July 29, 2002
GREENVILLE, SC -- The Furman men's soccer team is ranked tenth in the nation in the College Soccer News preseason poll released Monday.
Indiana tops the College Soccer News preseason ranking, followed by Stanford, St. John's, and Virginia.
Despite losing several starters from last year's squad, Furman claims a spot in College Soccer News' preseason top ten for the third straight year. Furman returns a wealth of talent including McNeil Cronin and Clint Dempsey, the 2000 and 2001 SoCon freshmen-of-the-years, and sophomore Ricardo Clark, who spent much of the off-season training with the U.S. Under-20 National Team.
Furman also welcomes another strong recruiting class, one that was ranked as the third best in the nation by College Soccer News earlier this month. Furman's class includes three members of the United States U-17 National team and a member of the Trinidad and Tobago U-20 National team.
The Paladins have qualified for the NCAA Tournament each of the past three seasons, including a quarterfinals finish in 1999. Furman currently owns a 33-match Southern Conference unbeaten streak as it has won the last three SoCon regular season and tournament titles.
Furman opens the 2002 campaign at The Citadel on August 30 before returning home to host the Spinx/Land Rover Kickoff Classic September 6-8. The Paladins will take on Creighton, Notre Dame, St. Louis, Clemson, and South Carolina this season, all of whom were ranked in College Soccer News' top 30 preseason poll. The Paladins will also take on three teams who received votes - Bradley, Butler, and Gonzaga.
College Soccer News is an internet site devoted solely to men's college soccer. The site will release a weekly top 30 national poll as well as a national player-of-the-week each week during the season.
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), Soccer America, and collegesoccer.com will release preseason polls in the coming weeks.
College Soccer News Preseason Top 30