IIAC 2014

[KICKIN95]

Duhawks take their 9th IIAC Regular Season Title with a convincing 3-1 win over Wartburg.  Loras started a bit hesitant and Wartburg made them pay with an early attention getter to go up 1-0.  That was about all the motivation Loras needed because the Knights "poked the bear".  Loras took the rest of the first half over with authority netting 2 goals to take the lead going in to halftime.   The 2nd half was more of the Duhawks imposing their will with the Knights showing light spurts of resistance.  The middle official seemed to loses his grip on the match for about 25 minutes when he became a model of inconsistency for both teams. The Duhawks has a couple great changes turned away by a sprawling keeper and a pesky crossbar.  The final nail was driven in tight when Dillon Olson went beast mode on the Knights defense. He intercepted a pass at mid field and out hustled and out muscled 4 separate Wartburg defenders before taking the keepers near post pride away with a low screamer.  Duhawks finish 3-1 and will host the Conference tourney starting next Saturday.  I was happy to see the subs step up their game and decide tonight was going to be a Duhawk night.  Let's keep the momentum Duhawks!

[Medicated Pete]

Beast mode fer sure..stiffed armed a couple defenders and finally had the finesse to place the ball instead of blasting it over the net!! great finish...great atmosphere at the match..

One thing that needs to be improved is the "Duhawk faithfuls"..
They need to step up their harassment of the opposing team's players!! 
Especially in a Wartburg-Loras match, It's tradition!

Highlights  via Wartburg
http://wartburgcircuit.org/loras-nabs-iiac-mens-soccer-title-with-win-over-wartburg/

[Cheesehead Henry]

Predictions for this weekend's games for:
Simpson vs. UD
Central vs. Luther

I've got 2-1 UD
2-0 Luther

[KICKIN95]

2-0 UD
4-1 Luther

[Puerco Espin]

3-1 UD
3-0 Luther

[Cheesehead Henry]

The only reason I say Luther only winning by 2 is because I can really see Central just sitting in and trying to hold on for dear life. Maybe attempting to go for a tie since they probably don't have the stuff to win it in regulation.

[Medicated Pete]

Central giving up 44 goals in 17 games doesn't bode well for IIAC tournament run..

Central has lost the last 3 meetings between them. 5-0 on goals
Does Central have the ability to put the ball in the back of the net??

Luther 4-0
Simpson 3-2 UD

[Homegrown Harry]

I'm more curious as to what will happen with Wartburg and a probable re-match with Luther.
If Luther really has dropped out of the regional rankings, do they need to handle Wartburg and possibly Loras (or keep it close)?
If Wartburg can't get by Luther, are they out of an at-large bid?

At large selections from the North region will be interesting.

[dontshootthegoose]

Although I do agree the at-large bids in the North will be interesting, I think Wartburg is sitting pretty, whereas Luther is practically out. The only way I could see things possibly changing is if Wartburg does lose to Luther and Luther wins it all. I should mention that it would be interesting if Wartburg loses, and then Luther loses, is Loras the only team to come out of the IIAC? Because there are so many other teams fighting for those at-larges. You have the Minnesota schools and both Oshkosh and Whitewater.

[futbol117]

Does anyone have the formula they use for SOS?

[Christan Shirk]

Does anyone have the formula they use for SOS?

You guys should read D3soccer.com more! 

You can check out the Strength-of-Schedule (SOS) calculation in the "Strength-of-Schedule" section on this D3soccer.com webpage or go right to the source, Appendix D (pg. 45) of the Division III Soccer Pre-Championships Manual.

[futbol117]

Thanks for the Leg work there!!!

[Flying Weasel]

I'm more curious as to what will happen with Wartburg and a probable re-match with Luther.
If Luther really has dropped out of the regional rankings, do they need to handle Wartburg and possibly Loras (or keep it close)?
If Wartburg can't get by Luther, are they out of an at-large bid?

At large selections from the North region will be interesting.

Although I do agree the at-large bids in the North will be interesting, I think Wartburg is sitting pretty, whereas Luther is practically out. The only way I could see things possibly changing is if Wartburg does lose to Luther and Luther wins it all

I posted on this in the North Region thread, but will cross-post here.

You're right, Luther is in a very tough spot and this week isn't helping as their SOS is only going to go down with this week's games against Dubuque and Central. Not getting the #2 seed was especially bad for them as it means an extra game against a sub-.300 Central.  Ouch!  Sure, maybe most of their previous opponents have winning weeks to compensate some, but they're adding two sub-.500 opponents and that's gonna keep their SOS under .500.  And, no, I'm not ready to buy the NCAA committee's denial of an SOS threshold (OK, I'm sure there's no official policy they are bound to follow--that would be in the Pre-Championships Manual, but it could be more of a general, informal, non-binding, verbal agreement among committee members).  Luther dropping like that has no other reasonable explanation.

Anyway, if Luther wasn't gonna get the #2 seed, it may have been better to have tied Dubuque on Tuesday night so they would have dropped to the #4 seed getting Simpson and their .667 winning pct. in the conference semifinals which may have helped Luther's SOS get back over .500 or at least would have kept it very close so that a semifinal game vs. #1 Loras would have gotten them over .500 which, if that is what's keeping them from being #2 (or #3) in the region, might have been enough to grab an at-large berth even without making the IIAC final. But that scenario for getting an at-large berth would have been very iffy as the additional tie (vs. Dubuque) and loss (vs. Loras) on their record likely would have seen them further down the rankings even if their SOS was high enough to be included again.

But that's neither here nor there at this point.  As it is, Luther, needs to win Saturday and then beat Wartburg in the semifinals, not so much for the win and the win vs. ranked, but for the extra game versus Loras and their .861 winning pct. which combined with Wartburg's win pct. from the semifinal should more than compensate for this week's games and get their SOS back over .500.  That combined with the additional win vs. ranked from the semifinal could be their ticket to an at-large berth if they wouldn't win in the final and the AQ.

[Homegrown Harry]

So, following that logic, Wartburg's game against Buena Vista this past Tuesdaywill drop their SOS as well.
Not recalling the exact win% (close to .300), how far does their SOS drop based on this?

[Homegrown Harry]

Round 2 predictions

Loras 2, UD 0
Wartburg 1, Luther 0