Mitchell, Macer named to SAC preseason teams

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Wingate has been tabbed the South Atlantic Conference favorite for the 2018 men's soccer season, the conference announced today. The Bulldogs collected nine first-place votes and 109 total points, as voted by the league's head men's soccer coaches.

This is the fourth consecutive year the Bulldogs have been picked as the preseason favorite. They are coming off a 2017 campaign where they won the SAC Men's Soccer Tournament Championship and advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Southeast Regional.

Lenoir-Rhyne claimed the No. 2 spot with one first-place vote and 97 points. Lincoln Memorial and Carson-Newman earned a share of the No. 3 ranking with 86, and the Railsplitters also picked up one first-place vote. Queens came in No. 5 with 70 points, while Anderson at came in at No. 6 with 57 points.

Tusculum slides into the No. 7 hole with 55 points and Newberry was tabbed No. 8 with 51 points. Coker came in at No. 9 with 40 points and Mars Hill earned the No. 10 ranking with 36 points. Catawba closed out the ranking at No. 11 with 21 points.

In addition to the 2018 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll, the 2018 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason All-Conference teams were also announced. Voted on by the league's media relations directors, the preseason all-conference teams features five players from Carson-Newman, four players from Lenoir-Rhyne, three players from Wingate and Queens, two players from Tusculum, Coker and Mars Hill and a player from Newberry.

The 2018 South Atlantic Men's Soccer season will get underway starting on August 30 with eight of the league's 11 teams taking the field. Conference play will begin on September 12.

2018 SAC MEN'S SOCCER PRESEASON COACHES' POLL

2018 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason All-Conference

First Team

F – Ignacio de Goya, Lenoir-Rhyne

F – Edmundo Robinson, Queens

F – Elliot Cutts, Wingate

F – Tobias Solem Karlsen, Carson-Newman

MF – Mattia Ditommaso, Wingate

MF – Florian Simon, Lenoir-Rhyne

MF – Cameron Emerson, Anderson

MF – Victor Cascon, Lenoir-Rhyne

D – Emil Tansinda, Lenoir-Rhyne

D – Oscar Mitchell, Mars Hill

D – Michael Hornsby, Queens

D – Samuel Jenkins, Carson-Newman

GK – Pablo Jara, Wingate

Second Team

F – Ashley Kelynack, Carson-Newman

F – Edgar Cervantes, Tusculum

F – Aladdin Elfares, Coker

F – Victor Peres, Lincoln Memorial

MF – Felipe de Sousa, Lincoln Memorial

MF – Fabrizio Bucco, Newberry

MF – Cam Macer, Mars Hill

MF – Liam Doyle, Queens

D – Christoph Willemsen, Lincoln Memorial

D – Jonny Le Quesne, Carson-Newman

D – Robbie Jenkinson, Coker

D – Georgios Charkoutsakis, Tusculum

GK – Twan Verweij, Carson-Newman