Holmes, the reigning GLIAC Coach of the Year, is back for his sixth season and holds a career record of 19-37-12.
ABOUT THE FIGHTING BEES
The Fighting Bees had a record of 2-10-3 last season and finished ninth in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference. They return their three of their top scorers from last season in Eli Elliot, Owen Hull and Ricardo Ronconi. Chad Hollmer enters his sixth season as their men's head soccer coach and a record.
