Men's Soccer ranked No. 15 in United Soccer Coaches preseason poll
By Tim Glon
| United Soccer Coaches Division III Top 25 Poll – Preseason |
ADA — The Ohio Northern men's soccer team is ranked No. 15 in the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division III Top 25 preseason poll of the 2024 season.
The poll is the same as the 2023 final poll by the United Soccer Coaches.
The Polar Bears finished the 2023 season with a 13-6-4 overall record and were second in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 7-1-1 mark in conference play under sixth-year head coach Chris Matejka.
They won the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship for the eighth time in program history and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament for the second straight year and fifth time overall.
The Polar Bears played six games this season against teams ranked in the final poll in No. 6 Colorado College, No. 11 Calvin (Mich.), No. 18 Messiah (Pa.), No. 19 Kenyon and No. 23 Ohio Wesleyan and two others against teams in the "also receiving votes" category in North Central (Ill.) and John Carroll.
Northern opened its NCAA Tournament run this year by advancing past host Lynchburg (Va.) in a penalty kick shootout before defeating then-No. 1 Messiah 1-0.
In the Sweet 16, the Polar Bears fell 1-0 to Colorado College at host Tufts (Mass.) in a rematch of a regular-season game that ended in a 1-1 draw in Ada.
United Soccer Coaches Top 25 - Preseason
Aug. 6, 2024
| Rank | School | Last | Final 2023 Record |
| 1. | St. Olaf (Minn.) | 1 | 20-3-3 |
| 2. | Amherst (Mass.) | 2 | 16-3-4 |
| 3. | Washington & Lee (Va.) | 3 | 15-4-6 |
| 4. | Washington (Md.) | 4 | 13-3-6 |
| 5. | Middlebury (Vt.) | 5 | 14-2-4 |
| 6. | Colorado College | 6 | 15-3-3 |
| 7. | Chicago (Ill.) | 7 | 11-3-6 |
| 8. | Connecticut College | 8 | 12-2-6 |
| 9. | Mary Washington (Va.) | 9 | 18-1-2 |
| 10. | Tufts (Mass.) | 10 | 14-4-3 |
| 11. | Calvin (Mich.) | 11 | 18-2-2 |
| 12. | Montclair State (N.J.) | 12 | 19-2-1 |
| 13. | SUNY Cortland | 13 | 15-2-2 |
| 14. | Occidental (Calif.) | 14 | 15-3-3 |
| 15. | Ohio Northern | 15 | 13-6-4 |
| 16. | Wisconsin-Eau Claire | 16 | 13-5-2 |
| 17. | Franklin & Marshall (Pa.) | 17 | 14-3-3 |
| 18. | Messiah (Pa.) | 18 | 20-1-1 |
| 19. | Kenyon | 19 | 16-4-1 |
| 20. | Emory (Ga.) | 20 | 12-3-4 |
| 21. | Carleton (Minn.) | 21 | 15-3-2 |
| 22. | Case Western Reserve | 22 | 10-3-3 |
| 23. | Ohio Wesleyan | 23 | 13-6-1 |
| 24. | Johns Hopkins (Md.) | 24 | 13-5-4 |
| 25. | SUNY Oneonta | 25 | 15-4-3 |
Also receiving votes: Wisconsin-Platteville, Trinity (Texas), Christopher Newport (Va.), Babson (Mass.), North Central (Ill.), Rochester (N.Y.), Stevens (N.J.), Pacific Lutheran (Wash.), John Carroll, Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.).