2020 Atlantic Coast Conference men's soccer season

2020 Atlantic Coast Conference men's soccer season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Soccer
Duration	September 18, 2020 – November 8, 2020
Number of teams	11
2021 MLS SuperDraft
Top draft pick	Daniel Pereira, 1st overall
Picked by	Austin FC
Regular season
Season champions	Pittsburgh (North Division) Wake Forest (South Division)
Runners-up	Virginia Tech (North Division) North Carolina (South Division)
Season MVP	Offensive: Valentin Noël Midfielder: Daniel Pereira Defensive:Jasper Löeffelsend
ACC Tournament
Champions	Clemson
Runners-up	Pittsburgh
Finals MVP	Kimarni Smith
ACC men's soccer seasons
← 2019 2021 →

2020 ACC men's fall soccer standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
North
No. 2 Pittsburgh	4	–	0	–	0			7	–	1	–	0
No. 4 Virginia Tech	3	–	1	–	2			3	–	2	–	2
Notre Dame	3	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Virginia	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	4	–	1
Louisville	1	–	4	–	1			1	–	6	–	1
Syracuse	0	–	3	–	2			0	–	3	–	2
South
No. 3 Wake Forest	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
North Carolina	3	–	1	–	2			3	–	2	–	2
No. 1 Clemson‡	3	–	2	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
Duke	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
NC State	0	–	5	–	1			0	–	6	–	1
Boston College†	0	–	0	–	0			0	–	0	–	0
‡ – 2020 ACC Tournament champion As of March 9, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source:The ACC Note: † Due to COVID-19, Boston College suspended the Fall 2020 men's soccer season; begins play in March.

2020 ACC men's spring soccer standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Atlantic
No. 7 Clemson ‡	4	–	1	–	1			14	–	3	–	3
Louisville	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	8	–	1
No. 6 Wake Forest +	3	–	0	–	2			13	–	3	–	2
NC State	1	–	2	–	3			3	–	8	–	4
Boston College *	1	–	3	–	1			1	–	3	–	1
Syracuse	0	–	3	–	1			2	–	7	–	4
Coastal
No. 3 Pittsburgh +	5	–	1	–	0			16	–	4	–	0
No. 4 North Carolina +	4	–	1	–	1			9	–	5	–	4
Duke	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	10	–	3
Virginia	2	–	4	–	0			7	–	8	–	1
No. 15 Virginia Tech +	2	–	4	–	0			7	–	6	–	4
Notre Dame	1	–	5	–	0			8	–	9	–	0
‡ – 2020 ACC Fall Tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2020 NCAA Tournament As of May 18, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source:The ACC Note: *- Due to COVID-19, Boston College suspended the Fall 2020 men's soccer season; began play in March.

The 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference men's soccer season will be the 67th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference.

Clemson are the defending champions of the Atlantic Conference and the Virginia are the defending champions of the Coastal Conference. Wake Forest are the defending ACC tournament Champions.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the season has been significantly modified from previous seasons. The teams were reorganized geographically, and will play a six-game conference season. The season will begin on September 18, 2020, instead of August 28, 2020 and conclude on November 7, 2020. A modified spring season was also played due to the pandemic.

Changes from 2019

After 33 years as head coach, Ed Kelly retired following the 2019 season. Bob Thompson was hired as the head coach for Boston College on January 23, 2020. ^[1]

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the season

Further information: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on association football

On September 4, 2020, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced the fall Olympic sports schedule, which included the schedule for men's soccer. The men's soccer season will begin on September 18, 2020, instead of the originally planned August 28, and conclude on November 8. The season will culminate with the 2020 ACC Men's Soccer tournament, which will be reduced to eight teams for the 2020 season only.

On January 26, 2021, it was announced that a spring portion of the 2020 season would be played. Each team will play five matches in their division. Divisions would return to the Atlantic and Coastal division, as in previous years. The winner of the Coastal will play the winner of the Atlantic on April 13. The winner of that match will play Clemson (winner of the fall season) on April 17 to determine the automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament. ^[2]

Teams

Stadiums and locations

North Division
Team	Stadium	Capacity
Louisville Cardinals	Lynn Stadium	5,300
Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Alumni Stadium	2,500
Pittsburgh Panthers	Ambrose Urbanic Field	735
Syracuse Orange	SU Soccer Stadium	5,000
Virginia Cavaliers	Klöckner Stadium	8,000
Virginia Tech Hokies	Thompson Field	2,500

