Oct. 22, 2002
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- For the first time in school history, the Wake Forest men's soccer program is the top-ranked team in the nation, according to the Soccer Times Coaches Poll.
Wake Forest, ranked third for the previous two weeks in that poll, tied with fourth-ranked Clemson over the weekend while last week's number one team, St. John's, tied Syracuse and UCLA defeated second-ranked Stanford. The Deacons have spent 15 straight weeks in the top 25 and in the top five of at least one poll for the last six weeks.
Five of the ACC's seven schools that sponsor men's soccer are ranked in the top 25.
Wake Forest (9-0-3, 3-0-1 ACC) and Coastal Carolina (13-0-1) are the only remaining undefeated squads in all of Division I. The Deacons are off to their best 12-game start in program history.
The next Wake Forest victory will be the 100th career win for head coach Jay Vidovich. He currently holds a career record of 99-56-16 in nine seasons. The Deacons will put their unbeaten record and number one ranking on the line in two games this week. The first of which is Wednesday at home against Elon. On Saturday night, the Deacons will travel to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina. Both games are 7:00 p.m. kickoffs.
SOCCER TIMES TOP 25 - OCTOBER 21, 2002
# Team (#1 Votes) Record Pts LW
1 Wake Forest (5) 9-0-3 381 3
2 Indiana (4) 12-1-2 379 4
3 St. John's (6) 10-1-3 376 1
4 Clemson 9-1-2 342 5
5 SMU (1) 12-1-2 337 7
6 UCLA 8-1-2 326 8
7 Stanford 11-2-1 315 2
8 Maryland 11-3-0 273 11
9 Connecticut 11-3-0 262 6
10 South Carolina 9-3-1 260 12
11 Creighton 9-2-2 221 15
12 Notre Dame 8-3-3 191 17
13 Furman 10-2-1 181 14
14 Bradley 11-1-4 178 10
15 Loyola Marymount 11-2-2 149 9
16 UW-Milwaukee 11-1-1 141 15
17 Saint Louis 9-3-1 139 13
Boston College 8-3-0 139 20
19 UCSB 10-1-1 125 18
20 Coastal Carolina 13-0-1 101 21
21 San Diego 11-4-0 91 16
22 Virginia 8-5-0 69 nr
23 California 10-3-1 66 23
24 Portland 10-4-1 55 nr
25 Duke 9-4-1 36 19
