University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Soccer Continues Its Climb Up the National Rankings
September 06, 2011 | Soccer
Sept. 6, 2011
By Brian Davis, Assistant Media Relations Director
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - With the Tennessee soccer team off to one of the best starts in its program history at 5-1, the pollsters have taken notice as the Lady Vols' national resurgence continues with rankings in three major soccer polls for the week of Sept. 5-11.
UT rose four positions to No. 19 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/Continental Tire poll, has sky-rocketed to No. 14 in the SoccerTimes.com listing and has now entered the Soccer America rankings for the first time since September 2008 by rating in a tie at No. 25.
Tennessee soccer is fresh off an unbeaten weekend that included 2-0 victories at home versus Middle Tennessee (9/2) and at UNC Greensboro (9/4). The Orange & White have now pitched three consecutive shutouts for the first time since Sept. 9-16, 2007, and have held its opposition scoreless over a stretch of 275:38 dating back to a Bruin goal at 84:22 during UT's 2-1 loss to then-#8 UCLA.
Lady Vol senior forward Emily Dowd wreaked havoc throughout last weekend's action from her position up top. The Gainesville, Fla., native scored two goals during the victory over Middle Tennessee and earned her third penalty kick call of the season with her footwork inside the 18-yard box in the triumph at UNCG.
Sophomore forward Caroline Brown delivered a pair of assists on Dowd's scores to improve her team-best point total to 10 (four goals, two helpers) through UT's opening six matches. Junior midfielder Kylie Bono registered a three-point effort (goal & assist) on Sunday that included the game-winning tally against the Spartans, junior forward Alexis Owens recorded her first goal of the season and rookie forward Iyana Moore picked up the second assist of her brief career in the Orange & White.
Between the pipes freshman net minder Julie Eckel continued her impressive work with the back-to-back blankings and has now stopped the opposition's last 19 shots on frame while lowering her goals-against-average to 0.66.
Tennessee begins a season-long, four-match home stand on Fri., Sept. 9, with a 7 p.m. contest against Charlotte at the Regal Soccer Stadium.
NSCAA/Continental Tire National Rankings (September 6)
1 North Carolina (32) 799
2 Stanford 768
3 Maryland 735
4 Oklahoma State 671
5 Florida State 633
6 UCLA 624
7 Virginia 600
8 Notre Dame 544
9 Florida 525
10 Duke 511
11 UC Irvine 457
12 Marquette 410
13 Pepperdine 334
14 Wisconsin-Milwaukee 295
15 Boston College 277
16 Memphis 269
17 Santa Clara 268
18 Wake Forest 266
19 TENNESSEE 229
20 Illinois 175
21 Oregon State 169
22 Ohio State 130
23 Boston University 117
24 Portland 114
25 Virginia Tech 102
Number in parentheses is number of first place votes
Also receiving votes: Kansas 66, Penn State 60, William & Mary 56, Dayton 35, Iowa 33, California 24, Missouri 23, Georgetown 18, Central Florida 18, San Diego 17, Wisconsin 17, James Madison 6, USC 5
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Soccer America National Rankings (September 5)
TEAM (2011 RECORD)
1. North Carolina (4-0-0)
2. Stanford (5-0-1)
3. Maryland (5-0-1)
4. UCLA (4-0-1)
5. Oklahoma State (6-0-0)
6. Duke (5-1-0)
7. Notre Dame (3-2-0)
8. Florida (4-1-0)
9. Florida State (5-1-0)
10. Virginia (6-0-0)
11. Boston College (3-0-2)
12. Marquette (5-1-0)
13. UC Irvine (5-0-0)
14. Wisc.-Milwaukee (6-0-0)
15. Virginia Tech (6-0-0)
16. Memphis (5-0-0)
17. Pepperdine (5-0-1)
18. Santa Clara (3-0-2)
19. Oregon State (3-1-1)
20. Boston Univ. (5-0-1)
21. William & Mary (4-0-1)
22. Wake Forest (4-1-0)
23. Auburn (4-1-0)
24. Wisconsin (4-1-0)
25. TENNESSEE (5-1-0)
25. Penn State (5-1-0)
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SoccerTimes.com National Rankings (September 5)
Rank School
1 North Carolina (13)
2 Stanford (3)
3 Maryland
4 Virginia
5 UCLA
6 Oklahoma State
7 Florida State
8 Florida
9 Duke
10 Notre Dame
11 California-Irvine
12 Boston College
13 Wake Forest
14 TENNESSEE
15 Santa Clara
16 Marquette
17 Oregon State
18 Pepperdine
19 Wisconsin-Milwaukee
20 Ohio State
21 Penn State
22 Memphis
23 Portland
24 Illinois
25 Boston University
Dropped out: No. 21 Georgetown, No. 24 San Diego.
Others receiving votes: Virginia Tech 36, Kansas 24, California 15, Miami (Fla.) 15, North Carolina State 13, Auburn 12, Texas 11, Texas A&M 11, Georgetown 10, William & Mary 10, Brigham Young 8, Central Florida 7, San Diego State 7, West Virginia 7, Wisconsin 6, San Diego 3, South Carolina 3, Oregon 2, Southern California 1.
