Syracuse men’s soccer jumps to No. 4 in new poll, attains highest ranking in program history
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll ranked Syracuse No. 4 in the country Tuesday afternoon, the Orange’s highest ranking in program history.
SU was ranked No. 6 in the country in 1984 according to SU Athletics, but the NSCAA poll – the official college soccer poll – has only been ranking teams on a weekly basis since 1996. Last week, Syracuse received its highest-ever ranking by the poll, when it came in at No. 9 after a 1-0 win over then-No. 2 Virginia on Sept. 27.
The No. 1, 3, 6 and 8 teams in last week’s NSCAA poll all suffered losses, allowing Syracuse – who received one first-place vote – to make its leap up the rankings. On Monday, TopDrawerSoccer.com put the Orange at No. 3 in the nation behind No. 1 Washington and No. 2 Creighton. The NCAA RPI rankings released Monday had SU at No. 2 behind the Huskies.
No. 1 Washington, No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 Penn State are ahead of SU in the NSCAA rankings.
The Orange is coming off a double-overtime, sudden-death victory over Virginia Tech on Saturday, in which sophomore forward Emil Ekblom scored the game’s only goal in the 107th minute. The win put SU – who has only allowed one goal in 10 games – atop the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time since joining the league before the 2013 season.
The Orange (9-1, 3-1 ACC) will face Albany (3-3-5, 1-0 America East) at 7 p.m. at SU Soccer Stadium on Tuesday.
Published on October 7, 2014 at 1:13 pm
Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman