CLEVELAND, Ohio – According to a poll of Horizon League head coaches, the Cleveland State University men's soccer team has been selected to finish fifth in the league table in the 2020 season (being played in the spring semester of 2021).

UIC and Oakland were picked as the league's preseason favorites, finishing with an identical number of points in poll tabulations. However, the Flames claimed eight of the 11 first-place votes with the Golden Grizzlies nabbing the remaining three. After the co-favorites, Wright State and Milwaukee took spots three and four ahead of CSU.

Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, Northern Kentucky and IUPUI took spots six through nine, respectively, while league newcomers Purdue Fort Wayne and Robert Morris rounded out the poll.

Cleveland State returns 13 student-athletes from last year's roster and welcomes nine newcomers to the squad, all true freshmen.

Six Vikings return that started at least 12 matches last season, while 11 total Vikings are back that played in at least seven contests in 2019.

Sophomore Omeed Naeemy returns for CSU after playing every minute in goal in his debut collegiate season. He was the only goalkeeper to be named to the league's All-Freshman Team in 2019, which he did after leading the league, and ranking among the top 30 in Division I, in save percentage (.788).

While Naeemy now does have a year of experience under his belt, the defensive unit directly in front of goal is also highly experienced. Senior Thomas M'Barek, CSU's captain in each of the past two years, was named All-HL First Team and All-Ohio First Team in 2019 after anchoring the team from his central defense positon. His most common center back partner, Saahb Kular, was featured heavily in 2019, starting 14 matches, and responding well after his 2018 season was sidetracked by an injury. Junior Ryan Kolonick returns after starting every match at left back in 2019, leading all CSU defenders in minutes played (1,302). Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Nick McCausland appeared in seven matches as a right back last season.

Juniors Tommy Paltani and Jannis Schmidt along with sophomore Pablo Kawecki are the Vikings' main options, that own collegiate experience, to navigate the center of the park. Schmidt started 12 matches a season ago and finished with two goals and two assists. Kawecki and Paltani both saw action in nine contests with the former finding the collegiate scoresheet for the first time at Cincinnati.

Cleveland State will have the challenge of replacing a trio of four-year players that contributed heavily to its attack in 2019, including All-HL First Team honoree Gabriel Pewu, who topped the squad with nine goals. Juniors Ivan Babic, Stjepan Mijic-Barisic and Andrew Nicholas are the Vikings' attacking options with the most collegiate experience. Nicholas led the team in assists in his first season with the Vikings in 2019 after transferring to CSU prior to the campaign.

Of CSU's nine freshmen, five can play in a forward role, giving head coach Sinisa Ubiparipovic a number of new options to deploy as a goal-scoring threat.

Ubiparipovic completed his first season as head coach at CSU in 2019 and led the Vikings to notable results against nationally ranked Louisville, Ohio State and Akron. The Vikings led the Horizon League in fewest goals allowed, yielding only 17 in 15 matches.

Since the Horizon League adopted its current tournament format, the Vikings are tied for the league lead in having earned top-four tournament seeds, having done so on seven occasions.

Cleveland State is set to begin its season this Thursday, Feb. 4, when it welcomes Green Bay.