Golden Bears Slotted No. 25 in Final NSCAA Rankings
Complete NSCAA Final Top 25 Poll
KANSAS CITY, Kan.--After another conference title and NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship Second Round appearance, Western New England University is ranked No. 25 in the revised National Soccer Coaches Association of America/Continental Tire rankings that were posted online Wednesday by the NSCAA office.
The Commonwealth Coast Conference champion Golden Bears headline three CCC teams in the final national poll that includes Roger Williams University and Gordon College, both also listed at No. 25 with WNE and Dickinson College and University of Puget Sound. All told, the Western New England program has captured four CCC regular-season titles and five conference tournament crowns--more than any other member--since entering the league for the start of the 2007-08 academic year.
In making its eighth NCAA Tournament, WNE defeated Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2-0, for the first time since 2002 before falling to eventual final four participant Williams College, 4-1, in a Round of 32 game that the Golden Bears led 1-0 for most of the time.
Western New England, which ended with a 16-5-3 overall record, defeated Curry and Nichols colleges as well as Roger Williams by an aggregate 5-1 score for the CCC championship. The Golden Bears own two victories (5-0 combined) over the No. 25-ranked RWU Hawks and Wheaton (Mass.), which is in the "receiving votes" category. Four of WNE's five losses have come at the hands of teams who appear in the final NSCAA postseason poll, including No. 4 Williams, No. 5 Amherst College (0-1), No. 7 Montclair State University (0-2) and T-No. 25 Gordon (2-3). The AC Lord Jeffs, who were ranked second in the nation at the time of their NCAA Second Round match-up, defeated Gordon, 5-0, which had lost to RWU in the CCC Semifinals.
