KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The United Soccer Coaches NCAA DIII Men's Soccer preseason rankings have been announced and Saint Joseph's College begins the 2018 season ranked 25th nationally.
Saint Joseph's earns the national ranking after posting a 19-0-2 record last fall, when the side won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.
In the first round of the national tourney, St. Joe's clinched the first NCAA postseason win in team history with a 2-1 triumph over Mitchell College and, the following day, held defending national champion Tufts University scoreless before falling to the Jumbos – on their home field - in penalty kicks in the second round.
The Monks were one of just two NCAA Men's Soccer teams (out of approximately 800 programs) to not suffer a loss last fall. NCAA DII program Midwestern State University (TX) (20-0-3) was the only other team to post a blemish-free 2017 docket.
Only three other New England Region programs sit ahead of St. Joe's on the preseason poll, as Brandeis University, Tufts University, and Amherst College are ranked fourth, fifth, and 10th, respectively.
The 2017 men's soccer team, led by Head Coach Adrian Dubois, established new NCAA Men's Soccer records – for all three levels – in goals against average and save percentage. Saint Joseph's allowed just one goal in 1,930 minutes and broke the NCAA Men's Soccer record – again, all three levels – for consecutive shutout minutes (1,802:54). Mullen also set an individual NCAA Men's Soccer record (all levels) for consecutive shutout minutes (1,706:09) last season.
The Monks capped the 2017 campaign ranked 25th in the United Soccer Coaches national poll, 17th in the D3Soccer.com national poll, and sixth in the United Soccer Coaches regional poll.
Saint Joseph's kicks off the 2018 season on Friday, August 31st with a 7:00 PM game at Gordon College.