The nationally ranked Hope College men’s soccer team is second in the 2014 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Preseason Coaches Poll.

Coach Steven Smith’s Flying Dutchmen received one first-place vote and totaled 15 points in the poll released on Monday, August 18.

Poll Results (first-place votes in parenthesis)

1. Calvin (6) 9 pts. 2. Hope (1) 15. 3. Olivet (1) 22. 4. Kalamazoo 25. 5. Albion 32. 6. Alma 33. 7. Adrian 42. 8. Trine 46.

Hope is ranked 21st in the preseason National Soccer Coaches Association of America NCAA Division III poll.

Three seniors will captain the Flying Dutchmen this fall: midfielder Cameron Dice of Allendale, Michigan (Hudsonville Unity Christian HS), midfielder Connor Kogge of Holt, Michigan (Mason HS) and back Logan Sikkenga of Hudsonville, Michigan (Hudsonville HS). 

Hope opens the 2014 season on Friday and Saturday, August 29 and 30, with the Cal Bergsma Memorial Tournament at Van Andel Soccer Stadium. The Flying Dutchmen play North Central (Illinois) on Aug. 29 and Ohio Wesleyan on Aug. 30.

Hope is coming off a 2013 season in which the Flying Dutchmen posted a 17-5-2 overall record and reached the second round of the Division III national tournament.

Hope matched the school record for wins in a single season during the 2013 season. The Flying Dutchmen joined three other teams with 17 wins: 2011, 2005 and 2002. Hope qualified for NCAA postseason play after winning the MIAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed.