MAAC Men's Soccer Preseason Release

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – The first-ever Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Soccer Preseason Awards Show aired on MAAC.TV Wednesday night, and with it came the announcement of the league's preseason poll. Siena Soccer has been projected to finish fifth in the MAAC this fall, according to the results of the vote by the conference's 11 head coaches.

"Preseason polls are always fun and give you good insight into how people outside of the program rate your team," said head coach Cesar Markovic, who is set to kick off his fourth season at the helm. "We are greatly looking forward to the season, and hope to exceed expectations this fall as we work hard towards our goal of bringing Siena Soccer its first MAAC Championship."

Defending MAAC Regular Season Champion Monmouth heads the poll with 120 out of a possible 121 points and 10 of 11 first-place votes. The Hawks also boast five of the 11 Preseason All-MAAC selections, headlined by MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Eric Klenofsky. 2015 MAAC Tournament Champion Rider received the other first-place tally, and was predicted to finish second with 103 points.

Siena received 76 points in being slotted fifth in also trailing Iona (94) and Fairfield (86). Marist (57) followed the Saints in being selected sixth, with Quinnipiac (51), Canisius (47), Manhattan (45), Saint Peter's (33) and Niagara (14) rounding out the poll.

The Saints are coming off a 2015 season in which they posted an 8-10-3 overall mark and finished sixth in the MAAC with a 5-4-1 conference mark. Siena will be looking to build off last year's late season success in which they won multiple MAAC Tournament games for the first time in program history.

The 2016 Saints return seven starters and 19 letterwinners from last year's squad, while welcoming 13 highly touted newcomers. Siena kicks off the program's 43rd season on Friday, August 26th against defending Northeast Conference Champion LIU Brooklyn at 2 p.m. at Siena Turf Field, and begins its quest for the program's first MAAC Championship when it opens league action Sept. 28 vs. Fairfield.