University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Move Up to No. 2 in Coaches Poll
September 3, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Sept. 3, 2002
Chapel Hill, N.C. - The Carolina men's soccer team jumped two spots from No. 4 to No. 2 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, released on Tuesday afternoon.
The Tar Heels moved up two spots after defeating a pair of 2001 NCAA Tournament participants last weekend. Carolina defeated Akron, 2-1 in overtime, on Friday evening in its season-opener and downed No. 11 Saint Louis, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon on a goal by senior Ryan Kneipper with 0:03 left in the second half.
Stanford is this week's new No. 1 team, followed by the Tar Heels, No. 3 Virginia, No. 4 Indiana and No. 5 Clemson. The rest of the top 10 includes No. 6 Seton Hall, No. 7 UCLA, No. 8 SMU, No. 9 Boston College and No. 10 South Carolina. Indiana was ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA preseason poll but fell to No. 4 after tying its first two matches of the season.
The only other Atlantic Coast Conference team ranked is No. 22 Wake Forest, which went 1-0-1 in last weekend's Nike Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, including a win over Akron and a tie with Saint Louis.
Carolina will continue its defense of its 2001 NCAA championship with a pair of home games this week. The Tar Heels will host Long Island at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Davidson at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be played at Fetzer Field on the UNC campus.
