Ashland University's women's soccer team once again is the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II, as, on Tuesday (Oct. 17) afternoon, the United Soccer Coaches have the Eagles in the No. 1 spot in the weekly Top 25 NCAA Division II women's soccer poll for the sixth consecutive week.
Entering Tuesday afternoon's game at Northwood (10-2-2, 9-0-1), Ashland was 12-0-1 overall and 8-0-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Eagles also will play Findlay (8-3-2, 8-1-0) this week, on Saturday (Oct. 21) at 4 p.m. on the road.
Ashland has outscored its opponents 38-3 in the first 13 games of 2023, has had 13 different players score a goal and has had 15 different players score at least one point.
As of Monday (Oct. 16), AU was one of just 11 undefeated teams in the country, and the Eagles were seventh in D-II in corner kicks per game (7.31) and tied for ninth in total goals (38). Individually, senior goalkeeper
Mackenzie Simon is fourth in the nation in goals-against average (0.24) and save percentage (.923), and has the third-most shutouts (eight), while sophomore forward
Dani Hicks is tied for third-most game-winning goals (four) in D-II.
MasseyRatings.com has Ashland women's soccer at No. 3 in the country.
Regional rankings for NCAA Division II women's soccer will be released on Oct. 25 (alphabetical) and Nov. 1 and 8 (rank order). The D-II women's soccer postseason selection show will be Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m.
2023 ASHLAND UNIVERSITY UNITED SOCCER COACHES RANKINGS: No. RV (preseason), No. 16 (Sept. 5), No. 1 (Sept. 12, Sept. 19, Sept. 26, Oct. 3, Oct. 10 and Oct. 17).