men’s soccer ranked in top 25

#	School	Record	Prev.
1	Ohio Wesleyan	17-0-2	1
2	Messiah	17-1	2
3	Loras	17-1-1	3
4	Wesleyan (Conn.)	11-0-4	5
5	Trinity (Texas)	13-1-2	6
6	Rensselaer	13-1-2	7
7	Christopher Newport	16-2	10
8	Dominican	13-1-3	8
9	Rochester	12-1-2	11
10	Swarthmore	14-1-2	12
11	Carnegie Mellon	14-2	9
12	York (Pa.)	13-1-4	17
13	Carroll	14-1-3	15
14	Williams	12-2-1	14
15	Whitworth	12-2-3	nr
16	Salisbury	14-2-1	24
17	Wheaton (Ill.)	13-3-2	nr
18	Muhlenberg	11-3-2	rv
18	Wheaton (Mass.)	16-3-1	nr
20	Ohio Northern	14-3-2	25
20	Plattsburgh State	12-2-4	22
22	UC Santa Cruz	13-3-2	19
23	Elmhurst	12-3-3	nr
24	St. Olaf	13-3-2	nr
25	Montclair State	15-1-2	4
Others receiving votes: Bowdoin, Calvin, Capital, Hobart, Merchant Marine, Principia

For the first time this season, the Muhlenberg men’s soccer team has cracked the top 25.

The Mules are ranked 18th in Division III in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll (left) and 21st in the D3soccer.com poll. It is the first national ranking for the Mules since they were No. 12 in the NSCAA poll in early 2006. The last time

Johan Steiner and the other five seniors on the Muhlenberg team went 23-9-4 in CC regular-season play during their careers.

Muhlenberg was nationally ranked this late in the season was 2003, when it was 25th in the last poll before the NCAA Tournament.

After starting the season 1-2, the Mules are 10-1-2 in their last 13 games, winning the Centennial Conference regular-season championship. Two of Muhlenberg’s losses came by 2-1 finals to teams ranked ahead of them in the D3soccer.com poll, No. 9 Montclair State and No. 15 Johns Hopkins. The Mules also lost 2-1 to Richard Stockton, which has been ranked as high as No. 24 this year, tied No. 7/No. 10 Swarthmore and defeated Dickinson, which reached No. 10 in the D3soccer.com poll earlier in the season.

The CC is one of only two Division III conferences with more than two teams in the D3soccer.com top 25. Four New England Small College Athletic Conference appear in the poll.

Muhlenberg will take its new national ranking into the CC playoffs this weekend. The Mules are scheduled to face the winner of tomorrow’s match between Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson in the first round.

The Muhlenberg women’s soccer team received one vote in the D3soccer.com poll for the first time this year. As on the men’s side, the CC is well represented: Johns Hopkins is ranked 13th, and Haverford and Dickinson also are receiving votes. Swarthmore had been in the rankings all year before dropping out this week. In the NSCAA regional rankings, the Mules are tied for 10th.