Truett McConnell, Tennessee Wesleyan Claim NAIA Top 25 Spots
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The first regular-season edition of the NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll is here, with a lot of movement. Since the release of the preseason poll back on August 20th, there have been several upsets and closely contested matches across the board. As the dust settled, two Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) teams climbed up several spots in the poll.
Truett McConnell is off to a 2-0 start and moved up five spots to No. 16 in the poll, having collected 238 voting points.
Meanwhile, Tennessee Wesleyan entered the poll at No. 24 with 91 voting points.
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1. Keiser (Fla.), 508 points Record: 2-0-0 Previous Rank: 2? Notes: With 16 first-place votes and sitting with an 11-1 goal differential through two games, the Seahawks will have a battle on their hands tomorrow at No. 2 William Carey (Miss.). KU ranks seventh nationally in shots per game with 24.5. Offensively, the Seahawks are led by midfielder Bianca Bachi and her three goals, while Mio Tanaka and Madison Priebe have split time between the posts. |
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2. William Carey (Miss.), 482 points Record: 3-0-0 Previous Rank: 5? Stat to know: Moving up three spots from the preseason poll and receiving one first-place vote, the Crusaders will have a battle against No. 1 tomorrow. This will be the 17th meeting with the Seahawks since 2009. WCU leads the head-to-head 11-5-1 with a total of 35 goals scored between the two teams. Karen Vilau, Alessia Navarro, Kayla Martin, and Lauren Entremont lead the offensive front for William Carey heading into the match. |
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3. College of Idaho, 450 points Record: 2-0-0 Previous Rank: 3? Notes: The Yotes continued to hold their highest rank in program history for a perfect start to the season. The College of Idaho has scored six goals through two games. Ranking third nationally in shots per game at 29.0, the Yotes are paced by Abbi Roubidoux, who has taken 16 shots with eight of them being on frame, making her an all-around threat to opponents. |
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3. John Brown (Ark.), 450 points Record: 2-0-0 Previous Rank: 7? Notes: With 15 goals scored through two games, the Golden Eagles are a real threat in the offensive third of the field. Ranking first in shots per game with 33.0, they are finding frame on over half of the total shots per game at 53%. Leading the charge offensively is Katherine Keys. Three goals a pair of assists, Keys is a key to JBU's goal scoring as the season continues. |
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5. Cumberlands (Ky.), 421 points Record: 3-0-2 Previous Rank: 8? Notes: Sporting a 1.01 goals against average through their first five games of the year, the Patriots have yet to be handed a loss. The two UC ties came at the hands of Missouri Valley and Spring Arbor (Mich.), both on the road. Senior Nicole Araujo leads Cumberlands (Ky.) not only in goals with five, but in points as well with 12. Morgan White has been the top goalkeeper, starting all five games with 16 saves and a .762 save percentage. |
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6. Marian (Ind.), 410 points Record: 5-0-0 Previous Rank: 11? Notes: The Knights have been strong as they march to the tune of three shutout victories. Marian is dangerous anywhere near the box, as they have taken 95 total shots with 52 of them being on frame. The duo of experience between senior midfielder Katie Koger and junior forward Olivia Parmer has combined for a total of 32 shots, with 20 going on frame. The knights also received one first-place vote after their strong start to the 2025 campaign. |
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7. Aquinas (Mich.), 385 points Record: 1-1-0 Previous Rank: 9? Notes: The Saints climb two spots in the first regular season poll after securing the season-opening win against Campbellsville (Ky.) before dropping a match to Cumberlands (Ky.) earlier in the week. AQ looks to get back in the win column next week against Indiana Wesleyan and Taylor (Ind.) |
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8. SCAD Savannah (Ga.), 381 points Record: 2-1-0 Previous Rank: 1? Notes: The Bees slide from their preseason rank after a tough loss at home against Georgia Gwinnett last weekend. With two more ranked matches this week against Tennessee Southern and William Carey (Miss.), SCAD looks to get back on track. The Bees' scoring has been divided as six different players have at least one goal. |
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9. Missouri Valley, 375 points Record: 1-0-1 Previous Rank: 12? Notes: After battling to a 2-2 tie with UC and earning a one-goal victory against Oklahoma Wesleyan, the Vikings climb in the first regular-season poll. Missouri Valley has a strong senior goalkeeper in Marina Barbara Boujalance, who is sitting at a .714 save percentage as they get to play at home for the week. |
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10. Tennessee Southern, 333 points Record: 1-0-1 Previous Rank: 6? Notes: The Firehawks have been part of two close matches thus far, a 3-2 victory over LSU Alexandria (La.), followed three days later by a 0-0 tie at Oakland City (Ind.). Three different players have scored for UTS over the two games played: Hikaru Uchida, Kamilia Tayebi, and Millie Rayner. Tennessee Southern will hit the road for a pair of matches against SCAD Savannah today, September 4, then to the beach for a match against Keiser (Fla.) on September 6th. |
| Rank | Last Time | Insitution | Record | Final Points |
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| 11 | ?2 | Indiana Wesleyan | 3-0-0 | 329 |
| 12 | ?2 | Spring Arbor (Mich.) | 1-1-2 | 320 |
| 13 | ?2 | MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) | 2-0-0 | 278 |
| 14 | ?3 | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 2-0-0 | 262 |
| 15 | ?1 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 1-1-0 | 258 |
| 16 | ?5 | Truett McConnell (Ga.) | 2-0-0 | 238 |
| 17 | ?5 | Georgia Gwinnett | 2-1-0 | 231 |
| 18 | ?4 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 3-2-0 | 221 |
| 19 | ? | Cumberland (Tenn.) | 2-1-0 | 211 |
| 20 | ? | Life (Ga.) | 3-0-0 | 197 |
| 21 | ?3 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 1-1-1 | 115 |
| 22 | ?2 | Northwestern Ohio | 2-1-0 | 112 |
| 23 | ?20 | Columbia (Mo.) | 0-2-0 | 102 |
| 24 | ?RV | Tennessee Wesleyan | 1-0-0 | 91 |
| 25 | ?RV | St. Ambrose (Iowa) | 2-1-0 | 82 |
| Receiving Votes: Westcliff (Calif.) 68, Grace (Ind.) 63, Hastings (Neb.) 54, Hope International (Calif.) 44, Xavier (La.) 39, Taylor (Ind.) 31, Science and Arts (Okla.) 27, Concordia (Neb.) 23, Oakland City (Ind.) 22, Kansas Wesleyan 19, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 2 | ||||
Key:
Climbed -?
Dropped -?
Steady - ?
Poll Methodology
- The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
- A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
- The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system:
- 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
- The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
- Teams receiving only one point are not listed as "receiving votes."
- For the Preseason Poll, there is no "previous ranking" column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.