Men's Soccer 2019 Season Preview

BOSTON, Mass.— The Emmanuel College men's soccer program enters the 2019 campaign excited about the potential for a breakout campaign following the 2018 season which saw the young squad experience some growing pains with a total of nine losses by a single goal.

The Saints 17-game includes 11 GNAC matches and non-conference games against Framingham State, Fitchburg State, Bridgewater State, Wester Connecticut State, Pine Manor and Wentworth.

Head Coach Dan Robert's squad kicks off their season on Saturday August 31, when they welcome Framingham State for a 3:00 PM start following the Women's Soccer home-opener at noon.

EC opens Great Northeast Athletic Conference play on Friday, September 20 on the road against GNAC perennial contenders Norwich University. The two sides have played to regular-seasons draws each of the last three years including a 1-1 tie last season.

Emmanuel returns almost the entire roster from the 2018 season, only losing All-Conference senior defender Travis Cole to graduation.

The Saints welcome in six players to make up this off-seasons recruiting class and hope to improve their goal scoring output from a year ago which saw the team register 27 goals which ranked tied for fifth in the GNAC.

"We're looking forward to having the team back on campus and getting started this weekend," said Roberts. "We saw a lot of great things last season that we'll build off of this year and will come into every session working hard to get better each day."

The Saints were tabbed to finish fifth in the 2019 GNAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll, receiving 81 total points marking the highest finish and point total in the program's history. The program's previous best was a sixth-place ranking in which they secured in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

2019 GNAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Saint Joseph's of Maine (7) - 135
2. Norwich (3) - 131
3. Johnson & Wales (1) - 126
4. Colby-Sawyer - 97
5. Emmanuel - 81
6. Regis - 78
7. Saint Joseph (CT) - 71
8. Albertus Magnus - 69
9. Suffolk (1) - 64
10. Lasell - 36
11. Anna Maria - 32
12. Rivier - 16