The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Women's Soccer Ranked No. 10 in NSCAA Southeast Region
9/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 29, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB women's soccer team earned a No. 10 ranking in the Southeast Region of the National Soccer Coaches of America Association's (NSCAA) weekly ratings release on Monday. The Blazers, who currently own a 7-3 overall record and a 3-1 Conference USA mark, are off to their best start since the 1998 campaign.
In 1998, UAB opened the season with a 7-2-1 mark and finished with the program's best overall record of 12-6-2. The Blazers also compiled an 8-3 C-USA record and ended the year tied for third place in the conference.
"This is a big honor for our team and it is good to be recognized by the other coaches from around the nation," said UAB head coach Paul Harbin. "Despite losing a tough match against DePaul on Sunday, I think that we have been playing well this season and we need to continue to improve as we head into the rest of our conference schedule."
Despite losing in double overtime against the C-USA-leading DePaul Blue Demons, 2-1, on Sunday, UAB is tied for third place in the league standings and owns a stellar 6-1 mark against unranked opponents. This season, the Blazers started conference play with a 3-0 record for the first time since 1999 and rattled off five straight victories prior to Sunday's heartbreaking defeat.
UAB joined a host of nationally ranked teams in Monday's updated version of the NSCAA Southeast Regional rankings. North Carolina, the No. 1-ranked team in the country, heads the Southeast Region and is followed by Florida (No. 7 nationally), Wake Forest (No. 10), Duke (No. 18) and Auburn (No. 25).
The Blazers are the only C-USA team ranked in the Southeast Region and are joined by five teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and four from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). UAB shares the No. 10 ranking with Florida Atlantic and is slightly behind the Nos. 6-9 teams: Clemson, Georgia, Florida State and South Carolina.
The UAB women's soccer team will next be in action on Friday, Oct. 10, as the Blazers end a two-week hiatus with a C-USA matchup against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at 4 p.m. in Hattiesburg, Miss.
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2003 NCAA Division I Women NSCAA Southeast Regional Rankings
Rank, School, W-L-T, Previous 1. North Carolina, 11-0-0, 1 2. Florida, 8-1-0, 2 3. Wake Forest, 7-1-1, 6 4. Duke, 7-2-1, 3 5. Auburn, 7-1-1, 4 6. Clemson, 6-2-1, 5 7. Georgia, 7-3-0, 7 8. Florida State, 5-4-0, 10 9. South Carolina, 7-3-1, 9 10. UAB, 7-3-0, -- 10. Florida Atlantic, 7-3-0, 8
