The St. Thomas Tommies men's soccer team hopes to rise to the occasion this year.
The Tommies, a perennial powerhouse within the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association, recently completed a fourth straight unbeaten regular season with an 11-0-1 record and hit new heights in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association rankings in the process.
The latest Top 10 rankings list the Tommies fourth overall in the country, behind only the Humber College Hawks of Toronto, Keyano College of Fort McMurray, AB, and Langara College of Vancouver.
The Tommies will host the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association National Tournament on the Grant-Harvey turf Nov. 6-9.
It's the first time in program history the Tommies have been ranked as high as fourth, rising from 15th in the first rankings in September.
"The program-best ranking is one of many goals we had set out for ourselves this season and so to achieve it is great," Tommies head coach John-Ryan Morrison said.
"Dating back to October 2019 we have 50 regular season games without a loss, so it's just national recognition of a great team from a small school on the east coast that has consistently been one of the top programs in the country."
Humber College, leading the Ontario Conference West Division with a 9-0-1 record, and on an eight-game winning streak, has held the top ranking for three weeks in a row, outscoring opponents 38-3 in the process.
But the Tommies numbers compare: they completed the regular season with an 11-0-1 record and have outscored opponents 36-3 overall.
"We have established a culture of hard work and dedication in the team, pushing everyone to get better every day," said third-year Tommie Samuel Choiniere. "Being a top team in the country put a target on our back for playoffs and shows that we earned our place to compete on home soil at nationals in November."
Crandall University will host the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association championship tournament Oct. 25-27. While the Tommies have their sights set on the conference title, regardless of the result they will host and compete against the top teams in the country at the CCAA National Championship, November 6-9 at the Grant-Harvey turf.
