Both Central College soccer teams are in action tonight against Buena Vista in Storm Lake.

The Dutch men are off to a good start, with a 9-5 overall record and 3-2 mark in Iowa Conference play.

But they’ve been overshadowed by the women, who are 12-2-1 overall and 4-1 in league play, and made their first ever appearance in the D3Soccer.com Top 25, checking in at number 25.

Women’s coach Mike Kobylinski says that a big part of his team’s success is a five-year journey that’s resulted in greater depth.

“In 2011, we lost to an Iowa Conference team that I won’t mention by a fair amount. Their second 11, at times, outplayed our first 11. I told (assistant coach) Katelin (Gannon) that day that we need to get better and we need to focus on not only our starting 11 but our second 11 as well. If you look at how many players we are rotating through a game, we’re averaging about 24 per match this season. And if you only start 11, that’s essentially another whole team who’s getting the other half of the game.”

Eleven Central women have scored goals this year and a dozen have dished out assists, for a total of 14 players tallying points. They’ve also used three different goalkeepers so far this season.

Today’s action in Storm Lake starts with the women’s game at 4:00 and the men at 6:00.