TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - George Mason will begin the 2009 men's soccer season where it left off in 2008 - ranked among the top teams in the nation. College Soccer News released its 2009 Preseason Top-30 Poll today and listed the defending CAA Champion Patriots as the 29th-ranked team in the nation to start the season.

After advancing to the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship last season, the Patriots wrapped up the year ranked 19th by Soccer America and 24th by College Soccer News. The Patriots finished the season with a 14-7-2 record, the most wins for the team since 1996. The Patriots lost to the eventual national champion, the Maryland Terrapins, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Head Coach Greg Andrulis and Assistant Coach Nick Carlin-Voigt have supplemented a cast of All-CAA players which includes senior goalkeeper Sean Kelley and senior midfielder Richard Edgar with a talented recruiting class that has received accolades from ESPN Rise and College Soccer News. The incoming class includes Cooper Barham (Odessa, Texas/Permian High School), Michael D'Arrigo (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foot Hills High School), Victor Freeman (Bowie, Md./Bowie High School/Louisburg College), Alex Herrera (Arlington, Va./Yorktown High School) and Ryan Reichmann (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville High School). Barham, D'Arrigo, Herrera and Reichmann all have spent time in the U.S. Soccer youth national team program, while Freeman was a standout at Louisburg College, scoring 42 goals in two years at the school.

The top ranked team in the nation according to College Soccer News is St. John's. Creighton and Wake Forest round out the top three.