The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference released the 2022 Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll on Wednesday and the Peacocks were selected fifth overall. 
 
Defending conference champion Parkside has been tabbed as the 2022 favorite in the GLIAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll, as voted by the league coaches. Parkside garnered 34 total points and five first-place votes. The Rangers, who are led by 12th year head coach and 2021 GLIAC Coach of the Year Jason Zitzke, finished last season 15-4-2 overall, and 10-3-1 in the GLIAC. They won both the GLIAC regular season title and the GLIAC tournament title for the second time in the last three seasons and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament. 
 
Davenport, the regular season GLIAC co-champions in 2021, finished second in the preseason rankings, receiving 30 points and one first-place vote. The Panthers earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament after going 11-8-1 overall and 10-3-1 in conference play. Saginaw Valley State placed third in the poll, earning 28 points and one-first place vote. The Cardinals went 10-5-5 overall and 6-3-5 in GLIAC competition last season, claiming third place in the regular season standings.
 
Upper Iowa enters the 2022 season looking to build on one of the most successful seasons in team history. The Peacocks finished the 2021 campaign with a 10-7-1 overall record and a 7-6-1 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The conference record marks UIU's best finish as a member of the GLIAC, and their best overall record since a 2015 campaign that saw them finish 13-4-1, win the conference tournament, and make a run to the NCAA DII Sweet 16. UIU finished the 2021 regular season tied for fourth in the GLIAC after being voted to finish last in the preseason coaches' poll.
 
Upper Iowa's season came to a close in the GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinals on the road against Purdue University-Northwest. The Peacocks will have to replace a pair of All-GLIAC performers from a season ago. Alan Dunlop earned a spot on the All-GLIAC Second Team and Italo Martins Soares was selected as an All-GLIAC Honorable Mention.
 
This year's squad is full of new faces and boots on the ground, but a quartet of Peacocks return that played significant roles in last year's campaign including Iver Nesset, Daniel Pranger, Frider Blunck and Carson Cajuste.
 
Head Coach Jason Carlson returns to Fayette and the Peacock men's soccer program in 2022 after five years split between Florida and North Carolina at NCAA Division II institutions.  
 
Carlson led the Peacocks to 39 wins over four seasons (2013-16), a Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championship and a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II Central Regional in 2015. In 10 seasons as a head men's soccer coach, with nine coming at the NCAA Division II level, Carlson has amassed a record of 88-63-17 overall and a conference record of 48-33-8.
 
Upper Iowa will open their 2022 schedule on the road in Missouri. The Peacocks will line up against the Panthers of Drury University on Friday, Aug. 26 and the Tritons of the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Sunday, Aug. 28. UIU will open their home slate on the new turf in Harms-Eischeid Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 1 when they welcome the Cougars of Colorado Christian University at 6 p.m.