St. Mary’s Moves Up One Spot in NSCAA National Poll
Kansas City, Kans. - A week after achieving a program first with their first-ever national ranking, the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's soccer team moved up one spot to No. 24 in this week's National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas® Division III National Poll announced Tuesday afternoon.
The Seahawks are still unbeaten with a 7-0-3 record after shutting out conference foe, Stevenson University, 3-0, this past Saturday behind a natural hat trick by senior forward Lauren Carrier (Crownsville, Md./Old Mill).
Last week, St. Mary's was one of only seven squads ranked in the Top 25 that were currently unbeaten. However, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire suffered its first loss of the season, dropping the Blugolds from No. 3 to No. 22.
The elite group of the six unbeaten is now made up of No. 1 Williams College (9-0-0), No. 2 Messiah College (12-0-2), No. 3 Lynchburg College (11-0-3), No. 8 Johns Hopkins University (9-0-3), No. 14 Rowan University (9-0-1), and our very own Seahawks.
So, in the previous two national polls, SMCM received votes (9/30) and was ranked No. 25 (10/7).
The Seahawks continue to be an offensive threat, outscoring opponents 37 to 9. Leading the offensive charge are Carrier and junior midfielder Sophia Esparza (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair). Carrier paces the team with 13 goals and 29 points, while Esparza is second with 21 points on 10 goals and one assist.
For the third consecutive week, St. Mary's is fourth in the NSCAA Middle Atlantic Regional Poll behind Messiah, Johns Hopkins, and Rowan.
The Seahawks were seventh in the September 23rd regional poll and 10th in the one for September 16th. Their No. 10 regional ranking on September 16th marked the first time since the 1990 season that SMCM had been regionally ranked.
St. Mary's will be back in action tomorrow when the Seahawks welcome the regionally ranked Marlins of Virginia Wesleyan College to Seahawk Stadium for non-conference action at 4:00. Virginia Wesleyan (7-1-3, 6-0-1 ODAC) are ranked third in this week's NSCAA South Regional Poll.