South Division
Team	Stadium	Capacity
Clemson Tigers	Riggs Field	6,500
Duke Blue Devils	Koskinen Stadium	7,000
North Carolina Tar Heels	Fetzer Field	5,025
Wake Forest Demon Deacons	Spry Stadium	3,000

1. ^ Florida State, Georgia Tech and Miami do not sponsor men's soccer. Boston College has opted out of participating in the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personnel

Team	Head coach	Years at school	Overall record	Record at school	ACC record
Boston College	Bob Thompson	1	0–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–0
Clemson	Mike Noonan	10	323–176–43	110–63–30	41–29–13
Duke	John Kerr Jr.	13	188–138–40	107–79–27	40–44–15
Louisville	John Michael Hayden	2	10–8–2	10–8–2	3–4–1
North Carolina	Carlos Somoano	10	128–37–25	128–37–25	46–15–13
NC State	George Kiefer	4	113–34–26	131–47–33	8–11–5
Notre Dame	Chad Riley	3	21–15–4	21–15–4	7–8–2
Pittsburgh	Jay Vidovich	5	235–95–33	28–41–2	8–22–3
Syracuse	Ian McIntyre	11	200–132–58	93–68–28	18–27–13
Virginia	George Gelnovatch	25	341–129–59	341–129–59	89–59–31
Virginia Tech	Mike Brizendine	11	81–97–26	81–97–26	18–55–17
Wake Forest	Bobby Muuss	6	164–71–34	89–15–10	31–4–5

Notes

• Records shown are prior to the 2020 season
• Years at school includes the 2020 season
• ACC records include only years with current school.

Preseason

Hermann Trophy

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a preseason Hermann Trophy watch list was released in January instead of August. Six players from ACC schools were named to the watchlist. ^[3]

Player	Class	Position	School
Justin Malou	Senior	DF	Clemson
Valentin Noël	Sophomore	MF	Pittsburgh
Veljko Petkovic	Sophomore	MF	Pittsburgh
Colin Shutler	Senior	GK	Virginia
Kimarni Smith	Senior	FW	Clemson
Kristo Strickler	Senior	MF	Virginia Tech

Preseason Poll

The preseason poll was released on September 8, 2020. ^[4]

South Division

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Clemson	45 (5)
2	Wake Forest	44 (5)
3	North Carolina	33 (1)
4	NC State	21
5	Duke	17

North Division

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Virginia	59 (9)
2	Pittsburgh	44 (2)
3	Virginia Tech	35
4	Syracuse	30
5	Louisville	29
6	Notre Dame	28

Media poll (ACC Championship)
Rank	Team	Votes
1	Clemson	5
2	Wake Forest	4
3	North Carolina	1
	Virginia

Preseason national polls

The preseason national polls were to be released in August and September 2020. Only CollegeSoccerNews.com released a preseason poll due to the COVID-19 pandemic. TopDrawer Soccer and United Soccer Coaches released a preseason poll in February 2021.

	United Soccer	CSN [5]	Top Drawer Soccer [6]
Boston College	N/A	24	NR
Clemson	N/A	3	2
Duke	N/A	RV	NR
Louisville	N/A	18	NR
North Carolina	N/A	27	14
NC State	N/A	26	NR
Notre Dame	N/A	RV	12
Pitt	N/A	28	3
Syracuse	N/A	RV	NR
Virginia	N/A	7	NR
Virginia Tech	N/A	14	11
Wake Forest	N/A	4	5

Recruiting rankings

College Soccer News and TopDrawer Soccer release annual recruiting rankings. Below are their respective rankings for the Class of 2020 by program. Ten of the 12 programs earned Top 40 recruiting rankings by College Soccer News.

	CSN [7]	Top Drawer Soccer [8]
Boston College	—	—
Clemson	9	11
Duke	1	2
Louisville	7	6
North Carolina	8	10
NC State	29	24
Notre Dame	32	—
Pitt	—	—
Syracuse	12	25
Virginia	5	3
Virginia Tech	23	20
Wake Forest	6	4

Preseason awards

Preseason All-ACC Watchlist ^[4]

• Kimarni Smith, Senior, Forward, Clemson
• Jack Doran, Graduate, Midfielder, Duke
• Pedro Fonseca, Junior, Forward, Louisville
• Alec Smir, Junior, Goalkeeper, North Carolina
• George Asomani, Senior, Midfielder, NC State
• Jack Lynn, Junior, Forward, Notre Dame
• Edward Kizza, Senior, Forward, Pitt
• Sondre Norheim, Senior, Defender, Syracuse
• Nathaniel Crofts, Senior, Forward, Virginia
• Kristo Strickler, Senior, Forward, Virginia Tech
• Michael DeShields, Senior, Defender, Wake Forest

Fall 2020 regular season

Index to colors and formatting
ACC member won
ACC member lost
ACC member tied
ACC teams in bold

All times Eastern time.

Week 1 (Sep. 14 – Sept. 20)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
September 17	7:00 p.m.	Kentucky	No. 5 Notre Dame	Alumni Stadium • Notre Dame, IN	W 1–0	1

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Daniel Russo	Notre Dame	Keagan McLaughlin	Notre Dame
Reference: [9]

Week 2 (Sep. 21 – Sept. 27)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
September 21	7:00 p.m.	Duke	Kentucky	Bell Soccer Complex • Lexington, KY	L 2–4	95
September 25	7:30 p.m.	No. 1 Wake Forest	Louisville	Lynn Stadium • Louisville, KY	WAKE 3–1	112
September 26	7:00 p.m.	NC State	Duke	Koskinen Stadium • Durham, NC	DUKE 1–0 (2OT)	0
		No. 4 Pittsburgh	No. 5 Notre Dame	Alumni Stadium • South Bend, IN	PITT 3–1	0

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Bertin Jacquesson	Pittsburgh	Arturo Ordoñez	Pittsburgh
Calvin Harris	Wake Forest
Reference: [10]

Week 3 (Sep. 28 – Oct. 4)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
September 28	7:30 p.m.	Louisville	Kentucky	Bell Soccer Complex • Lexington, KY	L 1–3	115
October 1	7:00 p.m.	No. 3 Clemson	South Carolina	Stone Stadium • Columbia, SC	W 3–0	460
October 2	7:00 p.m.	North Carolina	Duke	Koskinen Stadium • Durham, NC	UNC 2–0	0
October 3	7:00 p.m.	Notre Dame	Louisville	Lynn Stadium • Louisville, KY	LOU 2–1	169
		NC State	No. 1 Wake Forest	Spry Stadium • Winston-Salem, NC	WAKE 4–1	0

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Kyle Holcomb	Wake Forest	Alec Smir	North Carolina
Mohamed Seye	Clemson
Reference: [11]

Week 4 (Oct. 5 – Oct. 11)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
October 5	6:00 p.m.	UAB	No. 3 Clemson	Riggs Field • Clemson, SC	W 2–0	748
October 6	7:00 p.m.	No. 2 Pittsburgh	Syracuse	SU Soccer Stadium • Syracuse, NY	PITT 3–2 (2OT)	1
October 9	6:00 p.m.	No. 3 Clemson	North Carolina	Dorrance Field • Chapel Hill, NC	UNC 1–0	0
	7:00 p.m.	Louisville	No. 5 Virginia	Klöckner Stadium • Charlottesville, VA	UVA 2–1 (2OT)	177
	8:00 p.m.	Duke	NC State	Dail Field • Raleigh, NC	DUKE 3–1	70
October 10	7:00 p.m.	UAB	No. 1 Wake Forest	Spry Stadium • Winston-Salem, NC	W 3–0	0
		Virginia Tech	No. 2 Pittsburgh	Ambrose Urbanic Field • Pittsburgh, PA	PITT 4–2	55
October 11	7:00 p.m.	Syracuse	Notre Dame	Alumni Stadium • South Bend, IN	ND 1–0	0

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Veljko Petkovic	Pittsburgh	Colin Shutler	Virginia
		Fillipo Zattarin	North Carolina
Reference: [12]

Week 5 (Oct. 12 – Oct. 18)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
October 13	7:00 p.m.	No. 1 Wake Forest	Clemson	Riggs Field • Clemson, SC	CLEM 2–1	1,000
October 14	8:00 p.m.	No. 5 Virginia	Virginia Tech	Thompson Field • Blacksburg, VA	T 1–1 (2OT)	130
October 16	8:00 p.m.	Duke	Clemson	Riggs Field • Clemson, SC	CLEM 2–1 (2OT)	1,000
		Louisville	Syracuse	SU Soccer Stadium • Syracuse, NY	T 2–2 (2OT)	1
October 17	11:00 p.m.	Notre Dame	Virginia Tech	Thompson Field • Blacksburg, VA	PPD
	6:00 p.m.	No. 3 North Carolina	No. 1 Wake Forest	Spry Stadium • Winston-Salem, NC	WAKE 1–0 (OT)	0
	7:00 p.m.	Navy	NC State	Dail Soccer Field • Raleigh, NC	L 1–2	70
		No. 2 Pittsburgh	No. 5 Virginia	Klöckner Stadium • Charlottesville, VA	PITT 3–2 (OT)	132

