WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Lycoming College men's soccer team was selected to finish fourth in the 2022 MAC Freedom Preseason Coaches Poll, the conference office in Annville, Pa., announced on Monday, Aug. 22.
 
Stevens (63), the defending MAC Champions, ranked first with seven first-place votes from the opposing coaches in the conference, followed by Misericordia (55), with the two other first-place votes. Arcadia (47) placed third ahead of the Warriors (40), who edged out King's (Pa.) (37), to finish off the top of the poll. Wilkes (33), DeSales (26), FDU-Florham (14), and Delaware Valley (9) rounded it out.
 
The Warriors finished the 2021 season with a 7-8-3 record and 3-5 in the MAC Freedom, falling a game shy of reaching the MAC Freedom Championship, just the second time in eight full seasons the team failed to make the postseason under 10th-year head coach Nate Gibboney.
 
The Warriors return six starters and three all-conference performers in senior defender Brayden Wise (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley), junior midfielder Dylan Sloan (Essex, Md./Archbishop Curley), and junior midfielder Joe Bamfo (Lake Grove, N.Y./Connetquot).
 
Wise, who started all 18 games, was a First Team All-MAC Freedom selection and First Team United Soccer Coaches All-Region IV selection, serving as the core of the defense for the Warriors and helping them to eight shutouts. Sloan, with 17 games started, finished the season as the team's assist leader with five assists, finishing fifth in the conference, and was a Second Team All-MAC Freedom selection. Bamfo started all 18 games as well last season and led the team with four goals and was an Honorable Mention All-MAC Freedom selection.
 
Junior goalkeeper Nick Wilke (Mercerville, N.J./Notre Dame) closed last season with three shutouts, notching a 1.31 goals against average and a .768 save percentage.
 
The Warriors open the season on Thursday, Sept. 1, against Mount St. Mary at 7 p.m. in Newburgh, N.Y.