2015 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[lastguyoffthebench]

Is this as of 10/6/2015 or their remaining schedule as well?

The Rankings I projected for the South Atlantic factored in OWP + Win % + Record vs Ranked.   It is, however, missing a bigger piece to the puzzle without the OOWP.
Just from an eyeball test, the NSCAA seems to be close to what the NCAA Regional Rankings might look like.

OWP
0.621   Haverford
0.607   JHU
0.607   Messiah
0.603   Alvernia
0.527   Dickinson
0.526   Merchant Marine
0.522   F&M
0.505   Lycoming
0.495   E-town
0.479   Eastern
0.475   Drew
0.432   King's
0.424   Gettysburg
0.384   Cabrini
---------------------------------
WP %
1.000      F&M
0.954      Eastern
0.863      E-town
0.850      Lycoming
0.818      Drew
0.818      King's
0.777      Cabrini
0.750      Gettysburg
0.727      Merchant Marine
0.700      Haverford
0.700      Dickinson
0.650      Messiah
0.636      JHU
0.636      Alvernia

I only calculated games so far, plus the next game out.   I guess I should have just done it until Oct 18th, but I'm not that proactive.   Most of these OWP will increase as they begin to play stronger teams in conference.

[lastguyoffthebench]

Also, these are obviously UNOFFICIAL.  I pulled the data from Massey Ratings.  There may be a few unrecorded results within the parameters of the calculations.

[ECSUalum]

http://www.d3soccer.com/columns/christan-shirk/2015/Year-Nine

I think we should all give a shout out to Jim Matson and Christian Shirk for providing an excellent place for Division III soccer fans to talk, blog, read interesting articles, and for the fun rankings and other statistics that they provide!!

Thanks guys for all your efforts, 
BTW over at D3 hoopsl Pat Coleman, Gordon Mann and Dave McHugh conducted a fund raising drive that I think proved relatively successful, providing much needed fund to maintain the site.  I am sure the D3 soccer family would be just as supportive!

[PaulNewman]

Domino's post today on Denison triggered a vague memory that the Big Red went on a preseason overseas trip.  I checked, and they did indeed go to the Netherlands in August.

I'm curious if posters have anecdotal evidence of teams doing particularly well in seasons preceded by an overseas trip.  In recent years I recall Brandeis, OWU, and Rochester going on trips.  I don't know why any relatively strong program wouldn't take advantage of the rule allowing these trips (once every 4 years, correct?), and I know Kenyon is such a school that has not had an overseas experience (at least not in the last 4-5 years). 

Two things that would seem to benefit good teams (i.e. teams that have expectations of "being in the mix") are 1) an early season trip out of region to play at least one really good team or at least two decent teams; and 2) an overseas training/team bonding experience.  One can wonder if Brandeis benefited from their trip out to Texas given their current impressive standing nationally.

[ECSUalum]

Domino's post today on Denison triggered a vague memory that the Big Red went on a preseason overseas trip.  I checked, and they did indeed go to the Netherlands in August.

I'm curious if posters have anecdotal evidence of teams doing particularly well in seasons preceded by an overseas trip.  In recent years I recall Brandeis, OWU, and Rochester going on trips.  I don't know why any relatively strong program wouldn't take advantage of the rule allowing these trips (once every 4 years, correct?), and I know Kenyon is such a school that has not had an overseas experience (at least not in the last 4-5 years). 

Two things that would seem to benefit good teams (i.e. teams that have expectations of "being in the mix") are 1) an early season trip out of region to play at least one really good team or at least two decent teams; and 2) an overseas training/team bonding experience.  One can wonder if Brandeis benefited from their trip out to Texas given their current impressive standing nationally.

Eastern Connecticut traveled to Costa Rica this year and last year.

[Mr.Right]

That would be absolutely ILLEGAL if ECSU DID do that

[PaulNewman]

And while I noted the Brandeis trip to Texas I don't how I forgot the UMass-Boston trip to the Pacific NW. 

[lastguyoffthebench]

LVC up 1-0 at Messiah.     Halftime

[ECSUalum]

That would be absolutely ILLEGAL if ECSU DID do that

It was well publicized on Eastern's men's soccer athletic page!!
Edit
Maybe last time was 2012, time flies when your having fun

[PaulNewman]

Anyone wanting a little bonus late night action might want to check out GAC at Macalester in beautiful St Paul, MN.  GAC up 1-0 near end of 1st half.  A lot of bright yellow and orange on the field.  Decent video with commentary.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Messiah comes back to win 4-2 after being down 2-0...yikes.

[Mr.Right]

ANother GK Horror show

[blooter442]

Brandeis and MIT battle to a 0-0 draw. MIT would've been happier with a point before kickoff, but Brandeis, despite its ranking, etc. would have been happier with the 0-0 result as MIT were unlucky to not come away with a win.

Judges started the better of the two teams, testing the MIT GK with a header through Picard. But from about the 60th minute on, MIT's midfield dominated. Absolutely shredded the Brandeis mids to pieces. They were first to every ball, were incisive with their passing, and with Bingham dropping in looked far more threatening. Judges had a couple of chances here and there, but MIT had the better ones - hitting the bar with about 10 mins left and Bingham, I think it was, fluffing his lines with a left-footer from 12 yards out when it looked easier to score. The overtime periods were pretty even but MIT looked slightly more threatening.

I've never seen the Judges' midfield get dominated like they did tonight. They were better for the first 30 but from 30 mins on, and particularly after the 60th minute, MIT was far superior. Furthermore, Brandeis' flanks were under constant siege. I perhaps underrated MIT before but if they can keep this for up they could well challenge WPI. Their Halloween clash will be a barn burner. As for Brandeis, they need to be much better against Case than they were in this match.

[TennesseeJed]

Brandeis and MIT battle to a 0-0 draw. MIT would've been happier with a point before kickoff, but Brandeis, despite its ranking, etc. would have been happier with the 0-0 result as MIT were unlucky to not come away with a win.

Judges started the better of the two teams, testing the MIT GK with a header through Picard. But from about the 60th minute on, MIT's midfield dominated. Absolutely shredded the Brandeis mids to pieces. They were first to every ball, were incisive with their passing, and with Bingham dropping in looked far more threatening. Judges had a couple of chances here and there, but MIT had the better ones - hitting the bar with about 10 mins left and Bingham, I think it was, fluffing his lines with a left-footer from 12 yards out when it looked easier to score. The overtime periods were pretty even but MIT looked slightly more threatening.

I've never seen the Judges' midfield get dominated like they did tonight. They were better for the first 30 but from 30 mins on, and particularly after the 60th minute, MIT was far superior. Furthermore, Brandeis' flanks were under constant siege. I perhaps underrated MIT before but if they can keep this for up they could well challenge WPI. Their Halloween clash will be a barn burner. As for Brandeis, they need to be much better against Case than they were in this match.

Interesting to compare your perspective with Mr. Right on the UAA thread.  Haven't seen MIT play this year but I've known and watched a few of their current players on club teams and local HS teams for years.  They have some talented players for sure. Wish I had seen this one live!  Still, I wouldn't have expected them to dominate as strongly as you both said, given their respective season to date performances.  Engineers schedule hasn't been nearly as tough as Brandeis.

Thanks for the great report.

[blooter442]

Cheers, TennesseeJed. Perhaps as a Brandeis supporter I've been spoiled - the last time the Judges failed to win at home was November 1st, 2013, a 0-0 draw with WashU in a game in which, had they lost, probably would have resulted in failing to make the NCAAs. They almost lost that game and almost lost this game, so just goes to show that a 0-0 at home in a game against good opposition where you were second-best isn't the worst thing.