Fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference one year ago, the Fort Lewis College men’s soccer program was picked to finish no better or no worse in this year’s conference play.

RMAC head coaches picked the two-time Division II national champion to finish fifth in this year’s RMAC preseason poll released Tuesday. The Skyhawks had three players appear on the Preseason All-RMAC team: senior defender Maik Brandt, senior midfielder Alberto Capdepon and sophomore midfielder Tamino Kroeger, who led the Skyhawks with 25 points as a freshman.

Regis, led by RMAC Preseason Player of the Year Martin Maybin, was picked to finish the conference first with five first-place votes and 60 overall points.

Maybin is a senior forward from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The third-team All-American ranked second in the RMAC with 17 goals, led the conference with nine assists and tied a single-season school record with 43 points last year.

Colorado Mesa, which features the top two defensive players in the league, RMAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Blake Carlson and RMAC Preseason Goalkeeper of the League Micah Conrads, a Montezuma-Cortez High School alumnus, received three first-place votes and 52 total points to finish second.

Colorado Mines received the other first-place vote and was picked to finish third, ahead of Metro State and FLC.

UC-Colorado Springs, CSU-Pueblo, Adams State and Colorado Christian were picked to finish sixth through ninth, respectively.

FLC, which lost an exhibition to the University of New Mexico on Monday night in Albuquerque to start its preseason schedule, next will host its annual alumni game Aug. 30 at Dirks Field on the FLC campus.

FLC, which finished its 2013 season 11-8-1 overall and 7-7 in the RMAC, will start its regular season at home Sept. 5 against Midwestern State at Dirks Field.

heraldsports@ durangoherald.com