UIC holds steady, UW-Green Bay continues climb in men's soccer polls

Oct. 10, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Chicago, Ill. -- The University of Illinois at Chicago men's soccer team did more than defend its home turf Sunday (Oct. 8) with a 2-0 victory over Cleveland State University. The Flames also protected their status among the nation's elite teams, and took a modest one-step climb in the national polls.

UIC, which improved to 9-1-2 on the season, begins this week ranked 12th in the nation acording to Soccer America and 17th in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll. John Trask's Flames are also tenth on the College Soccer News charts and 11th in this week's Soccer Times poll.

The Flames sit atop the national charts in one respect, touting the stingiest defense in all of Division I. UIC has allowed only four goals in 12 matches for a 0.33 goals-against average, limiting opponents to only one goal in the last 604 minutes. Individually, freshman Jovan Bubonja ranks third in the nation with his 0.34 GAA.

UIC also remains third in the NSCAA's Great Lakes Region poll, with the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University (each 8-3-2) keeping their one-two status on that list. Northern Illinois University and the University of Cincinnati round out the region's top five, while the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay made the biggest jump in the region. Tom Poitras' crew moved up three spots to seventh, boasting a 10-3-0 record which includes five consecutive victories and a 4-0-0 League ledger.

The Phoenix features the nation's fourth-leading scorer in senior forward Joshua Okoampa, who has 13 goals and 32 points already this season. Only two players in Division I---Notre Dame's Joseph Lapira (17 goals) and Winthrop University's Saidi Isaac (14)---have hit the net more often than Okoampa, who leads the nation's fifth-ranked scoring offense (2.62 goals per match). UW-Green Bay has out-scored its opponents 12-4 during the five-match winning streak.

The University of Wisconsin (7-4-2) is ahead of UW-Green Bay in sixth position, with Ohio State University (8-5-2), the University of Akron (7-3-1) and Northwestern University (9-4-0) rounding out the region's top ten.

Southern Methodist University remains the unanimous pick as the top team in the nation, entering the week as the nation's last unbeaten squad with only one tie blemishing the Mustangs' 13-match record. The University of Maryland (10-1-1) is second on both the NSCAA and SA charts, with Clemson University (9-2-1) moving up to third on the coaches' list---ahead of the University of Virginia (11-2-0) and Wake Forest University (10-2-1). SA tabs the university of North Carolina (10-2-2) third on its list---13 spots better than the Tar Heels' NSCAA status ---with Duke University (8-2-1) fourth and Wake Forest fifth.

The Phoenix puts its five-match winning streak on the line Friday (Oct. 13), hosting Loyola University Chicago in a showdown between the current League co-leaders. UW-Green Bay and Loyola (9-4-0) are each 4-0-0 in loop play, while UIC is just behind at 3-0-0. The Flames host Northwestern in a regional showdown Wednesday (Oct. 11) before visiting Wright State University on Friday and Butler University on Sunday (Oct. 15).

Note: The major national polls---and the NSCAA Great Lakes Region poll---can be found on in the PDF version of this release.