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Valentin Noël	Pittsburgh	George Marks	Clemson
Kimarni Smith	Clemson
Reference: [13]

Week 6 (Oct. 19 – Oct. 25)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
October 23	6:00 p.m.	No. 2 Wake Forest	Duke	Koskinen Stadium • Durham, NC	WF 2–1	0
	7:00 p.m.	No. 1 Pittsburgh	Louisville	Lynn Stadium • Louisville, KY	PITT 4–1	0
	8:00 p.m.	No. 3 Clemson	NC State	Dail Field • Raleigh, NC	CLEM 1–0	88
October 24	1:00 p.m.	Virginia	Notre Dame	Alumni Field • South Bend, IN	ND 2–1 (2OT)	133
	6:30 p.m.	Syracuse	Virginia Tech	Thompson Field • Blacksburg, VA	T 1–1 (2OT)	101

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Omar Hernandez	Wake Forest	Oskar Ågren	Clemson
Grayson Barber	Clemson
Reference: [14]

Week 7 (Oct. 26 – Nov. 1)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
October 27	7:00 p.m.	No. 5 North Carolina	No. 3 Clemson	Riggs Field • Clemson, SC	T 3–3 (2OT)	1,000
October 30	5:00 p.m.	No. 3 Clemson	No. 2 Wake Forest	Spry Stadium • Winston-Salem, NC	WAKE 2–0	0
	8:00 p.m.	Virginia Tech	Louisville	Lynn Stadium • Louisville, KY	VT 2–1 (OT)	212
		Virginia	Syracuse	SU Soccer Stadium • Syracuse, NY	UVA 1–0	160
November 1	1:00 p.m.	NC State	No. 5 North Carolina	Dorrance Field • Chapel Hill, NC	T 0–0 (2OT)	0

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Jacob Labovitz	Virginia Tech	Nico Benalcazar	Wake Forest
Reference: [15]

Week 8 (Nov. 2 – Nov. 8)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
November 2	1:00 p.m.	Virginia Tech	Notre Dame	Alumni Field • South Bend, IN	VT 1–0	0
November 6	4:00 p.m.	Virginia Tech	Virginia	Klöckner Stadium • Charlottesville, VA	VT 1–0	265
	7:00 p.m.	Louisville	Notre Dame	Alumni Field • South Bend, IN	ND 4–1	266
	8:00 p.m.	Duke	No. 4 North Carolina	Dorrance Field • Chapel Hill, NC	UNC 2–0	0
November 7	7:00 p.m.	No. 2 Wake Forest	NC State	Dail Field • Raleigh, NC	WAKE 2–0	77

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Jack Lynn	Notre Dame	Andrew Pannenberg	Wake Forest
Reference: [16]

Spring 2021 regular season

Index to colors and formatting
ACC member won
ACC member lost
ACC member tied
ACC teams in bold

All times Eastern time.

Week 11 (Feb. 3 – Feb. 7)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
No games scheduled

Week 12 (Feb. 8 – Feb. 14)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
February 12	1:30 p.m.	Hofstra	Syracuse	Afrim's Sports Park  • Albany, NY	W 2–1	0
	7:00 p.m.	Charlotte	Duke	Koskinen Stadium •Durham, NC	T 0–0 (2OT)	0

Week 13 (Feb. 15 – Feb. 21)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
February 19	1:30 p.m.	Syracuse	Albany	Afrim's Sports Park •Albany, NY	T 1–1 (2OT)	0
	7:00 p.m.	Kentucky	Duke	Koskinen Stadium •Durham, NC	L 0–1 (OT)	0
February 20	7:00 p.m.	UAB	NC State	Dail Soccer Field •Raleigh, NC	W 2–0	100
February 21	3:00 p.m.	Akron	Pittsburgh	Ambrose Urbanic Field •Pittsburgh, PA	Postponed [17]	–

