2014 D3 Season: National Perspective

[lastguyoffthebench]

Messiah is running through gauntlet again, playing 5 NCAA tourney teams from last year:

                                                              2013 RESULT
9/13 vs. Catholic           •  7:00 PM            W   2-1
9/16 vs. Dickinson         •  7:00 PM            W   3-1
9/20 at Montclair State   •  6:00 PM            W   3-1
9/24 vs. York (Pa.)        •  7:00 PM             L   0-1     (last loss since dropping to Neumann in NCAA 2011 tourney)
9/27 at Misericordia       •  1:00 PM            W   3-0

[chelseafc30]

With both St. Lawrence and Loras losing this weekend, does anyone want to predict what the top five will look like? Based off of last week's crazy rankings, I have NO idea what its going to look like. Messiah will obviously be #1. After that I could see any combination of Williams, Kenyon, F&M, and Montclair State or maybe some other team sneaking in. Any thoughts?

[lastguyoffthebench]

1)  Messiah / F&M (9) / Dickinson (19) / Muhlenberg
2)  Kenyon / Ohio Wesleyan (13) / Ohio Northern (20) / Thomas More (RV)
3)  Williams / Brandeis (10) / Amherst (16T) / Wesleyan (24) / Wheaton (RV)
4)  Montclair St / Emory (11) / CNU (18) / Camden (RV)
5)  SUNY Oneonta /  SLU (12) / RPI (21) / Rochester (RV)
6)  Loras / St Thomas (16T) / UWO (23) / Luther (RV)
7)  Trinity / Whitworth (15) / Occidental / Colorado
8)  Hope / North Park (14) / Wheaton / Calvin

Could see NSCAA bumping F&M as high as 6 just ahead of Loras because they are unbeaten.  (F&M should realistically be #2). 
Could see Emory (4-0) possibly jumping MSU as they were IDLE this week.
I don't even think Loras should drop out of the top 4, but we'll see.

[PaulNewman]

Emory has done very well but is 3-0-1 (tied Centre first game of season).

The notables who have had clean to very impressive starts are Messiah, F&M, Kenyon, Montclair Stata, Brandeis, Oneonta State, Wheaton (MA), Christopher Newport, Whitworth, and I suppose you can include Emory.  We probably need at least another week to judge the NESCACs.  Hope has done well.

Among the early stumbles, Loras is going to be fine, Wartburg is fine, Rutgers-C looks to be getting on track, SLU will bounce back, Rochester isn't going away, and Wheaton (Ill) will put a win streak together.  It's hard to believe Wheaton has lost 2 games.  They are really, really talented across the board, and I will pick them right now to get a win over Montclair this weekend.  The question marks at this juncture are Stevens, York, GAC, Calvin and DePauw.

[lastguyoffthebench]

CNU travels to Trinity TX for a game Friday, Sept 12.

Camden travels to CNU on Sat, Sept 20 for a crucial in-region match-up.   

I can see a CNU slip-up vs Methodist that is sandwiched between the two...

[PaulNewman]

John Carroll blew out Denison 5-1.  A little surprising.

[Corazon]

I can see Montclair upsetting Messiah.

[Corazon]

That could very well happen, considering Montclair St phenomenal home record.  Traditionally a top 8-15 team over the last decade, I would think this is going to be a great one. They were outplayed at Messiah last year in a torrential downpour without All-American, Mendoza.  I have not seen them play this year, but given the opponents faced thus far it is hard to gauge how good they really are.  Today @ Cortland St and Saturday vs Wheaton (Ill) should give us a better idea...   

My mush predictions would be: Win over Cortland 3-1, Win over Wheaton 2-1, and loss to Messiah 2-1 (with a chance to be 1-1 OT)...

I agree with your predictions. I saw their game v Husson and was blown away by their domination. In particular, their freshmen looked  very strong.  Some of the top pre-season teams have looked shaky (Camden, Stevens, Amherst) but Messiah keeps rolling.

[lastguyoffthebench]

MSU falls to Cortland St... ehhh.   Losing Mendoza and Leggett are a big piece to their puzzle from last year.     Still stand by the Montclair home game predictions atleast.

[woacfan]

John Carroll blew out Denison 5-1.  A little surprising.

Honestly,  if anything,  JCU has been an underachiever so far this year.  They have a kid who is potential MLS material and are a very deep squad.   I would look to see them continually improve.  Yesterday's game was every bit as lopsided as the score would indicate.

[lastguyoffthebench]

MLS material is a tall order.  What player should we be paying attention to, woacfan?

[PaulNewman]

Otterbein (yes, Otterbein) beats OWU 4-1 on OWU home field.

And I stand by prediction of Wheaton over Montclair this weekend.

[PaulNewman]

Anybody got a Brockport vs Union or TCNJ vs Steven score?

[Corazon]

MSU falls to Cortland St... ehhh.   Losing Mendoza and Leggett are a big piece to their puzzle from last year.     Still stand by the Montclair home game predictions atleast.

Well ... Just shows you how little I know! 

[lastguyoffthebench]

Anybody got a Brockport vs Union or TCNJ vs Steven score?

Stevens 2, TCNJ 0...


Welcome to the forum, Corazon.