With the fall season approaching rapidly the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) has released its national pre-season poll and Incarnate Word's men's team is prominent.
With their 14-3-3 record and a place in last fall's NCAA Division II Elite Eight the Cardinals are said to be the number 10 team in the nation ahead of the 2012 campaign. At the end of 2011 UIW was ninth in the nation.
This pre-season NSCAA poll put defending national champion Fort Lewis State in the top slot. Fort Lewis finished 24-1-0 last fall including a narrow 1-0 triumph over Incarnate Word in the quarterfinals. National runnerup Lynn out of Florida is second followed by Franklin Pierce (NH), Millersville (Pa) and Flagler (Fla) rounding out the top 10.
UIW's Lone Star Conference rival Midwestern State was put into the 14th spot.
Incarnate Word gets its season underway August 31 when the Cardinals will be in Colorado to play, who else, Fort Lewis State. It will be mid-September before UIW plays at home with a game on the 14th against West Texas A&M.
NSCAA PRE-SEASON POLL
1) Fort Lewis (Colo)
2) Lynn (Fla)
3) Franklin Pierce (NH)
4) Millersville (Pa)
5) Flagler (Fla)
6) Rockhurst (Mo)
7) Southern New Hampshire
8) Cal State-Los Angeles
9) Simon Fraser (BC)
10) Incarnate Word
11) Seattle Pacific (Wash)
12) Barry (Fla)
13) C.W. Post (NY)
14) Midwestern State (Tex)
15) Northern Kentucky
16) California (Pa)
17) Mars Hills (NC)
18) Coker (SC)
19) Christian Brothers (Tenn)
20) Rollins (Fla)
21) St. Thomas Aquinas (NY)
22) Saginaw Valley State (Mich)
23) Chico State (Calif)
24) Anderson (SC)
25) Charleston (WVa),H
