VIDEO: Stephen Lyons Interview

ROCK HILL, S.C. – On the heels of winning a share of its 10^th regular season South Atlantic Conference championship, the Carson-Newman men's soccer team has been projected to finish third in the 2020-21 preseason poll with one first-place vote and 102 points, as released by the league office on Wednesday.

"We're just excited to get started," C-N men's soccer coach Stephen Lyons said. "The boys have been training hard. Hopefully we can finish a little bit higher than that and end on a good note."

The Eagles won the title after being projected to finish seventh in the preseason poll. For just the fourth time in program history and the first since 2015, C-N touted the SAC Coach of the Year with Stephen Lyons being awarded the accolade. In his third season with the Eagles, Lyons' squad amassed a 10-4-3 record, the first double-digit wins season since 2015. The Orange and Blue exceeded the league's expectations set prior to the season when it slated to finish at seventh in the SAC's preseason coaches' poll. C-N went 6-1-3 in conference action with a .750 winning-percentage, its best since 2015 when it tallied a .818 clip. Lyons' group attained its highest national ranking in four years sitting at No. 13 near the end of October.

This season, Lyons welcomes back 16 players from last year's squad, including All-SAC selections Bram Kaarsgaren (Den Bosch, the Netherlands), Thaylan Silva (São Paulo, Brazil) and Nic Carsh (Newberg, Ore.). Kaarsgaren was the first-team goalkeeper in 2019 while Silva and Carsh landed second-team nods as a forward and midfielder, respectively. While the team sees a slew of returners, it did say goodbye to a large number of Eagles since last year, including the 2019 SAC Defensive Player of the Year in Kensho Yoshikoshi and three-time All-SAC selection Tobias Solem Karlsen. Of the 35 goals scored by 13 C-N players in 2019, just four scorers are back this year, accounting for 11 of those goals. Karlsen accounted for seven of last year's punch-ins while Silva brought in five.

The returning and lost ratio for starters throughout all of last season sits at 10 and 12, respectively, opening the door for the 16 returning Eagles and the eight newcomers to compete for playing time in the Starting XI. Five Orange and Blue players coming back this season started in a majority of the matches last year. Kaarsgaren started in net for all but one of the 17 matches throughout the 2019 season. Silva tallied 15 starts, Greg Evans (Wrexham, Wales) with 14 while Rik van Dijk (Roden, the Netherlands) and Harry Whitehead (Oxford, England) both accounted for 11.

 "I think there will be some players that are trying to prove themselves, that they deserve to be out there," Lyons said. "There's a lot of competition in the squad, which is good that it makes it a difficult decision for us to pick the 11. We're confident going in that we've got a good group and for the guys just to, like I say, put the game plan together that we have in place and get the good result."

While C-N picked up one first-place vote in the poll, the remaining 10, along with 112 points, all belong to Wingate, who closed the 2019 season ranked sixth in the nation with a 15-3-3 record. The Bulldogs won the 2019 SAC Tournament and advanced all the way to the NCAA National Quarterfinal where they lost to then-No. 2 Lynn, 3-0. Head coach Gary Hamill and his staff were tabbed the 2019 United Soccer Coaches Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year.

Queens, C-N's co-champion through the regular season, checks in at second with 114 points. The Royals fell to Wingate in the SAC semifinals, 1-0, but punched a ticket to the NCAA Tournament as the eighth-seed in the region. They ended up losing to No. 2 Lynn, 1-0, in the second round. By the final NCAA ranking on the year on Dec. 17, 2019, they were still receiving votes with a 12-7-0 record.

Anderson sits at No. 4 with 97 points. The Trojans were 12-6-1 on the year with their final outing on the pitch coming in a 1-0 loss to Wingate in the SAC Tournament.

The newest addition to the SAC, Limestone, took fifth-place with 91 points. Heading over from Conference Carolinas, the Saints went 11-7-2 throughout the 2019 season with a 6-3-1 standing in league fixtures. They won a third-straight league tournament title last season in a man-down 2-1 overtime win against Erskine.

Ten points separate Lenoir-Rhyne and Lincoln Memorial, sitting at sixth and seventh, respectively, with 79 and 69 points.

Tusculum is slotted at eighth with 67 points, just two points ahead of Coker at No. 9. The Cobras pulled all a 5-1 upset of top-seeded C-N in the first round of the SAC Tournament in 2019, playing as the eighth-seed.

Newberry, Catawba and Mars Hill rounds out the list at tenth, 11^th and 12^th, respectively.

2020-21 Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll