The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced its Top 25 Men's Soccer Coaches' Poll on Tuesday and for the first time in the history of the program, the Mid-America Christian has earned its first No. 1 ranking.
In the latest poll, the Evangels received 498 points and earned 17 of the available 18 first-place votes, finishing 16 points ahead of Central Methodist (Mo.) in second who received the lone other first-place tally.
Coming off a 19-1-1 campaign in 2021, the Evangels have put together another outstanding season thus far in 2022 as they wrapped up the week with a dominant 3-0 victory over Central Christian to improve to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
Mid-America Christian is the first team in the SAC to earn the top-billing in the NAIA men's soccer poll since Wayland Baptist held the top spot in the Week One poll in 2017, less than a year following the Pioneers winning the NAIA National Championship.
Since 2000, only the Evangels and Wayland Baptist are the only teams in the SAC to ever hold the top spot in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
The Evangels defensively have put together a dominant season, ranking in a tie for second for the fewest goals allowed this season at just one with the second-lowest goals allowed average at 0.09. The only team that has conceded few goals than MACU on the list is St. Thomas (Fla.), who has only competed in five games thus far in the 2022 season.
Not only has MACU been great defensively, but have performed well on the offensive end as well. The Evangels are currently only one of five teams in all of the NAIA to hold a plus-30 goal differential (+32). No. 25 Rio Grande (Ohio), (RV) Corban (Ore.), No. 23 Warner Pacific (Ore.) and No. 7 Keiser (Fla.) are the only other teams in the country to have outscored their opponents by more than 30 goals.
On-top of MACU's statistical dominance, the Evangels have also picked up some high profile wins thus far in the 2022 campaign. Of the teams ranked in the latest poll, the Evangels have defeated No. 5 Missouri Valley by a score of 1-0 on Sept. 5 and a 2-0 win over No. 20 Columbia (Mo.) on Sept. 12.
MACU has also picked up wins over teams that have been ranked or have received votes during the season, including a 5-0 victory over (RV) McPherson (Kan.) on Aug. 26 and a 3-0 win over (RV) Baker (Kan.) on Sept. 10.
The Evangels' lone loss of the season came in heartbreaking fashion as MACU dropped a 1-0 decision at No. 12 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) on a header goal with 45 seconds remaining on Sept. 3.
Since that defeat, Mid-America Christian has dominated the competition, posting seven straight shutout victories while outscoring the opposition 18-0 in that timeframe.
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