Week 14 (Feb. 22 – Feb. 28)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
February 23	12:30 p.m.	Bowling Green	Syracuse	SU Soccer Stadium •Buffalo, NY	L 1–2	0
February 24	6:00 p.m.	NC State	VCU	Sports Backers Stadium •Richmond, VA	W 1–0	103
February 25	6:00 p.m.	Liberty	North Carolina	Dorrance Field •Chapel Hill, NC	L 0–1	0
February 26	7:00 p.m.	UNCW	Duke	Koskinen Stadium •Durham, NC	T 0–0 (2OT)	0
February 27	2:00 p.m.	Notre Dame	Butler	Sellick Bowl  • Indianapolis, IN	W 1–0	100
	7:00 p.m.	Duquesne	Pittsburgh	Ambrose Urbanic Field •Pittsburgh, PA	W 1–0	0
February 28	1:00 p.m.	Virginia Tech	Coastal Carolina	CCU Soccer Field  • Conway, SC	W 2–0	200

Week 15 (Mar. 1 – Mar. 7)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
March 1	6:00 p.m.	Davidson	Wake Forest	Spry Stadium •Winston-Salem, NC	W 1–0	0
March 2	1:00 p.m.	George Mason	Virginia	Klöckner Stadium •Charlottesville, VA	W 3–0	0
March 4	6:00 p.m.	Louisville	NC State	Dail Soccer Field •Raleigh, NC	LOU 3–0	90
March 5	7:00 p.m.	No. 4 Pittsburgh	North Carolina	Dorrance Field •Chapel Hill, NC	UNC 3–0	351
March 6	1:00 p.m.	Duke	No. 13 Virginia Tech	Thompson Field •Blacksburg, VA	DUKE 4–2	250
	7:00 p.m.	Boston College	No. 6 Wake Forest	Spry Stadium •Winston-Salem, NC	WAKE 3–2	0
March 7	1:00 p.m.	Notre Dame	Virginia	Klöckner Stadium •Charlottesville, VA	UVA 1–0 (OT)	110
	5:00 p.m.	Syracuse	No. 1 Clemson	Riggs Field •Clemson, SC	CLEM 3–1	813

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Giovanni Montesdeoca	North Carolina	Oliver Gerbig	Virginia
Reference: [18]

Week 16 (Mar. 8 – Mar. 14)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
March 12	7:00 p.m.	Notre Dame	Duke	Koskinen Stadium •Durham, NC	ND 2–0	0
		Syracuse	Louisville	Lynn Stadium •Louisville, KY	LOU 3–1	300
March 13	5:00 p.m.	No. 1 Clemson	No. 21 Virginia Tech	Thompson Field •Blacksburg, VA	CLEM 1–0 (2OT)	250
	6:00 p.m.	NC State	No. 4 Wake Forest	Spry Stadium •Winston-Salem, NC	T 0–0 (2OT)	350
	7:00 p.m.	Boston College	No. 8 Pittsburgh	Ambrose Urbanic Field •Pittsburgh, PA	PITT 2–0	0
		No. 24 Virginia	North Carolina	Dorrance Field •Chapel Hill, NC	UNC 2–0	580

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Giovanni Montesdeoca	North Carolina	Philip Quinton	Notre Dame
Jack Lynn	Notre Dame
Reference: [19]

Week 17 (Mar. 15 – Mar. 21)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
March 16	7:00 p.m.	Calvin	Notre Dame	Alumni Stadium •South Bend, IN	W 1–0	141
March 19	2:00 p.m.	Virginia Tech	Virginia	Klöckner Stadium •Charlottesville, VA	UVA 2–0	187
	7:00 p.m.	No. 7 Pittsburgh	Duke	Koskinen Stadium •Durham, NC	PITT 4–3 (2OT)	0
March 20	2:00 p.m.	Louisville	Boston College	Newton Soccer Complex  • Chestnut Hill, MA	BC 4–0	0
		No. 15 North Carolina	Syracuse	SU Soccer Stadium •Syracuse, NY	T 0–0 (2OT)	0
	7:00 p.m.	NC State	No. 1 Clemson	Riggs Field •Clemson, SC	CLEM 1–0	753
		No. 5 Wake Forest	Notre Dame	Alumni Stadium •South Bend, IN	WAKE 3–2	241

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Valentin Noël	Pittsburgh	Mike Suski	Boston College
Christian Garner	Boston College	Alex Rando	Virginia
Reference: [20]

