Carolina men’s college soccer power rankings: Post-Florence edition
As the Carolinas continue to recover from Hurricane Florence, men’s college soccer has started to regain some sense of normalcy. Here’s a look at where the teams stand.
It seems like forever since there has been a Carolina men’s college soccer power rankings article. Wait, no, it HAS been forever since there was a power rankings article (Thanks, Florence).
There certainly have been some changes in the power rankings, and while I would love to go over the past four weeks and do weekly breakdowns leading up to right now, the length of such an article would rival my thesis paper for communication research, and I really don’t want to do that to you.
So, let us take a quick look at what has happened in the past month.
#1 —Wake Forest Demon Deacons
This should come as no surprise. No. 1 Wake continued its unbeaten start and hasn’t even tied a game yet this year. And they haven’t had it easy, either. The Deacs dominated N.C. State (#4 at the time) 3–0 and put up the same scoreline on the road at Clemson.
Wake scored three or more goals for the eighth time this season in a convincing 4–2 win over Duke last Saturday. Earlier this week, the Deacs notched their fourth shutout of the season in a 2–0 win over UNC-Greensboro.
Wake looks to continue their dominance this weekend when they travel to New York to battle it out with Syracuse.
#2 — North Carolina Tar Heels
The No. 8 Tar Heels had one of the biggest matchups of the season postponed due to Hurricane Florence — their yearly date with Tobacco Road rival Duke. Luckily, we only have to wait until the final week of the season for that pivotal matchup between the blue-blooded foes.
As for this past week, the Tar Heels picked up two shutout wins over ACC rival Clemson and No. 19 UNC-Wilmington. This was UNC’s fourth straight shutout win and their sixth overall shutout.
The Tar Heels are sitting pretty at 8–1–0 right now but have some difficult games coming up, like a road trip to Old Dominion next Tuesday right after an ACC matchup with No. 12 Virginia Tech. The big challenge will be next Friday when UNC makes the trip to Raleigh to take on N.C. State.
#3 — Charlotte 49ers
The No. 18 Charlotte 49ers have climbed their way into our power rankings after a dominant 5–2–1 start to the season. The only two losses the 49ers have on their record are to an always difficult Old Dominion squad and a tough 1–0 road loss to the (surprisingly incredible) Kentucky Wildcats.
The 49ers have won back-to-back games since their loss to UK almost two weeks ago, earning two clean sheets in the process.
The 49ers have some major competition ahead as they travel to Columbia on Sunday to take on South Carolina before heading up north to take on the always tough Radford in Virginia next Wednesday.
#4 — UNC-Wilmington
First off, my heart goes out to the UNC-Wilmington community after what Florence did to the area. From one coastal college student (Coastal Carolina) to another, I wish you all the speediest of recoveries.
As for the soccer, the No. 19 Seahawks certainly did not let the storm set them back as they played some staunch competition while away from campus. The Seahawks have gone 2–1–1 since their last home game on Sept. 9 with their lone loss being to UNC.
And despite everything that the team has gone through, traveling place to place and not knowing when it will return home, the Seahawks still maintained great character after their loss to UNC.
Class act, right there. Well done, UNCW.
The Seahawks have road matches against Drexel (Oct. 6) and Elon (Oct. 10) before finally playing their first home match in 30+ days Oct. 13 against Belmont. UNCW closes out their season with five home matches, including ones against quality opponents like N.C. State and Coastal Carolina.
#5 — Duke Blue Devils
No. 17 Duke needed a win to pick themselves up after a loss to the best team in the country. And they sure did get it. The Blue Devils got a 4–2 win over Wofford on Tuesday, with goals from four different players.
Duke now has the challenge of traveling to Charlottesville to take on Virginia before coming back home to play Campbell at home on Tuesday, Oct. 9.
#6 — North Carolina State Wolfpack
After a commanding 4–0–0 start to the year with some quality wins, the No. 13 N.C. State Wolfpack have gone an even 2–2–2 in their last six games. However, the team is winless in its last three.
The Wolfpack have not won a game since their 1–0 victory over No. 14 Virginia Tech on Sept. 21 and will be looking for some dubs in their next two games before taking on UNC and UNCW on Oct. 12 and Oct. 16, respectively.
Outside looking in
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers — The Chants, like UNCW, have had it rough these past few weeks thanks to Hurricane Florence. CCU has had a little “hurrication,” traveling to Orlando to train for matches and then having what would have been a home match against Portland moved down to MUSC Health Stadium in Charleston. The Chanticleers are 4–3–0 and currently on a two-game losing streak. However, those two losses came at the hands of No. 7 Portland and a surging Maryland squad. CCU only has one match to worry about this weekend: a date with USC-Upstate Saturday.
Appalachian State Mountaineers — App State… Oh, App State. Your fans are calling for me to put you in the ranked category but, as of right now, despite having a better record than your Sun Belt counterparts, it’s the wins that keep you out. The wins are not against quality opponents. The Mountaineers’ six wins are against teams that have a combined record of 13–40–2. The big dark mark right now for the Mountaineers is the 1–1 draw against UNC-Asheville, a team that is 1–8–2. Wins against Georgia State and Coastal Carolina would certainly propel them forward into the rankings, but for now it’s still outside looking in.
Clemson Tigers — While I understand Clemson lost a lot of great players from last year’s squad, I am still incredibly surprised at their 5–4–1 record. Now, three of their four losses did come against top 10 opponents (Creighton, Wake and UNC). But for Clemson to even be considered for the rankings (or even considered for an NCAA tournament spot), it will have to finish out the year strong. And it won’t be easy with games against N.C. State, Virginia, Louisville and CCU coming up.
Well, there you have it. College rankings are back. It has been a crazy month or so here on the coast with everything that has gone on around Hurricane Florence. Thanks to all the first responders and members of the National Guard that came from across the country to help out our two states. While the road to recovery is long, all the work that you have done for our communities means the world to us.
I also would like to thank all the players, trainers and coaches of the teams that had to be displaced from their campuses. Whether you were in these power rankings or not, Division I or NAIA, or if you won or lost all the games during this hurricane break, your dedication to the program and the sport of soccer is inspiring and I wish you all the best the rest of the season.
