PLATTEVILLE, Wis. - The newly-ranked No. 26 Ashford University (14-0-2) men's soccer team continued to live up to its billing on the road, shutting out a talented University of Wisconsin-Platteville (8-7-2) squad, 1-0, on Tuesday.

Under first-year Head Coach Richard Markham, the Saints continued to sustain an unbeaten season, racking up their 14th win and as of press time, currently own the most victories out of any team in the entire nation. No. 10 Bethel College (Ind.) and No. 4 University of Maine at Fort Kent each have 13 wins.

In the updated NAIA Top-25 Poll, Ashford garnered 75 total votes, finishing outside the top 25 by a slim margin, ranked just behind Hannibal-LaGrange College (Mo.) who stand at 8-3-1.

"Tonight was a good matchup between two teams who match up very well," Markham said. "We might not be an offensive juggernaut, but we've been able to manufacture goals all year and rely on our defense. This is a very strong win on our schedule to help solidify what we're doing around here at Ashford."

Junior goalkeeper Nick Roman of Belvidere, Ill., pitched his seventh shutout of the season, making six saves while fending off 13 shots. He made a strong bid to become the conference's Defensive Player of the Week for an unprecedented third time in school history.

Coming into today's contest, Ashford ranked in the top 10 in the country in categories like assists (6th, 42), goals scored (7th, 50) and shutouts (4th, 7).

And it took just one goal on the scoreboard for Ashford to come away with another victory and sophomore midfielder Nick De Backer of Antwerp, Belgium, nailed the game's lone score 20 minutes into the first half.

It was the Belgian's sixth goal of the year and second game-winning shot this fall. (See a recent Q&A transcript with De Backer here).

"It was a breakaway, Ved (Ilic) was carrying the ball and he passed it lateral to me and I turned and shot at the goal," described De Backer. "I give him a lot of props because he saw me coming. We played a pretty good team from Div. III with fast forwards. We lost to them last year, so it's good to turn that over and get a "W" this year.

Junior forward Vedran Ilic of Rockford, Ill., continued to be a playmaker from his forward position, recording his ninth assist of the year on De Backer's game winner. He was returning from a pair of inactive games.

Ilic currently leads the Midwest Collegiate Conference in helpers and before today, he was 19th among all NAIA players.

Ashford's defense took over in the second half as the Pioneers fired away nine shots. Roman saved four of those attempts, including a shot in the 83rd minute.

The Saints closed strong on the offensive as Ilic managed a pair of shots on goal against UWP goalkeeper Kris Bosshart. AU's Rafael Machado of Sao Paulo, Brazil and freshman Geraldo Garza of Rockford, Ill., also recorded shots in the final 10 minutes.

Ashford wraps up MCC play on Saturday, facing Clarke College in the second to last game of the regular season. The Saints are hoping that Viterbo University can topple or tie Grand View University on Saturday for a share of the regular-season conference crown.

Even though the Saints haven't moved inside the top 25, Markham doesn't feel any disrespect for his unit and the Saints feel that much more motivated to finish strong against Clarke and Upper Iowa University.

"At the end of the season, if we're fortunate to be ranked in the top 25, that is more rewarding because I know we'll have earned it," Markham said.