Men’s Soccer Makes Top-25 Debut, Ranked No. 25 in NAIA Poll

BALDWIN CITY - Off to its best start in seven years, the Baker men's soccer entered the national rankings for the first time this season, coming in at No. 25 in the latest NAIA Top-25 Poll that was released on Wednesday.

With an 8-2 record overall and a pair of top-25 wins to their name, the Wildcats rounded out the national poll which features six total Heart of America teams with William Penn (No. 6), Missouri Valley (No. 11), Benedictine (No. 19), MidAmerica Nazarene (No. 20) and Central Methodist (No. 22) all sitting ahead of BU.

Last week, Baker defeated MNU, who was ranked No. 10 at the time, by a score of 1-0 at home before going on to take care of Culver-Stockton on Saturday, 2-0. BU closed out its non-conference schedule with a dominating 8-1 victory over Mission on Tuesday night.

With eight wins in its first 10 matches, BU is off to its best start since 2017 when the Wildcats went 8-1-1 through the first part of the season before finishing 16-5-2 and reaching the second round of the NAIA Tournament.

The last time the Wildcats were ranked in the top-25 was back in 2021 when they peaked at No. 8 and were receiving votes at multiple points the following year in 2022.

It's been an active week for the Wildcats in terms of national recognition after goalkeeper Christian Villegas was named NAIA Defensive Player of the Week for his two shutouts against the Pioneers and C-SC.

Up next, Baker will wrap up a four-game homestand with a top-25 matchup against No. 22 CMU set for Saturday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at Hartley Field.

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