Preseason men's college rankings released

Predicting a men’s college soccer champion in the preseason is more difficult than ever, but the Akron Zips make a good selection for many reasons.

Caleb Porter’s program gets the nod as the #1 selection in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Tournament 48 Men’s College Soccer pre-season ranking, continuing the Mid-American Conference school’s rise to nationally-elite status over the past few years.

The ranking is the web site’s running attempt to track the 48-team, post-season NCAA Tournament field as well identify the very best programs in that field. The Tournament 48 ranking is the only college ranking that accounts for the automatic berths awarded to every DI college conference.

Despite losing all-everything forward Steve Zakuani, standout goalkeeper Evan Bush and others, the Zips continue to bring in top recruiting classes each season and should be able to more than make up for the loss of the departing seniors. A defensive unit that includes youngsters Zarek Valentin, Chad Barson and Kofi Sarkodie plus Matt Dagilis and Chris Korb will be very strong. Add new goalkeeper David Meves of Sockers FC and the U17 Men’s National Team and a very solid midfield unit, and the Zips are looking good. Finding a consistent source of goals will be the biggest challenge but I suspect the goals will come from a cast of many.

Akron gets the slight nod for #1 over last year’s College Cup semifinalist St. John's. Dave Masur’s Red Storm figure to be very strong again, with seniors Nelson Becerra and Joel Gustafsson leading the way. With a trio of NCAA Tournament quarterfinal appearances over the past six years, Bob Warming’s #3 Creighton Blue Jays may be the best-kept secret in college soccer, but the Omaha, Nebraska campus will again be the site of some top-notch soccer this fall.

Perennial national title contenders Maryland and Wake Forest both have a lot of talent to replace, but you don’t have to go too far down the list to find them, with the Terrapins ranked #5 and the Demon Deacons at #7 in the preseason.

The ACC and the Big East lead the way in the preseason ranking with 7 teams each. The Big 10 follows with 5 and the PAC 10 with 3.

Click here for the complete TopDrawerSoccer.com Tournament 48 Men’s College Soccer preseason ranking.