UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The NSCAA coaches poll was released late Tuesday (Dec. 6) night and the Nittany Lion women’s soccer team was voted eighth in the year-end ranking. PSU finishes 2011 with its highest ranking in the NSCAA poll since 2006 when the Lions were pegged seventh.
Penn State finished a season ranked for the 15th time in 18 years, including the 11th time it was ranked in the top 10. The eight-place ranking is the highest in the five-year tenure of head coach Erica Walsh, led Penn State to its 14th straight Big Ten title and will return eight starters next year.
Penn State finished the 2011 season in 21-5-0 with an NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance, falling to national semifinalist Wake Forest, who was ranked fourth by the NSCAA. Stanford won the national championship on Sunday, 1-0, over Duke, as the two teams were voted first and second, respectively. The defending national champion Cardinal are scheduled to visit Happy Valley this upcoming season for an August match. Stanford and PSU met in the 2011 season opener in Palo Alto.
Other 2011 opponents in the final poll included No. 6 Virginia, No. 12 Central Florida, No. 16 Marquette, No. 18 West Virginia and No. 19 Illinois. In all, Penn State went 4-4 against Top 25 opponents in 2011.
The Nittany Lions were unranked in the preseason NSCAA poll and made the third-largest leap, from 26th-most votes to eighth, in the standings. Duke (unranked with 27th-most votes to second) and Memphis (unranked with 31st-most votes to ninth) were the only teams to make better rises through the polls. UCF, Long Beach State, Virginia Tech and Louisville finished the year ranked after not receiving any preseason votes.
