Oct. 12, 2010

Contact: Chad Waller, NAIA Director of Sports Information & Media Services, cwaller@naia.org

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the fifth straight time, No. 1 Simon Fraser (B.C.) lands on top of the NAIA Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Top 25 poll, the national office announced Tuesday. The Clan is one of six undefeated teams in the country and sports a 10-0 record. Three more teams with an unblemished mark follow in the sixth edition of the Top 25 with No. 2 Rio Grande (Ohio), No. 3 Notre Dame (Ohio) and No. 4 Hastings (Neb.). California Baptist jumps into the fifth position with an 11-1 record.

The 43^rd team to get ranked in 2010 is No. 24 Cumberlands (Ky.). The Patriots enter the Top 25 for the first time since Oct. 20, 2009 (No. 23). Cumberlands is 7-2-3 overall and has won seven of its last nine matches. The other newcomer this week is No. 23 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.), who was last ranked on Sept. 21 (No. 22). The Senators recently took down then-No. 16 (tie) SCAD – Savannah (Ga.) on Oct. 8 by a score of 4-1.

Two teams dropped out of the Top 25 this week, No. 14 Benedictine (Kan.) and No. 23 Bethel (Tenn.). Benedictine fell twice last week to unranked opponents and is now 6-4-1 overall. Bethel, the 2008 national champion, lost 4-1 to then-No. 10 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) on Oct. 9 to fall to 7-4-1 this season.

Simon Fraser collected 18 of the possible 23 first-place votes and a total of 649 points. After shutting out six of their first eight opponents, The Clan had a pair of one-goal wins last week, a 3-2 defeat of Seattle Pacific on Oct. 6 and a 2-1 victory over Saint Martin’s (Wash.) on Oct. 9. Winners in 19 of its last 20 matches, Simon Fraser has two games this week with Trinity Western (B.C.) on Wednesday, followed by Thompson Rivers (B.C.) on Sunday.

No. 2 Rio Grande tallied 636 total points, which is just 13 points behind Simon Fraser, and five first-place nods. The Red Storm recorded their third-straight shutout and ninth this year with a 2-0 victory over Cumberlands on Oct. 9. Rio Grande ranks in the top-six nationally in all major offensive statistical categories, including second in assists per match (3.9) and fourth in goals per match (4.4). The Red Storm lay their 12-0 record on the line with road affairs at Cedarville (Ohio) on Thursday and Georgetown (Ky.) on Saturday.

No. 3 Notre Dame checks in with 611 total points this week and holds a 12-0 record. With an astounding 58-4 scoring, the Falcons have shut out nine opponents. On Oct. 9, Notre Dame took down Malone (Ohio) 7-1. The Falcons are second nationally with 4.8 goals per game and tangle with Walsh (Ohio) on Tuesday and Cedarville on Saturday.

For the fourth-straight week, Hastings holds down the No. 4 position. The Broncos are 12-0 after winning three times last week by a combined score of 15-2. Hastings, ranked first in the Great Plains Athletic Conference standings, competes against second-place Sioux Falls (S.D.) on Saturday.

No. 5 California Baptist slides up two spots and gathered 557 total points for its first top-five ranking of the 2010 campaign. California Baptist registered two shutouts last week, against then-No. 5 Vanguard (Calif.) and Fresno Pacific (Calif.), to move to 11-1 overall and 5-0 in the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Lancers battle Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) on Wednesday before a top-15 battle with No. 15 Azusa Pacific (Calif.) on Saturday.

The Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) leads all conferences, independents and unaffiliated groups with four schools in the Top 25: No. 9 Belhaven (Miss.), No. 11 Mobile (Ala.), No. 17 William Carey (Miss.) and No. 23 Auburn Montgomery. The Golden State Athletic Conference and Mid-South Conference each land a trio of teams in the poll.

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, independents and unaffiliated groups. The seventh regular season Coaches’ Top 25 Poll will be announced on Oct. 19.

For more information on NAIA men’s soccer, please click here.

NOTES: Rio Grande (Ohio) notches its fifth-straight week with at least five first-place votes and has been ranked in the top 10 for the last 18 straight polls, dating back to the start of the 2009 season… There are five schools tied for the most wins (12) in the country… Overall, there are six programs without a defeat on the season… In seven polls this year (including Preseason Top 25), there have been 43 teams ranked… Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) is tied with Rio Grande (Ohio) for the most No. 1 mentions since 2000 at 31 times… Overall, there have been 14 different teams to claim the No. 1 spot during that span, led by Lindsey Wilson and Rio Grande (31), followed by Bethel (Tenn.) (11), Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) (9), Azusa Pacific (Calif.) (5), Concordia (Calif.) (5) and Simon Fraser (B.C.) (5)… Lindsey Wilson and Simon Fraser (B.C.) now hold the distinction of being consecutively ranked the longest among active schools -- 39 straight polls, dating back to the 2007 Preseason Top 25 Poll… Maine-Fort Kent is next in line with 35 straight rankings, followed by Rio Grande (Ohio) (33) and Azusa Pacific (Calif.) and Notre Dame (Ohio) tied at 26… Since 2000, two teams have rattled through the entire season ranked No. 1 --- Bethel in 2009 and Rio Grande during the 2004 season.

2010 NAIA Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – (Regular Season No. 6)

Others receiving votes:

Bethel University (Tenn.) 109; McKendree University (Ill.) 108; University of Texas at Brownsville 63; Houghton College (N.Y.) 59; Oklahoma Baptist University 57; Concordia University (Ore.) 43; Park University (Mo.) 36; Missouri Valley College 34; Mount Mercy University (Iowa) 34; Warner University (Fla.) 30; Baker University (Kan.) 22; Bethel College (Ind.) 21; Fresno Pacific University (Calif.) 21; The Master's College (Calif.) 17; Davenport University (Mich.) 13; Illinois Institute of Technology 12; Thomas University (Ga.) 11; Northwood University (Fla.) 8; Oklahoma City University 7; Roberts Wesleyan College (N.Y.) 1; University of Great Falls (Mont.) 1; Mountain State University (W.Va.) 1; Lyon College (Ark.) 1; Lambuth University (Tenn.) 1; Aquinas College (Mich.) 1; Columbia College (Mo.) 1; Friends University (Kan.) 1; Shorter University (Ga.) 1; University of Sioux Falls (S.D.) 1; Southern Polytechnic State University (Ga.) 1; Biola University (Calif.) 1; Campbellsville University (Ky.) 1; California State University-San Marcos 1; Rogers State University (Okla.) 1

* Submitted by the raters and reflecting the overall record through games played Oct. 10