2024 Schedules

[Kuiper]

Southwestern

Unlike some of the SCAC schools, Southwestern has mostly scheduled teams from outside the state for its non-conference schedule.  That's noteworthy because although Southwestern has traditionally played two or three out-of-state teams, it has also regularly scheduled ASC opponents.  This year, they are 5 from out-of-state (Methodist, Hendrix, Berry, Whitworth, and Cal Lutheran) and only 1 from the ASC (Mary Hardin-Baylor).  All of its non-conference games are home or on nearby-ish neutral fields in San Antonio (Trinity's home field presumably).

In the SCAC, they host Colorado College this year, which means that the only out-of-state trips they are taking this year are to Centenary in Louisiana and Ozarks in Arkansas, despite playing 8 out-of-state teams over the whole schedule.

NYU

Apparently, NYU is going to do some preseason training at altitude this year and play some strong opponents to boot.  They play scrimmages against Colorado School of Mines, a good DII school on Aug. 21 and then DI Air Force on Aug. 24.  By contrast, they have a somewhat easier non-conference regular season schedule, at least on paper, with Montclair State, Stevens, and Wesleyan left off the schedule.  I think the only NCAA qualifier on the schedule this year outside of the UAA teams might be Baruch.

[Kuiper]

Trinity

They previewed this on Instagram awhile back, but it is now official on the website.  As with Southwestern, Trinity plays most of its non-conference games against out-of-state opponents (Hendrix, Methodist, Whitworth, Berry, Cal Lutheran), which is not surprising because Trinity and Southwestern pair up as they usually do so that these traveling teams can play two games against Texas opponents.  The only difference with Southwestern is that all of those games are in San Antonio and Trinity plays two ASC opponents instead of only one (Trinity plays Howard Payne as well), although Trinity plays Mary Hardin-Baylor away, which is a return trip from the game last year where UMHB lost 6-1.  In the SCAC, Trinity's toughest road trip from a competitive standpoint will be Friday 10/25 at 7:30 pm at St. Thomas and Sunday 10/27 at 12:00 pm at Colorado College, but the consolation is that it's probably easier to find a non-stop from Houston than San Antonio to Colorado Springs anyway, so that might at least help the travel logistics a little.

Emory

Emory starts the season with three straight tournaments, hosting Belhaven and Oglethorpe in its own tournament and then playing Lynchburg and Roanoke in the Oglethorpe tournament, before making the trek out to Colorado Springs to play UT Dallas and Colorado College in CC's tournament.  Interestingly, it plays Oglethorpe a second team in non-conference play before starting UAA play, which I haven't seen (at least in recent years).  Perhaps they had trouble finding a second team for their tournament this year.

[jknezek]

Trinity

They previewed this on Instagram awhile back, but it is now official on the website.  As with Southwestern, Trinity plays most of its non-conference games against out-of-state opponents (Hendrix, Methodist, Whitworth, Berry, Cal Lutheran), which is not surprising because Trinity and Southwestern pair up as they usually do so that these traveling teams can play two games against Texas opponents.  The only difference with Southwestern is that all of those games are in San Antonio and Trinity plays two ASC opponents instead of only one (Trinity plays Howard Payne as well), although Trinity plays Mary Hardin-Baylor away, which is a return trip from the game last year where UMHB lost 6-1.  In the SCAC, Trinity's toughest road trip from a competitive standpoint will be Friday 10/25 at 7:30 pm at St. Thomas and Sunday 10/27 at 12:00 pm at Colorado College, but the consolation is that it's probably easier to find a non-stop from Houston than San Antonio to Colorado Springs anyway, so that might at least help the travel logistics a little.

Emory

Emory starts the season with three straight tournaments, hosting Belhaven and Oglethorpe in its own tournament and then playing Lynchburg and Roanoke in the Oglethorpe tournament, before making the trek out to Colorado Springs to play UT Dallas and Colorado College in CC's tournament.  Interestingly, it plays Oglethorpe a second team in non-conference play before starting UAA play, which I haven't seen (at least in recent years).  Perhaps they had trouble finding a second team for their tournament this year.

W&L had a home and home going with Emory for 6 of the last 7 years (COVID being the outlier), but it seems they  have gone a different direction playing at Sewanee and Covenant this year. I'm planning to be at those games with one of my sons to put eyes on the Generals after the coaching change and I'm pleased I won't have to drive to Atlanta. Both Sewanee and Covenant are gorgeous campuses and I absolutely love Covenant's field as a spectator. In my opinion it's the most beautiful view of any college field I've been to. Much better than any view in Atlanta as far as I'm concerned.

