LAREDO, Texas – With the 2014-15 seasons quickly approaching, the Heartland Conference announced its fall sports preseason polls – as voted on by each member school's head coaches and sports information directors – on Monday. Texas A&M International's men's soccer program achieved the highest preseason ranking after collecting its third conference championship in four years in 2013.

Men's soccer ranked tied for No. 2 in the Monday's poll after earning the conference co-championship with St. Edward's in 2013. The Dustdevils scored 33 goals in 2013 led by returning sophomore forward Ryan Hodgson – who scored a team-leading eight goals on his way to the conference Freshman of the Year honor. The Dustdevils finished 7-1-1 in Heartland play and 9-7-2 overall, collecting six conference honors.

St. Edward's ranked No. 1in the preseason poll with all but four first-place votes. Lubbock Christian tied for second with TAMIU as St. Mary's, Rogers State and Dallas Baptist rounded out the top five rankings. The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Oklahoma Christian and Newman came in Nos. 6-8, respectively.

The Dustdevils open play with a pair of exhibition games against Monterrey (Mexico) Tech on Aug. 23 and Laredo Community College on Aug. 30. Both exhibitions will be at the TAMIU Soccer Complex. The TAMIU Men's Soccer Invitational will kick off the Dustdevils' regular season non-conference play with Eastern New Mexico, Fort Lewis and St. Mary's visiting Laredo for the four-game feature.

The Dustdevils full schedule can be found at http://godustdevils.com/schedule.aspx?tab=soccer2&path=msoc.