The Harvard men’s soccer team has been getting some major love this past week. Just a day after the Harvard Athletic Department announced that the Crimson’s contest against Princeton on Oct. 24 will be nationally televised on ESPNU, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America preseason poll was released with Harvard holding down the No. 10 spot in the nation.

The Crimson, which won last year’s Ivy League championship, is the lone representative from the Ancient Eight in the top 25. Last season, Harvard flirted with a top-10 ranking, reaching as high as No. 6 in the polls, before disappointing setbacks against Wake Forrest, Cornell, and UConn dropped the Crimson lower. But Harvard recovered from its early disappointments, finishing 5-1-1 in conference play and earning itself a spot in the NCAA tournament, where the Crimson reached the Sweet 16. 

While Harvard returns 19 players from last year’s roster, the Crimson will be forced to take on a new identity in 2010 due to a couple of key departures. Harvard has lost its top goal scorer, Andre Akpan ’10, and defensive weapon, Kwaku Nyamekye ’10, to graduation. Also gone is last season’s head coach, Jamie Clark, who left Cambridge in June to take the head coaching position at Creighton.

But with the return of last season’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year Brian Rogers and under the new leadership of coach Carl Junot, the Crimson will look to defend its No. 10 ranking in the coming months. Harvard has a difficult non-conference schedule lined up, featuring four contests against opponents in the preseason top 25. The Crimson kicks off the 2010 season on Sep. 4 at home against No. 13 Stanford.