SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College men’s soccer team (16-2-1, 10-1 GPAC) holds the No. 20 ranking again this week in the final National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) rankings of the 2021 playing season, the national office announced this morning.
Program records continue to be drawn this season, as the Raiders first entered the national poll for the first time in program history back on Sept. 29. This week now marks the seventh-straight week the Raiders have been ranked nationally, with the highest-ranking being No. 19.
Juan Mackrey (Sr., Badlcare, Argentina/Georgia Military College) continues to lead the squad with 11 goals on the season, followed by Niklas Fitter (Fr., Sankt Augustin, Germany/Rhein Sieg Gymnasium) who has seven. Stan van den Beld (Fr. Voorhout, Netherlands/Rijnlands Lyceum Sassenheim) has assisted on a team-high six goals this season, while both Brennan Haggerty (Sr., Freeman, S.D./Freeman Academy) and Luc Roelofs (So., Nederasselt, Netherlands/Kandinksy College) both have five assists.
The Raiders have secured their bid to the NAIA national tournament, winning the bid with the regular season title, owning the head-to-head matchup with the co-champions of Briar Cliff. The team will find out where they will head for the first round when the NAIA announces the field on Monday, Nov. 15 at 12:00 p.m. (CT) on the NAIA Facebook page.
Northwestern will look to secure the program’s second-ever GPAC conference tournament title Thursday night when they play host to No. 3-seed Hastings in the tournament championship match from the NWC Soccer Complex, a repeat of the 2007 final.
