CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – NC State has been chosen as the favorite to win the 2026 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Soccer Championship following a vote of the league’s 15 head coaches. Coming off the program’s first-ever trip to the national championship game, the Wolfpack were picked as the ACC favorite on eight of the coaches’ ballots.
NC State topped the poll with 183 total points. Stanford received a pair of first-place votes and was second in the poll with 171 points. Virginia notched four first-place votes and placed third with 161 points. Reigning ACC champion SMU finished fourth with 146 points, a point ahead of Clemson with 145; the Tigers also secured one first-place vote.
The league also unveiled its 2026 Preseason Watch List, consisting of one student-athlete from each program, as nominated by the respective schools. The watch list features a trio of former All-ACC honorees, with Ransford Gyan (Clemson), Ulfur Bjornsson (Duke) and Stephan Soghomonian (SMU). Gyan was the 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year and the 2025 ACC Midfielder of the Year.
North Carolina (134 points) was sixth in the poll and was followed by Duke (124), Notre Dame (100), Wake Forest (89) and Syracuse (86). Pitt (83), Virginia Tech (60), California (48), Louisville (29) and Boston College (16) rounded out the poll in 11th through 15th, respectively.
Four ACC teams are ranked in the Preseason United Soccer Coaches Top 25: NC State (No. 2), Stanford (No. 9), Virginia (No. 11) and SMU (No. 15). That is the most of any conference.
Nine of the 15 ACC teams earned NCAA Tournament bids last season. ACC teams have won 20 NCAA men’s soccer championships, including three of the last five (Clemson 2021 and 2023, Syracuse 2022).
The 2026 ACC men’s soccer regular season officially gets underway on Thursday, August 20. League play begins on Friday, September 4.
The 2026 ACC Men’s Soccer Championship opens at campus sites on Wednesday, November 4. The semifinals and final will be contested on Thursday, November 12, and Sunday, November 15, at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
2026 ACC Men’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll
1. NC State (8), 183
2. Stanford (2), 171
3. Virginia (4), 161
4. SMU, 146
5. Clemson (1), 145
6. North Carolina, 134
7. Duke, 124
8. Notre Dame, 100
9. Wake Forest, 89
10. Syracuse, 86
11. Pitt, 83
12. Virginia Tech, 60
13. California, 48
14. Louisville, 29
15. Boston College, 16
First-place votes in parentheses
2026 ACC Men’s Soccer Preseason Watch List
Andrej Borak, So., GK, Boston College
Florentino Junior, Fr., M, California
Ransford Gyan, Jr., M, Clemson
Ulfur Bjornsson, Sr., F, Duke
Ryan Quintos, Sr., D, Louisville
Joschi Schelb, Sr., F, North Carolina
Tyler Caton, Sr., M, NC State
Nolan Spicer, Sr., M, Notre Dame
Niklas Sørensen, Jr., D, Pitt
Stephan Soghomonian, Jr., F, SMU
Dylan Groeneveld, Sr., D, Stanford
Kelvin Da Costa, Jr., M, Syracuse
Sebastian Pop, Sr., D, Virginia
Yanis Belatrache, Sr., M, Virginia Tech
Jeffrey White, Sr., M, Wake Forest