ASHLAND – With only three starters back, the Southern Oregon University men's soccer team will have to prove itself to the rest of the Cascade Conference in 2026.

The Raiders came in sixth in Tuesday's CCC preseason coaches' poll, which was topped by defending champion Eastern Oregon. Carroll (Mont.) was picked second, and Warner Pacific was third despite receiving a plurality of first-place votes (5) after winning the 2025 CCC Tournament as a No. 3 seed and making a surprise run to the NAIA quarterfinals.

The Raiders landed in the same spot they finished last season. They went 10-5-4 overall and 5-4-3 in the CCC, sputtering down the stretch due in large part to an untimely injury bug. They graduated four all-conference players, including their top scorer and a pair of former CCC Defensive Players of the Year.

Head coach Davie Carmichael, however, owns a 69-16-9 career record in conference play entering his ninth season. Last year's was his only team to place outside of the top four.

He returns an all-conference midfielder in junior Jonathan Gaspar. Junior forward Ariel De Dios Cruz – who went out with a season-ending injury in the sixth game last year after becoming the first player in team history with goal involvements in five straight to start a season – is also back. Carmichael beefed up the roster with 17 newcomers, nine of whom are transfers.

The Raiders play their first counter Aug. 22 at Simpson (Calif.) and are home for the first time Sept. 3-4 to face The Master's (Calif.) and Arizona Christian.

EOU will be defending the first title in team history. The Mountaineers brought back five starters from last year's team that finished unbeaten at 13-0-6.

The preseason NAIA Top 25 coaches' poll will be released Aug. 19.

2026 CCC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll

Team (1st-place votes)	Points
1. Eastern Oregon (3)	149
2. Carroll (4)	148
3. Warner Pacific (5)	147
4. Rocky Mountain (1)	133
5. College of Idaho	116
6. Southern Oregon	114
7. Oregon Tech	94
8. Bushnell	83
9. Corban	61
10. Northwest	43
11. Evergreen State	40
12. Walla Walla	28
13. Providence	27