Denver Sophomore Alex Tarnoczi a star in making

This continues our series of daily articles previewing each men's and women's college conference. All the conference previews can be found here.

Today we look at the Big West and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s conferences.

Big West

Programs like UC Santa Barbara rarely fade – they just reload. Gauchos first-team all-conference attacker David Walker is a notable loss, as is last year’s Defensive Player of the Year Martin Hedevag, but UC Santa Barbara is still stacked. Danny Barrerra and Freshman of the Year Machael David will simply take more prominent roles.

Cal Poly didn’t quite have the firepower to stay with UCSB or UC Irvine down the stretch last season, but with most of their core returning they could certainly edge past the Irvine Anteaters. Forward David Zamora, midfielder Jacob Hustedt and keeper Patrick McLain will be key.

When it came to putting the ball in the net, no one was better than UC Irvine last season. Of course, Offensive Player of the Year Irving Garcia and midfielder Carlos Aguilar were a big part of that, and they won’t be back. Expect the production to slip a little but the Anteaters to become more balanced.

The Cal State Northridge Matadors will have more questions than answers to begin this campaign. Leading scorer Cameron Sims is gone, and maybe more importantly, two key ingredients in their stout defense have also moved on in Chad Borak and Dylan Riley. Much will depend on the incoming class and the emergence of returning talent.

Striker Celso Alvarez will be vital for the Cal State Fullerton program this season if they plan to make the next leap forward. UC Davis will be attempting to do the same despite the departure of attackers Paul Marcoux and Chris Leer while UC Riverside is just trying to win a conference game – something they were unable at accomplish in 2009.

MPSF

Coming off a historic season that included its first MPSF Championship and first NCAA postseason victory, Sacramento State looks poised to add more firsts. Player of the Year Ernesto Carranza is back in the fold and will lead a team talented on both sides of the ball and packed with both youth and veteran stability.

The New Mexico Lobos should again play the role of closest pursuer to the top. The strength of this program is a defense that will have to be better than ever with the departure of studs like Simon Ejdemyr and Justin Davis.

Goalkeeper Jonathan Lester was one of the best in the business last season, and his presence in net should again solidify San Jose State. All-conference midfielder Nick Cukar will also play an important role along with Josh Boemecke.

Cal State Bakersfield(m) will be hoping for a dip in one of the aforementioned programs, and also continued growth from some of their young contributors. Goalkeeper Eric Shannon had a strong first-year campaign, and defender Alberto Navarro will also return to the team’s backline.

Newcomer of the Year Alex Tarnoczi highlights the future of the Denver program. In a fabulous freshman season, he led the team in goals and points while bringing hope for brighter days ahead. Forward Jarod Stigall is another returning striker who should be in for a good season.

Air Force, Seattle and UNLV are three teams jockeying to move up in the conference pecking order. Unfortunately, Air Force lost most of their leading contributors from last year while UNLV will lean on 2009 first-team defender Jamie Calvo.