JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman men's soccer team has been tabbed for a sixth place finish by the South Atlantic League's coaches in the annual preseason poll.

The Eagles received 40 votes while Tusculum received 69 votes for first place, just one vote better than Mars Hill, who garnered the most number of first place votes despite being picked second.

"For us we're just going to use this as a catalyst to go out and prove people wrong," said Carson-Newman head coach Richard Moodie. "We had a down year last year, I feel like we have a good recruiting class in. It's always good to be the underdog and come out and prove people wrong."

In addition to being picked sixth in the conference, three Eagles received preseason All-SAC honors, all players named to the conference's second team.

Senior Emmanuel Aboagye earned second-team All-SAC honors at forward. A native of Ghana, Aboagye missed last season due to injury but was All-SAC as a sophomore in 2010. That season Aboagye ranked second on the team in goals with five, had one assist and one-game winning goal.

Senior Taylor Jolley earned second-team All-SAC honors at midfielder. Jolley, a native of Morristown, Tenn., played in all 17 matches with 15 starts for the Eagles in 2011, scoring six goals with two assists for 14 points.

Senior Evan Preston-Kelly earned second-team All-SAC honors at defender.  Preston-Kelly, a native of Galway, Ireland, was a midseason addition to the Eagles a season ago when he earned second-team All-SAC honors. Preston-Kelly scored one goal and helped lead Carson-Newman to a pair of shutouts over the season's last eight games.

"I think all three men are very deserving, Taylor is nursing an injury right now but the other two boys are fit and ready to go," Moodie said. "I believe that we'll have a few people that will catch the attention of other teams in the conference when they see them this year."

Carson-Newman will open its exhibition season on Saturday Aug. 18 against Tennessee-Wesleyan at noon, while the regular season begins on August 31 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Against Tampa. The Eagles home opener is on September 19 against Lincoln Memorial at 7:30 p.m. at McCown Field.