August 28, 2002
GREENVILLE, SC -- The Furman men's soccer team was selected by the Southern Conference coaches to capture its fifth straight regular season title on Wednesday. The Paladins also landed six players on the preseason All-Southern Conference team.
Furman was a unanimous selection as the Paladins earned first place votes on all eight eligible ballots. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.
Furman finished last season 17-5, including an 8-0 mark in regular season league play. Furman currently has a 33 match SoCon unbeaten streak, which dates back to the start of the 1999 season.
"The Southern Conference continues to get stronger each year," said head coach Doug Allison. "It is an honor to be picked by each coach as the preseason favorite, but we will have to work very hard to be on top at the end of the season."
Six Paladins also garnered preseason all-conference accolades as forwards Sergei Raad and Anthony Esquivel, midfielders Ricardo Clark and Clint Dempsey, and defenders Andy Kidd and McNeil Cronin were selected to the squad. Clark is a member of the United States Under-20 National team and is a Soccer America preseason All-American, Dempsey was the 2001 SoCon Freshman-of-the-year, while Esquivel was the 2001 SoCon Tournament MVP. Cronin and Kidd are Furman's two captains this season, while Raad is Furman's top returning scorer.
The Paladins open the season Friday at The Citadel and will return home to host the LandRover/Spinx Furman Invitational September 6-8 with matches against Butler and Creighton.
Furman is ranked nationally in three different preseason polls as the Paladins are 13th in Soccer America, 10th in College Soccer News, and 21st in the NSCAA poll.
2002 Southern Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll
2002 Men's Soccer Preseason
All-League Team