[Another Mom]

I will see you there @jknezek!

[jknezek]

I will see you there @jknezek!

Great! We can coordinate when it gets closer. I'll have my other twin son with me this time.

[Kuiper]

Wheaton (MA)

The opener against Montclair State on Aug. 30 is the headliner addition to the schedule.  It doesn't get much easier with games against St. Joseph's (ME) and Williams on 9/1 and 9/3 respectively.  The only consolation is that all three are home games, but the Lyons will travel to Bowdoin for a mid-week game right before opening conference play.

[SierraFD3soccer]

W&L had a home and home going with Emory for 6 of the last 7 years (COVID being the outlier), but it seems they  have gone a different direction playing at Sewanee and Covenant this year. I'm planning to be at those games with one of my sons to put eyes on the Generals after the coaching change and I'm pleased I won't have to drive to Atlanta. Both Sewanee and Covenant are gorgeous campuses and I absolutely love Covenant's field as a spectator. In my opinion it's the most beautiful view of any college field I've been to. Much better than any view in Atlanta as far as I'm concerned.

Couple friends had kids go to Sewanee and a cousin graduated from there back in the day (used to also be called the Univ of the South). Very nice college and they all had great times. Whether W&L continues its upwards trajectory which it might for a while or goes back to be a middling soccer school, it still will be a very nice college with some great traditions with strong academics. In my opinion, it will be tough to continue and think the out of conf. games far away will mostly likely be curtailed. 

[jknezek]

W&L had a home and home going with Emory for 6 of the last 7 years (COVID being the outlier), but it seems they  have gone a different direction playing at Sewanee and Covenant this year. I'm planning to be at those games with one of my sons to put eyes on the Generals after the coaching change and I'm pleased I won't have to drive to Atlanta. Both Sewanee and Covenant are gorgeous campuses and I absolutely love Covenant's field as a spectator. In my opinion it's the most beautiful view of any college field I've been to. Much better than any view in Atlanta as far as I'm concerned.

Couple friends had kids go to Sewanee and a cousin graduated from there back in the day (used to also be called the Univ of the South). Very nice college and they all had great times. Whether W&L continues its upwards trajectory which it might for a while or goes back to be a middling soccer school, it still will be a very nice college with some great traditions with strong academics. In my opinion, it will be tough to continue and think the out of conf. games far away will mostly likely be curtailed. 

Sewanee actually is, officially, Sewanee: The University of the South. I just can't bring myself to call them that. I think W&L will be ok. Most of W&L's athletic programs have moved forward under Jan Hathorn as AD to the point where they are players on the national scene. Do I expect continued Final Four appearances? Considering we've had 2 in our history, I think that's a stretch. But I do expect W&L will challenge to be in the tournament like most General sports teams and, when they make the tournament, to have the ability to go a couple rounds depending on match ups.

That seems to be the trajectory with a few exceptions. Football is blocked by R-MC and has struggled to regain the form it had under Coach Abell. Basketball is blocked by being in a conference that year in and out has 2 national title contenders, some combination of R-MC, H-SC and Guilford. And baseball, which has also had to contend with 2 national title contenders in Lynchburg and Shenandoah, but the Generals baseball team aren't at that level where I'd say they are blocked only by those teams. Otherwise, it's a rare sport that hasn't made an appearance in the tournament and won a round or two.

I think soccer will be just fine under the new coach. I want to say Hathorn has a knack for hiring coaches, but that diminishes the success she's had, consistently, bringing coaches to Lexington that have elevated programs. She has been superb with far more hits than misses, and even the few misses haven't been bad.

I expect Shabazz will be successful. Of course if you measure success only against Singleton it is a very hard act to follow. But if you consider success to being a player on the national scene, I think he can keep it going.

[Kuiper]

University of St. Thomas

The Celts are one of the few schools I have seen that is starting its schedule the second, rather than the first, week of the season playing against North American and ASC foe Howard Payne.  It also plays at Hendrix, Sul Ross State, and Hardin-Simmons before traveling to Colorado Springs to take on Colorado College in SCAC play.  My guess is that Texas Lutheran and Trinity will be circling their games against St. Thomas on 10/18 and 10/25, respectively, based on the events of last season.