GREENWOOD, IN – Transylvania University's men's soccer team has been selected as the front runner to win the 2012 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship. The Pioneers received five first-place votes and 95 total points in a poll of the conference's ten head coaches, edging out Rose-Hulman.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will look to dethrone the defending champs and capture the school's first men's soccer title since 2009, as the Engineers totaled 93 points and four first place votes.  Earlham College placed third in the poll with 70 points.  Anderson University finished fourth with 58 points and was followed by Franklin College (51 points, one first place vote), College of Mount St. Joseph (51), Manchester University (48), Defiance College (45), Hanover College (26), and Bluffton University (13).

Transylvania is coming off an 11-4-4 record in 2011.  The Pioneers claimed their seventh HCAC title last fall with an 8-0-1 record, but lost to Earlham in the conference tournament semifinal on penalty kicks.  Transylvania ranked second in the HCAC in goals (34) and led the league in goals allowed (13) last season.

The Pioneers return a pair of First-Team All-HCAC selections from their 2011 team, including the HCAC Co-Defensive Most Valuable Player.  Junior back Evan Sizemore (Versaille, Ky./Woodford Co.) was instrumental in leading the Pioneers' top ranked defensive unit.  Transy allowed only two goals in HCAC action and posted 12 shutouts during the season.  Junior forward Christian King (Nicholasville, Ky./East Jessamine) returns after leading the team with eight goals and 19 points a year ago.

Rose-Hulman finished second in the conference race last fall with an 8-1-0 record (16-6 overall) and earned the HCAC tournament title with a 5-1 win over Earlham.  The Engineers ended the season with a 2-0 setback to Ohio Northern in the NCAA tournament.  RHIT returns three First-Team All-HCAC members from last season's squad, including HCAC Co-Defensive MVP Mike Schiff (Martinsville, Ind./Mooresville).  Schiff led the Engineers' defense that allowed only five goals in league play.  Sophomore goalkeeper Drew Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio/Bishop Fenwick) returns in net for the Engineers after leading the HCAC in save percentage (.882) and shutouts (6) as a freshman.  Offensively, junior forward Will Senat (Edmond, Okla./North) returns after netting nine goals and two assists last fall.  Senat will look to replace the production of graduated HCAC Offensive MVP Clint Vatterrodt (21 goals, 52 points).

Earlham has been selected to finish third after a fourth place finish in 2011.  The Quakers finished the season 5-13-2 overall and 4-4-1 in league play.  Junior back Frank Mbaya (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) is the lone returning Second-Team All-HCAC member from a year ago.  The junior helped EC rank fourth defensively in HCAC play with 11 goals allowed.                                            

The 2012 men's soccer season is set to begin on August 31.

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