KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Peninsula College women’s and men’s soccer teams can add another major accolade to their lengthy list of accomplishments this season.
The NWAC-champion women finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation among Div. II community colleges by the United Soccer Coaches organization. The men, fellow NWAC champions, finished the season ranked No. 2 in Div. II.
It was the second time the women finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation. The last time they did it was in 2021, when they also won the NWAC championship and also shattered all kinds of offensive and defensive records.
“It’s just been a magical year,” said women’s coach Kanyon Anderson.
Anderson said the team’s biggest goal every year is winning the NWAC more than national rankings, but it’s a nice exclamation point to cap off a successful season.
“I don’t know what to make of it. It’s a nice accolades to a group that put everything it had into this season. It’s a reward for the hard work that they’ve done. It’s another indication of what an amazing group this is,” Anderson said.
The women finished the season with a perfect 15-0-0 record, allowing a mere four goals all season and outscoring their opponents 74-4. The Peninsula College women are the only team in the top 20 nationally that is unbeaten.
Anderson said there is one other unbeaten team he knows of, Northwestern Mississippi College, but they are not a member of the USC organization.
The women started out the season ranked No. 6 in the preseason poll by the USC but steadily climbed the rankings all season as they just kept winning every game. The Pirates moved up to No. 2 in the Week 4 poll, then reached No. 1 in the Week 6 poll, remaining there to the postseason poll.
The men also climbed in the rankings all season. They began the season ranked No. 5, actually dropped down to No. 6 at one point despite being unbeaten at the time, then entered postseason ranked No. 5. They leapfrogged three other teams to finish No. 2 in the nation by winning the NWAC championship and not allowing any goals in the postseason while doing so.
The Peninsula men finished the season with a record of 15-1-2. Only two other teams in the top 20 had just one loss. Columbia Basin finished 11-0-4, but lost a game in a shootout in the postseason, which counts in standings as a draw.
The No. 1 team in the nation was Northeast Community College (21-1-3) in Norfolk, Neb.
Five teams from the NWAC made the top 20, with three of those teams from Peninsula’s North Region. Walla Walla (15-3-4), which Peninsula beat in the semifinals 1-0, finished fifth, and Columbia Basin finished seventh. Skagit Valley (9-8) finished 17th and Whatcom (9-7-1) finished 18th. The Pirates went 4-0 against Skagit Valley and Whatcom.
There were no other NWAC teams in the national women’s poll.
