Count on pre-season polls going topsy-turvy after a week or two of play in any college sports and so is the case in soccer. The top 2 ACC women’s teams in the initial rankings have dipped in the latest United Soccer Coaches Top 25. No. 1 North Carolina lost to unranked Tennessee in their opener last week, 2-0. It bumped the Tar Heels to No. 12 and the Vols took a giant leap from the unranked to No. 6.
No. 4 Duke put together a win over No. 11 Penn State, 3-2 and used that collateral to cash in a top spot in this week’s poll. Meanwhile, on Sunday the 17th No. 2 Notre Dame could only come away with a 2-2 decision with No. 6 Arkansas. The Irish fall into a tie at No. 7 in the week one rankings.
Soccer
| UNITED SOCCER | TEAM | PRESEASON |
| #1 | DUKE | #4 |
| #2 | STANFORD | #7 |
| #3 | FLORIDA STATE | #3 |
| #4 | UCLA | #8 |
| #5 | USC | #5 |
| #7 TIE | NOTRE DAME | #2 |
| #10 | WAKE FOREST | #10 |
| #12 | NORTH CAROLINA | #1 |
| #15 | VIRGINIA TECH | #14 |
| #17 | VIRGINIA | #15 |
| RV | ||
| #26 | CLEMSON | #33 |
Plenty of action on the schedule this week for ACC women’s teams. An interesting early season matchup features No. 26 Clemson visiting No. 15 Virginia Tech. The Tigers have been easing their way up in the Receiving Votes (RV) category from No. 33 in the pre-season tally. A win over the Hokies would go a long way in helping them break that ceiling. Virginia Tech slipped a spot from their pre-season No. 14 down to No. 15 primarily because of movement in front of them in the rankings and strength of schedule thus far.
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ACC men’s soccer action gets underway on Thursday, August 21 with some games to keep an eye on through the weekend. No. 3 Ohio State travels to unranked Virginia Tech, No. 9 Clemson is at No. 11 Indiana and No. 4 Denver is hosted by No. 13 Stanford.
There are 8 men’s teams in the pre-season Top 25 with SMU tops at No. 5. North Carolina lurks in the RV category at No. 28.
