AUGUST 27, 2008
King's Selected Fifth Overall in
Freedom Conference Preseason Poll
ANNVILLE,
Pa.
–
King’s College was chosen
to finish fifth in the preseason poll after garnering 35 points.
The Monarchs (8-9-3, 4-2)
placed third last season in the Freedom Conference Tournament edging out
Wilkes on penalty kicks to advance to the championship game, where they
fell to DeSales 2-0.
Reigning Player of the
Year, senior Cameron Audette paced the Freedom Conference with 32 points
and 14 goals last season will be called upon to lead the offensive
attack.
Defending Freedom Conference champion DeSales University has been picked
as the favorite to repeat in 2008 in a poll conducted of the conference
head coaches.
The Bulldogs received three first place votes and 66 total points to
earn the top spot.
DeSales (10-10-2, 5-0-1) has won three straight Freedom Conference
titles. Losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by a single
goal to Johns Hopkins, the Bulldogs look to have another strong season
and go further into post season play.
Coach of the Year George
Crampton’s squad will lose four seniors to graduation, including
goalkeeper Rusty Riedmiller, a three time first team all-conference
selection. Riedmiller led the conference with a 1.26 GAA and also save
percentage at .794. Set to return for the Bulldogs will be first team
all-conference player German Reyes. Reyes was second in points (24) and
second in goals (11) in the Freedom Conference.
All conference honorees Chris Ravita, Tony Aufiero, Dustin Sturm, David
Ackley and Andrew Marshall also return for the DeSales.
Eastern (13-6-2, 6-1-1)
finished second in the preseason poll with 65 points and six first place
votes.
The Eagles will enter
their first season of competition play in the Freedom Conference. Last
season Eastern men’s soccer used an 89th minute goal to earn
their third PAC Championship (Pennsylvania Athletic Conference), now
known as the CSAC (Colonial States Athletic Conference) in five years
with a 1-0 win over Misericordia. Now with both Eastern and Misericordia
in the Freedom Conference, they will both look to make a strong push to
knock off DeSales.
No strangers to post
season play, Eastern lost in the second round of NCAA’s to York in the
107th minute of the game. Losing their leading scorer to
graduation, junior forward Brian Raffle (6 goals, 3 assists) and Terry
Fry (3 goals, 2 assists) and a strong group of incoming players will
look to lead the team. Michael Dorsch who sported a .56 goals against
average will be back in the next as he emerged as the starter for the
second half of the 2007 season.
Wilkes was selected third
in the preseason poll with 60 points.
The Colonels (11-6-2, 5-1)
finished second in the regular season race in 2007 and advanced to the
Freedom Conference Tournament, but fell to King’s 4-3 in penalty kicks
in the opening round.
Wilkes will be right there
in the mix of the playoff hunt as they return three second team
all-conference selections in Greg Millers (forward, jr., 4 goals, 6
assists), Sean Vona (midfield, jr., 3 goals and 5 assists) and Arthur
Jankowski (defense, jr.).
Misericordia (13-6-1,
8-1-1) received 53 total points to finish fourth in the preseason poll.
The Cougars advanced to
the PAC Conference championship, before losing a tightly battled match
1-0 to Eastern. The team went on to drop its second consecutive
heartbreaking defeat with a 2-1 overtime loss to Penn State Altoona in
the first round of the ECAC championships.
Three members of that
squad who made the All PAC team will return this season, led by player
of the Year Max Campbell (11 goals, 10 assists). Joe Scanlon (6 goals, 3
assists) and Tyler Anderson earned second team honors.
Alvernia lands itself in
the sixth spot with 35 points.
The 2007
season saw the Crusaders battle to a 5-12-3 record, 3-3-2 in the PAC and
defeat #5 Neumann College in the first round of the PAC Championships in
penalty kicks before falling to #1 seed Misericordia 5-2.
Hoping to make an immediate impact in their new conference, the
Crusaders will rely on Morgan Davidheiser, the
PAC Rookie of the Year and All-PAC first team goalkeeper Richard
Kessler.
Manahttanville comes in seventh with 34 total points.
The Valiants (6-10-1, 2-4) just missed out on conference play last
season.
Sophomore
Kenneil Haye, who led the team with 3 goals and 3 assists last season,
will help Manhattanville make that push into post season play.
FDU-Florham earned the eight spot with 31 points.
The Devils (8-8-3, 2-2-2) earned the fourth seed in last year’s
conference tournament. Looking to build on last seasons tournament play,
FDU will look to second team all-conference Alex Malcolm who was third
in the conference in goals scored with 10 to lead them.
Delaware Valley
(2-15-1, 0-5-1) rounds out the poll with 20 points for ninth place.
Second team all-conference player
Eric Maciag who led
the conference in assists with seven will push his team and look to
crack into post season play.
Freedom Conference Preseason Men’s
Soccer Poll
1. DeSales 66 points (3)
2. Eastern 65 points (6)
3. Wilkes 60 points
4. Misericordia 53 points
5. King’s 44 points
6. Alvernia 35 points
7. Manhattanville 34 points
8. FDU-Florham 31 points
9. Delaware Valley 20 points
( ) first place votes in parentheses
