Wingate Voted Favorite to Win 2017 South Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer Crown
ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The defending National Champion Wingate Men's Soccer team has been voted the preseason favorite to win the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer Championship, the League announced today. The Bulldogs will look to repeat as Conference Champions as it went 11-0 in SAC play during the 2016 season. Wingate University is also ranked No. 1 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Preseason National Poll. Wingate collected 10 first place votes and 100 points from the League's head coaches.
The Bulldogs claimed the South Atlantic Conference's and Wingate's first-ever National Championship in any sport a season ago.
Wingate entered the 2016 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship as an at-large pick and was the No. 1 seed in Super Region 4. After a first round bye, Wingate defeated No. 4 seed Limestone 3-0 and followed with a 1-0 win over No. 2 seed Pfeiffer in the Region Semifinals. Wingate then drew No. 4 seed Tampa in the National Quarterfinals and picked up a 1-0 win over the Trojans to win the Regional Championship.
In the National Semifinals, Wingate was faced with the No. 2 seed out of Super Region 3, UC San Diego. The Bulldogs defeated UCSD 2-0 to move to the National Championship match against the top seed from Super Region 1, Charleston. Jon Ander found the back of the net in the 36th minute and scored again in the 78th minute to push Wingate to the 2-0 win and the 2016 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship. The Bulldogs finished the 2016 campaign with a 19-1 overall record.
Tusculum, the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament Champion, placed second in the poll with one top vote and 86 points. The Pioneers went 16-4 a season ago and was 8-3 in South Atlantic Conference play. The Pioneers earned the SAC's automatic bid to the NCAA D-II Men's Soccer Championship.
Lenoir-Rhyne finished third in the preseason poll with 82 points, ahead of Lincoln Memorial who posted 76 points.
The Bears went 12-5-3 overall in 2016 and posted a mark of 7-3-1 in League play. Lenoir-Rhyne was an at-large pick in the 2016 NCAA D-II Championship and picked up a win in the first round. Lincoln Memorial was 11-7-1 overall and 6-5 in the Conference last season. The Railsplitters posted a big run in the 2016 SAC Championship and advanced the championship game.
At No. 5 in the poll was Catawba with 58 points. The Catawba Indians were 10-7 overall a season ago to go along with a 7-4 record in Conference action.
Carson-Newman landed at No. 6 in the poll with 47 points and Mars Hill garnered 38 points to come in at No. 7.
The Eagles turned in an overall record of 7-10 in 2016 and posted a mark of 3-8 in SAC play. The Lions posted an overall record of 6-10-1 and a 4-6-1 record in the SAC last season.
Queens placed 8th in the preseason poll as it picked up 37 points to edge Coker, who placed at No. 9 with 36 points.
Royals were 6-8-1 overall and 3-7-1 in the South Atlantic Conference during the 2016 campaign, while Coker turned in a 7-8-2 overall mark and a 5-6 record in the SAC.
Anderson (29 points) and Newberry (12 points) rounded out the 2017 South Atlantic Conference Preseason Men's Soccer Poll.
The preseason first and second teams were also announced today. Wingate topped the South Atlantic Conference with five first team selections, followed by Lenoir-Rhyne with three players on the first team. Lincoln Memorial put two players on the first team, while Carson-Newman, Tusculum and Mars Hill rounded out the first team with one selection each.
Lenoir-Rhyne's Ismael Noumansana, the 2016 SAC Player of the Year, headlines the list of first team forwards. Noumansana posted eight game-winning goals a season ago to rank No. 3 in Division II. He also ranked No. 12 in the nation with 17 goals to go along with 35 points to come in at No. 19 in the country.
Lincoln Memorial's Victor Peres and Wingate's Jon Ander and Elma N'For joined Noumansana on the list of first team forwards. Peres found the back of the net nine times for the Railsplitters and dished out five assists in 2016. Ander scored 10 goals for the Bulldogs a season ago and ranked No. 19 in the nation with five game-winners. He also chipped in 11 assists last season to rank No. 7 in the nation. N'For closed out the 2016 season with nine goals and five helpers.
Tom Read from Carson-Newman highlights the list of first team midfielders. Read ranked No. 6 in the nation during the 2016 season with 12 assists. He also scored five goals for the Eagles.
Danilo de Silva from Lincoln Memorial, and Lenoir-Rhyne's Marc Fernandez and Jens Rossler were also tabbed first team mids. Danilo de Silva found the back of the six times and posted eight assists for the Railsplitters in 2016. Fernandez scored four times for the Bears last season and assisted on nine other goals. Rossler finished his 2016 season with a pair of goals and one assist.
The first-team defenders list featured Georgious Charkoutsakis from Tusculum, Oscar Mitchell of Mars Hill and Wingate's Vicente Munoz and Damian Gaona.
Pablo Jara from Wingate was voted the first-team goalkeeper. Jara led all NCAA D-II keepers in the nation last season with a 0.40 goals against average, while ranking No. 4 in the county with an .843 save percentage. He also spent 1,790 minutes in goal for the Bulldogs to come in at No. 18 in D-II.
The 2017 South Atlantic Conference Men's soccer season is set to get underway on Thursday, Aug. 31.
2017 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll
| Rank | School (First-Place Votes) | Total |
| 1 | Wingate (10) | 100 |
| 2 | Tusculum (1) | 86 |
| 3 | Lenoir-Rhyne | 82 |
| 4 | Lincoln Memorial | 76 |
| 5 | Catawba | 58 |
| 6 | Carson-Newman | 47 |
| 7 | Mars Hill | 38 |
| 8 | Queens | 37 |
| 9 | Coker | 36 |
| 10 | Anderson | 29 |
| 11 | Newberry | 12 |
2017 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason All-Conference
First Team All-Conference
F – Ismael Noumansana, Lenoir-Rhyne
F – Elma N'For, Wingate
F – Jon Ander, Wingate
F – Victor Peres, Lincoln Memorial
MF – Marc Fernandez, Lenoir-Rhyne
MF – Jens Roessler, Lenoir-Rhyne MF – Danilo da Silva, Lincoln Memorial
MF – Tom Read, Carson-Newman
D – Georgios Charkoutsakis, Tusculum
D – Oscar Mitchell, Mars Hill
D – Vicente Munoz, Wingate
D – Damian Gaona, Wingate
GK – Pablo Jara, Wingate
Second Team All-Conference
F – Stian Sanner, Mars Hill
F – Jacob Simonis, Coker
F – Aladdin Elfares, Coker
F – Andreas Kvam, Tusculum
MF – Henrique Rezek, Lincoln Memorial
MF – David Fairgrieve, Wingate
MF – Mateo Correa, Wingate
MF – Ivan Andabak, Tusculum
D – Ronaldo de Jesus, Lincoln Memorial
D – Pau Peiro, Tusculum
D – Josh Calabria, Anderson
D – Claus Lehland, Newberry
GK – Joe Boyd, Carson-Newman