William Penn Ranked for First Time Ever
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Oskaloosa–Twenty-two years in the making, the Statesmen men’s soccer team has finally earned its first-ever national ranking as the NAIA’s eighth top-25 poll was released Tuesday.
It has taken over 400 all-time contests, nine different head coaches, and hundreds of student-athletes, but WPU (13-3, 7-2 Heart), which has won four in a row, pulls in at #18 with 186 points.
Courtesy of its third top-25 win of the year last week, the program jumped a whopping 16 spots from the previous rating and is one of six teams from the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Central Methodist tops the group at #5, while Missouri Valley is #9, #Baker is #13, and Benedictine is #24; MidAmerica Nazarene heads the receiving votes section at #26. William Penn is 3-1 against those teams with a battle against Baker coming Saturday.
William Carey (Miss.) is the NAIA’s #1 with 490 points and nine first-place vote, while Oklahoma Wesleyan is right there as well with 489 points and eight first-place votes. Rio Grande (Ohio) is third with the final first-place nod, while Hastings (Neb.) is fourth.
William Penn travels to Canton, Mo. Wednesday to face Culver-Stockton in Heart play at 7:30 p.m.
NAIA Men’s Soccer Rating #8 – October 23, 2018
(Number in parentheses is first-place votes)
1. William Carey (Miss.) (9)
2. Oklahoma Wesleyan (8)
3. Rio Grande (Ohio) (1)
4. Hastings (Neb.)
5. Central Methodist (Mo.)
6. Bellevue (Neb.)
7. Cardinal Stritch (Wis.)
8. Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)
9. Missouri Valley
10. Vanguard (Calif.)
11. Wayland Baptist (Texas)
12. Spring Arbor (Mich.)
13. Baker (Kan.)
14. Southern Oregon
15. Bethel (Tenn.)
16. Corban (Ore.)
17. Northwestern Ohio
18. William Penn
19. Reinhardt (Ga.)
20. Southeastern (Fla.)
21. Southwestern Christian (Okla.)
22. William Woods (Mo.)
23. The Master’s (Calif.)
24. Benedictine (Kan.)
25. Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)
Others Receiving Votes: MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 94, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 60, WVU Tech 58, Florida College 54, Marymount California 41, Mobile (Ala.) 31, Georgia Gwinnett 30, Arizona Christian 26, Madonna (Mich.) 23, Columbia (Mo.) 13, Kansas Wesleyan 11, Point (Ga.) 9, Houston-Victoria (Texas) 8, Grace (Ind.) 8, Science & Arts (Okla.) 7, Indiana Tech 4, Menlo (Calif.) 3, Cumberland (Tenn.) 3.
