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UNCG ranked No. 13 in final Soccer America poll of season
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Having completed its sweep of the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament championships and secured an NCAA tournament bid, UNCG's women's soccer team is ranked No. 13 in the final Soccer America Top 25 of the season.
UNCG ran its winning streak to a school-record 16 games over the course of the weekend, downing Elon and Samford in the Southern Conference Championship semifinals and final, respectively. The Spartans clinched their first NCAA berth since 2007 and will learn their opponent at approximately 4:30 p.m. Monday, when the selection show will air on ESPNU.
The Spartans improved to 19-1-1 on the season, matching the school record for single-season wins set in 1997. The 19 wins are tops in NCAA Division I this season, and only No. 22 Denver can match the win total with a 19-2-1 record for the year.
UNCG's .929 winning percentage is second in the nation behind only No. 1 Stanford's.950 mark (18-0-2).
This week marks the seventh straight and eighth overall this season that UNCG has been ranked by Soccer America. The Spartans entered the rankings on Aug. 30 at No. 18 but fell out after suffering its only loss of the season at Cal State Fullerton on Sept. 5. UNCG re-entered the poll on Sept. 27, tying for 25th, before moving up to No. 21 on Oct. 4; No. 20 on Oct. 11; No. 19 on Oct. 18; No. 16 on Oct. 25; and No. 14 on Nov. 1.
UNCG's current winning streak is second in the nation only to Stanford's 17-match winning streak. Coming into the weekend, there were seven teams in the nation with winning streaks of at least 12 games, but only Stanford, UNCG and Boston University survived unscathed.
The Spartans, who entered play this weekend 27th in the RPI, are ranked in the NSCAA/Hendrickcars.com and SoccerTimes.com polls, as well. UNCG is No. 15 in the latest NSCAA poll and No. 19 in SoccerTimes. Those polls are both released on Tuesdays.
UNCG went 11-0-0 in SoCon regular-season play, completing its fourth unbeaten league slate in the last five seasons. Winners of five consecutive regular-season titles, the Spartans won their first SoCon tournament title since 2006 and seventh overall.
Soccer America Top 25 Poll
TEAM (W-L-T) LAST WEEK
1. Stanford (18-0-2) 1
2. Portland (18-1-1) 2
3. Maryland (17-2-2) 3
4. North Carolina (17-2-2) 4
5. Florida (18-2-2) 6
6. Oklahoma State (17-3-2) 12
7. West Virginia (16-4-1) 16
8. Wake Forest (12-7-3) NR
9. Marquette (15-4-2) 8
10. Notre Dame (15-2-2) 9
11. Virginia (13-4-2) 5
12. Oregon State (15-3-1) 7
13. UNCG (19-1-1) 14
14. Texas A&M (14-4-3) 10
15. Florida State (13-5-1) 11
16. Boston College (13-6-1) 18
17. Boston University (16-5-0) 22
18. Illinois (13-4-1) 25
19. Ohio State (14-4-1) 25
20. Dayton (18-3-0) NR
21. UC Irvine (17-2-2) 13
22. Denver (19-2-1) 15
23. Hofstra (18-2-0) 17
24. Memphis (15-3-3) NR
t25. UCLA (12-7-1) NR
t25. South Florida (13-5-3) NR
t25. BYU (16-3-2) NR
(Records through games played Nov. 7.)
- UNCG -
