KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the first time under the direction of head coach Dan Swier, the Northwestern College men’s soccer team is receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches’ Poll. In the first installment of the regular season rankings, the 3-1 men’s soccer team received five votes.
Northwestern picked up three straight victories to begin the 2021 campaign, defeating Hannibal-LaGrange (2-1), (RV) Missouri Baptist (2-1), and Clarke (1-0). The win against the Spartans of Missouri Baptist came when they were receiving votes themselves. Since the defeat to the Raiders, the Spartans have fallen out of the rankings and are no longer receiving votes.
The only loss of the season so far for the Raiders came to a solid William Penn team who also is receiving votes in this week’s poll, checking in with 43 votes.
In 376 minutes in the net so far this season, junior keeper Ezekiel Foltz (Sioux Center, Iowa/Sioux Center) has only allowed five goals and tallied 13 saves to help the Raiders jump out to a 3-1 start this season. Juan Mackrey (Sr., Balcare, Argentina/Georgia Military College) leads the squad in both goals scored (3) and points (6), while Stan van den Beld (Fr., Voorhout, Netherlands/Rijnlands Lyceum Sassenheim) leads the team with nine total shots and five shots on goal.
GPAC in the polls:
RV(29) – Morningside Mustangs (1-1, 0-0 GPAC)
RV(5) – Northwestern Red Raiders (3-1, 0-0 GPAC)
The (RV) Raiders are back in action this evening as they travel to battle the Panthers of York College with a 5:00 p.m. kickoff from York, Neb.
