Conference Carolinas

Limestone Earns Top Spot in Men’s Soccer Coaches' Preseason Poll

8/22/2014 12:00:00 AM

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Ranked No. 21 in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Limestone College has been picked to three-peat as league champions after being selected to finish first in the Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Coaches' Preseason Poll. The Saints enter the season as the two-time defending regular season and tournament champs.

 

The Saints lost nine players to graduation this past year, but they do return a number of key players that helped guide the team to its second straight sweep of the Conference Carolinas Regular Season and Tournament Championships and a number one overall seed in the NCAA Southeast Regional.

All-American senior midfielder Sam Orritt highlights a core group of returning players after tallying a team-high 25 points (eight goals, nine assists) a season ago. Senior forward Jorge Mackenna, a three-time All-Southeast Region selection, also returns and looks to build on his nine-goal, six-assist junior campaign.

Junior forward Benjamin Morande is coming off a career year after registering a team-high 11 goals in 2013 while junior goalkeeper Tom Godfrey will most likely get the starting nod in between the pipes. Morande, who finished third in the league in scoring a year ago, earned second-team All-Conference honors while Godfrey was a third-team selection during his rookie year.

The Erskine Flying Fleet have been voted to finish second in the preseason poll. For the first time since joining Conference Carolinas, the Erskine Men's Soccer Team enters the season as the defending Co-Conference Carolinas Regular Season Champions. Coach Warren Turner's squad went 12-6-1 overall and 7-1 in conference play in route to their first-ever Conference Carolinas Regular Season title.

The Flying Fleet return three All-Conference players including Conference Carolinas Player of the Year Andrew Settlemire. Settlemire, a senior, led the conference in goals last season, tallying 14 goals along with 4 assists.

In addition, Erskine also returns first-team All-Conference player Ross Henderson who has anchored the Fleet's midfield the last two years, scoring 9 goals, second on the team last year. Expectations will be high for heralded defender Ugo Gaultier who earned third-team All-Conference honors as a freshman and is the only returner on the back row.

Voted to finish third, Barton College has finished the regular season among the top four teams in the league for three straight seasons. The Bulldogs hope to extend that streak in 2014 behind the leadership of Brazilian seniors Dante De Luca and Erik Pajunk.

Both players are three-time All-Conference selections and multiple All-Region award winners. De Luca led the league in points, while Pajunk paced the conference and ranked third nationally in assists. The Bulldogs return seven starters and 17 total players from a year ago, including All-Conference defender Drew Williams.

 

Lees-McRae finished fourth in the poll, followed by Pfeiffer, King, Belmont Abbey, Mount Olive, and North Greenville respectively rounding-out the poll standings.

Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Coaches' Preseason Poll
(# of First Place Votes in Parenthesis)