Aug. 21, 2006

ABILENE, Texas - Defending American Southwest Conference men's soccer champion Hardin-Simmons has been picked to finish in second place in the preseason poll of coaches and sports information directors in the conference and senior forward David Salas has been named the preseason ASC Offensive Player of the Year.

UT-Tyler was picked to win the league, but the Patriots are ineligible for postseason play, making the Cowboys the top eligible team for the ASC title. The Cowboys won the ASC title on their new home field last season with a 2-0 win over Ozarks.

Salas, a senior forward from Abilene, was a first-team All-ASC selection last season and scored 10 goals in the final nine games of the year. He has 34 goals and 15 assists in his career and was named first-team All-Central region last season.

The Cowboys received four first-place votes and finished with 343 points in the poll. UT-Tyler had 380 points and 21 first-place votes. UT-Dallas grabbed two top-spot votes and racked up 330 points to land in the third spot, while conference tournament runner-up University of Ozarks was right behind with 312 points and the other first-place vote.

Schreiner (278 pts.), East Texas Baptist (212 pts.), LeTourneau (205 pts.), McMurry (204 pts.), Mary Hardin-Baylor (179 pts.) and Texas Lutheran (160 pts) round out the top-10 spots. Mississippi College (155 pts.), Louisiana College (71 pts.) and Concordia-Austin and first-year program Howard Payne, which each tallied 59 points, complete the preseason poll.

HSU was 13-5-2 in 2005, won the ASC title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.