NCAA South Atlantic Region

[lastguyoffthebench]

CNU has gone from just about 6th in the nation to 6th in the CAC... Still a two bid league

After Centre drops one to Millsaps, the SAA is looking like a one bid league with the AQ up for grabs.

NJAC is still wide open... Newark could be in some trouble if they fail to get a bye and lose to Camden in the semis.  My guess is whichever two make the final, make the tourney.

ODAC still a race between noke.   Vs vwu or Lynchburg in the final.  W&L  could challenge noke in the conf semi... Would that upset make the ODAC a two bid league?  I just can't see it....

Emory controls its own fate this weekend, but I can't see a 6th place UAA team locking in a bid specifically because they have fewer blemishes in a region thats beat up

USAC looks to be a one bid league... Covenant with the edge, but I think gboro takes it

[lastguyoffthebench]

1.  Emory
2.  MSU
3.  Salisbury St
4.  CNU
5.  Covenant
6.  Rutgers-Newark
7.  Roanoke.
---------------------
8.  Centre
8.  Rutgers-Camden

Its been mentioned that teams don't drop far once in..  Can MSU jump idle Emory? Don't see it just yet, but Emory has three regionally ranked opponents left....  Does Salisbury jump CNU although both lost to PSU and both tied York.   CNU better SOS and Salisbury with the better win percentage... They are 1 in CAC vs CNU 6th

[lastguyoffthebench]

Rankings out...

South Atlantic         
1. Emory                              11-3-1  11-3-1     
2. Montclair State                15-3-0  15-3-0     
3. Salisbury                         10-1-5  11-1-5     
4. Christopher Newport      12-3-4  12-3-4     
5. Covenant                        11-4-2  11-4-2     
6. Rutgers-Newark              14-4-0  14-4-0     
7. Centre                               7-3-5  7-3-5

[Mr.Right]

Excellent predictions Last Guy for the rankings

[lastguyoffthebench]

USA South semis are set as NC Wesleyan scores late equalizer and wins in ot.   Covenant still making a case for an at large bid with two wins over Piedmont, but will most likely have to win the AQ.  Methodist stumbles vs Maryville.

11/7
Greensboro v. Maryville
Covenant v. NC Wesleyan

11/8 Final

[lastguyoffthebench]

Should see some movement in regional rankings.  We may get to see a better understanding of the committee thought process as Rutgers-Newark beats MSU this week.  Does Covenants early win over Newark hold strong and simply shift MSU behind both?

Assuming an Emory non win tomorrow,  still think they benefit from W of Rochester and MSU loss.

1. Emory
2. Salisbury
3. CNU
4. MSU
5. RUN
6. Covenant
7. Centre
----------------------
8. Roanoke
8. Rutgers-Camden

[repete]

You'd be hard pressed to find a tougher postseason opener anywhere in the country than Salisbury got. CNU gave them a heckuva game in Md. not long ago in a 1-all result.

Disappointed that FSU fell at home. They would have given PSU-H a better game in the second round.

[NokeAlum15]

ODAC Semis for tomorrow:

#1 Roanoke vs #5 W&L  7pm
#2 Lynchburg vs #3 VA Wes  7pm

[lastguyoffthebench]

NJAC Semis:   11/4
Kean @ MSU   7:00
RU-C @ RU-N  7:30

ODAC Semis:    11/4
VWU @ L'burg  7:00
W&L @ Noke    7:00

CAC Semis:  11/5
CNU @ Salisbury         TBA
St. Mary's @ PSU-H     6:00

USA South:  11/7
Greensboro v. Maryville
Covenant v. NC Wesleyan
FINAL:   11/8

SAA:
Millsaps v. Hendrix
Birm-Sou  v. Oglethopre
Centre v. Sewanee
Rhodes v. Berry   

[PaulNewman]

lastguy, how about a little preview analysis of Camden vs Newark?

And looking forward to CNU @ Salisbury which has the look and feel of a NCAA sweet 16 game.

Does Roanoke have to win ODAC tournament to get a bid?

[lastguyoffthebench]

Roanoke has to win the ODAC to get a bid.   Just last year, Randolph was 17-1-1 heading into the ODAC final (with no games vs regionally ranked opponents) vs VWU and didn't get Pool C at 17-2-1.   Roanoke's 0-1-1 record vs ranked opponents won't be good enough in terms of the small fish in a big pond.

Leaning on CNU to win this game.

