ROHNERT PARK, Calif- With 25 days remaining before the regular season opener on Sept. 4 against Fresno Pacific, the Sonoma State men's soccer team will start off the season recognized as one of the top 25 teams in Division II. The Seawolves have been ranked 22nd in the 2010 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/Adidas Division II Preseason Poll, it was released Tuesday morning.

It is the third straight season that Sonoma State will start the season among the nation's top 25 teams -- the Seawolves started last season at No. 17 and in 2008, they began at No. 6. The last time that Sonoma State did not appear in the national poll was back on Sept. 11, 2007.

Head coach Marcus Ziemer, who will be entering his 20th season at the helm for SSU, will put his team on the field for three exhibition matchups prior to the Sept. 4 opener, beginning with a scrimmage against Santa Rosa Junior College on Aug. 20. Two days later, Sonoma State will travel to Stanford to take on the Division I Cardinal before wrapping up the exhibition schedule hosting Saint Mary's on Aug. 28.

The regular season will then get under way with a road matchup at Fresno Pacific (Sept. 4) and then return home to finish the non-conference portion of the schedule against Dominican on Sept. 7. California Collegiate Athletic Association play will start on Sept. 10 when the Seawolves host Cal Poly Pomona at 1:30 p.m.

Three other CCAA schools are ranked in the preseason poll -- Cal State Dominguez Hills (No. 6), Cal State L.A. (No. 12) and Cal State San Bernardino (No. 25).

20th-year head coach Marcus Ziemer and his squad ended the 2009 season with a 3-0 loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship Tournament in Los Angeles. The Seawolves spent the entire 2009 season ranked in the NSCAA poll, getting up as high as No. 7, in which they held for three straight weeks.