AUGUSTA, Ga. (www.jaxsportsday.com) – The Flagler College men’s soccer team was picked to finish in second place in the Peach Belt Conference’s preseason coaches’ poll, released this morning by conference officials. Marc Birkelund, Liam Fisch, and Paul Hansen were all selected to the preseason all-conference team.
The Saints fell one point shy of tying preseason favorite Clayton State University. Flagler had 21 while Clayton State tallied 22. Lander University was picked to finish in third place with 19 points. All three teams received two first-place votes.Flagler posted a 10-4-3 overall record in 2022 and went 8-2-2 in PBC play. The Saints finished in second place and was one point short of finishing in a tie for first place.Thomas Coombes, who enters his second season with the Saints, returns 13 players from last year’s club, including five starters. Highlighting the returnees are the three preseason all-conference selections: Birkelund, Fisch, and Hansen. Birkelund is a junior forward from Højslev, Denmark who earned second-team All-PBC honors one year ago. He scored a goal and tallied a pair of assists. Fisch, a junior midfielder from Rüssellheim, Germany also earned second-team all-conference honors last season after scoring three goals and tallying a pair of assists. Hansen is a junior forward from Regensburg, Germany who took home first-team all-conference honors. He is the team’s leading returning scorer with six goals and two assists for 14 points. The rest of the coaches’ poll is: 4) Georgia Southwestern State University (14 points), 5) the University of North Georgia (9); and 6) USC Aiken (5). The Saints open the season at home on Aug. 31 against Newberry College at 6 p.m. at Saints Field.