Week 18 (Mar. 22 – Mar. 28)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
March 23	5:00 p.m.	Central Arkansas	Virginia	Klöckner Stadium •Charlottesville, VA	W 1–0	301
March 26	7:00 p.m.	Syracuse	NC State	Dail Soccer Field •Raleigh, NC	NCST 2–1 (OT)	100
March 27	1:00 p.m.	No. 1 Clemson	Boston College	Newton Soccer Complex •Chestnut Hill, MA	CLEM 3–2	35
		No. 5 Pittsburgh	Virginia Tech	Thompson Field •Blacksburg, VA	PITT 2–1 (2OT)	600
	7:00 p.m.	Louisville	No. 6 Wake Forest	Spry Stadium •Winston-Salem, NC	WAKE 2–1 (OT)	450
		No. 16 North Carolina	Notre Dame	Alumni Stadium •South Bend, IN	UNC 2–1 (OT)	143
March 28	1:00 p.m.	Duke	Virginia	Klöckner Stadium •Charlottesville, VA	DUKE 3–1	441

Players of the Week

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Thor Ulfarsson	Duke	Jackson Walti	Pittsburgh
Reference: [21]

Week 19 (Mar. 29 – Apr. 4)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
March 30	6:00 p.m.	St. Francis	Syracuse	SU Soccer Stadium •Syracuse, NY	W 1–0	0
April 2	7:00 p.m.	Virginia	Louisville	Lynn Stadium •Louisville, KY	LOU 2–1	370
		Virginia Tech	No. 15 North Carolina	Dorrance Field •Chapel Hill, NC	VT 1–0	423
		No. 4 Wake Forest	No. 1 Clemson	Riggs Field •Clemson, SC	T 0–0 (2OT)	1,000
April 3	7:00 p.m.	Duke	NC State	Dail Soccer Stadium •Raleigh, NC	T 0–0 (2OT)	100
		Notre Dame	No. 3 Pittsburgh	Ambrose Urbanic Field •Pittsburgh, PA	PITT 2–0	0

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Kristo Strickler	Virginia Tech	Nathan Durst	Virginia Tech
Reference: [22]

Week 20 (Apr. 5 – Apr. 11)

Date	Time (ET)	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance
April 8	7:00 p.m.	Virginia	No. 1 Pittsburgh	Ambrose Urbanic Field •Pittsburgh, PA	PITT 5–0	0
April 9	7:00 p.m.	NC State	Boston College	Newton Soccer Complex •Chestnut Hill, MA	T 0–0 (2OT)	65
		No. 3 Clemson	Louisville	Lynn Stadium •Louisville, KY	LOU 2–1	0
		Virginia Tech	Notre Dame	Alumni Stadium •South Bend, IN	VT 2–0	203
		No. 4 Wake Forest	Syracuse	SU Soccer Stadium •Syracuse, NY	Canceled [23]
April 11	7:00 p.m.	No. 18 North Carolina	Duke	Koskinen Stadium •Durham, NC	UNC 1–0	0

Offensive		Defensive
Player	Team	Player	Team
Aboubacar Camara	Louisville	Detre Bell	Louisville
Reference: [24]

Rankings

Fall 2020

National

Main article: 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

United Soccer Coaches

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week

	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Final
Boston College
Clemson	2	3	3		3	3	5	4	2	1
Duke
Louisville
North Carolina				3	5	5	4	3	4
NC State
Notre Dame	5
Pittsburgh	4	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	2
Syracuse
Virginia	3	5	5	5
Virginia Tech								5		4
Wake Forest	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	3	3

Spring 2021

National

Main article: 2020 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week

United Soccer Coaches

	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Final
Boston College
Clemson	1 (16)	1 (23)	1 (19)	1 (24)	1 (23)	3 (4)	4 (1)	1 (21)	7
Duke		RV
Louisville
North Carolina		RV	15	16	15	18	15	16	4
NC State
Notre Dame	RV	RV	RV
Pittsburgh	4	8	7	5	3 (1)	1 (13)	1 (16)	3 (1)	3 (2)
Syracuse
Virginia		24	RV	RV
Virginia Tech	13	21					25	RV	15
Wake Forest	6	4	5	6	4 (1)	4	5	4 (2)	6

Top Drawer Soccer

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week

	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Final
Boston College
Clemson	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	5	1	1	9	9
Duke
Louisville
North Carolina	14	13	13	14					RV				16	8	4
NC State
Notre Dame	12	11	11	11	11	RV	RV
Pittsburgh	3	3	3	3	3	7	6	5	4	4	3	6	5	1	3
Syracuse
Virginia
Virginia Tech	11	10	10	10	10	17	18						15	16	16
Wake Forest	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	5

Postseason

ACC Tournament

Main article: 2020 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament

Eight teams will qualify for the modified ACC Men's Soccer Tournament.

