The field for the NCAA men's College Cup in Houston is set with all four teams providing significant levels of intrigue.

One semifinal pits a coach against the team he won a national championship with and the other coach against the team he used to coach.

The other semifinal pits a two-time champion against the defending champion.

Only one of them will walk away from BBVA Compass Stadium on Dec. 11 with the championship trophy.

Wake Forest, the No. 2 seed, will face No. 6 seed and undefeated Denver in Friday's first semifinal at 5 p.m.. The second semifinal will feature No. 5 Stanford against No. 9 North Carolina at 7:45 p.m.

Stanford won it all last season partly because of Seattle Sounders FC star rookie forward Jordan Morris. The Cardinal had to replace five starters from last year's team.

"We graduated out incredible players and people that had been the heartbeat of the team," Stanford coach Jeremy Gunn said. "What you hope as a staff is to create a culture that celebrates graduating on great players and then cultivates the next great player to come along."

North Carolina,which won it all in 2001 and 2011, is the lowest seeded team remaining, but the Tar Heels will not be intimidated. They survived the rigors of the ultra-tough Atlantic Coast Conference, which produced three of the tournament's top four seeds.

North Carolina's marquee victory came against Clemson in early September. The Tigers entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed and made it to the quarterfinals.

Colin E. Braley/Associated Press

"We're going to Houston with high ambitions," coach Carlos Somoano said. "We're not going there to celebrate. We're going there to achieve."

As the highest seeded team remaining, Wake Forest may have the highest expectation to achieve a title, but coach Bobby Muuss will know better than anybody that looking past the semifinal opponent would be foolish.

Muuss coached Denver for eight seasons before landing the Wake Forest job prior to the 2015 season. He led the Pioneers to Summit League titles in 2013 and 2014 and back-to-back NCAA tournament berths for the first time in school history.

In two seasons at Wake Forest he has a record of 35-5-5.

On Friday he will oppose Denver coach Jamie Franks, who Muuss hired two seasons ago. Franks played for Wake Forest and won an NCAA title in 2007.

Franks has a 35-1-6 record in two seasons at Denver. This season the Pioneers are 20-0-3.