Covenant Men's Soccer Picked 2nd In Division In Preseason USA South Poll
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
- by Andrew Mindeman
The Covenant men's soccer team picked up one first place vote and was selected to finish second in the West Division of the USA South, as the league unveiled its preseason coaches' poll on Wednesday.
The Scots will be under first-year head coach Scott Bosgraf and return 21 players overall, including 10 starters. Covenant garnered one first place vote and tallied 20 points to place second in the West Division of the poll.
Reigning USA South champion Maryville took the other five first place tallies in the division and had 25 points total to be selected as the preseason favorite. Piedmont (18 points), Berea (10 points) and Huntingdon (10 points) rounded out the top five in the West.
In the East Division, N.C. Wesleyan got five of the six first-place votes to claim the top spot followed closely by Greensboro, Averett and Methodist.
Both of the division favorites, N.C. Wesleyan and Maryville, will visit Covenant and Scotland Yard during the season.
The USA South is split into divisions for men's soccer this season. Covenant plays in the West along with Berea, Brevard, Huntingdon, LaGrange, Maryville and Piedmont. Brevard is a reclassifying member of NCAA Division III and is not eligible for regular season or postseason championships this season.
The top four teams from each division will qualify for the USA South Tournament, which begins on Oct. 28 as seeds 1-2 in each division host. Semifinals and championship round will be hosted by the highest remaining seed on Nov. 3-4.
Covenant opens the season on Sept. 1 against Wilmington in Maryville, Tn.