The 2022 College Soccer Season is upon us with pre-season training and exhibition games are already under way for the Women. Last Season the ACC had 9 teams reach the NCAA Tournament with Florida St taking the NCAA Championship for the third time in 8 years in Pks over BYU in San Jose. The Seminoles now have a completely new coaching staff after the departure of Krikorian and his staff left this spring.  They return a very competitive experience squad with a combination of international flair and top American players. They start their Non-Conference campaign on the road with two SEC opponents South Carolina and Georgia which will be a strong test to start off with. New Head Coach Brian Pensky knows a little something about the SEC finishing last season with Tennessee Vols and a 20-3-0 record winning the SEC Championship reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 and SEC Coach of the year.

Florida St RPI 1

 

Duke and Virginia have been knocking on the door to win a National Championship for many years now and both have the quality, creativity and depth to be dancing in December.  Both programs have competitive Non-Conference Schedules with Duke playing the stronger of the two on paper UCLA, TCU and a rare Non Conference game with cross town rivals UNC to get them ready for the ACC. Virginia on the other hand schedules a little differently by taking on two NCAA Tournament teams that both won their NCAA 1st round games with Memphis at home and Georgetown on the road before getting ready for a very tough slate of ACC games to open up with 3 of their first 4 games on the road at UNC, Notre Dame and Duke in September.

Duke RPI 2 Virginia RPI 6

 

UNC, the most historic program in NCAA history, will be looking to get back to the College Cup; it’s been 10 year now since the Tar Heels won their 21st National Championship. Injuries throughout the 2021 campaign caused the Tar Heels not to find that consistent competitiveness we have seen over the years.

North Carolina RPI 11

 

Notre Dame will look to go step further this season after reaching the Sweet 16 and losing out to a strong Arkansas team in a close 3-2 battle in the NCAA Tournament. The fighting Irish will play 4 Non-Conference games against the Big 10 opponents which will prepare them for their ACC campaign.

Notre Dame RPI 20

 

Wake Forest won their 1st Round NCAA Tournament game last season then lost in the 2nd Round, but  more impressively the Deacon’s ACC Championship Tournament games, knocking off #2 Duke in 1st round and then losing in a very competitive game in the semis against Florida St in OT. There is a lot to build upon and if they find that late season form consistently throughout the season they could make a run back to the College Cup like in 2011.

Wake Forest RPI 25

 

Virginia Tech also won their 1st Round NCAA Tournament game and then had a run of games during the season to show that they can compete at the highest level in the country. Back in 2013 the program reached the College Cup. Being consistent will be the key for the Hokies.

Virginia Tech RPI 30

 

NC State Wolfpack last season was very tough to play and got two key wins against Duke and UNC to get into the NCAA Tournament. In the 1st Round they beat South Florida before running into a quality Pepperdine team. The team returns 20 players from last season plus 26 of the 28 goals scored last season which bodes well for another competitive season and run in the NCAA’s.

NC State 35 RPI

 

Clemson will be looking to make their 9th NCAA Tournament Appearance in a row and making a deep NCAA Tournament run. Another talent squad that returns quality and depth with three NCAA Tournament Teams in the Non-Conference play and with a NCAA Tournament re-match with a competitive Alabama team that knocked the Tigers off in the 1st Round.

Clemson RPI 50

 

The Pittsburgh program is growing under Waldrum who previously won two National Championships with Notre Dame. The challenge will be can Pitt beat enough quality teams in the ever competitive ACC to achieve their first NCAA Tournament Berth.

Pittsburgh RPI 63

 

Louisville was inconsistent and will look to find the form that they showed in Non-Conference by tying a tough Michigan team that reached Elite 8 and in ACC play another good tie at Clemson. Scoring goals will be one of the main differences to put them back in the NCAA Tournament Selection world in which they have achieved 6 NCAA berths in the past.

Louisville RPI 64

 

Boston College. Miami and Syracuse are in the rebuilding phase and will look to move up the standings this season by gaining confidence and winning mentality in the ACC. Boston College looks the most likely to achieve the next step by creating even more competitive depth in an already loaded Conference.

Boston College RPI 76 Miami RPI 159 Syracuse RPI 169

 

Predicting the order of ACC regular season standings and ACC tournament champions is extremely difficult, but what we do know is top to bottom if you are not ready you can get beat by anyone on the day for the most part.

 

Below are some key ACC Non-Conference and ACC Conference Games to watch.

• Thursday August 18th Florida St at South Carolina 7pm EST SEC NETWORK
• Sunday September 4th UCLA at UNC Noon EST ACC NETWORK
• Thursday September 8th UNC at Duke 8PM EST ACC NETWORK
• Sunday September 11th NC State at South Carolina 3pm EST SEC NETWORK
• Thursday September 15th Notre Dame at Clemson 7pm EST ACC NETWORK
• Thursday September 22nd Miami at Pittsburgh 6PM EST ACC NETWORK
• Sunday September 25th Virginia Tech at Wake Forest 5pm EST ACC NETWORK
• Sunday October 2nd Syracuse at Wake Forest Noon EST ACC NETWORK
• Thursday October 6th Florida St at Virginia 8PM EST ACC NETWORK
• Sunday October 9th Boston College at Louisville Noon EST ACC NETWORK
• Thursday October 13th Duke at Florida St 6PM EST ACC NETWORK
• Thursday October 20th Wake Forest at Virginia 7pm EST ACC NETWORK