Quote from: soc4life on September 22, 2011, 11:52:07 AM
What is going on with Wheaton this year? I know they have played a bit of a rough schedule, but play a little defense boys.

I haven't kept up like in years past, but the usual Wheaton supporters are pretty quiet these days... I would love to hear what's going on over in the Thunder's camp?

I can hardly believe my eyes, but in the latest NSCAA regional ranking, Augustana is ahead of Wheaton.  I wonder if that has ever been said before.  I haven't seen either team play this year, but I've seen them both plenty in the last several years, and I didn't see this coming.  Personally, I won't believe it until Augie beats Wheaton, but hey - it's still fun to say.

By the way, Augie has finally added live video of both Men's and Women's soccer for home games from new Thorson-Lucken Field. http://www.augustana.edu/x12786.xml

I'm not sure which of the above is more shocking. 

CCIW schools Augustana and Elmhurst will join Carthage with lacrosse teams as well. 

Interesting with the MIAA forming their own conference, as three of those teams currently play in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference.  What would have been a 14 team conference next season (2012-2013), is already going to be down to 11 with the MIAA schools going out on their own.  This will probably be the norm as more and more schools add lacrosse to the list of varsity sports and the traditional conferences begin to sponsor it.  The Northern Athletic Conference will have four with Aurora, Benedictine, Concordia Wisconsin and MSOE. 

There are surely more to come in the next few years.

Quote from: BunchTime on March 04, 2011, 10:21:14 AM
Webster fan here traveling up to Rock Island today...any good recommendations for dinner?  How is the nightlife in Rock Island?  Any good spots on a Friday night?

There are actually many good restaurants in the QC, but my favorite is Bass Street Chop House on River Drive in Moline.  It's only about 5 minutes from campus and is excellent.  Nice wine list too.

As for nightlife, there are several brew pubs that are pretty good, and don't forget about the riverboats.

Quote from: 2xfaux on November 09, 2010, 04:32:40 PM
Thanks DIIIdad, I will check it out.  I have to tell you I just filled in my bracket picks and sadly I have Augie losing to Wheaton in the second round(tough draw for Augie).  The good news is I have no idea in these first couple of rounds, however I have picked the eventual winner correctly in two of the last three years . Good luck.  Go Augie..

Wheaton will be tough for anyone to beat, though they are beatable.  Although Augie did lose to them 4-1 earlier in the conference season, it was a 2-1 game until very late.  Augie only gave up 9 goals all year, with 4 of them coming in that game against Wheaton.  Three of the goals were off of corners, and the fourth was a restart from just inside the corner spot.  That defensive lapse was definitely an anomaly for a very strong defensive team.  The bigger problem for Augie is the lack of scoring.  If they advance, I see a lot of OT games going to PK's.

Hopefully the ladies aren't even thinking about Wheaton right now.  Carleton is a good team on a roll, going 13-0-2 in their last 15 games.

Quote from: 2xfaux on November 09, 2010, 02:37:55 PM
While I have heard of the odd year/even year rule I can't find it.  Does someone have that link?

http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/soccer/2010/10_3_w_soccer.pdf

Look to the bottom of page 8 in the handbook (or page 5 if you arrow down the pdf page).

Quote from: sflzman on November 08, 2010, 08:13:55 PM

Quote from: DIIIdad on November 08, 2010, 05:30:43 PM

Quote from: sflzman on November 06, 2010, 10:17:35 AM

You wouldn't give the defending national champs an at-large bid if they were ranked 12?

What does Messiah have to do with this conversation? 

Oops  meant defending national champ runner-ups

I know - I was just busting your chops.  Sorry.

Quote from: sflzman on November 06, 2010, 10:17:35 AM

You wouldn't give the defending national champs an at-large bid if they were ranked 12?

What does Messiah have to do with this conversation? 

The Messiah men are hosting 1st/2nd Round as this is an even year.  Assuming they advance to Sectionals, the women host Sectionals in even years and the men would be away.

Wesleyan wins in PK's.

The Augie bus is on its way to IWU for tonight's conference semi-final.  There will be no tie tonight, although I wouldn't be surprised if this goes to PK's.

Quote from: Knight2Day on October 29, 2010, 11:15:29 AM

On the subject of Wheaton, it's interesting to see how well they are doing especially in the national polls compared to Calvin. Calvin showed in beating the Thunder earlier this season that they can play with anybody, it's just a matter of which team shows up, the one who beats Wheaton, or the one who out shoots K-zoo 14-7 and loses 1-0. 

Having seen Wheaton play several times this year, early on and of late, I can safely say that they certainly figured "it" out as the season progressed. 

I have seen Augie play Kzoo, Calvin, Loras, Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan this year.  IWU, Wheaton, Loras and Augie are all in the top 8 in this site's top 25 poll, but Wheaton is clearly the cream of this crop as of right now.  Augie only gave up 8 goals all season, and 4 of those were to Wheaton in one game.  I'm not saying they're unbeatable, but I wouldn't want to play them in the NCAA's. 

Wheaton at IWU, likely for the CCIW regular season championship. 

The CCIW tournament field is set with Wheaton, IWU, Augie and Millikin.  The only question that remains is the final order.  Millikin finishes at Wheaton, so they will likely finish 4-3 and in 4th.  Augie hosts North Central tonight and finishes at Elmhurst on Saturday.  Two wins would put them at 5-1-1, whereas two losses would put them at 3-3-1.  Of course, given their lack of scoring this season, the more likely scenario is two ties, putting them at 3-1-3.  Either way, they would need help to move into second, as IWU currently holds the second tie breaker of goal differential in conference at +10 (Augie is only at +2).  Augie would need Wheaton to put a big number on the board tonight, as well as themselves putting up big numbers against their two remaining opponents for any hope of moving into second place. 

With all of that, I predict the following final order:

1. Wheaton
2. IWU
3. Augie
4. Millikin

We'll see...

This was a nice bounce back for Augie against a quality team.  The game was like a track meet up and down the field both ways.  It was statistically even with Augie outshooting IWU 13-12 and shots on goal 5-4, with IWU holding a 2-1 edge in corners. 

After seeing Wheaton and IWU, I'll be surprised if Wheaton loses on Wednesday.  But, anything can happen in a CCIW match. 

Apparently they got it right. Wheaton dominated every phase of the game in a 4-1 beatdown.

Augie is at Wheaton this Wednesday (20th) and hosts IWU on the 23rd.  Wheaton and IWU play at IWU on the 27th.