INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) has unveiled the results of the 2026 Preseason Poll for men's soccer. The Malone University men's soccer team was picked to place 11th in the conference standings.
 
Tiffin University narrowly edged out Cedarville University as the preseason favorites in the conference. The Dragons totaled 91 points and the Yellow Jackets collected 90 and both of them had five first-place votes. Tiffin is the defending G-MAC regular season and tournament champions, but Cedarville was unbeaten at 9-0-5 in league play one year ago. The final first-place vote went to the third-place team, Kentucky Wesleyan College (73 points). The University of Findlay rounded out the top four with 72 points. Malone nabbed 16 points in the poll.
 
The Pioneers enter their fifth season under Head Coach Bill Lawrence in 2026. Last season, Malone had an overall record of 3-11-3 as well as a 3-8-3 mark in conference action. All three of their outright wins came on the road at Ashland University, Northwood University and Walsh University to place in a tie for eighth in the league table.
 
Christopher Onye, Thembani Phoya and Bereket Hadgu return to the field for the Pioneers as goal-scorers from 2025. In the midfield, Alexander Castro Morales and Silas Coleman each got significant minutes and are back on the roster for the upcoming year. Ryan Ziskowski appeared in all 17 matches on the defensive side of the field with 15 starts and Camden Albertson was prominent on the backline as well. Sam Cipriano and Roman Sigafoos combined for every minute as goalkeepers last season and both will be fighting for the opportunity again in 2026.
 
Malone will look to a new crop of team members and minutes are there to be seized. There are 23 incoming student-athletes, most of them freshmen with a handful of transfer students that have collegiate experience under their belt.
 
The season kicks off for the Pioneers on August 27 with a home match against Salem University. The action begins at 5:00 P.M. on King Field and can be seen on FloCollege.