STANDISH, Maine – The seventh Penn Monto/NFHCA Division III National Coaches Poll has been released and Saint Joseph's College has received votes for the second-consecutive week and third time this year.
Saint Joseph's, 17-1 overall and 7-0 versus conference foes this fall, has received 23 points and is the third team listed under the 'others receiving votes' section in this week's poll behind Denison University (58) and FDU-Florham (49).
The Monks, led by 14th-year Head Coach Rupert Lewis, closed out the regular season with a 5-1 victory over conference-rival Lasell College last night and head into the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament as the #1 seed. Saint Joseph's has a first-round bye and on Wednesday will host the winner of the #5 Johnson & Wales/#4 Simmons quarterfinal.
The 2018 team has already set new SJC single-season records for wins, goals (84), assists (67), points (235), shots (435), and shutouts (11) and ranks among the NCAA DIII leaders in assists per game (1st, 3.67), penalty corners per game (2nd, 14.22), points per game (2nd, 13.0), scoring margin (2nd, 4.00), goals per game (3rd, 4.67), winning percentage (3rd, .944), scoring average (4th, 4.61), shutouts per game (6th, 0.61), save percentage (7th, .845), and goals-against average (8th, 0.60).
St. Joe's, led by 14th-year Head Coach Rupert Lewis, leads the GNAC in seven statistical categories, including goals, assists, corners, and shots.
Middlebury College (14-0) sits atop the week six rankings with 1,151 points and is followed by Messiah College (15-0, 1,221 points), Rowan University (16-0, 1,016), Tufts University (13-1, 994), and The College of New Jersey (11-3, 834) in the top five.
Including Middlebury and Tufts, eight New England programs are listed in the top 20 as #12 Bowdoin College (11-3), #13 Babson College (14-3), #14 Hamilton College (10-4), #16 Williams College (10-4), #17 Trinity College (10-4), and #20 Amherst College (10-4) help fill out this week's rankings.