Listen to La Salle soccer coach Mario Pereira give Journal sports writer Carolyn Thornton his take on the Rams' placement in the national and regional rankings.

Listen to La Salle soccer coach Mario Pereira talk to Journal sports writer Carolyn Thornton about his team's 1-1 tie with North Kingstown.

Last week, the La Salle boys soccer team was ranked fifth in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's national high school rankings and first in the Region I poll.

After suffering back-to-back losses to Chariho and South Kingstown - which incidentally was the first time a La Salle team has lost two in a row, coach Mario Pereira estimates, in about eight years - the Rams disappeared from the latest national rankings, released on Tuesday and dropped to eighth in the regional rankings.

On the strength of its 8-0-1 start, North Kingstown, meanwhile, climbed into the 25th spot in the national poll and jumped four spots, from seventh to third, in the regional rankings.

Following his team's 1-1 tie with the Skippers tonight at North Kingstown, Pereira gave his take on his team's place in the rankings: ``I think what people don't understand is all these rankings and all these things that's happened to La Salle over the last month or so, I think it's all from tradition,'' said Pereira, whose club won six-straight Division I State Championships before Mt. Hope ended the streak by defeating the Rams in last year's semifinal round. ``I mean, they have to put someone on them, and the fact that we got off to a really good start, it's flattering and we're very happy about it, but it's something that we all recognize as not being really realistic.''