New England Soccer Today

NSCAA Releases Preseason Poll

New England colleges are well represented in NSCAA’s national preseason soccer rankings released on Tuesday. The University of Connecticut (#4), Boston College (#14) and Brown University (#22) are all in the top 25 Division 1 men’s rankings, while BC (#11) and Boston University (#23) are both among the top 25 in Division 1 women’s rankings.

The fourth ranked UConn men finished the 2011 season ranked fifth with a 19-3-3 record. The Huskies entered the 2011 national NCAA tournament as the third seed, but were upset on penalty kicks to eventual finalists UNC Charlotte in the quarterfinals. UConn also fell to St. John’s University in overtime of the BIG EAST Championship.

Fourteenth ranked Boston College finished 2011 ranked 15th with a 14-6-1 record. BC entered the national tournament as the fourth seed, but were upset in the second round by Rutgers on penalty kicks. The Eagles fell to the University of North Carolina – the eventual College Cup Champions – in the ACC Championship Final.

Twenty-second ranked Brown finished 2011 ranked 17th with a 12-5-3 record. The Bears shared the Ivy League title with Dartmouth and despite being unseeded, advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament before losing to Saint Mary’s College.

On the women’s side, eleventh ranked Boston College finished 2011 ranked 15th with a 12-6-3 record. The Eagles advanced to the third round of the national tournament before falling to eventual national champions Stanford. BC lost to Wake Forest in the ACC Quarterfinals.

Twenty-third ranked Boston University finished 2011 ranked 17th with a 19-3-1 record. The Terriers fell to Wake Forest in the second round of the national tournament. BU defeated Albany to win its fifth straight America East title.

Harvard University also received votes in the women’s poll.

In Division 2 men’s soccer, New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce University is ranked third after finishing last season at 21-1-1 and Southern New Hampshire is ranked seventh. In Division 2 women’s soccer, University of Bridgeport is ranked 12th, University of Massachusetts-Lowell is ranked 17th and Merrimack College also received votes.

At Division 3 level men’s soccer, Amherst College is ranked sixth, Babson College is ranked 18th, Western New England University is ranked 23rd, Wesleyan is ranked 24th and Trinity College and Eastern Connecticut State University both received votes. On the women’s side, Amherst is ranked seventh, Middlebury College is ranked eighth, Williams College is ranked 13th, Springfield College is ranked 25th and Wheaton College also received votes.

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