2015 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[swibbles]

Anyone seen Rose Hulman play? Impressed with the DePauw win. How good is this team?

[lastguyoffthebench]

Transylvania vs Thomas More today.  Transylvania lost 1-0 last year on the road, won 1-0 at home in 2013.  Judging by the 4 draws that they already have (3 of which were 0-0 games), goals will be at a premium here.   Another 0-0 result wouldn't surprise me.

[PaulNewman]

Transylvania vs Thomas More today.  Transylvania lost 1-0 last year on the road, won 1-0 at home in 2013.  Judging by the 4 draws that they already have (3 of which were 0-0 games), goals will be at a premium here.   Another 0-0 result wouldn't surprise me.

A night game right in the heart of Lexington?  No way Transy holds the Saints scoreless.  4-1 TMC.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

2-1 TMC

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

2-0 final TMC

[PaulNewman]

Today's Games

Today's SUNYAC tilts don't seem especially compelling, with Brockport vs Buffalo State looking like the best of the bunch (but some good ones for tomorrow).

Grove City @CMU   is a top sleeper pick.  Grove City is a pretty good under-the-radar side and CMU can't live off of the Messiah win forever.  Time for CMU to make a statement before entering the UAA battlefields.

Chicago @Wheaton (ILL)  is a VERY compelling contest.  Wheaton was a top pick preseason, and Chicago was grabbing the limelight before getting bombarded by a flock of Duhawks.  A win for either side would help that team get their train back on the rails.

Another sleeper is UW-Oshkosh vs North Park.  Now that UW-W finally stumbled maybe another UW can re-direct the spotlight a little bit.  North Park is one of those teams that almost no one on East Coast even knows where it is, and yet they are always in the mix and usually with a talented, international bunch.

Saturday

The games of the day have got to be in the New England region with Brandeis @Tufts and Amherst @Williams.  Tufts has become the media darling that many of us are very intrigued about.  Is Tufts clearly the top team in the country and in the early stages of a multi-year run, or will the Jumbos come back to the pack?  While there will be an immediate reaction either way after this game, in truth not much is really riding on this one and both teams should be fine whatever the result.  A result from Brandeis could send a message to UAA foes, though, and the other NESCAC outfits might be heartened to see that Tufts isn't absolutely unbeatable.  No extra words are needed for Amherst vs Williams.  Just mentioning the two schools in the same sentence is enough.

The Best of the Rest looks like....

OWU @Denison (nothing like OWU coming to town to put an end to Denison's dream start)
Oneonta @Cortland (a SUNYAC showdown)
Middlebury @Bowdoin (must win now for the Polar Bears)
Oberlin @DePauw (Oberlin upset DePauw in the Yeomen's last visit to Greencastle and DPU can ill afford a loss after dropping a home OT game to RHIT)
Bates @Wesleyan (Bates is trending positive for the first time in how many years? ....Wesleyan can't afford to drop a home affair to a perennial NESCAC doormat with brutal games ahead)
Puget Sound @Whitworth (the crystal ball says Whitworth will be ready for this one)
Wheaton (MA) @WPI (Wheaton has quietly put a good streak together and WPI needs to beat a good team after a soft early schedule)
Lycoming @Rochester (the kind of win Lycoming needs unless they plan on taking out Messiah in the conference tourney, but this is just the type of game UR usually wins to keep themselves in reach of a bid)
Gettysburg @Muhlenberg (seems like the odds favor the Mules finally getting a good win)
Texas-Dallas @Concordia (TX) (never heard of Concordia or knew there are about five Concordia's [the Wisconsin branch knocked off UW-W] in the country until seeing them on the unblemished list)
Gordon @Wentworth (I see Gordon going on a little run and without a win Wentworth will likely be fading)
Potsdam @Plattsburgh (Plattsburgh determined not to lose two in a row)
Rutgers-Newark @Rowan (a key NJAC collision to see who may challenge Montclair and Camden)

[D3soccerwatcher]

Grove City up 1-0 on CMU (mid way thru first half)

[Domino1195]

2-0 final TMC

Transy put 10 men behind the ball for large parts of the game - TM was content - and patient - to knock it around from one side to the other, bringing the ball all the way back to the center back to restart. No red cards or anything that came close to boiling over. The most touches any single player had during one possession might have been four. Two - three touch - very simple.

[PaulNewman]

2-0 final TMC

Transy put 10 men behind the ball for large parts of the game - TM was content - and patient - to knock it around from one side to the other, bringing the ball all the way back to the center back to restart. No red cards or anything that came close to boiling over. The most touches any single player had during one possession might have been four. Two - three touch - very simple.

And the TMC coach never put his best players back in after taking them out early to midway through the 2nd half.  They actually showed more ability for pure possession than I had seen before.  Their defense seems to be getting better too.

[PaulNewman]

Nice comeback by CMU.  Kept grinding it out until finally got a breakthrough goal around 60 minute mark and now up 3-1 and looking pretty comfortable.

[PaulNewman]

Watched most of Wheaton and Chicago.  Wheaton won with a scrappy kind of goal inside of two minutes left.

I had an odd feeling watching this one.  It was a high level game with both teams skilled.  Wheaton has some huge players and Chicago is a very small team.  I was actually impressed by Chicago's level of play and skill.  But while the action was fast and pretty good soccer, Wheaton especially seemed kind of frenetic without real clear ideas about what they were doing.  It was kind of a boring game to watch which seemed strange given the speed and quality of play between the 18s.  Really very few decent chances for either team and not many total shots.

[PaulNewman]

UW-Oshkosh 7-1-1 after winning away at North Park 2-1.  Great story there.  Only loss was first game of the season to Loras 2-1.

[Wisco21]

Was at the North Park-UWO match last night. Very entertaining footy, beautiful weather, great atmosphere from the NP hooligans, best possible way I could've spent my Friday evening. First half Oshkosh came out like gangbusters and hit North Park right in the mouth. They high pressed, moved the ball quick, and found space in behind the Viking's defense. North Park had some stretches towards the final minutes of the first 45 but you could tell they definitely weren't expecting such energy from UWO. The Titans scored off of their high pressing, a shot was coughed up by the keeper and stuffed in the net. UWO kept a good job of keeping Pedram Tahmi-Masoleh quiet.

Halftime 1-0 UWO.

Second half, both teams matched each others intensity at first, NP started gaining more and more possession as the match went on. It got increasingly chippy. Oshkosh had the counter going and drew a penalty in the 80th and converted. However in the 85th a mistake by the Titan's keeper let North Park back into the match at 2-1. UWO eventually held on for the W.

I predict that both of these squads will be forces to reckoned with during the second half of the season.

[stlawus]

I see Serpone and his bench antics haven't changed. 

[lastguyoffthebench]

NJAC scores that are not typos:

Rowan 7, Rutgers-Newark 1
Kean 4, TCNJ 1