ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum College men's soccer team has been selected to finish fifth in the South Atlantic Conference, according to the preseason coaches' poll which was released Monday.

Tusculum has also placed three players on the preseason All-Conference team, as senior defender Guillermo Lazcano was a first-team choice while senior defender Ricardo Da Silva and senior goalkeeper Jorge Alvarez were second-team selections.

The Pioneers went 9-6-2 overall and 6-4-1 in the SAC during the 2015 season, good for a sixth-place finish in the league. Tusculum returns seven starters for head coach Allen Vital, who will start his sixth season on the Pioneer sidelines having posted winning league records in three of his first five years on the Tusculum bench.

Lazcano is a two-time All-Region and two-time All-SAC honoree who has helped anchor the Pioneer defense over the past two seasons. He was named third-team NSCAA All-Southeast Region and honorable mention All-SAC in 2015 after contributing two goals and three assists for seven points in 16 matches. The native of Aviles, Spain was also a second-team Daktronics All-Region pick and second-team All-SAC in 2014, when he helped the Pioneers to the SAC Tournament championship.

Da Silva is a four-year starter on defense for the Pioneers, having led the team in minutes in two of his first three seasons. Last season, Da Silva scored a pair of goals and helped the Tusculum defense record six shutouts. Da Silva, a native of Leiria, Portugal, was a member of the SAC All-Tournament team following the Pioneers' 2014 championship run.

Alvarez, who has been named honorable mention All-SAC in each of his two seasons with the Pioneers, led the SAC in save percentage last season at .806 and ranked second in the league with six shutouts, good for a tie for fifth place on the school single-season list. Alvarez, a native of Gijon, Spain, begins his senior season with the lowest career goals against average in school history at 0.98, while ranking fourth with 10 shutouts and ninth with 116 saves.

Wingate received nine of 12 first-place votes to capture the top spot in the SAC coaches poll with 119 points, followed by Carson-Newman which collected the other three votes and had 112 points. Queens (98 points), Lincoln Memorial (95) and Tusculum (77) rounded out the top five, with spots six through eight going to Anderson (71), Lenoir-Rhyne (65) and Mars Hil (46). The remainder of the poll consisted of Catawba (44 points), Coker (33), Newberry (26) and Brevard (12).

The Pioneers will open their 2016 on the road on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. against Milligan. Tusculum's first home match will be Saturday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. against King.

2016 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll

First Team All-Conference
F – Jon Ander, Wingate
F – Tom Read, Carson-Newman
F – Corey Brown, Queens
F – Ismael Noumansana, Lenoir-Rhyne
MF – Aksel Juul, Wingate
MF – Callum Ross, Wingate
MF – Henrique Rezek, Lincoln Memorial
MF – Thibault Mathorez, Carson-Newman
D – Alex Nelson, Wingate
D – Guillermo Lazcano, Tusculum
D – Damian Gaona, Wingate
D – Ryo Ogawa, Anderson
GK – Pablo Jara, Wingate

Second Team All-Conference
F – Bruno Andrade, Carson-Newman
F – Marius Staalby, Carson-Newman
F – Danilo da Silva, Lincoln Memorial
F – Ryan McPhillips, Brevard
MF – Marc-Kevin Schwenk, Queens
MF – Brad Du Plooy, Anderson
MF – Polymnios Avgousti, Carson-Newman
MF – Amine Merdjett, Mars Hill
D – Ryan Kawczynski, Queens
D – Ricardo Da Silva, Tusculum
D – Hisham Abedlaziz, Lincoln Memorial
D – Josh Calabria, Anderson
GK – Jorge Alvarez, Tusculum