Pride men's soccer remains in NAIA Top 25 in Coaches' Poll No. 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Following a week of back-to-back ranked matchups in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, the Clarke University men's soccer team remains in a similar spot as their previous two rankings at the No. 21 spot in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll released on Wednesday.

Those two matchups last week both came at home when the Pride hosted then No. 5 and now No. 8 William Penn University on Tuesday, Sept. 9 where the Statesmen earned a 2-0 win followed by a Saturday matchup against then No. 14 and now No. 25 Missouri Valley College on Saturday, Sept. 13 where CU and MVC played to a 2-2 draw.

The Heart have six teams within the NAIA Top 25 and one other team receiving votes with MidAmerica Nazarene University ranked No. 2, Grand View University at No. 16, and Baker University at No. 23 along with William Penn, Clarke, and Missouri Valley in the Top 25 and Benedictine College is a team receiving votes.

The Full NAIA Rankings Release can be found here: https://www.naia.org/sports/msoc/2025-26/releases/Poll_2

The Pride are currently holding a 3-1-3 overall record while sitting 1-1-1 in the Heart while producing eight goals in their seven games and only allowed six goals against including a stretch of three-straight shutouts from CU with graduate goalkeeper Lucas Fontana in net as he has allowed five of the six goals against in his six starts for a 0.83 goals against average with 29 total saves for a .853 save percentage.

Offensively, senior Hector Medrano has scored all three of the Pride's goals in conference play, including a two-goal game on Saturday against Missouri Valley with his first goal giving Clarke a 1-0 lead about 90 seconds into the contest then the final tally coming with 15 seconds left in the form of a successful penalty kick attempt.

Medrano leads the team with four goals so far on the season while William Arana and Javi Munoz both have a goal and assist on the season as the only other members of the Pride attack to have multiple scoring plays so far on the season.

In front of Fontana the CU back line has primarily consisted of center backs Carles Aparisi and Nearco Zamorano while Xzavier Campa and Daniel Valverde man the wing back positions to help lead to their current .857 team goals against average.

Clarke men's soccer will play in their third-straight ranked matchup in the Heart when they hit the road for a 5:00 p.m. CT start time against No. 16 Grand View in Des Moines, Iowa.