After an exceptional performance at the St. Louis Classic this past weekend, where the girls soccer team went 3-0 to win the championship in their bracket, the program has been ranked 21st nationally according to Girls Spring FAB 50 polls. Head coach Rick Pribyl said the biggest thing about the new rankings is that there are four Kansas City area teams in the top 25. According to the FAB 50 website, this speaks volumes to the area’s soccer programs.

St. Teresa’s Academy is ranked first, and the Huskies suffered their only loss to the Stars during the St. Thomas Aquinas (STA)  hosted MOKAN tournament earlier this season. STA is ranked 12th nationally, and Kearney HS trails close behind the Huskies at a No. 22 rank.

“Our only loss came from St. Teresa’s in a penalty kick, so they didn’t score any other way,” Pribyl said. “We couldn’t score on them and they couldn’t score on us. So that was a great game.”

According to senior Scout Watson, the program deserves the ranking and they have worked hard and improved greatly over the past few years.

“I was really excited and proud of the team,” Watson said. “It’s a well deserved thing. We’ve done really well. We haven’t played too many EKL teams, but when we have, we’ve won. So we’ll wait and see what the rest of the season brings.”

According to Pribyl, a huge factor in BVNW’s national rank comes from how the team did in St. Louis. During the tournament, the Huskies defeated a previously No. 4 ranked St. Joseph’s team, 4-0 and got goals from four different players during the win.

“We destroyed St. Louis soccer,” Pribyl said. “The girls were the ones who did it, I just sat there and smiled. You could tell how big the victories were by the singing and laughter on the bus trip home for four hours. It was a good thing.”

There are three websites across the United States that run national ranks, Pribyl said, and they are normally pretty reliable. Coaches across the nation that are aware of how different soccer team’s are doing vote for the rankings, and Pribyl said he did not know who the voting coaches were.

“I feel nothing [about being nationally ranked] really,” Pribyl said. “It’s more for mom and dad back-yard bragging, that’s all it is. It’s good PR for our program. It’s about this school, that’s what it’s really about. When you get nationally ranked, people start to recognize BVNW. OK, in this case it’s about soccer, but it could be about anything … Our season is going well. We’re showing up for games.”