Strange scene - because Wash U is technically the home team at Messiah University they get to where their home white kits and Messiah wears their away navy kits.  Even stranger, for the first time that I am aware of, Messiah moves to the other side of the scorer's table at their home field and warms up on the opposite side of the field ... definitely a strange look/feel.

Wash U wins the game scoring the only goal with 2 minutes left in the first OT period on a ball bouncing around in front of the goal after a corner kick.  Messiah is the only team this year to keep Wash U off the board through 90 minutes of soccer but it is still not enough and now Wash U has gone through 50 opponents without a loss going back to the championship game from 2023 when they lost to California Lutheran.

For the Wash U sectional it will end up being a showdown of the top two teams in that section tomorrow as Wash U will take on Messiah. 

I assume with Wash U being the higher ranked team that Wash U will again be in their home white kits and Messiah will play in their away navy kits.  I am not sure if that means Messiah has to use the left of the scorer's table being the "away" team or whether they will remain on the right where they normally are at Shoemaker field.??

Here are the top 16 NPI teams that did not make the "sweet 16" in the tournament:

#5 Case Western
#7 Williams
#10 Christopher Newport
#11 Illinois Tech
#12 Lake Forest

The teams that take their place are:

#18 MIT
#20 Swarthmore
#39 Mary Washington
#52 Calvin
#71 Penn State-Harrisburg

It looks like Messiah will be hosting the Wash U sectional games on Friday and Saturday due to the Wash U men hosting and Calvin being one of the teams playing.

Quote from: WUPHF on November 16, 2025, 11:52:20 PMWashUBears.com shows the Men hosting Trinity and the Women traveling to Messiah.

Messiah's website (Women's schedule) showing the same thing.

The only two teams to beat Messiah this year played each other tonight and Penn State Harrisburg (NPI #71) upsets Rowan (NPI #21) 1-0 scoring the lone goal with less than two minutes left in the game.

Probably the biggest upset of the women's tournament so far .. Penn State Harrisburg beats Christopher Newport 2-1 scoring the winning goal with just 4 minutes left in regulation.

Illinois Tech wins the early game today over Grove City 1-0.

Calvin beats Penn St - Behrend 1-0 in the second game.  So Calvin (NPI 60.630 ranked #23) will take on Illinois Tech (NPI 62.728 ranked #11) tomorrow at 3pm (EST).

I watched most of the second half of the Calvin vs Penn St game which was very entertaining.  The shots for the game were even 16-16 with Calvin leading in shots on goal 8-6. 

Illinois Tech may have their hands full tomorrow.

The second half of the (host) Calvin vs Penn St - Behrend has been really good soccer - very exciting to watch.

Calvin currently leads 1-0 with 28 minutes left and has the better play in the second half.

Some really good runs of play, great passing, good shots, and nice saves all in about 18 minutes.

Tournament Trivia Tidbit:

The average NPI values of the 16 teams in each of the four sections in the tournament are (ranked from highest to lowest):

Wash U sectional: 59.619 average NPI
Emory sectional: 59.178 average NPI
Chicago sectional: 58.964 average NPI
Tufts sectional: 58.911 average NPI

Not sure that this means anything! 

I was a little impressed that only 0.708 separate the "hardest" sectional from the "easiest" sectional which seams to indicate that there is not a noticeable easy or hard route to the final four.??

And today it begins!

At 1pm (EST): Illinois Tech (NPI = 62.728, ranked #11) takes on Grove City (NPI = 56.227, ranked #66)

At 3:30pm (EST): host Calvin (NPI = 60.630, ranked #23) takes on Penn St-Behrend (NPI = 58.394, ranked # 45)

These are the only two games today in the women's tournament.

Quote from: CentPA on November 13, 2025, 04:30:42 PMTournament Trivia Tidbit:

There have been 17 different D3 women's soccer teams to win a National Championship.  Out of those 17, nine made it into this year's tournament ...

The nine that made it are (most recent year won in parantheses, note: 2020 was covid):

1. Wash U (2024)
2. Cal Lutheran (2023)
3. Johns Hopkins (2022)
4. Christopher Newport (2021)
5. Messiah (2019)
6. Williams (2018)
7. Hardin-Simmons (2010)
8. Cortland (1992)
9. Rochester (1987)

For those wondering — the 8 that didn't make it are:

1. Lynchburg (2014)
2. William Smith (2013)
3. Wheaton(IL) (2007)
4. Oneonta (2003)
5. Ohio Wesleyan (2002)
6. TCNJ (2000)
7. Macalester (1998)
8. Ithaca (1991)

FYI: there are technically 18 D3 women's soccer teams that have won a National Championship, but I did not include UC San Diego since they are no longer in D3.  They did win five National Championships in D3 Women's soccer before moving to D1 (1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1999).

Tournament Trivia Tidbit:

There have been 17 different D3 women's soccer teams to win a National Championship.  Out of those 17, nine made it into this year's tournament ...

The nine that made it are (most recent year won in parantheses, note: 2020 was covid):

1. Wash U (2024)
2. Cal Lutheran (2023)
3. Johns Hopkins (2022)
4. Christopher Newport (2021)
5. Messiah (2019)
6. Williams (2018)
7. Hardin-Simmons (2010)
8. Cortland (1992)
9. Rochester (1987)

For the first time in 18 years, the NCAA tournament is without William Smith!  Last year they were in the National Championship game against Wash U and now this year is the first year since 2006 they will not be playing in the tournament.

After 44 seasons with Coach Wilber as the head coach, I think it was just so challenging to transition to a new coach without some bumps along the way.  Hopefully they will be back in the tournament next year.

Lake Forest is one of 16 hosts for this weekends opening round in the NCAA tournament by virtue of being #12 in the NPI rankings.  They are the only team in the tournament this year without a loss or tie.

However, for the entire year they were never listed in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll.  In the most recent poll (National - Poll 9 - November 4, 2025) they are shown as the last team for "Also receiving votes:"  Their best win, based on the NPI values, was against MSOE ranked #69 with an NPI of 55.586 and their second best win was against North Park at #117 with an NPI of 53.394.  All of their other wins were against teams with much lower rankings and values yet Lake Forest's current NPI value is 62.308.

The United Soccer Coaches looked at Lake Forest and determined that their strength of schedule wasn't strong enough to put them in the top 25, but the NPI system has them as the 12th best team in the country!

This might be the best example that the NPI ranking system or formula may have some shortcomings and have room for some improvements in identifying or ranking the best teams.  I guess this weekend may give us a better read on which ranking was more accurate.