Reigning champion Capers top AUS men’s soccer pre-season poll

(HALIFAX, N.S.) The Cape Breton Capers, four-time defending AUS men's soccer champions, are once again the pre-season favourites to repeat as Atlantic conference champions according to the head coaches.

The results of the 2021 coaches' poll were unveiled Thursday ahead of this week's season openers and the Capers, who captured Bronze at the 2019 U SPORTS championship received six first place votes from the conference head coaches and a total of 78 points.

This marks the second year for the AUS soccer pre-season coaches' poll, which was voted on by the league's 10 head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own teams

In their 2019 AUS championship campaign, the Capers finished also finished first in the regular season with an undefeated record of 10-0-2. Head coach Deano Morley, the 2017 and 2018 U SPORTS coach of the year, will have a mix of new and returning players on his roster, including Charlie Waters who led the squad in scoring in 2019 with 10 goals.

The remaining four first-place votes went to the STFX X-Men (76 points). In 2019, the X-Men finished in second place with a 9-2-1 record in the regular season before dropping a 2-0 decision to the Capers in overtime.

Rounding out the top three in this year's survey of the coaches are the Dalhousie Tigers, who garnered 59 points. The Tigers will have a new look on the bench as Alan Jazic has taken over from Pat Nearing who retired following 21 years at the helm of the program.

This year's AUS championship tournament will be hosted by Cape Breton University, Nov. 4-7 in Sydney, N.S.

2021 AUS MEN'S SOCCER PRE-SEASON COACHES POLL
(First-place votes in parentheses):

1. Cape Breton (6), 78 pts.
2. STFX  (4), 76 pts.
3. Dalhousie, 59 pts.
4. UNB, 54 pts.
5. Saint Mary's, 40 pts.
6. UPEI, 36 pts.
7. Acadia, 36 pts.
8. Memorial, 32 pts.
9. Moncton, 28 pts.
10. Mount Allison, 11 pts.

NOTE: Coaches ranked all opponents 1-9. First-place votes worth 9 pts., second-place worth 8 pts. etc. 

The 2021 season opens this Friday with the UPEI Panthers hosting the StFX X-Men, while all 10 teams will see action over the weekend. All league games will be available live on AUStv at www.AUStv.ca 

The AUS men's soccer season preview is available here.

For a complete look at the 2021 AUS men's soccer schedule, click here.