The Thomas More men’s soccer team has moved up to No. 2 in the national according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of American’s (NSCAA) Division III national poll.
The No. 2 ranking is the highest ranking by a men’s team in Thomas More history. The women’s basketball team has been ranked No. 1, but no men’s team has earned a national ranking of No. 2 or higher.
The Saints, who are coached by first-year head coach Eric Busener, is 16-1-1 overall and posted an undefeated 8-0 record during their Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) regular season. Thomas More has out-scored its opponents by a combined 46-6 margin and have posted eight shutouts. The Saints have out-shot their opponents by a combined margin of 335-172, including 185-70 for a .552 on-goal percentage.
Senior forward Austin Juniet (Fort Thomas, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) leads the team in scoring with 54 points on 16 goals, including six game-winning goals and had 22 assists.
Junior forward Brian Runyon (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) is second on the team in scoring with 44 points on a team-leading 17 goals and 10 assists. Freshman goalkeeper Jeff Paulin (Alexandria, Ky./Bishop Brossart) has played 1381:17 in goal and has a 0.98 goal against average and has 44 saves and four individual shutouts.
Thomas More is the No. 1 seed in this week’s PAC Championship Tournament and hosts No. 4 seed Westminster College in a semifinal match on Wednesday at BB&T Field in Crestview Hills.
From TMC Athletics