After finishing third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference last season, the Fort Lewis College men’s soccer team is expected to finish near the top of the conference once again.
The Skyhawks were picked second in the RMAC Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll that came out on Tuesday.
“I don't really pay attention to that whatsoever,” FLC head coach David Oberholtzer said. “I know the quality of our team and we're excited about the year in front of us. We feel like the team has taken a step forward from where we were at last year. If we continue to make progress, then it’ll be really tough for anybody to beat us. But, we’ve got a long way to go and we'll just take it week-by-week.”
FLC finished second in the conference preseason poll out of 11 schools. The Skyhawks had 92 points and had three first-place votes, six second-place votes and one third-place vote.
Last season, the Skyhawks went 14-4-6 overall and 7-2-1 in the RMAC. FLC advanced to the RMAC tournament final and lost 2-1 to CSU Pueblo. After that tough loss, FLC bounced back by making it to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year.
The Skyhawks beat the University of Colorado Colorado Springs 4-2 in the second round of the NCAA tournament and then beat Midwestern State 2-0 in the third round. This set up a rematch with CSU Pueblo in the quarterfinal. The Skyhawks lost again, this time 1-0.
UCCS are picked to win the RMAC with 94 points (six first-place votes, two second-place votes and two third-place votes). The Mountain Lions finished last season 14-3-4 overall and 6-1-3 in the conference.
Behind FLC is CSU Pueblo in third with 80 points and Regis in fourth with 79 points.
The Skyhawks have three players on the preseason All-RMAC team. The preseason team isn’t voted on; it takes returning players who received some sort of all-conference recognition at the end of last season.
Senior midfielder David Citron is on the list after making first team All-RMAC last season. So is senior defender Casey Stracher after making second team All-RMAC and junior goalkeeper Lucas Martin after making honorable mention All-RMAC.
Regis has the most players on the list with four, followed by FLC and UCCS with three.
“It's always good for those three guys to be recognized and they certainly deserve it,” Oberholtzer said. “Beyond that, I'll be excited for our guys at the end of the season to be recognized and I won't be surprised if we have quite a few more names on that list.”
The Skyhawks begin their season at home against Lubbock Christian University on Sept. 4. Be on the lookout for a season preview in the week leading up to FLC’s opener.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
