2015 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[Mr.Right]

Zach Viera led the ISL his senior season and was getting recruited by 3-4 Nescac's but he did not get into 1 and chose Brandeis over the others. I was not impressed with him his frosh year but I think he has steadily improved and apparently has grabbed the #10

[Mr.Right]

Wheaton needs this game v Brandeis to have any shot at a Pool C...Otherwise the Newmac is a 1 bid league unless WPI can get some sort of a result against Amherst tomorrow

[nw_ds]

Wheaton-Brandeis so far seems to be a pretty typical Brandeis game where they carry the possession but as usual they've been sloppy in terms of finishing. Most people seem to be of the opinion that this is going to limit their chances of a deep run in the tournament, and while I definitely agree that it's a major issue that needs to be improved, at this point in the season I'd rather have that as a weakness and hope they can turn it around as opposed to a leaky defense. Lynch and Lanahan are both exceptional players and as long as the back line remains healthy they are always going to be very difficult to score on. With the win over Tufts they've put themselves in position to host through to the final four if they can finish strong through the UAA season (easier said than done and I suspect they will ultimately drop a few in the UAA that will prevent them from hosting all the way through). But if they do pull it off and they get to host multiple rounds on their turf come November then in that scenario despite their offensive issues I would expect them to be as tough an out as any in New England come tournament time.

[PaulNewman]

Based on stats, Brandeis is hammering Wheaton.  Impressive consolidation of the Tufts win.

DePauw and TMC ends 2-2.  TMC tied it with 2 minutes in regulation.  TMC scraps to the very end with 2 yellows literally in last minute of 2nd OT.

[PaulNewman]

Kenyon website states this is first time in program history they have garnered a #1 ranking. 

http://athletics.kenyon.edu/news/2015/9/29/MSOC_0929152416.aspx

[Flying Weasel]

The big thing, though, was Wheaton's website led to the NESJ D3 outlook, which says that Tufts is the "first program to win the NCAA title by winning six road games." I don't believe this is true - it appears that Messiah did so in 2008. I know that - assuming they qualify - Messiah rotates year-by-year whether they host or not, but when they won it in 2008 they played at Rochester, CNU, and Greensboro. Am I missing something, or is this just an oft-cited yet incorrect claim?

Officially Messiah did win six games away from home in 2008.  Not sure if the Tufts' claim is based on the fact that Messiah won a penalty shootout in the title game that would be considered a tie in every other instance but a national final.

[blooter442]

Officially Messiah did win six games away from home in 2008.  Not sure if the Tufts' claim is based on the fact that Messiah won a penalty shootout in the title game that would be considered a tie in every other instance but a national final.

Interesting. I'd count that as winning six games on the road. It's understandable that some add "first team to win six games on the road," particularly because A. they did win six games on the road and B. Tufts were considered huge underdogs going into the national tournament, but it just seems a bit sensationalist considering it's not entirely true.

That said, Tufts did win those six games outright, so that is a unique accomplishment.

[blooter442]

Brandeis went 2-0 up before Wheaton pulled one back in the 74th. 'Deis scored a nice team goal to make it two. Wheaton pulled one back on a bouncing ball in the box, nice finish. Currently 2-1 in Norton, where the slow, wet grass pitch has no doubt had an effect.

[PaulNewman]

Wow.  Kayne just hit Majumder with another perfect pass into an open net and he missed it (hit post).

[Brother Flounder]

Wow.  Kayne just hit Majumder with another perfect pass into an open net and he missed it (hit post).

That's soccer... Going to OT.  Kayne hit Zimmer earlier and he hit the post. Tufts dominated second half. Boys look tired.  Wesleyan hanging in there...

[lastguyoffthebench]

Eastern only beats 0-8-1 Rosemont 2-0, outshooting them 22-5.   They travel to Manhattanville for a big conference game this Saturday...

[PaulNewman]

Really impressed with Brandeis dominating (at least stats-wise) away at Wheaton (in a game Wheaton needed a result from badly).  Outshot Wheaton 20 to 4.  If Brandeis does gain more offensive punch watch out.

[Off Pitch]

This is not last year's Wheaton.  They have talent, but they are down this year.  Although they are 7-4, their best win is Springfield. 

[PaulNewman]

This is not last year's Wheaton.  They have talent, but they are down this year.  Although they are 7-4, their best win is Springfield.

Understood.  It's not exactly last year's Brandeis either.  To significantly outplay a still pretty good Wheaton team that really needed the game just a couple of days after an extremely tense, high-energy game at Tufts I find impressive.

[Gregory Sager]

Saturday, October 3rd (this coming Saturday for the date-challenged like me) is a monster day in D3 soccer.  High stakes, blockbuster match-ups across the board.  Which makes some of these in-week games over the next couple of days intriguing because a number of notables could get caught looking ahead.

Let's start with UW-Whitewater.  I had to double-check to make sure I had this right.  UW-W is playing AWAY at Loras and North Park on back-to-back nights. 

Tomorrow

UW-W @Loras

Tufts @Wesleyan

Brandeis @Wheaton (MA)

DePauw @Thomas More

Chicago @Carthage

Trinity (CT) @Conn College

Wabash @Centre

Randolph @Roanoke

Luther @Macalester


Wednesday

Rowan @Rutgers-Camden

Amherst @WPI

UW-W @North Park

Messiah @E'town

Case Western @Kenyon

Hopkins @Gettysburg

Denison @Heidelberg

Kalamazoo @Alma

UMass-Boston @Bridgewater State

You got the days wrong for UWW's back-to-back matches against Loras and North Park. The Warhawks travel to Loras on Wednesday, and to NPU on Thursday.