The Misericordia University women's soccer team will enter the NCAA Tournament as the number one team in the country.

After capturing the MAC Freedom title last weekend, the Cougars moved up two spots in the d3soccer.com poll and became the first Misericordia team in any sport to earn a number one national ranking.

Misericordia is 18-1 and has been ranked within the Top 10 throughout the season.

The Cougars were ranked ninth initially and moved up to seventh after an 8-0 start.

MU dropped to 10^th after suffering its only loss of the season, but the Cougars rebounded with nine straight wins and have climbed steadily up the poll over the last five weeks.

"It's a great accomplishment for this group of young women and our program," said veteran head coach Mark Stauffer, who recently earned his 300^th career win.  "They have worked extremely hard over the last two years to get to this point and are very deserving of any recognition they get."

The Cougars are battle-tested and have earned the ranking after playing one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation.  MU is 5-1 against teams that qualified for this year's NCAA Tournament and is 8-1 against nationally-ranked teams.

"Each year, our intent is to put together one of the toughest non-conference slates in order to prepare us for November," said Stauffer.  "I'm excited to watch this group move along in their postseason quest.  All we ask them to do is to give their very best each and every day and they have totally embraced that."

Again, Stauffer is quick to point out that the success of this year's team didn't happen overnight.  "This is an accomplishment that all alumni and current members of our program had a hand in," said Stauffer.  "I can't thank the hundreds of players that have been part of this program enough for the time they put in to help us reach this achievement."

The Cougars have made several deep NCAA Tournament runs throughout Stauffer's tenure, including a Final Four, an Elite 8 and two Sweet 16 appearances and this year's team hopes to add to that resume.

While the lofty ranking is exciting, Stauffer and his squad are more concerned where they stand in three weeks.  "Our student-athletes prepare every day in their detail-oriented training," said Stauffer.  "If they continue to do that, the results will continue to take care of themselves."