Numerous Contenders for all prizes in ACC

Numerous Contenders for all prizes in ACC
August 25, 2010

This continues our series of daily articles previewing each men's and women's college conference. All the conference previews can be found here. And don't forget to check out our Conference Top 20 College Players To Watch.

We’ve already selected North Carolina as our TopDrawerSoccer.com Tournament 64 Preseason #1, so it may seem like a gimme to tab the Tar Heels as ACC title favorites.

Well maybe and maybe not. When you have the number of strong teams present in the ACC, with 6 teams in our top 11, and 7 projected to make the postseason NCAA field, it’s not unusual to have one team win the regular season title, another to win the ACC Tournament and still another to win it all, with multiple teams in the College Cup (final 4) a regular occurrence.

So looking at the individual teams and their standout players, any number of them could be in contention for national honors at season's end.

mens college soccer playerCameron Brown (North Carolina)
North Carolina is looking to improve on last year’s NCAA semifinal appearance. Elmar Bolowich’s Tar Heels return a very talented group including Michael Farfan, Billy Schuler, Cameron Brown and Kirk Urso.

Maryland reached the national quarterfinals last season, and also return a lot of talent including goalkeeper Zac MacMath, veteran forward Jason Herrick and standout defender Ethan White.

All George Gelnovatch’s Virginia Cavaliers did last year is win a national title, Some outstanding talent left Charlottesville in the off season, including midfielder Tony Tchani, but goalkeeper Diego Restrepo, powerful forward Will Bates and defender Mike Volk will help the Cavaliers make a pain-free transition in 2010.

At Boston College, goalkeeper Justin Luthy is a standout but he’s got some great help in talented defender Karl Reddick and standout forward Charlie Rugg.

Wake Forest attracts a lot of talent every year but Jay Vidovich also seems to have to deal each new season with players who leave college early for the pro game. That’s the case this year, but the likes of Luke Norman, Anthony Arena, Andy Lubahn and another good recruiting class should help the Demon Deacons be good again before long.

Freshman of the year Andrew Wenger will anchor the Duke defense, while Cole Grossman and Ryan Finley will help make the team dangerous in attack as well.

NC State brings in 15 new faces for 2010 and says goodbye to talented forward Alan Sanchez. Defender Tyler Lassiter and midfielder Chris Zuerner are among the most experienced returnees.

Riley Sumpter, Austin Savage and Tommy Drake lead returnees for Mike Noonan’s Clemson Tigers, while Philadelphia-area defenders Greg Cochrane and James Shupp should help the Hokies improve on a 5-win season from last year.

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