Greenville, SC – Defending champion, Young Harris College is picked atop 2026 Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Preseason Poll.
The Mountain Lions won their first Conference Carolinas tournament crown a season ago, also winning the Conference Carolinas Southwest Division. Young Harris earned nine first place votes and 189 points, to sit atop the poll. Francis Marion followed Young Harris as the 2026 east division champions received three first place votes and 174 points.
Chowan University, North Greenville University and Converse University all received one first place votes coming in third, fourth and fifth. The Hawks registered 169 points in third while 2026 Northwest Division champion North Greenville game in fourth with 161 points. Converse rounded out the top five with 146 points.
Barton College is picked sixth with 119 points, followed closely by Lees-McRae College's 116 points at seventh. Belmont Abbey College is eighth with 99 points, only two points ahead of the University of Mount Olive's 97 points in ninth. Emmanuel University rounds out the top 10 with 81 points.
Ferrum College (68), King University (57), Southern Wesleyan University (56), Erskine College (27) and Shorter University (16) finished the poll.
Southern Wesleyan finished last season with a 4-9-3 overall record and were 2-8-3 in Conference Carolinas action play. The Warriors picked up a key win against Lees-McRae last year and picked up a draw against the Young Harris Mountain Lions. They will return two of their leading scorers in Leonardo Flores and Brody Schroeder. Defensively, Southern Wesleyan will bring back both of their goal keepers in Luke Bramblett (42 saves, 71.2% save percentage) and Jonah Keoughan (8 saves, 61.5% save percentage). The Warriors will bring in several new athletes including preseason poll players to watch Jacob Zúñiga and Davíð Leó Lund.
The Warriors will kick off the 2026 campaign at home as they host the USC Aiken Pacers on August 27 at Joe R Gilbert Track and Field. They will then open up Conference Carolinas action on the road as they travel over to Young Harris, GA to take on the reigning champion Mountain Lions of Young Harris on September 5. Southern Wesleyan will host their first conference match of the season on September 12 as they welcome the Barton Bulldogs to Childs Field for a 3:30pm kickoff.
The 2026 Conference Carolinas Men's Soccer Championship is scheduled to start with preliminary rounds on October 28 and 31 before the semifinals and final will be competed at Truist Soccer Complex at Bryan Park in Browns Summit, North Carolina on November 6 and 8.
The preseason poll was voted on by the league's head coaches and they can't vote for their own school.
