Sorry...you're right. I misread that.

On the other hand, Vassar had a better record and a better SOS but no quality wins with one quality tie...should they have been in over Hamilton???

I'm a Great Lakes follower. Was told SOS was a huge factor in the regional rankings this year...straight from the committee itself. But you gotta wonder how that distort things. WashU is the clear outlier in the regional picks, and was probably the last pool C bid in the Central/Great Lakes area, which seem to have some overlap in the selection process. Great strength of schedule (.694) but out of 10 games against ranked teams (which clearly builds a strength of schedule) they only won 3) and, they end up with a bid...but that's the way it works...also it's very difficult (i'm told) to move across regions...there are geographic considerations in building the bracket which is probably why Hamilton got in, for instance, even it's strenght of schedule wasn't all that great and they were 0-2 against ranked teams.

On other other side of the coin and in support of the importance of SOS, look at Thomas More in the Great Lakes ... undefeated 14-0-4...but a .494 SOS and they only played one ranked team which they beat...no bid...go figure.

Of particular interest to me in the Great Lakes was Wooster...they dropped one spot in the regional rankings last week (from 3rd to 4th) even though they tied a ranked team in tournament (Lost in PKs)and only lost one of it's last eight games...Centre which lost three of tis last four games, rose up to 3, from I believe it was 6th...but still no bid for Centre either, by all accounts, a really good team.

There's always going to be folks who are upset by the process of selection (look at hte BCS mess) but it seems there are other factors, perhaps political, that come into play.

You're right...I missed those points of distinction...happy to just to have an opportunity to weigh in on women's soccer referees. And, I agree five is too high a limit...two is probably too low, but three certainly falls within a "pattern of behavior" that would warrant a suspension for a game...I'd just be happy to know that an out-of-control studs up tackle would bring out the cards...seen it happen too many times with not even a whistle.

i know this isn't my "region." i'm a Great lakes "dad." but let me tell you what i did last year after the Elizabeth LAmbert incident. i wrote to a d3 soccer board member on the rules committee, a well-respected coach from a top team who had recruited my daughter--(she didn't attend that school, but the coach remembered her and me.) I described a series of events last year with referees in my daughter's games that i thought were indicative of the way referees called women's soccer games...two incidents were clear red cards, and so many were yellow cards it was laughable...my daughter's team had a total of -- guess how many -- ZERO yellow cards for the entire season, and only three called on their opponents. That is simply not possible. Women's collegiate referees don't call things like pushing down from behind, even late tackles...this coach acknowledged several things--refs don't like to call yellow cards because they are dependent on home coaches for their getting called to games, and at some level, there is a basic sexist attitude--girls can't be that rough because they are girls. The coach told me that it was topic of high importance for the committee before the 2010 season...so maybe what you're seeing isn't just a rougher than normal team, but calls being made that should have been made for years. hell, my daughter is a 5.8 and weighs more than 150 pounds...that's the size of small school football halfback...she can hurt people at full speed...i've seen more yellow cards in her conference this year too, and more than one on her own team...as it should be...i've still seen a couple of games where the referee allowed way too much, and in each case it led to a very rough finish to the contest...hey, why not, if you're not get carded for excessive physicality why not do it...so it really may be a case of a 'new world' in refereeing at the women's collegiate soccer level...that would be the good news...no ever really blamed the ref for the Elizabeth Lambert situation...she would have been gone from an English Premier league game, or even a D1 men's soccer game, long before it reached the point it did..so, if a player gets suspended after five yellows...yes...that would be great news.