It's almost time for the college soccer season to begin and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Preseason Top 25 has been released on Tuesday. The Air Force Falcons and the Denver Pioneers don't make an appearance here, but a fellow member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is ranked highly: the New Mexico Lobos check in at No. 6.
The Lobos won the MPSF Tournament and were seeded as the No. 10 overall team in the NCAA Soccer Tournament. After receiving a bye into the second round and defeating Duke, 2-1 in overtime, the Lobos lost to No. 7 overall seed South Florida Bulls in the third round. They played to a 0-0 tie after two overtime periods and then the Bulls took a 6-5 victory in sudden-death penalty kicks.
The Lobos went 18-0-4 last season.
The complete top 25 can be found below:
Rank | School | W-L-T |
1 | North Carolina | 21-2-3 |
2 | UCLA | 18-4-2 |
3 | Creighton | 21-2-1 |
4 | Connecticut | 19-3-3 |
5 | South Florida | 13-4-4 |
6 | New Mexico | 18-0-4 |
7 | Louisville | 14-7-2 |
8 | Charlotte | 16-5-4 |
9 | Maryland | 14-4-3 |
10 | Akron | 15-4-4 |
11 | UC Santa Barbara | 15-7-1 |
12 | Indiana | 13-4-5 |
13 | UC Irvine | 16-6-1 |
14 | Boston College | 14-6-1 |
15 | St. John's | 14-7-2 |
16 | SMU | 13-7-1 |
17 | Coastal Carolina | 18-4-0 |
18 | Saint Mary's (Calif.) | 11-7-5 |
19 | James Madison | 13-5-2 |
20 | Northwestern | 11-5-5 |
21 | UAB | 13-5-3 |
22 | Brown | 12-5-3 |
23 | Old Dominion | 12-6-2 |
24 | Furman | 14-4-4 |
25 | Bradley | 15-6-2 |
Also receiving votes: Virginia, Rutgers, Duke, Wake Forest, California, Monmouth, West Virginia, Central Florida, William & Mary, Xavier, Cal State Bakersfield, Northern Illinois, South Carolina