ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum University men's soccer team has been picked to finish eighth in the South Atlantic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, the league office announced Wednesday.

Senior defender Dani Gongora was a second-team preseason All-SAC selection for the Pioneers, who will be playing an abbreviated six-game round-robin conference schedule starting Thursday, March 25 against Mars Hill.

The Pioneers have not played a game since Nov. 10, 2019, a 3-1 loss to Anderson in the SAC Championship quarterfinals. Tusculum ended the 2019 season with a 6-7-3 overall record and a 5-3-2 mark in SAC play, good for fourth place in the league.

Gongora is the lone starter returning on defense for the Pioneers, who gave up 1.81 goals per game during the 2019 season and had two shutouts. The Malaga, Spain native started the final 15 matches and ranked third on the team with 1,328 minutes played, including every minute in 14 of his 15 starts. Gongora has two assists in 28 career appearances for the Pioneers, with 10 shot attempts.

In the unique pod system that the SAC will employ for the spring 2021 season, the 12-team league has been divided into three groupings of four teams apiece. Those teams will play each of the other three teams in their pod in a round-robin format. At the end of the season, the teams will recombine into a 12-team standings and the top four finishers will advance to the conference tournament.

Wingate received 11 first-place votes and 132 points to take the top spot in the poll, followed by Queens with 114 points and Carson-Newman with 112 points, including the other first-place vote. Each of those teams is aligned in different pods.

Anderson is picked fourth overall with 97 points, followed by SAC newcomer Limestone (91 points) in fifth and Lenoir-Rhyne (79) in sixth. Lincoln Memorial (69 points) edged Tusculum (67 points) for seventh, while the Pioneers nosed out Coker (65) for eighth place. Newberry (48 points) is picked 10th, followed by Catawba (29) and Mars Hill (25).

Tusculum will compete in its pod along with Carson-Newman, Lincoln Memorial and Mars Hill. Queens, Anderson, Limestone and Newberry will play a round-robin slate, with Wingate, Lenoir-Rhyne, Coker and Catawba in the other grouping. The pods are grouped by geography in order to reduce missed class time and travel for student-athletes.

The Pioneers will play one non-conference match, which will be its season opener against King on Thur., Feb. 11 at Pioneer Field. The SAC Championship tournament will be played April 9 and 11 in Matthews, North Carolina.

2020-21 SAC Men's Soccer Preseason All-Conference
First Team
F – Harry Ward, Anderson
F – Victor Cascon, Lenoir-Rhyne
F – Ibrahim Nadir, Newberry
F – Jacques Fokam-Sandeu, Coker
MF – Keegan Burton, Queens
MF – Daniel Kuper, Wingate
MF – Nic Carsh, Carson-Newman
MF – Mikkel Fahlen bruun, Wingate
D – Niclas Wittur, Wingate
D – Sebastian Marx, Limestone
D – Owen Marshall, Wingate
D – Kieran Gore, Queens
GK – Bram Kaarsgaren, Carson-Newman

Second Team
F – Sebastina Bertilsson, Mars Hill
F – Thaylan Silva, Carson-Newman
F – Alexander Cox-Ashwood, Anderson
F – Caio Brandao, Queens
MF – Boris Basara, Queens
MF – Hunter Stroble, Lincoln Memorial
MF – Ben Bielby, Catawba
MF – Tristyn De laaf, Limestone
D – Morgan Ratcliffe, Coker
D – Henrik Gunther, Limestone
D – Dani Gongora, Tusculum
D – Monoel Dos Passos, Queens
GK – Jens Bergendorff, Wingate