FRISCO, Texas - Following up on an impressive four members of its team being named to the 2018 All-Southland Conference preseason teams on Wednesday, Lamar University continued its remarkable preseason Thursday by being picked to repeat as the Southland Conference regular-season champion in 2018, as announced by the SLC.

Lamar earned 20 first-place votes and 240 total points to garner the top spot. The Cards are coming off a championship campaign which saw them win the Southland regular-season title with a 10-1 league record, followed by their first ever league tournament crown. This came just one year after a last-place finish in 2016, where Lamar finished 1-7-3 in conference play. This marked the first time in Southland soccer history a team went from last place to first in one season.

Last Wednesday Big Red put on a stellar display in its first action of the season, a 3-2 win in an exhibition match against Rice University - the team picked to win the Conference USA. The regular season will officially begin on August 17 against Grambling State at 7 p.m. in the LU Soccer Complex.
 
Season tickets and individual game tickets are available for sale now online by clicking here, on the phone at 409-880-1715, or at the Lamar Cardinals ticket office located in the Montagne Center.

The Southland Conference preseason poll is voted on by each head coach and soccer sports information director. Each voter ranks their predicted order of regular-season finish, not including their own team. First-place votes are worth 12 points, second-place votes are worth 11, and so on to one point for 11th place.
 
2018 Preseason Poll

School (First-place votes)	Total
Lamar (20)	240
Stephen F. Austin (2)	212
Abilene Christian (2)	182
Central Arkansas	172
McNeese	169
Houston Baptist	161
Sam Houston State	124
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	102
Southeastern Louisiana	85
Northwestern State	61
Nicholls	41
UIW	35