MIAC 2013

[GarbageGoals33]

Congrats to GAC on winning the MIAC (also known as the toughest conference in the North Region).  It would be great to see them win the regular season title without a blemish on their conference record.  St. Olaf did no favors to themselves in regards to their MIAC playoff seeding or their NCAA Pool C resume with a loss to Augsburg.  I would much rather see GAC play against SJU or Augsburg than St. Olaf in the first round of the MIAC playoffs.

Congrats to Zach Brown who has moved up to 5th place all time on the GAC scoring charts in only his junior season.  Brown has been so consistent the last few years in his goal scoring, specifically in big games.  Brown has 14 GWG's since 2011.  Hopefully he can help lead the team on a nice run in the MIAC tournament and NCAA tournament. 

[ldahoSoccer]

Congrats to GAC on winning the MIAC (also known as the toughest conference in the North Region). 

Interesting argument here.  It depends on what you mean by the word "toughest."  The MIAC has zero teams in the top three of the NCAA Regional Rankings (as of last week).  Also, the team in 4th place (SJU) was waxed by Loras 5-0 and suffered defeats to Luther (3-2) and Wartburg (3-0). 

[GarbageGoals33]

#4 MIAC team SJU (at the moment) loses to all three IIAC champions and that is a major knock to the MIAC?

One of the IIAC conference champions (Luther) lost to MIAC current #2 CarlEton, #5 Augsburg, and #6 UST.

[DoubleDeuce]

Went through the MIAC archives - not sure if they are all correct, but a lot of teams tied one game. Last undefeated season looks like St. Johns in 1986.

http://www.miacathletics.com/sports/msoc/1986-87/standings

Any other insight?

Macalester was 10-0-0 in conference play in 2001.  What a team that was... Kimani, (Older of the) Oppenheimers, everyone's favorite Kiwi Nathan Knox, Mayer.  Is SquareWheel still around?  I thought for sure he'd chime-in on this correction!

[GarbageGoals33]

Squarewheel hasn't been around since the d3soccer.net days DD. 

[DoubleDeuce]

Squarewheel hasn't been around since the d3soccer.net days DD.

Makes sense.  The Macalester soccer team hasn't really been around since then, either... ZING!

[KICKIN95]

Holy Crap DD where have you been hiding!?!

[BradleyFan001]

Well, regular season coming to a close. Big games for a couple teams as the 4th playoff spot and home field advantage (for the first round) are still up for grabs. GAC is about to close up a pretty special season. Huge game in Northfield for second place.

Carleton hasn't faired too well there in the past (lost the past 3 times) but look for them to get some points off the Oles. Say what you will about how Carleton has performed in the beginning of the year- they're really coming into form now.

Mac @ SMU: 2-0 Mac
Hamline @ Gac: 3-0 Gac
Carleton @ Olaf: 2-1 OT
SJU @ Concordia: 3-0 SJU qualifies 4th and heads back to Northfield row the first round game for a second year in a row
St.Thomas @ Augsburg: 1-1

[GarbageGoals33]

Since CarlEton's loss to GAC they have played Saint Marys, Bethel, Bethany Lutheran, Northwestern (Mn), Saint Johns, Luther, Augsburg, MAC, Hamline, Concordia (Mn), and UST.  That isn't exactly the toughest schedule.  But, to CarlEton's credit they took care of business in each game played.

Predictions for the weekend:

Mac 2 @ SMU 1
Hamline 0 @ GAC 2
CarlEton 1 @ STO 2
SJU 1 @ Concordia 1
UST 2 @ Augsburg 2

[keeker]

it's a soft schedule. But it's not like there are any tough teams in miac anyway. gac and carleton will both repeat last years fiasco in the  1st round.

[KnightRider23]

GAC: Cobbers, Wartburg, St. John's, St. Mary's, St. Olaf, UST, Mac, Augs, Bethel

Car: St. Mary's, Bethel, Bethany Lutheran, Northwestern (MN), St. John's, Luther, Augs, Mac, Hamline, Cobbers, UST

First, they are virtually the same schedule (minus facing different IIAC champs, and relatively two simple non-conference games for CAR). So gimme a break GG. St. John's (playoff team), Luther (away...and midweek i might add), Augsburg (away), UST (away...and a must win game for them) are all difficult games.

Weekend predictions:

Mac 2 @ SMU 0
Hamline 0 @ GAC 3
Carleton 2 @ STO 1 (OT)
SJU 2 @ Concordia 0
UST 1 @ Augsburg 2

[gustiefan04]

Check the Data sheets put out with the latest NCAA Regional Rankings.

http://static.psbin.com/7/h/b8upu6x6xvdlxj/North_Men_Data_10-30-13.pdf

GAC has the second strongest SOS in the North REgion behind only Loras. Considering GAC's overall record, and the fact that they are about to finish 10-0 in the MIAC seems like a pretty tough team to me...

[GarbageGoals33]

Keeker, excellent insight.  I could see two MIAC teams in the NCAA tournament this season and I am hoping they both make the Sweet 16.  The MIAC absolutely choked last season, there is no getting around it.  I can't imagine the same thing will happen again this season.

KnightRider, I wasn't commenting on CarlEton's overall schedule, just stating who they played since they went on their "hot streak". 

[jimmy92]

No surprises - Ole
s way too strong at full strength for Carleton. 2-0!

[gustiefan04]

Solid result for the Oles. CarlE's will have another shot at them this week in the playoffs. Beating the same team twice, especially back to back is no easy feat. Shots were even at 9 a piece today.

SJU throttled the cobbers locking up the 4th playoff spot.

GAC finishes off the season with a 2-0 win over the pipers. Only the 5th time in MIAC history for a team to go 10-0. Now it's time to take care of business and get that AQ!