Men's Soccer UAA Preseason Poll Released

Aug. 24 – (ROCHESTER, N.Y.) – The University Athletic Association (UAA) released its preseason men's soccer poll with Carnegie Mellon University picked to finish sixth out of eight teams. The Tartans received six fifth place votes and totaled 20 points, but two second place votes for the University of Chicago helped the Maroons grab the fifth spot in the poll with 27 points. Washington University in St. Louis was picked to finish first by the league coaches and will look for their first title since 1999.

The Tartans last won the UAA title in 2004 ending a string of five straight titles. This marks the first time Carnegie Mellon has been picked to finish below third in the past five seasons. The team returns three players who were named to the 2006 All-UAA team but have lost the school's all-time leading scorer and past UAA Rookie of the Year Jonathan Browne. The 2007 squad has two seniors and two juniors with significant playing experience, including goalkeeper Matthew Bazin (Mountain Lakes, N.J./Delbarton) who had nine shutouts in '06, and will look to the sophomore and freshmen classes to play an important roll.

The team opens their season on the road versus Washington & Jefferson on Wednesday, September 5 at 5:00 p.m. with the first home contest scheduled for Saturday, September 8 at 7:00 p.m. versus Westminster.

The highly competitive league had a record five teams selected to the NCAA tournament last season with New York University reaching the final four before falling to eventual champion Messiah College 3-0. 

The complete poll is as follows:

Team                Rankings          Points

Washington         1-1-1-1-2-3-4   43
NYU                    1-1-2-2-3-3-4   40
Case                  1-2-2-3-3-3-4   38
Rochester           1-2-3-3-3-4-4   36
Chicago              2-2-4-4-5-6-6   27
Carnegie Mellon   5-5-5-5-5-5-6   20
Emory                 5-6-6-6-7-7-7   12
Brandeis              6-6-7-7-7-7-7   9