Lions Third in Southeast Region

MARS HILL, N.C.-- The Mars Hill men's soccer team is ranked third in the Southeast Region in the third official NCAA Men's Soccer Regional rankings, which were released Wednesday.

The Lions were ranked first in last week's poll. Mars Hill is currently ranked 12th in the nation with a 13-2-2 overall record. The Lions clinched the South Atlantic Conference regular-season title and hold the top seed in the league championship tournament, which begins tonight. The official NCAA Poll is used to determine seeding in the Regionals of the NCAA Tournament. The top six teams in each region will earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Lander and Flager each jumped back ahead of Mars Hill to claim the number one and two rankings in the region. Lander defeated West Georgia and Francis Marion last week, while Flagler defeated Florida Memorial. MHC defeated Montreat and battled Carson-Newman to a draw.

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Mars Hill is 2-0-1 against teams ranked in the Southeast Region. The Lions own win over fifth-ranked Wingate and sixth-ranked Lincoln Memorial, and tied UNC Pembroke.

Six Lions earned all-conference honors this season. Felipe Ferraro, Shadi Harb, Alex Mullen and Gregg Munn all earned first-team honors, while Stephen Bivens and Andres Diaz were named to the second team.

The Lions host Tusculum in the first round of the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Championship tonight at 7:00 p.m.