OK, by now you may have seen my preseason preview of Men's Soccer. I am very upbeat about their chances at a national title this year, but I am honestly not sure how upbeat I should be. On the one hand, they have most of their starters back; they get an additional year of eligibility for Doug Rodkey, which IMHO was huge; yet another great recruiting year for Cirovski; Casey Townsend is back to full health; Jason Herrick looking to have a bigtime year on offense; one of the best goalies in college in Zac MacMath, etc etc etc. BUT...
Nobody picks Maryland as #1. For all they have going for them, they are "just" #3 in the College Soccer News poll and #6 in the NSCAA. I find myself asking why?
College Soccer News has Akron and UNC in front of Maryland despite the former having graduated some people; this poll is more understandable because that was two of last year's Final Four teams and both have a lot of people back. But the NSCAA poll has Virgina, Wake, and UCLA also ahead of Maryland. Huh? UVA may be defending champion but they lost their midfield leader in Tony Tchani; UCLA had five guys get drafted by the MLS; Wake loses Corben Bone, Ike Opara, and others. So what is up with all that?
I readily grant that there is more talent spread around than ever before; the 9.9 'ship limit has something to do with that; the ongoing development of the youth soccer movement is an obvious factor. But I am still not sure why Maryland isn't ranked a bit higher, especially in the NSCAA poll. I realize this may sound like nitpicking -- much ado about nothing and in any case, the polls tend to radicaly change after the first two weeks.
Bottom line: Terp fans have high expectations, as always, but a national title is far from being a given. This is going to be a tough battle and there is a lot of parity in D1 this year, perhaps moreso than in the past couple of years. I am hopeful but cautious.
Nobody picks Maryland as #1. For all they have going for them, they are "just" #3 in the College Soccer News poll and #6 in the NSCAA. I find myself asking why?
College Soccer News has Akron and UNC in front of Maryland despite the former having graduated some people; this poll is more understandable because that was two of last year's Final Four teams and both have a lot of people back. But the NSCAA poll has Virgina, Wake, and UCLA also ahead of Maryland. Huh? UVA may be defending champion but they lost their midfield leader in Tony Tchani; UCLA had five guys get drafted by the MLS; Wake loses Corben Bone, Ike Opara, and others. So what is up with all that?
I readily grant that there is more talent spread around than ever before; the 9.9 'ship limit has something to do with that; the ongoing development of the youth soccer movement is an obvious factor. But I am still not sure why Maryland isn't ranked a bit higher, especially in the NSCAA poll. I realize this may sound like nitpicking -- much ado about nothing and in any case, the polls tend to radicaly change after the first two weeks.
Bottom line: Terp fans have high expectations, as always, but a national title is far from being a given. This is going to be a tough battle and there is a lot of parity in D1 this year, perhaps moreso than in the past couple of years. I am hopeful but cautious.
