Men’s Soccer unofficially holds 26th ranking in NSCAA Coaches poll, second in Great Lakes Region

UB Men’s Soccer team is on the cusp of a top-25 ranking in the NSCAA Coaches poll after receiving votes last week. An undefeated weekend in Virginia was enough to vault the team to the first “Also Receiving Votes” spot, where UB unofficially sits 26th with 51 points in the poll.

Stanford owns the last ranking spot with 61 points, while MAC rival Akron has fallen to #16. It seems like Sunday’s matches are not accounted for in the rankings, as the Zips won a pair of 2-0 results this weekend but apparently dropped due to their loss to UCLA last Sunday.

If that’s the case, then UB will have their 2-1 win over Liberty on their ledger for next week’s poll in addition to Thursday’s match against Niagara. A challenging trip to South Florida will wait another week longer to affect Buffalo’s ranking.

Stu Riddle’s team is the nation’s only undefeated squad remaining, owning a 6-0-0 record. Senior star Russell Cicerone has led the way on the attack with a nation-leading 8 goals and 5 assists, while Joe Kuta has only allowed 1 goal and owns the nation’s best goals-against-average.

UB has not been ranked since a 10-1-0 start in 2005, when they rose to a program-record 20th-place ranking in the NSCAA Poll. In addition to the near-national ranking this week, they also climb to second in the Great Lakes Region, ahead of the Zips and behind only Butler.