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Rutgers soccer is well represented in each of the latest United Soccer Coaches NCAA Top 25 Polls released on Tuesday afternoon.
Fresh off a 2-1 win over Indiana on Friday and a 1-0 win over a very good UPenn team on Monday night, the Rutgers men’s soccer teams checks in at No. 21 in the nation. It is the first time this year that the men have been ranked.
The Rutgers women’s team, following a home win over preseason Big Ten favorite Penn State, moved up seven spots to No. 9.
Following a pair of disappointing losses two weeks ago to Princeton at home and Georgetown on the road, the women have won two straight. They beat Drexel 4-0 at home on Thursday before defeating national powerhouse Penn State 2-1 over the weekend.
The women are currently 6-2-0 on the year. The ranking within the top 10 nationally comes after the Scarlet Knights were ranked No. 25 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll. The rather steady climb is deserving of a women’s program that is solid on both ends of the field.
For the men, who were unranked in the preseason, the win at then No. 11 Indiana is program transforming. The Hoosiers, who made the NCAA Championship Game last year, have been among the best collegiate programs in not just the Big Ten but the nation for over three decades. The win by the men certainly validates the program’s undefeated start to the season as well as the rebuild undertaken by head coach Jim McElderry, now in his third season at Rutgers.
The men are currently 7-0-1. They didn’t receive any votes in last week’s United Soccer Coaches poll.
Several of the bigger contributors to the program have come from local MLS academies. Left back Chris Tiao and forward Nico Rosamilia are both products of the New York Red Bulls Academy. Wide attacker Jackson Temple, a junior, comes from the Philadelphia Union Academy.