KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Following its first championship in program history, Wayland Baptist (Texas) claims the No. 1 spot in the NAIA Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Postseason Top 25 Poll, the national office announced Wednesday. The Pioneers captured the title on Dec. 2 with a 1-0 victory against Missouri Valley in double overtime.
Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000):
- Wayland Baptist captures all 16 first-place votes and a total of 436 points to earn the program’s first ever No. 1 ranking.
- The Pioneers entered the NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship unseeded and defeated the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds to claim the championship.
- National runner-up Missouri Valley comes in at No. 2, a spot the Vikings held three other times this year. Uros Ilic of Missouri Valley was honored as the National Player of the Year.
- Oklahoma Wesleyan slides down one spot from the previous poll to No. 3. The Eagles landed five individuals on the NAIA All-America Teams.
- Marymount California moves up 13 spots to No. 4 following a semifinal appearance at the national championship.
- Rounding out the postseason top 5 is William Carey (Miss.). The Crusaders held the top spot for seven-straight weeks, the most of any team in 2017.
- Four teams join the Top 25 in this week’s poll: No. 14 Cardinal Stritch (Wis.), No. 22 Truett-McConnell (Ga.), No. 23 Westmont (Calif.) and No. 24 UC Merced.
- 10 teams maintained a spot in the Top 25 ranking each of the 12 polls.
- Rio Grande (Ohio) currently holds the record for the most No. 1 rankings all-time with 57 total.
- No. 9 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) holds the record for the longest consecutively-ranked active school at 117-straight polls, dating back to the first installment of the Top 25 in 2007. Rio Grande (Ohio) is second on the list with 108-straight polls.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, Association of Independent Institutions and Unaffiliated Groups.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed and the team’s ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appear on.
- Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered “receiving votes".
- For the complete men’s soccer ratings calendar, click here.
2017 NAIA Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Postseason Top 25 Poll – Dec. 6
| RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL [1ST PLACE VOTES] |
RECORD |
TOTAL POINTS |
| 1 |
23 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) [16] |
19-5-1 |
436 |
| 2 |
4 |
Missouri Valley |
19-3-3 |
421 |
| 3 |
2 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan |
20-1-1 |
406 |
| 4 |
17 |
Marymount California |
18-4-2 |
397 |
| 5 |
1 |
William Carey (Miss.) |
18-2-1 |
380 |
| 6 |
8 |
Mobile (Ala.) |
14-4-3 |
359 |
| 7 |
15 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
19-2-3 |
348 |
| 8 |
9 |
Georgia Gwinnett |
13-4-2 |
346 |
| 9 |
6 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
14-4-0 |
305 |
| 10 |
5 |
Baker (Kan.) |
16-5-2 |
302 |
| 11 |
7 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
19-3-1 |
295 |
| 12 |
13 |
St. Thomas (Fla.) |
14-1-2 |
294 |
| 13 |
10 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
16-4-0 |
277 |
| 14 |
NR |
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
16-3-2 |
241 |
| 15 |
24 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
16-4-1 |
234 |
| 16 |
3 |
Rio Grande (Ohio) |
14-2-2 |
216 |
| 17 |
11 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
16-1-2 |
191 |
| 18 |
12 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
13-3-3 |
177 |
| 19 |
18 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
12-5-3 |
167 |
| 20 |
22 |
Cumberland (Tenn.) |
15-3-2 |
165 |
| 21 |
14 |
Corban (Ore.) |
15-3-4 |
161 |
| 22 |
NR |
Truett-McConnell (Ga.) |
16-4-2 |
117 |
| 23 |
NR |
Westmont (Calif.) |
10-5-3 |
98 |
| 24 |
NR |
UC Merced |
13-2-5 |
76 |
| 25 |
16 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
14-3-2 |
69 |
|
Dropped From Top 25: Dalton State (Ga.), Campbellsville (Ky.), Spring Arbor (Mich.), Bryan (Tenn.)
Others Receiving Votes: Northwestern Ohio 66; Southwestern Christian (Okla.) 65; Dalton State (Ga.) 59; Campbellsville (Ky.) 50; William Woods (Mo.) 45; Grace (Ind.) 44; Spring Arbor (Mich.) 44; Houston-Victoria (Texas) 23; Southern Oregon 19; Bryan (Tenn.) 17; Concordia (Neb.) 10; Keiser (Fla.) 7; Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 7; Oklahoma City 4; Reinhardt (Ga.) 3