GREENSBORO, N.C. (TheACC.com) – Defending ACC champion North Carolina is preseason favorite to win another conference title in a vote of the league’s 14 head coaches.
 
The 21-time ACC champion Tar Heels received four first-place votes and 183 points, followed by Florida State (five first-place votes, 174 points), Virginia (two first-place votes, 173 points) and Duke (three first-place votes, 151 points).
 
NC State placed fifth in the voting, followed by Clemson, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Louisville. Boston College placed 10th followed by Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Miami and Pitt.
 
Duke and Florida State each have two players on the 2018 Preseason All-ACC Team, including Blue Devils senior forward Kayla McCoy and junior midfielder Ella Stevens, and Seminoles junior forward Deyna Castellanos, who earned second team All-America honors by the United Soccer Coaches last season, and senior defender Natalia Kuikka.
 
In addition to Castellanos, the preseason All-ACC Team features North Carolina sophomore forward Alessia Russo, who also earned second team All-America honors by the United Soccer Coaches in 2017. Russo and Louisville sophomore midfielder Emina Ekic, another member of the preseason All-ACC Team, shared ACC Freshman of the Year honors last season. 
 
ACC women’s soccer teams began preseason training last week and will kick off the 2018 season on Thursday, Aug. 16. The top eight teams in the final league standings will advance to the ACC Championship, which will get underway with quarterfinal matches at campus sites on Sunday, Oct. 28. The semifinals and final are scheduled for Nov. 2 and Nov. 4 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.