Concord remains fourth in Super Region One NPI
By Wes McKinney, Concord Sports
INDIANAPOLIS – The Concord University men’s soccer team is ranked fourth in the second release of the NCAA Power Index (NPI) for Super Region One as it was announced Monday morning.
The Mountain Lions were fourth for the second straight week as Charleston took over the top spot from Southern New Hampshire. Davis & Elkins moved to second while SNHU was ahead CU at four. Gannon, Millersville, Franklin Pierce, Mercy, Queens (N.Y.) and Shepherd rounded out the top 10. The top two NCAA Tournament bubble teams from Super Region One this week were East Stroudsburg and Bridgeport.
Concord was 18th nationally in this week’s NPI ratings. CU heads into the final three games of the regular season with a record of 10-2-2 overall and 9-1 in the Mountain East Conference as it is tied for first in the MEC South with 27 points.
Each conference in Super Region One, Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, East Coast Conference, Mountain East Conference, Northeast-10 and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, will receive an automatic bid for the conference champion followed by the top five at-large teams in the NPI remaining in Super Region One.
The next NPI ratings for men’s soccer will be released Monday, October 26.
NPI is taking the place of the old regional rankings system that determined teams advancing to the NCAA Tournament in previous years. Sport committees will continue to select and bracket teams regionally. However, the Championships Committee is committed to a review of bracketing principles as part of the new Division II operating plan, which will be released in January 2026. If adopted, NPI could be used to evaluate the placement of teams to balance strength more evenly across the bracket.
Why NPI?
The NPI is a system that objectively applies the selection criteria to the data based on the sport committee’s established weighted criteria. NPI is a combination of the following: winning percentage; strength of schedule; home-away multiplier; quality win bonus; overtime results (when relevant); and minimum wins. One benefit of the NPI is that all data will be analyzed, and the criteria will be applied objectively to establish the championships field (the at-large berths remaining after AQs are awarded). Additionally, based on this objective analysis, teams will know how they compare against other teams in their region and nationally.
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