Carolina men’s college soccer power rankings: Week 2
A surprising Wolfpack climbs the rankings, while other schools find their footing again (and Wake continues being Wake).
We’re two weeks into the season, and there’s no change at the top of our men’s college soccer rankings. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons sit atop our rankings and every national ranking system there is in college soccer.
But North Carolina State is smashing through the competition, and Coastal Carolina seems to have picked itself up after a hard fall out of the gate.
Here’s where I think our Carolina college soccer teams sit after Week 2.
#1 — Wake Forest Demon Deacons
This top spot is Wake Forest’s for as long as they want it. The amount of success that this nationally top-ranked team has had in the past few years is almost equivalent to Real Madrid’s recent Champions League success.
The Demon Deacons played one game in the past week, beating Florida Gulf Coast 3–1 on the road.
The Demon Deacons have a tougher slate this week, even though they will be playing at home. Wake hosts the 2017 Big South champions, Presbyterian, who are desperately looking for a win. Then the bigger challenge comes Friday when No. 4 North Carolina State (yeah, you read that right) comes to town.
#2 — North Carolina State Wolfpack
Speaking of the Wolfpack, N.C. State cruises into the No. 2 spot in our Carolina rankings after dominating the first two weeks of the season.
Last year, the Wolfpack barely made the NCAA tournament. Now they’re in the top five of Top Drawer Soccer’s rankings. Talk about improvement.
N.C. State’s perfect start continued thanks to the help of Myrtle Beach Mutiny defender Christoph Schneuwly. Here is how it happened…
The Wolfpack have all week to prepare for their trip up to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest. If they pull out that massive win on the road, they will clearly be on their way to an historic year.
#3 — UNC-Wilmington Seahawks
The No. 7 Seahawks are also 4–0–0 to start the season and justly find themselves ranked ahead of bigger-name programs. While both N.C. State and UNCW have had similarly great starts to the year, the Seahawks have done something that NC State hasn’t: shut out every opponent.
UNCW has not allowed a goal all year long, including in their exhibitions. Six games and 540 minutes of not picking the ball out of your net. That’s longer than watching the extended editions of all three Hobbit films (532 minutes).
The Seahawks have a stellar defense and whatever they are doing, it’s working. They trashed Jacksonville 4–0 before getting a 2–0 win on the road against Longwood on Monday, Sept. 3.
The Seahawks host the UNCW Springhill Suites Classic this weekend and will take on Fairfield tonight. UNCW finishes off the weekend with a match against in-state rival UNC-Asheville on Sept. 9.
#4 — Duke Blue Devils
Yet another unbeaten Carolina program has made the top 10 of the national rankings. The boys in blue from Durham went on a trip across the country to put a 4–1 smackdown on San Diego Aug. 31.
The No. 6 Blue Devils have had a nice ride so far, but things get busy starting Sept. 9, when Duke will begin a streak of four games in 12 days, including matchups with No. 3 Louisville (Sept. 9) and No. 10 UNC (Sept. 14).
#5 — North Carolina Tar Heels
After a tough loss to an even tougher Indiana team to close out Week 1, the No. 10 Tar Heels bounced back rather emphatically, notching a 6–1 win on the road against William & Mary on Aug. 31.
Carolina earned another win on Monday against Jacksonville to push their record to 3–1–0 on the season. The Tar Heels have a long stretch of games in their own state over the next two and a half weeks.
Next up: North Carolina will take on ACC foe Pittsburgh Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.
#6 — Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
The boys from Conway had a rough start to begin their 2018 campaign, falling 4–0 at home to UCLA.
But this past week, the No. 23 Chanticleers got back to their old ways, getting wins over Memphis and UAB this past weekend and bringing home some hardware in the process.
That’s not the only award the Chanticleers picked up. Goalkeeper Chris Datallo was named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week for his two shutouts and five saves on 24 shots over the weekend.
It appears that Tsiki Ntsabeleng will be a huge factor for the Chanticleers this season, as the South African forward has scored two goals and recorded two assists in his first four games as a Chanticleer.
Coastal is off this weekend but has a big challenge coming up against former Big South rival Radford Sept. 11.
Honorable mentions
Clemson Tigers
After a hard-fought loss to Creighton, the Tigers have bounced back with a three-match winning streak. They certainly can claw their way into the power rankings should they put up quality performances this weekend against Boston College and UMass.
Appalachian State Mountaineers
Appalachian State’s 4–0–0 start is the program’s best since 2008 when they were a part of the Southern Conference. They’ll have to beat some tougher competition to break into the power rankings, though. The four teams they have played have not won or tied a single match and have a combined record of 0–14.
The rise of N.C. State is the biggest story in college soccer right now. Going from an NCAA tournament afterthought to a top-five team is something that you couldn’t script. That is the beauty of the beautiful game.
Will the Wolfpack continue to howl and make noise? Or will Wake Forest shut the doors on them? This should be yet another interesting week in Carolina college soccer. Thanks for reading.
