Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Preseason No. 1 in NSCAA/adidas Poll
8/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug. 12, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The Wake Forest men's soccer team will start the 2008 season the same place it ended the 2007 season: No. 1 in the nation. The defending national champions are ranked first in the preseason national poll released Tuesday afternoon by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and adidas.
"The ranking is a reflection on what we did last year, not what we've done this year," head coach Jay Vidovich said. "Any coach in the country would rather be ranked first to end the season, than at the beginning, so we have a lot of work to do."
The Deacons earned 200 points in the initial poll, edging out the University of Connecticut, ranked second with 186 points. Notre Dame, fellow ACC foe Boston College and Santa Clara round out the top five.
Seven of Wake Forest's 2008 opponents, including four Atlantic Coast Conference foes, are ranked in the poll. Along with third-ranked Boston College, the other ranked opponents include Maryland (8th), Virginia Tech (10th), Massachusetts (13th), UCLA (14th), UC Santa Barbara (21st) and North Carolina (24th). Exhibition opponent Furman is 25th in the rankings.
The Demon Deacons return 19 letterwinners and nine starters from last year's team that captured the first national title in program history. Wake Forest returns 2007 Soccer America and NSCAA All-American Sam Cronin and Marcus Tracy, who was the Most Valuable Offensive Player of the 2007 College Cup.
Wake Forest will open fall camp on Wednesday in preparation for the team's season opener on Friday, August 29, against Florida International in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Deacs will play two exhibition games before opening the season. The first exhibition game is scheduled for Tuesday, August 19, at 7 p.m., against Wofford. The game will honor Genna Wiley, the wife of former Wake Forest trainer Steve Wiley. Wiley passed away from breast cancer just days after the Demon Deacons won the national championship last year.
Fans will have the opportunity to donate money at the gate to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Wake Forest will be wearing commemorative pink Nike jerseys. Fans will have the opportunity to bid on these game-worn jerseys during a silent auction that will be held during the game.
Wake Forest's second exhibition game is slated for Saturday, August 23 at 7 p.m., against Furman. For more information on the Wake Forest men's soccer team, log on to wakeforestsports.com.
2008 NSCAA/adidas Preseason Rankings
1. Wake Forest
2. Connecticut
3. Notre Dame
4. Boston College
5. Santa Clara
6. Creighton
7. Indiana
8. Maryland
9. Ohio State
10. Virginia Tech
11. Brown
12. Akron
13. Massachusetts
14. UCLA
15. West Virginia
16. Illinois-Chicago
17. Southern Methodist
18. South Florida
19. Saint Louis
20. Northwestern
21. Bradley
21. UC Santa Barbara
23. Tulsa
24. North Carolina
25. Furman
* 2008 Wake Forest opponents in italics
-WakeForestSports.com-
