Dominican men's soccer jumps up in the national rankings

Release courtesy of Dominican University, Sports Information Department
River Forest, Ill.. -- As one of just 28 undefeated NCAA Division III men's soccer teams remaining in the country, the Dominican University men's soccer program climbed in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's national poll from 14th last week to 11th this week.

The Stars, ranked second in the region behind national powerhouse Trinity University (TX), have outscored their opponents by an impressive 33-5 margin. Sophomores Matt Kochanowski (Arlington Heights, IL) and Plamen Pamukov (Addison, IL) along with freshman Arnes Rodriguez (Rosemont, IL) have led the Stars' high-powered offense. The young talented trio has accounted for 24 of the Stars' 33 goals and 15 of the team's assists this season.

Kochanowski, named to the D3Kicks.com Team of the Week this week, tallied six goals and two assists in a pair of Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) contests last week. To date, the 5'10" forward leads the team in points (26), goals (10) and assists (6).

Defensively, junior Elvin Perez (Chicago, IL) and sophomore goalkeeper Piotr Sliwa (Chicago, IL) have helped the Stars to a goals against average of 0.83. Sliwa, who has appeared in all six games for the Stars, has an even more impressive 0.45 goals against average, allowing just two goals in almost 400 minutes in goal.

Before returning to NAC play on Saturday against Concordia University (WI), the Stars will host University of Chicago at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday.