Half my prediction is complete with Lynchburg and Williams advancing to the final.  Still holding firm with champion prediction of Lynchburg... even with slow starts feel there is just too much fire power... but love to see Williams pull the upset too.  2-0 final prediction

I've had the chance to see Lynchburg, JHU & Illinois Wesleyan play either live or on video.  I've not seen Williams play, but, know a great deal about their players, coach and history.  So, my opinion is based on those things.  Of course it is just my opinion, but, the attacking presence that Lynchburg brings would appear to be very difficult for IWU or JHU to deal with defensively.  Thus, that is why I feel the way I do.

But, who knows what will happen.... afterall it's soccer! 

With all due respect to all of the teams involved in the Final Four I would be amazed if Lynchburg does go somewhat comfortably through to the National Championship.  I commented in the Elite Eight I thought the winner of Mess v Lynch would be the title holder and I think that is still going to ring true.

HOWEVER, if there is an upset I would go with Williams sneaking it out for the title.... either way should be a fun weekend!

At one time Purple Centre was also Great Lakes Region, but, that said I think it is pretty representative of where competitive teams in the NCAA Tournament have come from in the past few years.

In the past 5 Final Fours:[/b]
2013:  Wm Smith (East ) , Trinity (West), Middlebury (New England), Capital (Great Lakes)
2012:  Messiah (Mid Atlantic), Emory (South Atlantic), Misercordia (Mid Atlantic) Wheaton (Central)
2011:  Messiah (Mid Atlantic), Wheaton (Central), Ithica (East), Wm Smith (East )
2010:  Hardin Simmons (West), Messiah (Mid Atlantic), Otterbein (Great Lakes), Wm Smith (East )
2009:  Messiah (Mid Atlantic), Wash U (Central), Lynchburg (South Atlantic), TCNJ (South Atlantic)

Thats: 
Mid Atlantic (5) - 2 teams / East (4) - 2 teams / South Atlantic (3) - 3 teams / Central (3) - 2 teams / Great Lakes (2) - 2 teams / West (2) - 2 teams / New England (1) - 1 team

Messiah was very impressive this weekend!  Their speed of play was superior to anyone Capital has played in a long time but it was their defensive pressence that put the Crusaders in an early hole which they weren't cawling out of!

Based of what teams I've seen this year or last I expect the Elite Eight to be Messiah v Lynchburg /  Chicago v Aurora /  Trinity v Carnegie Mellon and  Williams v Misercordia.   

The Messiah v Lynchburg game will be worth the price of admission and I believe will pan out as National Champions!

What I said was the game is not dictated by "statistics" and pointed out how those "statistics" can be interpreted.... none of which truly mean anything when it comes to the result.  Your assumption that Wash U was the better team on the day is your opinion (mine is they had better players but were not the better team) and that because Capital did not advance in the run of the game implies they somehow magically appeared in pk's against the far superior team.  It is a backhanded compliment that the complete team effort and unity that they played with to score in regulation sending it to OT and then to score more goals in pks to win is lessened because it did not happen in 90 minutes.

... and to be clear the sting of a Regional Final loss at Messiah has nothing to do with last year or an arrogance that your view of the game is the view of the game, but, as one of the last 32 teams standing of the 427 in DIII we will take the sting and relish it's significance!

Well mmccrr.... thnk you for showing your depth of knowledge!  First the Crusaders beat Chicago scoring on a corner kick, it was not a tie, they DEFEATED THEM!  Second, for WUH, even if you read the story on the Wash U website it clearly states the Crusaders came out after the half and had a run of play including earning corner kicks and the set piece they scored on.  Anyone who looks at the quotes after the game, or watched the coaches interview, is aware that Capital never claimed to be better player for player.  In fact, they said if they played ten times Wash U would probably win nine... however... the Crusaders did score in regulation to even the game and send it to overtime.  They then proceeded to take the PK shootout on the same field that had not seen Washington fail to advance in many years!  That is what sports are all about..... imagine if those piss poor American College Hockey Players in the 80 Olympics only went by the box score.... We all know the Russians were better so why not just give them the Gold Medal?

Your comments trying to belittle the tremendous team effort that allowed Capital to knock off nationally ranked Chicago, UW-Whitewater, Thomas More and then eliminate Wash U on PK's is the type of closed minded and short sighted comments that are exactly why people believe there are the Division III "Insiders" and then everyone else.  Soccer is a game that is not decided by box scores and although they don't lie they also don't tell the whole story.  For instance do 30 shots on goal but only scoring 1 goal tell the story that Wash U needs to work on finishing?  Does the fact Capital only took 8 shots and put 5 of them on goal, scoring one, mean they are better at finishing than Wash U or take better percentage shots?  Does the fact that Capital ran a great set piece and scored a goal in regulation mean that Wash U was outcoached?  Does the fact that Wash U was outscored in pk's mean their players are not strong enough mentally to have beaten a scrappy nobody?  Of course not.  But, but to not acknowledge that there is more in the soccer world than your limited vision of the game is ridiculous.

Soccer is a game of teams and teams have stories and stories are powerful motivating factors.  Read all the box scores you want and in the end the team dedicated to each other, with a coaching staff who knows the right buttons to push at the right times,  and whose willing to do everything that needs to be done to win, will win more than they will lose.

That is the beauty of sports!  Including Gettysburg yesterday that makes four nationally ranked programs the unranked Crusaders have dispatched in the last two tournament.   

Maybe, just maybe, they focus their team efforts and importance on the tourney rather than the regular season .... so that lets them "upset" all the teams who are better than them? 

By the way this year they start five freshman and two sophomore. ... wonder what's ahead?

Never fear.... although they are all out of the tournament they will all be rewarded with a Final National Ranking... that is the way the  DIII Ranking world works!

Not a great showing today by Cap, but, it was good enough.  Although they had more shots on goal than Gettysburg the Bullets probably came the closest to ending it in regulation! 

Hopefully the Cap side that ran BW off the field in the OAC final will show up tomorrow... if so it will be a fun game... if not... it will be a long day!

Wow... what an upset!  That is one of the magical things about tournament time... it is a one game season six times and anything can happen!  Hopefully it will for the Crusaders too!

For the most part agree... but in teh case of our Crusaders we are #4 int eh NSCAA Great Lakes Regional Rankings winning the OAC for a 2nd straight year and coming off a Final Four. 

By no means do I think those accomplishments merit playing a really week pod, but, to see the #2 team in the nation in the Round of 32 would be a bit harsh.... at least in my opinion compared to some of the other pods.

But, as we saw last year with Wash U and Capital... if you want to get to the stage you have to beat the "big girls" sometime... may as well be early!  *fingers crossed*

The lack of respect in terms of pod placement is fairly deafening!  Looks like it is still the perception of anything in the mid atlantic region or east coast has to be superior!

Thanks WOAC!  Unfortunately we still are not in the good old boys favor as we got zero respect with regard to the brackets.  Sent to Messiah for opening Pod shows we still have a long way to go.  We will do our best and let the chips fall where they will!

For the third time in four years the Crusaders go into the OAC final and come out as four goal scorers heading the the NCAA's.  As with the past few years being on the outside of the Great Lakes rankings and then beating those teams on their way to the tournament seems to be the MO.

With all of the upsets in the conference tournaments in the Mid Atlantic (Messiah, Williams, Ithica all losing) it looks like the likelihood of more than 1 or 2 Great Lakes At -Large teams will be slim. 

That said.... time for the Crusaders to go dancing.... again!