Wake Forest Athletics
Men's Soccer Ranked Sixth in CollegeSoccerNews.com Preseason Poll
7/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
July 29, 2004
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's soccer team was ranked sixth in the CollegeSoccerNews.com preseason poll that was released on Thursday afternoon.
Indiana was ranked No. 1, followed by St. John's, North Carolina, Saint Louis and UCLA. The Deacs knocked off both the Red Storm and Tar Heels last season by a combined score of 7-1. The ACC has three other teams ranked among the top 25 as Virginia is ranked eighth, Maryland is 12th and Virginia Tech is 21st.
Wake Forest returns 16 letterwinners and eight starters from last season's squad that finished the season 15-5 overall and ranked second in the entire country. The Demon Deacons not only return junior Michael Parkhurst, an All-ACC first team and NSCAA All-American second team selection, but also All-ACC second team selections Scott Sealy, Amir Lowery and Justin Moose -- who was also named NSCAA All-South Region. In addition to that core of returning players, Wake Forest added Patrick Phelan, Marcus Rein and Julian Valentin, three of the top 25 freshmen in the entire country according to Soccer America.
The Demon Deacons open its exhibition schedule at home on August 21 against Charlotte. After another exhibition match on August 28 against Furman at Spry Stadium, the regular season begins with the Ohio State Classic, a round-robin event that features Big 10 foes Ohio State and Penn State.
The rest of the schedule gets no easier. In all, Wake Forest will face 11 teams that reached the 2003 NCAA Tournament. The Deacs face seven schools ranked in the poll's top 30.
Considered by many to be one of the top soccer conferences in the nation, ACC schools have won 10 national championships in men's soccer during the last 20 years.
