UCLA men’s soccer ranks No. 4 in preseason NSCAA top 25 poll
By Daily Bruin
Aug. 7, 2014 8:32 a.m.
This post was updated on August 10 at 11:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America released its preseason top 25 poll for the 2014 NSCAA men’s soccer season, and UCLA ranked in the No. 4 spot.
The Bruins finished last season No. 8 in the final NSCAA top 25 poll, after being defeated on their home field by an unseeded Connecticut Huskies team in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. UCLA entered the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, and was also ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA national top 25 poll before its third-round elimination.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s preseason NSCAA top 25 poll, after winning the national championship last season. The Bruins will not have to face the Fighting Irish in the regular season, but 11 of their 19 games are against opponents who landed in the NSCAA preseason top 25. UCLA will begin its season against one of those ranked teams – No. 11 Wake Forest – in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Aug. 29.
Stolz recognized among nation’s best
Senior midfielder Leo Stolz was named to the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy watch list. The MAC Hermann Trophy is the highest individual award in collegiate soccer, recognizing the nation’s best male and female soccer players each year. Of the 32 players named to the men’s watch list for the award this year, Stolz was a finalist and one of only three contenders who were semifinalists for the award last season.
Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports senior staff.
