NESCAC 2010

[Dfense1]

Regarding NCAA bids and the New England Region...if I understand the process:

-- National rankings do not play directly into the NCAA selection bid process...bids are based on automatic qualifiers and the final regional rankings which come out next week.
-- There are 6 NE Region conferences that will automatically qualify for a bid including NESCAC, NEWMAC, Commonwealth Coast, LEC, NAC and MASCAC.
--Brandeis who are currently ranked 3rd in the Region belongs to the University Athletic Association (UAA) whose members are out-of-region.  If Brandeis wins its conference title, I'm not sure if they would qualify for an AQ under the New England Region or if there is another consideration for a bid.  Anyone have an insight on this?
--In 2009 New England had 6 conference champion bids and 3 Pool C bids. The Pool C bids went to the 2nd (Midd), 3rd (Amherst) and 4th (Wheaton) ranked region teams who did not win their conference championship. 
--Despite not winning the LEC, I would expect Easter Conn to receive a Pool C bid based on their current #1 region ranking which they may or may not retain after this weekends slate of games.
--So if form holds in 2010, thats 1 Pool C bid down and 2 to go. 

[deiscanton]

Chicago won the UAA title last Sunday with their 2-0 victory over Brandeis at Stagg Field in Chicago, IL   Brandeis came into the match off a 2-0 upset victory over Wash U at Francis Field in St. Louis, Missouri last Friday night, but conceded 2 goals to Chicago in the first 7 minutes of last Sunday's match.   From then on, Chicago put the defensive clamps on the Judges to win the UAA's Pool A automatic bid with 1 matchday remaining.  The UAA does not have a conference tournament.

University Athletic Association is a multi-region conference--  All conference play counts as in-region games for the respective teams for purposes of NCAA tournament consideration.

Chicago leads the UAA women's conference with 15 pts, (5-1 in UAA play) and currently has a 4 pt lead over 2nd place teams Wash U and Emory with 1 matchday remaining  (Both are currently at 3-1-2 in UAA play).  Brandeis currently stands at 4th place in the UAA at 3-3 in UAA play (9 pts), and Rochester is in 5th place in the UAA currently with 8 pts  (2-2-2 in UAA play).

Emory is currently at #1 in the South Atlantic Region,  Rochester is at #3 in the East, Wash U is at #4 in the Central, and Brandeis is at #3 in the New England Regional rankings.   Out of those 4 teams looking for Pool C bids, I only see Wash U in the most danger of not getting one--  Wash U needs to defeat Chicago this weekend to improve their Pool C chances.

Should Brandeis defeat NYU tomorrow at Gaelic Park (Manhattan College) in the Bronx, then the Judges assure themselves of a Pool C bid, as they are #3 in the New England rankings.   Brandeis has won the last 5 matches in the series against NYU (2 of those wins coming in the New York metro area), and will be aiming for at least their 3rd straight away win in the Brandeis-NYU series tomorrow.

A Pool C bid would mean that the Brandeis women's soccer team would be making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1988, although Brandeis has won the ECAC New England title two of the past three years, only losing last year's ECAC New England Championship game to Keene State on penalty kicks.  In 1988, Brandeis played Ithaca in the NCAA tournament and lost 1-0.   Back in 1988, the NCAA DIII Women's Soccer Tournament only had 16 teams in the field.

[deiscanton]

Brandeis's Pool C resume--

#3 in New England rankings this week.

In-region record is 13-4-1  (.750 in-region winning percentage)

In-region Strength of schedule ranking is .618  (Highest among New England DIII teams through Oct. 31)

In-region record vs reg ranked teams is 4-3-1  as of Oct 31

Wins vs.   Springfield (#6-- New England),  Roger Williams  (#9--New England), Bowdoin (once ranked, always ranked), and Wash U- St Louis  (#4 Central-- UAA conference game)

Losses vs Chicago  (#6-Central-- UAA conference game),  Rochester (#3--East, UAA conference game), and Emory (#1--S. Atlantic,  UAA conference game)

Tie vs  William Paterson  (#4-- South Atlantic)  (New Jersey-- Same administrative region).

(Unfortunately, the bad weather on matchday cancelled the annual Brandeis-Tufts regular season soccer match this year-- it would have been very interesting.)

[deiscanton]

Dfense1--

This year, there are 8 New England conferences who officially have automatic bids.  (Of course, Brandeis is the New England representative in the UAA and would have gotten the UAA's automatic bid had the Judges won at Chicago last Sunday and at NYU tomorrow-- however, Chicago's victory over Brandeis last Sunday ended Brandeis's hopes for qualifying automatically.)   Nationally, there are 42 Pool A automatic bids, 1 Pool B bid, and 20 Pool C at-large bids for a field of 63 teams.  

The 8 leagues from New England who officially qualify for automatic bids this season are as follows:

1.)  NESCAC  (Williams, Middlebury, and Amherst still alive for that bid)

Semifinals and title game at Amherst, MA Saturday and Sunday

2.)  NEWMAC  (Springfield, MIT, and Babson still alive for that bid)

Semifinals and title game at Springfield, MA Saturday and Sunday.

3.)  Little East Conference  (UMass-Boston and Western Conn still alive for that bid-- Title game on Sunday in Danbury, CT  as WestConn defeated Keene State in Friday's semifinal 1-0.)

