STANDISH, Maine – The final D3soccer.com and United Soccer Coaches national polls of the 2018 season have been announced and Saint Joseph's College (21-1, 11-0 GNAC) closes out the year ranked 14th and 19th in the country, respectively.
The SJC men's soccer team, led by fifth-year Head Coach Adrian Dubois, registered another historic season this fall setting program records for wins (21), winning streak (21), goals (81), assists (64), points (226), and shots (513) and, with a loss to Amherst College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, saw a 42-game undefeated streak – the fifth-longest in NCAA DIII Men's Soccer history – come to a close.
The Monks claimed their third-consecutive Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) title with a 1-0 victory over Johnson & Wales University on November 4th and proceeded to defeat Middlebury College by a 2-1 score in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Amherst on Saturday, November 10th.
Saint Joseph's is the only New England NCAA DIII Men's Soccer program – and one of just seven in the country – to advance to the second round of the national tournament in each of the last three seasons. In 2016, the Monks advanced with a PK triumph over Babson College and last fall St. Joe's defeated Mitchell College, 2-1, before falling to Tufts University in PK's in the second round. Since 2016, the Monks rank fifth in NCAA DIII Men's Soccer in total wins (55) and winning percentage (.833).
In the final D3soccer.com poll, Tufts University – the 2018 national champion – claimed all 16 first-place votes and claims the top spot with 1,000 total points while Calvin is second (960), Chicago is third (878), Messiah is ranked fourth (873), and Rochester rounds out the top five with 858 points.
Several other New England programs dot the poll, as Amherst is ranked ahead of the Monks, who received 435 points, in the 13th spot (440) while Connecticut College is 16th (390) and Middlebury College (15) and Western Connecticut (3) both received votes.
The D3soccer.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of coaches, Sports Information Directors and D3soccer.com staff, and is published weekly.
The last United Soccer Coaches poll of the season reflects the top five of the D3soccer.com rankings, aside from Rochester and Messiah flipping spots to fourth and fifth, respectively. Aside from Tufts in the top spot, Amherst (13th) and Connecticut College (23rd) are the only other New England programs in the final rankings.
Saint Joseph's opened the 2018 campaign ranked 25th in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll and went into the NCAA Tournament ranked fifth and eighth in the D3soccer.com and United Soccer Coaches polls, respectively.
The Monks set the NCAA Men's Soccer record for consecutive shutout minutes (1,840:33) in 2017 and nearly duplicated the feat this fall with 1,326:41 minutes of consecutive shutout play, the third-longest stretch in NCAA DIII Men's Soccer history. After allowing a goal in a 3-1 win over Johnson & Wales on September 15th, the Monks succeeded in not yielding a tally until the 79th minute in a 2-1 NCAA tourney win over Middlebury on November 10th.
Saint Joseph's capped the 2018 campaign as the NCAA DIII Men's Soccer leader in shots on goal per game (11.91), shutout percentage (.864), and won-lost-tied percentage (.955). The Monks were also ranked second in shots per game (23.32) and team goals-against average (0.261), third in points per game (10.14), scoring offense (3.68), total assists (61), total goals (81), and total points (223), fifth in assists per game (2.77), and sixth in save percentage (.885).