2004 All-ACC First Team Jorge Gonzalez Jr. Goalkeeper NC State Hunter Freeman Jr. Defender Virginia Matt Oliver Sr. Defender Virginia Michael Parkhurst Jr. Defender Wake Forest Blake Camp Jr. Midfield Duke Domenic Mediate Sr. Midfield Maryland Marcus Storey Sr. Midfield North Carolina Jason Garey Jr. Forward Maryland Aaron King Jr. Forward NC State Scott Sealy Sr. Forward Wake Forest Abe Thompson Sr. Forward Maryland 2004 All-ACC Second Team Noah Palmer Sr. Goalkeeper Maryland Justin Trowbridge Sr. Goalkeeper Duke Tim Merritt Sr. Defender North Carolina Justin Moore Jr. Defender Clemson Nico Colaluca Fr. Midfield Virginia Stuart Holden So. Midfield Clemson Amir Lowery Sr. Midfield Wake Forest Ben Nason So. Midfield Virginia Tech Michael Videira Fr. Midfield Duke Corey Ashe So. Forward North Carolina Justin Moose Jr. Forward Wake Forest Steven Rhyne Sr. Forward Clemson 2004 All-ACC Freshmen Team (no specific positions) Patrick Phelan Defender Wake Forest Andre Sherard Defender North Carolina Adam Sloustcher Defender North Carolina Nathan Sturgis Defender Clemson Ian Taylor Defender Virginia Tech Julian Valentin Defender Wake Forest Jeremy Barlow Midfield. Virginia El Hadj Cisse Midfield NC State Nico Colaluca Midfield Virginia Stephen King Midfield Maryland Michael Videira Midfield Duke Spencer Wadsworth Forward Duke Sealy is the Offensive Player of the Year, Parkhurst the Defensive Player of the Year, Videira Freshmen of the Year and Wake's Jay Vidovich Coach of the Year.
Thanks for posting this, Sandon I hope you don't mind me sort of hijacking your thread, Sandon. I'll certainly understand if everyone wants to ignore this. Here's something of a comparison between last year and this year's teams, and what making them means. 2003 All-ACC First Team Code: Name School Position Scott Buete Sr. Maryland Midfield Blake Camp So. Duke Midfield Kenny Cutler Sr.? Clemson Midfield Will Hesmer Sr. Wake Forest Goalkeeper Sumed Ibrahim Sr. Maryland Midfield Aaron King So. NC State Forward Matt Oliver Jr. Virginia Defender Michael Parkhurst So. Wake Forest Defender Seth Stammler Sr. Maryland Defender Marcus Storey Jr. North Carolina Forward Jeremiah White Sr. Wake Forest Forward 2003 All-ACC Second Team Code: Name School Position V. Bastidas Sr. Wake Forest Midfield C. Goodson Jr. Maryland Defender M. Littlefield Jr. Virginia Forward Amir Lowery Jr. Wake Forest Midfield D Mediate Jr. Maryland Forward Tim Merritt Jr. North Carolina Defender J Moose So. Wake Forest Midfield Noah Palmer Jr. Maryland Goalkeeper Scott Sealy Jr. Wake Forest Forward Abe Thompson Jr. Maryland Forward Jamie Watson Fr. North Carolina Forward The only seniors on either list not to be drafted were (bradenton alumnus) Kenny Cutler and Vicente Bastidas. The others went at positions 9, 17, 18, 20, 23. Goodson was the only one to go P-40, though Watson was apparently wooed. However, none of these players saw much playing time in MLS in 2004. Bodes well for Marcus Storey et al.'s draft chances, at least. Only two underclassmen who were on the lists in 2003 weren't on them in 2004. Jamie Watson, who for whatever reason didn't start much at UNC, and Mike Littlefield, who started even less at UVA (I'm sure somebody knows why?). Of the 5 undercclassmen who made the first-team in 2003, all remained on it in 2004. Of the 10 who made the 2nd team, one is in MLS, two fell off, three, Mediate, Sealy, and Thompson, moved up, and 4 stayed on the second team. Below are the class distributions for 2003 and 2004. They remained remarkably similar. Code: 2003 2004 Sr 7 10 Jr 10 8 So. 4 3 Fr. 1 1 All-Freshman Team 2003 Code: Corey Ashe North Carolina Forward Ryan Burke Virginia Goalkeeper Adam Cristman Virginia Forward Steven Curfman Wake Forest Midfield S. Fusilier NC State Midfield Will Hall Virginia Midfield M. Harrington North Carolina Midfield Kyle Helton Duke Defender Chris Loftus Duke Forward Wells Thompson Wake Forest Midfield Jamie Watson North Carolina Forward The All-freshman team showed a very different pattern. Of the 11 players on the All-freshman team last year, only one made it onto either All-ACC team this year (1 made it last year too), while two different freshmen both jumped in front of them. Ben Nason, who was actually statistically better as a freshman, and Stuart Holden, who didn't play too much his first year.
I'm curious as to why Duke freshman Tomek Charowski did not make the All-Freshman Team -- any insight?
Storey probably made the first team because of his assists. Watson would be a justifiable choice for the second team, but so is Ashe, and I don't think there's any way they'd choose all three forwards from UNC. He showed very good skills, but little defensive or ball winning ability, and didn't seem to mesh well with the rest of the team. After the early season meltdowns, it was clear that Carolina needed more defense and physical presence in the midfield, so Dax ended up on the bench. It's nice to see Andre Sherard get a little recognition on the freshman team. He looked pretty shaky in central defense in the first couple games I saw, but seemed to get a lot more comfortable after that - definitely a prospect.
Story sure as hell didn't earn this honor based on what he did in ACC games, this year, or for his career. Story finished with six goals and six assists in 17 games overall. But, in seven ACC games, he had 0 goals and 1 assist. For his career, in 83 games overall, he has 29 goals and 21 assists, pretty good stats for a midfielder. But, almost all of those stats were posted against non-ACC teams. In 29 games against ACC teams prior to tonight's ACC Tournament contest, Story has two goals and four assists. This includes four ACC Tournament games his first three seasons. Both his ACC goals came against NC State before they got their act back together last season. He scored as a freshman vs. State in the ACC Tournament then as a soph. in the regular season. So, no goals the past two years in ACC play. Two of the assists also came when he was a freshman, one each against Duke and Maryland. His lone ACC point as a junior was an assist against Maryland and is lonly ACC point this year was an assist vs. Virginia. In six games vs. Clemson and four games vs. Wake and one ACC game this year against Tech, he never had a goal or an assist. The weird thing is that in 54 non-ACC games, he's scored 27 goals - one every other game - and got 17 assists so he has shown potential. Just not against the conference teams. Since UNC plays State tonight, maybe Story will get one more ACC goal!
Re: uva's best back These comments may be off track for the ACC discussion but here are some thoughts comparing Matt Oliver and Hunter Freeman. Although Matt Oliver will go to the combine his pro potential is very low while Freeman will be P-40 and will likely be drafted fairly high (10-15 range). Hunter is excellent with the ball coming forward for crosses and set pieces. Matt has ZERO attacking skills, he is a destroyer but at the next level a defender must be able to play both ways. Oliver may be more important to UVA is the college kick ball game but in the MLS they try to play soccer at times and poor Matt will be lost while Freeman should eventually flourish (2 years?).