4.)  MASCAC (Bridgewater State and Worcester State still alive for that bid-- title game today at Worcester, MA)

5.)  The Commonwealth Coast Conference  (Roger Williams and Endicott still alive for that bid-- title game today at Roger Williams in Bristol, RI)-- this is the final year of existence for TCCC as I understand it as most of the TCCC members will be forming a new conference next season with the other TCCC teams being absorbed into other New England conferences.)

6.)  Great Northeast Athletic Conference   (Lasell defeated Norwich, 1-0 in title game.)

7.)  North Atlantic Conference (Castleton State and Husson still alive for that bid-- title game today at Castleton, VT)

8.)  New England Collegiate Conference--  (Lesley and Mitchell still alive for that bid-- title game today at Lesley in Cambridge, MA-- Game played at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols School) (NECC's automatic bid is new this year as the NECC has officially started its third year of existence this season thereby making it an official conference for purposes of automatically qualifying its champions to the NCAA DIII tournaments.)

(Updated to indicate Saturday Nov. 6 results as of 2:10 PM ET)

[ECSUalum]

Dfense1--

This year, there are 8 New England conferences who officially have automatic bids.  (Of course, Brandeis is the New England representative in the UAA and would have gotten the UAA's automatic bid had the Judges won at Chicago last Sunday and at NYU tomorrow-- however, Chicago's victory over Brandeis last Sunday ended Brandeis's hopes for qualifying automatically.)   Nationally, there are 42 Pool A automatic bids, 1 Pool B bid, and 20 Pool C at-large bids for a field of 63 teams.  

The 8 leagues from New England who officially qualify for automatic bids this season are as follows:

1.)  NESCAC  (Williams, Middlebury, Amherst and Bates still alive for that bid)

Semifinals and title game at Amherst, MA Saturday and Sunday

2.)  NEWMAC  (Springfield, MIT, Babson, and Wheaton (MA) still alive for that bid)

Semifinals and title game at Springfield, MA Saturday and Sunday.

3.)  Little East Conference  (UMass-Boston, Western Conn, and Keene State still alive for that bid-- Western Conn and Keene State play their semifinal today-- it was postponed from yesterday due to bad weather thereby postponing the Little East's title game to Sunday-- Winner of today's Western Conn/Keene State match will host UMass-Boston on Sunday.)

4.)  MASCAC (Bridgewater State and Worcester State still alive for that bid-- title game tomorrow at Worcester, MA)

5.)  The Commonwealth Coast Conference  (Roger Williams and Endicott still alive for that bid-- title game tomorrow at Roger Williams in Bristol, RI)-- this is the final year of existence for TCCC as I understand it as most of the TCCC members will be forming a new conference next season with the other TCCC teams being absorbed into other New England conferences.)

6.)  Great Northeast Athletic Conference   (Lasell and Norwich still alive for that bid-- title game tomorrow at Lasell in Newton, MA)

7.)  North Atlantic Conference (Castleton State and Husson still alive for that bid-- title game tomorrow at Castleton, VT)

8.)  New England Collegiate Conference--  (Lesley and Mitchell still alive for that bid-- title game tomorrow at Lesley in Cambridge, MA-- Game played at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols School) (NECC's automatic bid is new this year as the NECC has officially started its third year of existence this season thereby making it an official conference for purposes of automatically qualifying its champions to the NCAA DIII tournaments.)

Dei,

Nice review of current status of Conference tourneys!! +K

ECSU embarrassed last night by UMB on PKs

[Becks]

Dei,

Nice review of current status of Conference tourneys!! +K

ECSU embarrassed last night by UMB on PKs

Great season by ECSU, though. Their program has come a long way in just a few years. Move over WCSU.

[Dfense1]

Deiscanton,

Thanks for the terrific update and insights...very helpful. 

[machine54]

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground."

[Becks]

Look out, machine.  I don't think Dfense1 is going to like you calling his purple cows "Philistines."  

[Dfense1]

Look out, machine.  I don't think Dfense1 is going to like you calling his purple cows "Philistines."  

Far be it from me to quote from scripture.

I will say however that there is not a snowball's chance in that very hot place that Midd can pull off an upset tomorrow!

[johnboy]

Brandeis's Pool C resume--

#3 in New England rankings this week.

In-region record is 13-4-1  (.750 in-region winning percentage)

In-region Strength of schedule ranking is .618  (Highest among New England DIII teams through Oct. 31)

(snip)

Where did you get the strength of schedule percentage? Did you calculate it? Or is it published somewhere? Is that this weighted average of OWP and OOWP the NCAA DIII Championship manual refers to? Or are you referring to the Massey ratings? Or something else?

Do you know how the SOS gets folded in to the regional rankings?

Sorry for all the questions, but you seem knowledgeable about these matters, and I would like to be also.

[johnboy]

Look out, machine.  I don't think Dfense1 is going to like you calling his purple cows "Philistines."  

Far be it from me to quote from scripture.

I will say however that there is not a snowball's chance in that very hot place that Midd can pull off an upset tomorrow!

I think that any team that can put up 3 goals on Amherst in 9 minutes should not be taken lightly, irrespective of the score of a previous game.

[Dfense1]

Not taking anybody lightly...just confidence that the team is peaking at just the right time to finish the NESCAC season with yet another championship.

[jellybelly]

Johnboy,

You can find  strength of schedule at http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/110410aaa.html

[johnboy]

Johnboy,

You can find  strength of schedule at http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/110410aaa.html

Ahhh.....so that's what those blue things were: links. Duh.