Men's Soccer
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- wfsoccer@wfu.edu
- Phone:
- 336-758-3059
In his first year in Winston-Salem, he helped the Deacs to a 19-2-2 overall record and 7-0-1 mark in the ACC. By winning the ACC Championship, Wake Forest became the first team in the league to finish the ACC regular season and Championship undefeated since 1999. The Deacs were rewarded with ACC Offensive Player of the Year (Jon Bakero) and Defensive Player of the Year (Kevin Politz) honors, as each was also named an All-American.
Poplawski is part of a staff which earned the United Soccer Coaches Region Staff of the Year honors in 2017. He helped coach MAC Hermann Trophy winner Jon Bakero and CoSIDA Academic All-America of the Year winner Kevin Politz, who became two of the seven Deacons to head to the MLS ranks following the season.
Poplawski joined the Demon Deacons from Penn, where he was a 2017 graduate of the Wharton School of Business, and a two-sport varsity athlete.
On the pitch, Poplawski was a two-time All-Ivy League honoree and two-year team captain. He also played basketball for two seasons, appearing in 17 games.
"I couldn't be happier with the addition of Matt to our coaching staff," Muuss said in 2017. "He is an incredibly hard-working and humble man who excels both on and off the field. During this process, I have spoken to many people about Matt and it was clear that he has an extremely bright future as a coach and as a mentor to young players. I feel extremely lucky to be able have him here at Wake Forest."
A soccer midfielder, Poplawski played in 57 career matches and started 47 of them, totaling 17 points on six goals and five assists.
His freshman year, he earned All-League honors as he helped lead the team to a conference championship, reaching the NCAA Tournament before falling in PKs.
The Bellevue, Washington native was a first team All-Ivy honoree his senior season, finishing with four goals and an assist, as he was the only Quaker to start all 17 games.
He was a four-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, serving as the president during the 2016-17 academic year.
Before coming to Winston-Salem, he had been working as a research assistant with the Mindset Assistant Project in Philadelphia, including projects surrounding US Soccer and the US Soccer Development Academy.
Poplawski also previously interned with the Washington men's soccer program, which included coaching at their summer camps in 2016.
