<p>KANSAS CITY, Kan. &mdash; The Fort Lewis College men&rsquo;s soccer team is picked to repeat as NCAA Division II champions in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/Continental Tire preseason rankings, released this afternoon.</p> <p>&ldquo;Obviously it is always an honor to be ranked number one in the nation at any point of the season, but we are all aware it&rsquo;s where you&rsquo;re ranked in December that counts,&rdquo; said fourth-year FLC head coach Oige Kennedy. &ldquo;If you want to be hosting a national trophy over your head then, you need to be the hardest working team in the nation right now. The rankings will put an extra big target on our backs for teams to shoot at, but everyone connected to this program past and present have relished in that pressure and we look forward to rising to the challenge of defending the national title in the upcoming 2012 season.&rdquo;</p> <p>The 2012 Top 25 is nearly a mirror image of the final 2011 rankings. Lynn, which fell victim to Fort Lewis 3-2 in overtime of last year&rsquo;s national title bout when Berekk Blackwell headed home a corner kick in the second minute of extra time, was picked second.</p> <p>No other team from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference made it into the Top 25, although Metro State received votes.</p> <p>Fort Lewis posted a 24-1-0 overall record and went 13-1-0 in RMAC games in 2011. In addition to their third golden NCAA trophy since 2005, the Skyhawks also won NCAA-II Central Region, RMAC regular season, and RMAC tournament titles.</p> <p>The defending national champions report to fall training on Sunday, August 12 and hold their first training session of the new season the following day.</p> <p>&ldquo;We are extremely excited about the new group that we will have for this fall,&rdquo; said Kennedy. &ldquo;Our roster has a great combination of brand-new players, returning experienced players, and a very talented group of redshirted boys from the 2011 season. It&rsquo;s our responsibility as a coaching staff to make sure that we get the maximum out of this talented group of student-athletes and if we can get the blend right then future of our program will continue to be as bright as it has been in the past.&rdquo;</p> <p>The Skyhawks hold a pair of exhibition games at Dirks Field: against Otero Junior College on Sunday, August 19 (kickoff is likely to be at noon) and the annual Alumni Game at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 25.</p> <p>Fort Lewis opens its 2012 campaign in a critical regional showdown against No. 10 Incarnate Word at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, August 31 in Golden, Colo. The Skyhawks beat the Cardinals 1-0 in the NCAA quarterfinals last November.</p> <p>FLC&rsquo;s regular season home opener is against arch-rival Colorado Mines at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 16 at Dirks Field.</p> <p>The first rankings of the 2012 regular season will be released on September 4. The NSCAA/Continental Tire rankings are an indicator of week-to-week status in qualified programs. More information about the NSCAA college rankings can be found at <a href="http://www.nscaa.com/rankings/college">www.nscaa.com/rankings/college</a>.</p>