	Semifinals					Final
	N1	Pittsburgh	3
	N3	Notre Dame	1
						N1	Pittsburgh	1
						S3	Clemson	2
	N4	Virginia	1
	S3	Clemson	2

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament

On August 13, 2020, the NCAA suspended postseason tournaments for all fall sports. The tournament will be played from April 17 to May 17, 2021.

Seed	School	2nd Round	3rd Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
1	Clemson	W 2–1 vs. American – (Spry Stadium)	T 1–1 (6–7 PKs) vs. Marshall – (WakeMed Soccer Park)
2	Pittsburgh	W 6–1 vs. Monmouth – (Bryan Park)	W 4–0 vs. UCF – (WakeMed Soccer Park)	W 3–0 vs. #7 Washington – (WakeMed Soccer Park)	L 0–1 vs. #3 Indiana – (WakeMed Soccer Park)
5	Wake Forest	W 3–2 vs. Coastal Carolina – (Spry Stadium)	W 2–1 vs. Kentucky – (WakeMed Soccer Park)	L 1–2 vs. North Carolina – (WakeMed Soccer Park)
	North Carolina	T 1–1 (4–1 PKs) vs. Charlotte – (Sahlen's Stadium)	W 1–0 vs. #4 Stanford – (WakeMed Soccer Park)	W 2–1 vs. #5 Wake Forest – (WakeMed Soccer Park)	L 0–1 vs. Marshall – (WakeMed Soccer Park)
	Virginia Tech	W 2–1 (OT) vs. Oregon State – (Bryan Park)	T 2–2 (6–7 PKs) vs. #6 Seton Hall – (WakeMed Soccer Park)
	W–L (%):	4–0–1 (.900)	3–0–2 (.800)	2–1–0 (.667)	0–2–0 (.000)	0–0–0 (–) Total: 9–3–3 (.700)

Awards

Postseason awards

The Atlantic Coast Conference post season awards were announced on April 14, 2021, and considered both the fall season and spring season. Some players who were drafted and did not play in the spring season were included on the All Conference teams. ^[25]

All-ACC awards and teams

2020 ACC Men's Soccer Individual Awards
Award	Recipient(s)
Coach of the Year	Jay Vidovich – Pittsburgh
Offensive Player of the Year	Valentin Noël – Pittsburgh
Midfielder of the Year	Daniel Pereira – Virginia Tech
Defensive Player of the Year	Jasper Löeffelsend – Pittsburgh
Freshman of the Year	Bertin Jacquesson – Pittsburgh

2020 ACC Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams
First Team	Second Team	Third Team	Rookie Team
Grayson Barber, Jr., F, Clemson Philip Mayaka, So., M, Clemson Kimarni Smith, Sr., F, Clemson Jack Lynn, Jr., F, Notre Dame Nico Campuzano, Gr., GK, Pittsburgh Jasper Löeffelsend, Gr., D, Pittsburgh Valentin Noël, So., M, Pittsburgh Daniel Pereira, So., M, Virginia Tech Kristo Strickler, Sr., M, Virginia Tech Calvin Harris, So., F, Wake Forest Isaiah Parente, Jr., M, Wake Forest	Oskar Ågren, So., D, Clemson Pedro Fonseca, Jr., F, Louisville Giovanni Montesdeoca, Sr., F, North Carolina Alec Smir, Jr., GK, North Carolina Aiden McFadden, Sr., M, Notre Dame Bertin Jacquesson, Fr., F, Pittsburgh Veljko Petković, So., M, Pittsburgh Jackson Walti, Jr., M, Pittsburgh Bret Halsey, Jr., M, Virginia Nico Benalcazar, So., D, Wake Forest Machop Chol, Sr., F, Wake Forest	Kristofer Konradsson, Jr., M, Boston College Luis Felipe Fernandez-Salvador, Jr., M, Clemson Justin Malou, Sr., D, Clemson George Marks, Jr., GK, Clemson Peter Stroud, Fr., M, Duke Elijah Amo, Sr., M, Louisville Alexander Dexter, Sr., F, Pittsburgh Arturo Ordoñez, So., D, Pittsburgh Andreas Ueland, So., D, Virginia Jacob Labovitz, Sr., F, Virginia Tech Kyle Holcomb, Jr., F, Wake Forest	Hamady Diop, D, Clemson Ousmane Sylla, M, Clemson Antino Lopez, M, Duke Nick Pariano, M, Duke Peter Stroud, M, Duke Thorleifur Úlfarsson, F, Duke Aboubacar Camara, F, Louisville Bertin Jacquesson, F, Pittsburgh Filip Mirkovic, M, Pittsburgh Deandre Kerr, F, Syracuse Garrison Tubbs, D, Wake Forest

