Limestone Named Favorite in SAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll; Preseason All-Conference Announced

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The Limestone Sanits have been tabbed as the favorite in the 2024 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll as announced by the league on Tuesday morning.

The Saints finished the 2023 campaign with an 8-2-1 mark and a 16-3-2 overall record. Limestone won the SAC Tournament and earned the No. 1 seed in Super Region 2. The Saints advanced to the Regional Final before falling to Florida Tech in overtime. The Saints garnered eight of the 11 first-place votes.

Trailing Limestone in the preseason poll is the 2023 regular season champion Wingate Bulldogs. The Bulldogs won the league by three points over Limestone and received three first-place votes. Wingate was the No. 3 seed in Super Region 2 but were upset by West Florida in the First Round.

Coming in third are the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears who earned 94 points in the poll. In his first year, Carlos Rubio guided LR to a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance but the Bears would fall to Clayton St. in penalty kicks in the opening round.

Fourth place in the poll goes to Lincoln Memorial who garnered 85 points. The Railsplitters came in fourth with a 6-3-2 mark last year and were 11-5-3 overall. LMU will need to replace forward Daniel Burko who was voted the 2023 Offensive Player of the Year in the league.

Coker was predicted to finish fifth and earned 76 points. Trailing the Cobras is Catawba with 65 points and Anderson with 63.

Carson-Newman is eighth in the poll with Tusculum in ninth. Mars Hill, Newberry and Emory & Henry round out the 12-team poll.

In addition to the Coaches' Poll, the 2024 Preseason All-Conference teams were announced.

The 2024 SAC Championship will take place November 4, 10 and 12 with the Semifinals and Championship played at the Matthews Sportsplex.

2024 SAC Men's Soccer Poll

2024 SAC Preseason All-Conference Teams

First Team

F – Kosi Mafela, Wingate
F – Claudel N'Goubou, Limestone
F – Pablo Pozos, Wingate
F – Peter Plougmand, Mars Hill
MF – Mo Bouta, Tusculum
MF – Julian Caro Sepulveda, Anderson
MF – Salano Birch, Catawba
MF – Ben Dukes, Carson-Newman
D – Harry Rowe, Lenoir-Rhyne
D – Pedro Santos, Wingate
D – Stefan Roeb, Limestone
D – Leandro Dos Santos Haesler, Lincoln Memorial
GK – Franco Antoniolli Funes, Anderson

Second Team

F – Mark Radoki, Limestone
F – Juan Pablo Nicoletti, Catawba
F – Frederic Benedix, Coker
F – Sebastia Cerda-Tous, Catawba
MF – Seraphin Guetan, Newberry
MF – Arnau Ollie, Lenoir-Rhyne
MF – Ronan O'Mahony, Lincoln Memorial
MF – Mitchell Honcoop, Carson-Newman
D – Falk Jorch, Limestone
D – Matty Tricker, Coker
D – Dennis Hamzic, Wingate
D – Maxime Wester, Carson-Newman
GK – Zak Stiffler, Catawba

Third Team

F – Baustista Vecchi-Romello, Catawba
F – Tajay Grant – Lincoln Memorial
F – Diego Fernandez, Mars Hill
F – Ido Omaysi – Lenoir-Rhyne
MF – Ethan Orozco, Newberry
MF – Peter Majer, Catawba
D – Pol Elias, Anderson
D – Daniel Becerra, Limestone
D – Ben Harvey, Mars Hill
D – Nolan McMillen, Mars Hill
GK – Federico Simonetti, Carson-Newman