By R.L. Bynum

After making the ACC tournament and NCAA tournament championship games a year ago, No. 2-ranked North Carolina is the favorite to win the ACC women’s soccer title and has three players on the preseason All-ACC team.

The Tar Heels topped the ACC preseason coaches poll, released Thursday, garnering 166 poll points and 10 of 14 first-place votes. Florida State, which beat UNC in the ACC tournament championship game last season, is picked second with 146 points and two first-place votes.

Virginia is picked third (139), followed by Notre Dame (134) and Duke (126). The Cavaliers and Blue Devils both received one first-place vote.

Carolina redshirt senior defender Maycee Bell, senior midfielder Sam Meza (top photo) and sophomore midfielder/forward Ally Sentnor made the preseason All-ACC team.

Bell suffered a season-ending injury in last season’s opener after earning second-team All-America and first-team All-Atlantic Region honors as a junior in 2021.

Last season, Meza earned third-team All-America, first-team All-ACC and first-team All-Atlantic Region honors with two goals and four assists in 16 games despite battling injuries.

After missing her true freshman season due to injury, Sentnor made the NCAA All-Tournament Team, first-team All-ACC and third-team All-Atlantic Region last season. She was second in the country with five game-winning goals and had a pair of two-goal games in the NCAA tournament.

Carolina faces East Carolina in its second and final exhibition game at Dorrance Field at 6 p.m. Saturday before opening the season Aug. 17 at Penn State.

ACC preseason poll

North Carolina (10 first-place votes) — 166 poll points
Florida State (2) — 146
Virginia (1) — 139
Notre Dame — 134
Duke (1) — 126
Clemson — 104
Pittsburgh — 103
Wake Forest — 87
Virginia Tech — 81
N.C. State — 62
Louisville — 47
Syracuse — 35
Miami — 24

Preseason All-ACC team

Maycee Bell, senior defender, North Carolina
Megan Bornkamp, senior defender, Clemson
Jody Brown, senior forward, Florida State
Maggie Cagle, sophomore forward, Virginia
Eva Gaetino, senior defender, Notre Dame
Hal Hershfelt, fifth-year midfielder, Clemson
Jameese Joseph, senior forward, N.C. State
Sam Meza, senior midfielder, North Carolina
Kat Rader, sophomore forward, Duke
Cristina Roque, senior goalkeeper, Florida State
Ally Sentnor, sophomore midfielder/forward, North Carolina
Amanda West, senior forward, Pittsburgh
One additional honoree because of a tie in the voting

Date	Month/day	Time/score	Event/opponent (current rank)	Location	TV/ record
	August
7	Monday	W, 8–1	College of Charleston	Home	Exhibition
12	Saturday	W, 2–0	East Carolina	Home	Exhibition
17	Thursday	T, 0–0	No. 5 Penn State	University Park, Pa.	0–0–1
20	Sunday	W, 3–1	Cal	Home	1–0–1
24	Thursday	T, 0–0	No. 12 Wisconsin	Home	1–0–2
27	Sunday	W, 4–0	No. 22 USC	Home	2–0–2
31	Thursday	W, 5–0	Gardner-Webb	Home	3–0–2
	September
3	Sunday	W, 3–1	No. 10 Arkansas	Home	4–0–2
7	Thursday	W, 2–1	No. 16 South Carolina	Columbia, S.C.	5–0–2
10	Sunday	T, 1–1	No. 24 Alabama	Tuscaloosa, Ala.	5–0–3
15	Friday	W, 1–0	Virginia Tech	Home	6–0–3, 1–0 ACC
21	Thursday	W, 1–0	Virginia	Charlottesville, Va.	7–0–3, 2–0 ACC
24	Sunday	T, 3–3	No. 1 Florida State	Home	7–0–4, 2–0–1 ACC
30	Saturday	W, 4–0	N.C. State	Raleigh	8–0–4, 3–0–1 ACC
	October
5	Thursday	W, 1–0	Miami	Home	9–0–4, 4–0–1 ACC
8	Sunday	T, 1–1	No. 25 Duke	Durham	9–0–5, 4–0–2 ACC
13	Friday	T, 1–1	No. 25 Wake Forest	Winston-Salem	9–0–6, 4–0–3 ACC
19	Thursday	T, 1–1	No. 9 Notre Dame	Home	9–0–7, 4–0–4 ACC
22	Sunday	W, 6–1	Syracuse	Home	10–0–7, 5–0–4 ACC
26	Thursday	T, 1–1	Boston College	Newton, Mass.	10–0–8, 5–0–5 ACC
			ACC tournament
29	Sunday	L, 2–1 (2 OTs)	No. 11 Pittsburgh	Chapel Hill	10–1–8
	November		NCAA tournament Link to bracket
10	Friday	W, 3–1	First round: Towson	Chapel Hill	11–1–8
17	Friday	W, 1–0	Second round: No. 24 Alabama	Lubbock, Texas	12–1–8
19	Sunday	W, 1–0	Third round: No. 4 Texas Tech	Lubbock, Texas	13–1–8
24	Friday	L, 4–3	Quarterfinals: No. 6 Brigham Young	Provo, Utah	13–2–8