Wake Forest Athletics
Men's Soccer Ranked Eighth in NSCAA/adidas Preseason Poll
8/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug. 25, 2004
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Already ranked sixth in the CollegeSoccerNews.com preseason poll, the Wake Forest men's soccer team grabbed the eighth spot in the 2004 NSCAA/adidas NCAA Division I Men's Preseason Rankings, which were released Tuesday.
Indiana was ranked No. 1, followed by St. John's, Maryland, Saint Louis, Santa Clara, North Carolina 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 one other team ranked among the top 25 as Virginia is ranked 20th. Virginia Tech is just outside the top 25, but did receive votes.
Wake Forest returns 16 letterwinners and eight starters from last season's squad that finished the season 15-5-0 overall and ranked second in the 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 corp 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 opened their exhibition schedule this past weekend with a 1-0 shutout of Charlotte. After another exhibition match at Spry Stadium on August 28 at 6 p.m. against Furman, the regular season begins with the Ohio State Classic, a round-robin event where Wake Forest will face Ohio State and Penn State.
The rest of the schedule gets no easier. In all, Wake Forest will face 11 teams in 2004 that reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago. The Deacs face five schools ranked in the poll's top 25.
-- WakeForestSports.com --