From the looks of the box score vs WPU, it didn't look like Camden should have come out victorious.   I watched the Camden-Stockton livefeed and Stockton just sat in after the red card early in the 2nd half.  My guess is that they were aware of Rowan being down 2-0 and wanted to ensure a post-season bid.  Even before the red card it looked like they were playing a 4-5---------------1.


Rutgers-Camden vs Rutgers-Newark has been a close rivalry, even though Camden holds a 8-1-1 record since 2007 (5-1 since 20011).  It was Rutgers-Newark who lost a 3-1 lead with less than 15 to go at home vs Camden last year.  It was Newark who handed Camden 1 of its 2 losses in 2012.  Every time I have seen Camden this year (6 times or so), they played a different lineup and I never knew which GK was going to be between the pipes (due to injuries I presume).    I was at the Newark-Camden game this year and Camden outplayed them and created more quality chances up until the red card.  While down a man, Camden was able to counter a few times, hit the woodwork, miss a breakaway, get taken down outside the box for a free kick and again inside the box for a non call.  It was a nerve-wracking last 20 min as Newark began getting more numbers forward, but no real quality chances were created.   I expect this game to possession/counter-attack that turns into a high scoring affair ending in the 2nd OT.   

[PaulNewman]

I hear you on Roanoke but still don't quite understand.  The ODAC seems to have a lot of very solid to good teams (if not great), and I know the soccer is big down in that region.  Seems like some of those games between Roanoke, Lynchburg, VA Wesleyan, etc are pretty big affairs with impressive turnouts.

What I don't see is a lot of publicity or interest from that area on this website.  Is there something to that?  We get a ton of New England focus, followed by the Messiah/PA and Jersey areas, with a lot of North (GAC, Carleton, UWs, Loras, etc) interest, and some Ohio (OWU, Ohio Northern, more recently Kenyon) to Chicago (Wheaton, North Park) to Michigan (Calvin, Hope).

Maybe Randolph last year and Roanoke this year don't get much in the way of records vs ranked teams because that area has a a harder time getting ranked?  I have no idea, but just wondering.

[jknezek]

Critical mass. You need a few people to do more than shout into an empty hole. NokeAlum and I are about it for ODAC posters these days. Doesn't make for much of a conversation. We've got maybe 10 regular football posters, about half of which are H-SC guys. The basketball boards do real well, but the conference is a credible power. Same with lacrosse. The soccer teams are good, but they aren't typically a national factor. I would like to see it pick up, I spend more time posting on the national team than about ODAC soccer, but unless we pull a few more posters there just isn't too much to say.

[NokeAlum15]

I think the problem with the ODAC is this quality of the bottom half of the league.  It's down right terrible.  So while Roanoke, Va Wes, Lynchburg are always a good side, they get punished for having to play Emory and Henry, Shenandoah, Bridgewater, etc.

That's why your OOC regional games are so important.  Roanoke had their chance vs Salisbury and didn't pull out a W.

Makes makes me a little curious that the USA conference, while usually a stacked conference, a lot of their conference games are not in-region games.  So they are not punished like the teams in the ODAC for conference losses.

[Flying Weasel]

Makes makes me a little curious that the USA conference, while usually a stacked conference, a lot of their conference games are not in-region games.  So they are not punished like the teams in the ODAC for conference losses.

I assume you meant the UAA.

Either way, there's two points to make:

(1) Conference games have always been considered in-region no matter what.  That is, in multi-region conferences like the UAA, games against conference members that don't meet any of the in-region criteria have still always been counted as in-region.

(2) Starting last year (2013) there is no distinction between in-region and out-of-region in the ranking and at-large selection criteria.  Now the only distinction made in the primary and secondary criteria is between D-III opposition (primiary) and non-D-III opposition (secondary).  In-region only matter in terms of meeting the requiremnt of playing 75% of your schedule in-region, and with the mileage criteria havng been revised from 200 mi. to 500 mi. this year, combined with the other criteria for classifying a game as in-region, that's so easy to meet as long as you're not criss-crossing the country several times during the season.


As to the ODAC in general, the conference is definitely in a down cycle.  I still think it was horribly wrong for Randolph not to have been invited to the NCAA tournament last year, but there just doesn't seem to be Top 25 level soccer being played on a consistent basis by the top teams in the conference in the past several years.  The USA-South also isn't what it once was on the national scene with the departure of Chris. Newport to the CAC and Greensboro's days as a regular Top 25 team becoming a distant memory.  The old South Region (the NJAC and much of the CAC is not the South) is just not providing nationally competitive teams at the moment.  No idea why that is.