HIGH POINT—The St. Andrews Presbyterian College men’s soccer team was selected ninth out of 10 teams in the 2010 Conference Carolinas Preseason Poll as voted upon by the leagues head coaches.

The Knights posted an impressive win over eventual Conference Carolinas Tournament champions Coker College in the regular season finale to finish eighth place last year with a 3-7-0 league ledger. SAPC concluded last season with a 5-12 overall record but will look to get back over .500 with the return of Stevan Hernandez at the helm of the Royal Blue & White. The Knights last three winning seasons (2005-07) were directed by Coach Hernandez in his last three years before returning to the program in 2010.

The Lees-McRae College men’s soccer team starts the 2010 season atop the preseason conference coaches’ poll. The three year reigning conference regular season champions are currently the No. 2 ranked team in the NSCAA national preseason poll. The Bobcats know they’ll be a big target in 2010 after falling in last season’s NCAA National Championship Match 1-0 to cap off their best season in school history.

The Bobcats went 18-3-2 overall and 8-1-1 in Conference Carolinas play last year. The team lost in the conference tournament semifinals, but hosted and won the 2009 Southeast Regional with wins over Wingate and Anderson. They then hosted and again won their Elite Eight match against Tampa to advance to the NCAA Final Four. After the thrilling come-from-behind win over Lewis the team fell 1-0 to Fort Lewis in the NCAA Championship Match.

St. Andrews women’s soccer takes tenth in preseason poll

HIGH POINT— The St. Andrews Presbyterian College women’s soccer team was selected 10th out of 11 teams in the 2010 Conference Carolinas Preseason Poll as voted upon by the leagues head coaches.

The Lady Knights are picked in the same spot they finished last year. SAPC finished the 2009 season with a 3-7-1 record in league play, which was good for 10th place out of 12 teams (Anderson University no longer in the conference). St. Andrews accumulated an overall record of 5-11-1. All five of the Knights wins came at home. SAPC hosts 10 games in Laurinburg in 2010.

The Belmont Abbey College women’s soccer team has been picked as the preseason favorite by Conference Carolinas league head coaches for the upcoming season. The Abbey women’s team returns 15 players from last season’s unit that went 14-6 overall with a 9-2 league mark and captured the Conference Carolinas title. That team advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2001 season adding to their fourth overall NCAA appearance. The Abbey has won six conference tournament championships and appeared in the Conference Tournament final in each of the last five seasons, winning in 2005, 2006 and 2009.

The Crusaders return their top four goal scorers from a year ago, including junior forward Connie Axiotis, who led the league with 14 goals en route to capturing Player of the Year honors.  Sophomore Alana Ryczek (eight goals), junior Nicole Voets (seven goals) and junior forward Rebecca Mateo (five goals) also return for the Crusaders. Axiotis, who was also the Conference Freshman of the Year two season ago, Voets and Lindsay Palm all earned all-conference honors last year.

Pfeiffer University women’s soccer team comes in at number two in this year’s preseason poll as voted on by league head coaches. The Lady Falcons finished 2009 with an 11-6-3 overall record, and 8-1-2 in Conference Carolinas play finishing second behind Belmont Abbey. Pfeiffer’s season came to a n end in a 1-0 loss to Limestone in a neutral site, first round matchup in the conference tournament.