Wisconsin Soccer Central

The wins keep coming and Milwaukee Marquette keeps moving up the national prep boys soccer rankings.

The Hilltoppers (16-0-0) inched up one spot to No. 2 in the ESPN RISE Fab 50 and rose two places to No. 4 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings this week.

Marquette won all three of its matches last weekend at the Gateway City Classic in O'Fallon, Ill., beating Lake Forest Academy (Ill.) 4-1, Evansville Reitz Memorial (Ind.) 2-0 and St. Louis Vianney (Mo.) 4-0.

The Hilltoppers close out Greater Metro Conference play tonight against Wauwatosa East – they've already clinched the title – before heading to California to close out the regular season against two of the nation's best teams.

On Friday, Marquette plays Granite Bay (11-2-3), ranked 27th by ESPN RISE and among the other teams receving votes in this week's NSCAA poll.

Then Saturday, the Hilltoppers face Carmichael Jesuit (13-1-2), which was ranked first in the country most of the season before having a 70-game unbeaten streak ended last weekend at the Gateway City Classic. The Maruaders, who recently had two top players leave the team to play club soccer and lost another to injury, are ranked ninth by the NSCAA and 19th by ESPN RISE.

• Marquette continues to be ranked first in the NSCAA Region VI poll, while Middleton (16-2-1) remained sixth. The Cardinals lost to St. Louis DeSmet 2-1 in their opener at the Gateway City Classic, but bounced back to beat Zionsville (Ind.) 2-1 and Louisville Ballard (Kent.) 4-2 at the elite event. Brookfield East (15-3-0) is ranked eighth in the region, Waukesha West (17-1-3) is 12th and Neenah (13-3-1) is 14th.
• Elkhorn won the Southern Lakes Conference title for the first time in the program's 23-year history. The Elks (17-2 overall) went 7-0-0 in the regular season, then beat Lake Geneva Badger 4-0 and Delavan-Darien 3-1 in last week's conference tournament.
• Oregon got past second-place Milton 2-1 in overtime last Tuesday to clinch its third straight perfect season in the Southern Badger Conference. The Panthers (11-2-0, 6-0-0) haven't lost in conference play since 2008, outscoring opponents 44-4 in winning their past 18 Southern Badger matches.
• Seeding meetings for the WIAA tournament started last week and the final ones are scheduled for Wednesday. The tournament kicks off Saturday with three regional quarterfinals in Division 2 and four in Division 3, but the vast majority of teams will start the postseason Tuesday with regional semifinals.