KANSAS CITY, Mo. - - Cumberland women's soccer sits at 19 in the second edition of the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll, as announced by the league office this morning.
Since the previous poll, the Phoenix have gone 3-1-1, highlighted by their two highest-scoring performances of the season. Cumberland opened the stretch with a 2-0 shutout victory over (RV) Eastern Oregon before suffering its only loss, a weather-delayed 4-2 defeat to No. 23 UNOH. The Phoenix then erupted offensively, posting back-to-back shutouts with a 5-0 win over Brescia and a 9-0 victory over Bethel, before closing the stretch with a 1-1 draw against WVU Tech.
Victoria Collins and Ruth Rodriguez have been excellent during those spells of games as well, with the pair recording a hat trick in back to back games. Sydney Eads also started and played nearly every available minute in that spell, helping to record her now fourth shutout of the season in a five game stretch.
During this period, Cumberland has scored 19 goals during this run, averaging 3.8 goals per game, while conceding only three.
The teams continue to move around in the second STADIONIC NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll of the regular season as the Seahawks of Keiser (Fla.) reclaim the No. 1 spot and Marian (Ind.), behind a 5-0-1 start to the season, climbs to No. 2. The Seahawks garnered 17 first-place-votes this week while the last two available first-place votes went to Indiana Wesleyan at No. 4 and Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) at No. 5.
No one climbed into or dropped from the top 25 list that was ranked two weeks ago in the first regular season coaches' poll, but everyone continues to move. Among all the movements, it's more stable as no one moved more than two or three spots this week. The next women's soccer poll is set to be released on October 1 with the first National Selection Committee (NSC) Top 25 Poll.
Cumberlands (Ky.) dropped from the top spot but still remains ranked the highest in the MSC at No. 3. Behind them is both Lindsey Wilson and Cumberland who jumped one spot each to No. 12 and No. 19, respectively. Campbellsville continued to receive votes to be ranked but did not crack the top-25.
The next STANDIONIC NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll will be released Wednesday, Sept. 30.
The Phoenix will be in action this Friday against Freed-Hardeman on the road at 4 PM.
