Concordia Earns First-Ever No. 1 Rating in NAIA Women’s Soccer Coaches’ Top 25 Poll - Cascade Collegiate Conference Skip To Main Content

Cascade Collegiate Conference

Concordia Earns First-Ever No. 1 Rating in NAIA Women’s Soccer Coaches’ Top 25 Poll
Concordia tallied 14 of the 21 first-place votes in the NAIA Coaches' Poll on Tuesday.

Concordia Earns First-Ever No. 1 Rating in NAIA Women’s Soccer Coaches’ Top 25 Poll

Bookmark and Share

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In the first regular-season edition of the 2010 NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll, Concordia (Ore.) has claimed its first-ever No. 1 ranking, the NAIA announced on Tuesday. The Cavaliers were awarded 14 first-place votes for 643 points. Also earning first-place nods were second-ranked Azusa Pacific (Calif.) with four and third-ranked Lee (Tenn.) with five. Indiana Wesleyan and Martin Methodist (Tenn.) round out the top-five teams at No. 4 and 5, respectively.

Concordia's No. 1 ranking is the program's highest listing since the start of the 2009 season when the Cavaliers spent the first three weeks at No. 2. Head coach Grant Landy's team is off to a 4-0-0 start and has outscored its opponents 10-0. On the docket this week for Concordia are Holy Names (Calif.) and Fresno Pacific (Calif.) at the Corban (Ore.) Classic on Friday and Saturday.

“Our players have put in a lot of work over the years and this is a cumulative effort of all those past teams that have laid the groundwork, so it’s a nice honor for them,” Concordia head coach Grant Landy said. “It’s a great accomplishment for this team and the school, but we have a lot of work to do in order to be the best team in December. We have a long season ahead of us.”

Fellow CCC member, The College of Idaho (2-0-0), earned 207 votes to earn a No. 20 ranking after starting the year with a 1-0 win over Northwest Nazarene and a 5-0 win over Great Falls. The Coyotes moved up one spot from the No. 21 position it anchored in the NAIA Preseason Poll.

With four first-place votes and 628 points, Azusa Pacific improved three spots from the preseason poll, moving from No. 5 to 2. Dating back to a No. 1 ranking on Sept. 5, 2007, the Cougars have now spent 33 consecutive weeks ranked among the nation's top-five teams. Azusa Pacific (2-0-1) enters this week's action fresh off of a 1-0 win against NCAA Division II Colorado Christian on Sept. 3. The win marked the 18th-straight home field victory (regular and postseason) against non-GSAC opponents. Head coach Jason Surrell's team will next take to the field on Saturday against Kansas Wesleyan.

Defending national champion Lee's reign at the top of the poll was short lived after its 21-game winning streak came to a halt against NCAA Division III power Emory on Sept. 1. The Flames, who had not suffered defeat in nearly a year, were handed a 2-1 double-overtime loss. Head coach Matt Yelton saw his squad rebound with a 4-0 shutout of SCAD Savannah (Ga.) on Sept. 4. Despite the setback, Lee still earned five first-place votes and totaled 612 points in Tuesday's poll to earn a No. 3 ranking. The Flames will take their 2-1-0 mark into a Wednesday contest with NCAA Division III University of the South (Tenn.).

Indiana Wesleyan's upset of then-No. 4 Lindsey Wilson on Aug. 30 and a 5-0 blanking of NCAA Division II Minnesota-Crookston on Sept. 4 catapulted the Wildcats (3-0-0) to their highest ever ranking at No. 4 (568 points). NAIA Defensive Player of the Week Kristin Perrine led the Indiana Wesleyan defense in limiting Lindsey Wilson to just one goal, after the Blue Raiders averaged 4.29 goals per game last season, and held the Minnesota-Crookston offense to just one shot. As a team, the Wildcats own a pair of top-10 national statistical rankings, checking in at No. 7 in total assists (11) and No. 10 in assists per game (3.670). This week's schedule features a game with NCAA Division III foe Manchester.

Martin Methodist climbs to No. 5 (551 points) after a 2-0-1 start to the 2010 campaign. After a 1-1 season-opening double-overtime tie with then-unranked Mobile (Ala.), the RedHawks blanked Notre Dame (Ohio) 5-0 and Union (Ky.) 2-0 at the MMC Tournament. Those two shutouts have earned Martin Methodist a No. 3 ranking in total shutouts in the NAIA. In the pair of wins, Martin Methodist allowed only two shots on goal. Head coach Gerry Cleary's team will prepare for a top-10 collision with Lee at home on Saturday.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, independents and unaffiliated groups. The next regular season Top 25 poll will be announced on Sept. 14.

RANK
LAST WEEK
SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)
2010 RECORD
TOTAL POINTS
1
3
Concordia University (Ore.) (14)
4-0-0
643
2
5
Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) (4)
2-0-1
628
3
1
Lee University (Tenn.) (5)
2-1-0
612
4
10
Indiana Wesleyan University
3-0-0
568
5
6
Martin Methodist College (Tenn.)
2-0-1
551
6
4
Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.)
2-1-0
550
7
7
Graceland University (Iowa)
3-0-0
541
8
8
California Baptist University
2-1-0
534
9
11
McKendree University (Ill.)
1-0-0
458
10
2
Point Loma Nazarene University (Calif.)
0-0-1
455
11
12
Vanguard University (Calif.)
1-1-1
432
12
14
California State University-San Marcos
3-0-1
403
13
9
William Carey University (Miss.)
2-0-2
374
14
24
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.)
3-1-0
336
15
16
Marian University (Ind.)
3-0-0
315
16
18
Simon Fraser University (B.C.)
1-0-0
299
17
RV
University of Mobile (Ala.)
2-2-1
298
18
25
Oklahoma City University
1-0-0
285
19
RV
Robert Morris University (Ill.)
3-1-0
279
20
21
College of Idaho
2-0-0
207
21
RV
William Jewell College (Mo.)
2-0-0
193
22
23
The Master's College (Calif.)
3-0-1
188
23
13
Auburn University Montgomery (Ala.)
3-1-0
165
24
19
John Brown University (Ark.)
0-0-1
136
25
RV
Carroll College (Mont.)
2-1-0
134


Others receiving votes: Roberts Wesleyan College (N.Y.) 133; Trinity Christian College (Ill.) 114; Spring Arbor University (Mich.) 83; Northwood University (Fla.) 68; Baker University (Kan.) 61; Lyon College (Ark.) 54; Saint Ambrose University (Iowa) 28; Science and Arts (Okla.) 24; Siena Heights University (Mich.) 23; Trinity International University (Ill.) 19; Missouri Baptist University 19; Faulkner University (Ala.) 17; Houghton College (N.Y.) 15; Kansas Wesleyan University 12; Holy Names University (Calif.) 7; University of Texas at Brownsville 6; Bryan College (Tenn.) 5; Oklahoma Baptist University 3; William Jessup University (Calif.) 1; Lindenwood University (Mo.) 1; Georgetown College (Ky.) 1; Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) 1; McPherson College (Kan.) 1; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Ariz.) 1; Northwood University (Texas) 1; Notre Dame College (Ohio) 1; Park University (Mo.) 1; Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) 1; Texas Wesleyan University 1; Union University (Tenn.) 1; Benedictine College (Kan.) 1.

Sponsors