Florida Southern College was picked to finish sixth in the conference in 2019 as the Sunshine State Conference released its men’s soccer preseason poll on Tuesday afternoon. 2018 SSC regular season and Tournament Champion Palm Beach Atlantic earned the No. 1 position with 96 total points and seven first-place votes while Lynn came in at No. 2 with 83 total points and a first-place vote. 2018 National Champion Barry received the No. 3 nod with 81 total points and a first-place vote, Nova Southeastern the No. 4 nod with 76 total points and two first-place votes and rounding out the top five was Florida Tech with 71 total points.
The Moccasins are entering their third year under head coach Jason Carlson, who led his squad to a 12-5 record last season, falling one win short of tying the program’s record of wins in a season. Carlson’s squad also recorded their best record in SSC play in program history (6-4) and set a new program high in rankings after receiving a No. 8 nod from the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
The Mocs put together an impressive streak by recording four consecutive shutouts to start the season and were one of the final four teams in Division II to allow a goal. Both the shutout and scoreless minute streaks (435:12) were the second-longest in team history. They also blew away the former school record for consecutive games allowing no more than one goal with a 16-game streak stretching across Carlson’s first two years on the Florida Southern sideline. Florida Southern returns three United Soccer Coaches second-team selections in 2018 team leading goal-scorer James Meehan, 2018 team leader in assists Christoph Gums and veteran defender Foster Appiah.
FSC starts the 2019 season on Sept. 6 in an away match at Montevallo. The Moccasins will then travel to Spring Hill on Sept. 8 before the home opener on Sept. 13 against Limestone. The conference opener for the Mocs will be on Sept. 21 when they host SSC preseason favorite Palm Beach Atlantic.
2019 MEN’S SOCCER PRESEASON COACHES POLL
| Rank | School | Total |
| 1 | Palm Beach Atlantic | 96 (7) |
| 2 | Lynn | 83 (1) |
| 3 | Barry | 81 (1) |
| 4 | Nova Southeastern | 76 (2) |
| 5 | Florida Tech | 71 |
| 6 | Florida Southern | 53 |
| 7 | Tampa | 45 |
| 8 | Rollins | 43 |
| 9 | Saint Leo | 23 |
| 10 | Eckerd | 21 |
| 11 | Embry-Riddle | 13 |
(First Place Votes)