Thursday, August 04, 2005

Macon, Ga. - Mercer enters the fall as the Atlantic Sun Conference favorite to capture the 2005 men's soccer title.

The Bears accumulated 76 total points to just outpace second place Florida Atlantic who tallied 69 points. Both teams received four first place votes in the poll determined by a vote of the league's head coaches. Mercer coach Tom Melville returns one of the most experienced teams in the A-Sun and welcomes back 97% of their offensive production from a year ago. The Bears came up just short in their bid for the A-Sun's automatic berth into the NCAA College Cup, falling 1-0 in last season's tournament championship match. First team All-Atlantic Sun selections Vicente Arze and Del Olaoye are back to help lead the Mercer title effort.

FAU finished second in the regular season last year, but will have to reload their offense after losing their top-4 offensive players including a pair of first team All-Atlantic Sun choices. However, Kos Donev's defense will be paced by goalkeeper Anders Granstad who posted a league-low 0.97 goals against average. Stetson lands third in the preseason poll while Belmont checks in next and received one first place vote. Jacksonville and Campbell round out the top-6.

Only the league's top six teams qualify for the 2005 A-Sun Championship hosted by Mercer on November 10-12.

The 11-member league headquartered in Macon, Ga., consists of Belmont, Campbell, ETSU, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida and Stetson.

Tournament Champion: Mercer