MLS SuperDraft

Main article: 2021 MLS SuperDraft

The 2021 MLS SuperDraft was held on January 21, 2021. The Atlantic Coast Conference had a record total of twenty five players selected, with twelve first round selections. This eclipsed the previous record of eighteen total selections, set twice previously. The twelve first round picks surpassed the previous record of eight first round picks, set in 2016, 2018, and 2020. The twenty five players selected represented one third of the players taken in the draft. The ACC also had five players selected in the first five picks, a first in draft history. ^[26] Also of note, at least one player was selected from a team that played during the 2020 season. Only Boston College did not have a player selected and Boston College elected to suspend their season due to COVID-19.

Total picks by school

Team	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Total
Clemson	3	–	–	3
Duke	1	–	–	1
Louisville	–	2	–	2
NC State	–	1	–	1
North Carolina	–	1	2	3
Notre Dame	–	–	1	1
Pittsburgh	1	–	–	1
Syracuse	1	–	1	2
Virginia	2	3	–	5
Virginia Tech	1	1	–	2
Wake Forest	3	1	–	4
Total	12	9	4	25

List of selections

Round	Pick #	MLS team	Player	Position	College
1	1	Austin FC	Daniel Pereira	MF	Virginia Tech
1	2	FC Cincinnati	Calvin Harris	FW	Wake Forest
1	3	Colorado Rapids	Philip Mayaka	MF	Clemson
1	4	D.C. United	Kimarni Smith	FW	Clemson
1	5	D.C. United	Michael DeShields	DF	Wake Forest
1	7	Real Salt Lake	Bret Halsey	DF	Virginia
1	13	New York Red Bulls	Luther Archimède	FW	Syracuse
1	17	Minnesota United FC	Justin McMaster	FW	Wake Forest
1	20	Nashville SC	Irakoze Donasiyano	FW	Virginia
1	21	Austin FC	Aedan Stanley	DF	Duke
1	24	New England Revolution	Edward Kizza	FW	Pittsburgh
1	27	Columbus Crew	Justin Malou	DF	Clemson
2	28	Austin FC	Daniel Steedman	FW	Virginia
2	30	Houston Dynamo	Kristofer Strickler	FW	Virginia Tech
2	34	Real Salt Lake	Elijah Amo	FW	Louisville
2	39	San Jose Earthquakes	George Asomani	MF	NC State
2	40	New York Red Bulls	Lamine Conte	MF	Louisville
2	45	Toronto FC	Nathaniel Crofts	FW	Virginia
2	48	FC Dallas	Colin Shutler	GK	Virginia
2	49	Orlando City SC	Andrew Pannenberg	GK	Wake Forest
2	50	Sporting Kansas City	Matt Constant	DF	North Carolina
3	59	Atlanta United	Aiden McFadden	MF	Notre Dame
3	73	Nashville SC	Sondre Norheim	DF	Syracuse
3	76	FC Dallas	Mark Salas	DF	North Carolina
3	79	FC Dallas	Giovanni Montesdeoca	FW	North Carolina

Homegrown players

Further information: Homegrown Player Rule (Major League Soccer)

The Homegrown Player Rule is a Major League Soccer program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008, ^[27] every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the MLS SuperDraft.

To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. ^[28] Players can play college soccer and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.

Original MLS team	Player	Pos.	School	Ref.
Atlanta United	Machop Chol	MF	Wake Forest (Sr.)	[29]
Columbus Crew	Isaiah Parente	MF	Wake Forest (Jr.)	[30]
Sporting Kansas City	Grayson Barber	F	Clemson (Jr.)	[31]

References

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28. "MLS 2012 Roster Rules". Archived from the original on February 20, 2012.
29. Bogert, Tom (January 19, 2021). "Atlanta United sign winger Machop Chol to homegrown deal". mlssoccer.com. Major League Soccer. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
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