STANDISH, Maine – The 10th weekly national and regional NCAA DIII Men's Soccer polls have been released and Saint Joseph's College is ranked fifth and eighth in the D3soccer.com and United Soccer Coaches polls, respectively, and second in the United Soccer Coaches New England Region rankings.
Saint Joseph's, 20-0-0 overall with an 11-0-0 record in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play, defeated Johnson & Wales University, 1-0, in the conference championship at the SJC Athletics Complex on Sunday. With the hard fought win, the Monks claimed the program's third-consecutive GNAC title and subsequent NCAA Tournament berth and will play Middlebury College in the first round of the national tourney at Hitchcock Field on the campus of Amherst College on Saturday at 1:30 PM.
The Monks head into the NCAA Tournament riding a 41-game undefeated streak – the sixth-longest string in NCAA DIII Men's Soccer history – and have outscored opponents by a collective 77-1 margin this fall. Saint Joseph's is the only men's soccer team in the nation – NCAA DI, DII, or DIII (828 programs in total) – without a loss or a tie.
In the 10th D3soccer.com weekly poll, Saint Joseph's is one of three teams to receive a first-place vote and, with 837 total points, sits behind Calvin (971), Messiah (963), Tufts (885), and Chicago (864). Connecticut College (13th, 485) is the only other New England program listed on the poll. The Monks have been ranked fifth in the D3soccer.com poll for three-consecutive weeks.
In the ninth United Soccer Coaches national rankings Messiah College remains atop the poll while Tufts University is ranked second, University of Chicago is third, Calvin College is fourth, and Trinity (Texas) is fifth.
Led by fifth-year Head Coach Adrian Dubois, the Monks remain second in the United Soccer Coaches New England Region rankings behind Tufts University (13-0-3). Amherst (12-4-1) is third, Connecticut College (12-2-2) is fourth, and Middlebury (10-3-3) rounds out the top five. Springfield College (14-4-1), Salve Regina University (16-1-3), Babson College (12-3-4), Roger Williams University (16-5-0), and Williams College (10-5-3) complete the regional rankings.
The last time a team posted an undefeated streak of 40 or more games was Amherst College, which went 40 matches without a setback or tie during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The NCAA DIII Men's Soccer record for longest undefeated streak is held by Wheaton (IL), which went 66 games without a loss from September of 1996 to November of 1998.
The Monks continue to rack up shutouts and have not allowed a goal since September 15th in a 3-1 triumph over Johnson & Wales; the shutout minutes streak stands at 1,248:40 minutes – the fifth-longest in NCAA DIII Men's Soccer history (the 2017 SJC team set the NCAA record with 1,840:33 minutes).
Saint Joseph's currently leads NCAA DIII Men's Soccer in save percentage (.970), shots per game (24.60), shots on goal per game (12.55), shutout percentage (.950), goals against average (0.048), and won-lost-tied percentage (1.000) and ranks third in assists per game (2.90), points per game (10.60), scoring offense (3.85), total assists (58), total goals (77), and total points (212).