Seeking its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship since 2008, Norwich University has been selected atop the annual GNAC preseason poll with six of the possible 13 first-place votes and 162 points, as voted upon by the league's head coaches.
For the complete poll results, please see below.
Saint Joseph's College of Maine, which has claimed four of the last five GNAC titles and NCAA automatic qualifying berths, finished second in the poll with three first-place votes and 145 points overall. Meanwhile Johnson & Wales University (RI), which claimed the 2019 GNAC Championship, finished third with 140 points and a pair of first-place tallies.
Last fall in the GNAC Tournament, Norwich took down JWU, 6-0, in the semifinals, before SJC captured the GNAC title over Norwich by a 1-0 final in double overtime.
The poll-topping Cadets return reigning GNAC Offensive Player of the Year Joseph Thongsythavong as well as Amerle Nemeye – a duo that combined for 33 goals and 76 points last season. Norwich launches its 2022 campaign on September 1 at Endicott, travels to Saint Joseph's of Maine on Sept. 10, and travels to JWU on October 8.
SJC, which fell 3-2 in overtime to NYU in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, opens up the 2022 season by hosting Southern Maine on Sept. 1.
JWU begins the season by traveling to Bridgewater State on Sept. 1, and will host Saint Joseph's on Sept. 24.
Rounding out the top-five in the poll results were University of Saint Joseph (CT) with 132 points and Albertus Magnus College with 119 points. USJ defeated Albertus on the road in last year's quarterfinals, as the Blue Jays' program, now in just Year Four, has gone 32-16-4 overall and 20-11-3 in GNAC play since debuting in 2018.
2022 GNAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Norwich (6) - 162
2. Saint Joseph's Maine (3) - 145
3. Johnson & Wales (2) - 140
4. Saint Joseph CT - 132
5. Albertus Magnus - 119
6. Emmanuel - 106
7. Regis - 87
8. Elms (1) - 68
9. Colby-Sawyer - 65
10. Anna Maria - 53
11. Dean - 43
12. Rivier - 34
13. Lasell - 29
Original source can be found here
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