It's official. The men's soccer team is the No. 1 team in the country. After tying North Carolina 2-2 at Chapel-Hill Oct. 26 and destroying Gardner-Webb 10-0 Oct. 29 at home, the men's soccer team rose to No. 1 in Soccer America's most recent poll.

Soccer Times listed the team as No. 1 for the second straight week, and the Deacs held steady in the NSCAA poll at third behind St. John's and UCLA. The Deacs (10-0-4) and Coastal Carolina (14-0-1) remain the only unbeaten squads in all of Divsion I.

The trip to Chapel-Hill Oct. 26 turned into a 110-minute contest that ended with a 2-2 double-overtime draw. The Deacs scored the first goal of the match in the 17th-minute.

Tar Heel keeper Ford Williams stretched to block a shot by junior Scott Sealy, but his save was not enough and the ball rolled into the back of the net, giving the Deacs a 1-0 advantage.

UNC rallied to even the score in the 29th minute. Defender Tim Merrit moved the ball from the back into the offensive third where he played Ray Fumo whose cross found Ryan Kneipper for a header in the box from point-blank range. The header notched the score at 1-1 at halftime.

The Deacons recovered the lead in the 71st minute when junior Brian Carroll ripped a left-footed shot 20 yards from the goal that flew past Williams into the net.

"He just bombed it upper 90," junior Will Hesmer said. "It was by far the best goal I've ever seen him score in practice or a game, and it will probably be the best goal of the year."

The 2-1 lead did not last long. Within five minutes of Carroll's goal, Logan Pause knotted the game at 2-2 on a shot from 12 yards out. The score remained tied 2-2 despite 30 minutes of extra time.

"It was a disappointing result," Moose said. "Now to clinch No. 1 in the ACC we have to rely on someone else. It's out of our hands."

Hesmer said, "We didn't have the work ethic we needed to win. We weren't closing space quickly and working hard on defense, and that definitely gave them the goals they needed."

The Deacs rallied from the draw to prove their dominance when Gardner-Webb came to Spry Stadium Oct. 29. Ten goals from 10 different players gave the Deacs their most lopsided victory in 19 years.

It was the second time in history the team scored in double digits, and it was the most goals scored by a Deacon squad since 1983.

Strangely, only one of the 10 goals scored came in the first half. The Deacs controlled most of the half, however, they only capitalized once off a Moose corner kick that sophomore Wes Allen headed into the goal.

"It wasn't pretty in the first half, but no one panicked that we were only up 1-0," Moose said. "Vidovich said that as soon as we got one or two goals it would really open things up."

Things opened in a big way six minutes into the second half. Sophomore Stephen Keel opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the 51st minute.

Senior Adam Hakes followed with one in the 54th; Sealy in the 59th; junior Gideon Coronel in the 63rd; junior Jeremiah White in the 66th; sophomore Brent Pridgen in the 73rd; senior Bobby Gehring in the 74th; freshman Gray Ballard in the 76th; and, finally, sophomore Tomy Szczypiorski in the 80th.

The Deacs finished nine goals in less than 29 minutes during the half. They outshot the Runnin' Bulldogs 29-4 in the game, forcing goalkeeper Rio Oros to make 11 saves, including several near finishes.

The Deacs travel to Duke Nov. 1 for the final conference game this season. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

If the team wins, they will finish undefeated in the ACC.

However, they are currently second place in the ACC behind Maryland who's four wins give them a 12-point total, while the Deacs three wins and two draws leave it with 11 points.

The Deacons can still win the regular season title and a very important bye in the first round of the ACC tournament by defeating Duke while Maryland loses to Virginia.