The defending men’s soccer national champs will begin the season as the favorite to do it all again, the NSCAA announced Wednesday.
While the program has transformed itself into a reload-rather-than-rebuild machine, the No. 1 spot might be a bit generous for the Terps. Sasho and Co. lost oodles of talent to the professional ranks, and even with an incoming batch of well regarded recruits (as high as No. 2 according to some services) ready to fill their cleats, it probably won’t be enough early on.
Still, the preseason rankings may perhaps be more out of consideration for who raised the trophy last year and who came close to it. North Carolina, for instance, is No. 2, Wake Forest is No. 3, and St. John’s is No. 5. That’s a top-5 nod for every 2008 semifinalist.
College Soccer News has the Terps behind their conference foes at No. 5, with St. John’s holding it down up top, while TopDrawerSoccer.com also has the team at No. 5 and Akron as el numero uno.
Either way, overrated or… um… fairly-rated… we’ll see an early-season shakeup in the rankings somewhere courtesy of Maryland’s scheduling. Home dates with No. 8 Cal and No. 19 UCLA over the first weekend of the semester will see to that.
Jonas Shaffer is The Diamondback’s men’s soccer beat writer. He can be reached at shaffer@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jonas_shaffer.