ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the second time in seven seasons, the Carson-Newman men's soccer team was selected to finish second in the annual preseason South Atlantic Conference coaches' poll, the league announced Tuesday morning.
With this year's second-place prediction, the Eagles have now been selected to finish the top-two in the league for the fourth time in the last seven seasons. Last year, Carson-Newman finished third in the SAC with a 6-3-2 conference record and a 7-9-2 mark overall with a season-ending loss to Tusculum in the first round of the SAC Tournament.
"That's an improvement (from 2014). We finished third and we have been picked to finish preseason second. The ranking system is political; it's an opinion. We can't base that opinion on any facts or information because we don't know who each other recruited or what each other look like," coach Richard Moodie said.
The team returns seven starters from last season's squad with four of those players returning from the 2013 National Finalist squad.
Leading scorers Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway), Lucas Siqueira (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Sindre Welo (Trondheim, Norway) are the team's top-three returning scorers. Staalby tallied 14 points with four goals and six assists. Last season's starting goalkeeper Kavi Luchowa (London, England) also returns for 2015 after boosting a 1.73 goals against average with 58 saves.
Highlighting the 12 new Eagles that are set for their first season on Mossy Creek is senior transfer Jules Gabbiadini (York, England) who joins the Eagles after playing his first three seasons of collegiate soccer at the University of Charleston (W. Va.). He was named to the 2014 NCAA Division II All-Tournament team after the Golden Eagles fell in the National Title game to Lynn. The Englishman tallied 16 career goals in the Mountain State. Freshman Ashley Kelynack (High Wycombe, England) is from the same hometown of former Lad, Duncan Foster. Kelynack scored 47 goals at All Saints High School in 78 games and he complied 33 assists.
"To be second, we have a quality program here, but so does Wingate, Mars Hill; Tusculum finished strong last year. Our conference is so close that there is not much discrepancy between first and fifth in our conference. To finish second is obviously a great award; for us, we don't care what preseason poll we are in."
Wingate was selected to repeat as SAC regular season champions by receiving 10 of the 12 first-place votes and tallied 131 points. After Carson-Newman's second-place selection, the Mars Hill Lions were tabbed third with 106 points.
The 2014 SAC Tournament champions Tusculum were selected fourth with 98 points; the Pioneers received two first-place votes. Lincoln Memorial rounds out the Tennessee portion of the league with a fifth-place selection.
Lenoir-Rhyne and Anderson are sixth and seventh. The Bears finished the 2014 season with a 6-4-1 SAC record in 2014. Anderson garnered 70 points for seventh-place; the Trojans have won three of the last five SAC Tournament titles.
Queens (N.C.) and Coker were separated by one point for the difference between eighth and ninth-place. The Royals were selected eighth with 58 points, while the Cobras tabbed ninth with 57 points.
Catawba, Newberry and Brevard round the final three spots, respectively. Carson-Newman beat the Indians, Wolves and Tornados by a combined 12-3 score line during the 2014 seasons.
2015 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll
School (first-place votes) Total
1. Wingate (10) 131
2. Carson-Newman 109
3. Mars Hill 106
4. Tusculum (2) 98
5. Lincoln Memorial 94
6. Lenoir-Rhyne 87
7. Anderson 70
8. Queens 58
9. Coker 57
10. Catawba 50
11.Newberry 36
12. Brevard 23
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