Kansas City, Mo. - Making their fourth-straight NAIA National Championship semifinals appearance, the Central Methodist men's soccer team finished third in the NAIA Men's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Postseason poll, announced on Thursday.
Other Heart programs featured in the Top 25 include No. 6 Missouri Valley, No. 8 MidAmerica Nazarene, No. 25 Grand View, and (RV) William Penn.
The Eagles finished the 2021 campaign with a 22-1 overall record, including a 12-0 mark in conference play. Central claimed their fourth-consecutive Heart regular-season championship and third-straight Heart tournament title. In addition, CMU boasted several notable Top 25 wins, highlighted by a 2-1 double-overtime victory against No. 2 Oklahoma Wesleyan back on Oct. 27.
CMU concludes the 2021 season having now been ranked in 49 consecutive polls dating back Sept. 19, 2017. Overall, Central tallied a program-record six NAIA All-Americans, highlighted by three First Team honorees including Stefano Camerlengo, Alessandra Salvadego, and Marcos German. The CMU coaching staff, led by Head Coach Alex Nichols, were tabbed as the United Soccer Coaches Association NAIA Midwest Regional Coaching Staff of the Year.
To view the poll methodology and the complete Top 25 poll, please see below.
Poll Methodology
- The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences, Association of Independent Institutions and Unaffiliated Groups.
- The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second place, and so on through the list.
- The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low rating) is removed and the team's ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appear on.
- Teams that receive only one point on the ballot are not considered "receiving votes"
| RANK | LAST | SCHOOL [FIRST-PLACE VOTES] | RECORD | FINAL POINTS |
| 1 | 6 | Keiser (Fla.) [18] | 16-3-1 | 498 |
| 2 | 4 | Mobile (Ala.) | 18-3-1 | 481 |
| 3 | 1 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 22-1 | 467 |
| 4 | 10 | Columbia (Mo.) | 15-3-3 | 447 |
| 5 | 2 | Oklahoma Wesleyan | 21-3 | 433 |
| 6 | 7 | Missouri Valley | 17-6 | 412 |
| 7 | 9 | Indiana Tech | 18-1-4 | 406 |
| 8 | 18 | MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) | 14-7-1 | 376 |
| 9 | 3 | Mid-America Christian (Okla.) | 19-1-1 | 351 |
| 10 | 25 | Ottawa (Ariz.) | 13-5-1 | 348 |
| 11 | 5 | St. Thomas (Fla.) | 14-1-2 | 335 |
| 12 | 8 | Bellevue (Neb.) | 16-3-2 | 311 |
| 13 | 13 | Rio Grande (Ohio) | 17-3-1 | 302 |
| 14 | 11 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 14-3-2 | 295 |
| 15 | 14 | Dalton State (Ga.) | 13-6-1 | 279 |
| 16 | 12 | William Carey (Miss.) | 15-4 | 233 |
| 17 | 23 | CIU (S.C.) | 17-3 | 230 |
| 18 | 17 | Vanguard (Calif.) | 15-4-1 | 226 |
| 19 | 22 | Lyon (Ark.) | 15-5-1 | 191 |
| 20 | NR | Florida National | 9-5-2 | 178 |
| 21 | 16 | Milligan (Tenn.) | 15-3-1 | 154 |
| 22 | NR | Bethel (Ind.) | 16-5-2 | 124 |
| 22 | 15 | Georgia Gwinnett | 9-6-1 | 124 |
| 24 | 19 | Oregon Tech | 17-1-3 | 116 |
| 25 | 24 | Grand View (Iowa) | 11-6-2 | 114 |
Dropped from the poll: Northwestern (Iowa); Cumberland (Tenn.)
Receiving Votes: Cumberland (Tenn.) 109; Northwestern (Iowa) 107; Marymount California 79; Houston-Victoria (Texas) 45; William Penn (Iowa) 35; McPherson (Kan.) 30; Tennessee Wesleyan 21; Cumberlands (Ky.) 16; Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 15; Hastings (Neb.) 15; Warner Pacific (Ore.) 13; Arizona Christian 7; University of Northwestern Ohio 7
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