2015 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[blooter442]

Babson is NOT A good team this year. They are anemic offensively and if F&M is any good they should dispatch of Babson. Babson will also SIT DEEP and are athlrtic enough to frustrate teams but they cannot score goals. They WILL NOT BE IN THE SWEET 16

I agree. They'll sit deep, but they're the same team that conceded seven goals at home against Williams. They made a statement by beating MIT in the NEWMAC final, but they are way too hot and cold to put together any sort of sustained run IMHO.

[WarhawkFan]

Loras got a "bye" to the Final 4

You keep saying this, but it makes absolutely ZERO sense.
They have 4, count them, FOUR losses this year. Not exactly an unbeatable team.
One of which was a 2-0 loss to a team in their pod.

Their pod is weak...WEAK...one more time for you WEAK

Wingtips they actually only have 3 losses (the fourth was to Western Illinois who is D1) but I agree, this is not the Loras of past years.  However, that doesn't mean they won't turn it up a notch now that it's playoff time. They're the type of team that can certainly do that.

Mr. Right you are correct about the pod being weak comparatively, and they do have what appears to be the easiest route to the Final 4, but it is by no means a bye. Loras could potentially meet 2 of the 3 teams they lost to during the regular season (their loss to UWW was in the Rock Bowl) again before the Final 4.  I'd still put my money on Loras having the best chance to reach the Final 4, but I think it'll be more of a challenge than you make it out to be.

[wingtips2]

If Loras survives ONU they have a cake walk. Their toughest game will be ONU until they reach the final 4.

A cake walk?
You're talking about a team that lost to a very average St Thomas team a couple weeks ago.
And has potential match ups with 2 - yes, TWO - teams that have already beaten the corn fed boys.
Loras being given a top seed and a bye is almost as big a travesty as RPIbeing selected.
This is a pretty good team, not the 'unbeatable' duhawks of years past.

[Mr.Right]

Thta is precisely why in my odds section I rated UWW very highly at 12/1 because it is very possible they can beat Loras.

[Shooter McGavin]

Is there a final regular season D3Soccer National Poll that comes out today or was last week the last one?

I was wondering the same thing MAF. Ryan any info on this?

[Mr.Right]

Babson is NOT A good team this year. They are anemic offensively and if F&M is any good they should dispatch of Babson. Babson will also SIT DEEP and are athlrtic enough to frustrate teams but they cannot score goals. They WILL NOT BE IN THE SWEET 16

I agree. They'll sit deep, but they're the same team that conceded seven goals at home against Williams. They made a statement by beating MIT in the NEWMAC final, but they are way too hot and cold to put together any sort of sustained run IMHO.

I agree. Without Anderson up top they have not been able to score goals in a couple years. However, depending on the day they can sit deep and frustrate and snag 1 goal. 2014 they beat Williams 1-0 and had maybe 2 SOG. Depends on the day.

[PaulNewman]

If Loras survives ONU they have a cake walk. Their toughest game will be ONU until they reach the final 4.

A cake walk?
You're talking about a team that lost to a very average St Thomas team a couple weeks ago.
And has potential match ups with 2 - yes, TWO - teams that have already beaten the corn fed boys.
Loras being given a top seed and a bye is almost as big a travesty as RPIbeing selected.
This is a pretty good team, not the 'unbeatable' duhawks of years past.

I think all of you are sort of saying the same thing.  Given the resume, Loras was very fortunate to get a bye, and I presume that was for geographic purposes.  Probably was going to be Wheaton or Loras and Loras had the slightly better resume of the two.  Beyond that, nobody will get to the Final Four without playng someone decent but the Duhawks certainly in comparison to some of the top teams in other regions have an attractive draw.  I guess a question is why Trinity wasn't given a bye if geography was going to dictate but then again Texas isn't close to the West Coast or the North region which has a big cluster of teams.

[Shooter McGavin]

Top 10 Schools for winning percentage:
School      W-L-T   Win %   
Calvin      20-0-1   0.976   
Kenyon      17-1    0.944   
Whitworth   16-1-1   0.917   
Amherst      14-1-1   0.906   
Trinity (Texas)   19-2    0.905   
Westminster (Mo.)17-2   0.895   
Lycoming         16-1-2       0.895   
St. Scholastica   18-2-1     0.881   
Montclair State   18-2-1   0.881   
Elizabethtown   17-2-1    0.875   

[wingtips2]

Loras got a "bye" to the Final 4

Agree!  Amherst with bye to Elite 8.  Oneonta with next easiest.  Winner of Haverford-SLU sitting pretty.  I like OWU's draw to the Elite 8.  No one there they can't handle and get Calvin most likely on own field.

OWU? Their history is get to final 4 or get upset in the first two rounds. I'm thinking they are unlikely to advance from their pod this year.

Without commenting on the likelihood of OWU getting out of this weekend, this is pretty accurate.  In the past ten seasons, OWU has made it through the first weekend 50% of the time (5/10) but the second weekend 60% of the time (3/5).  That includes three losses in the first weekend when OWU was a top-five team (2005, 2009, 2013).

The one thing I will say is that the teams coming to OWU this weekend are not in the mold of teams OWU has normally fallen to on the opening weekend.  The opening weekend losses since 2005 were to Transylvania (x2), Rose-Hulman, Centre, and Calvin.  I have a feeling that MSOE and this year's undefeated Calvin (assuming they win) aren't coming to town to pack it in and hope for a counter-attack goal.  Again, no comment on what I expect to happen, but I think these teams will play straight-up.

On that note, I think the OWU-MSOE game should be great, as both teams really like to attack.  Same goes for the winner against Calvin.  Should be plenty of scoring.

Their opening pod is a lot more difficult than people are making it out to be. There is every possibility of them losing one of their games.

And speaking of them losing in the opening weekend or making the final 4, one of the exceptions to that generality was 2000. How they didn't beat Linfield is beyond me - the Linfild keeper was standing on his head the entire match. 4 OT's!!!!!
That team was so ridiculously stacked that year - Miller, van horn, a healthy Dunlap, Hoffman, Ty, Tacuma, vorenkamp. The D3 community was robbed not seeing a Messiah vs OWU semi that year.

[Ryan Harmanis]

Is there a final regular season D3Soccer National Poll that comes out today or was last week the last one?

I was wondering the same thing MAF. Ryan any info on this?

There will be one this week.  We delayed it because it took a lot of time to get all of the NCAA preview, selection, and Tournament Central page up and running.  I'd expect it tonight or tomorrow.

**By "we" I mean the good people who handle the poll and run D3soccer.com.  I don't have any role in running the website itself, so all of that credit goes to Jim Matson and Chris Shirk, among others.

[PaulNewman]

The new poll nicely shows what should have happened.  Reverse the four in the two categories and the NCAA cmte would have had things just about perfect.  The only real cry would be about Tufts because Tufts is the defending champ and so high profile.  We've focused a lot on Midd, but I think Elizabethtown not getting a bid is probably the single worst omission.....probably E'town, Midd, Colorado Coll, and Brockport, in that order.  Tufts probably should have been the first team out, but having said that I wouldn't be shocked to see Tufts get to the Final Four or even win the whole again.  We have to separate deserving a bid from how dangerous a team is....two different things.  I have no doubt Messiah would have been a dangerous team as well.

[Mr.Right]

Tufts is a completely different team than last year. They will be lucky to reach the Sweet 16. Had they gotten Bowdoin's draw then yes they could of made a run.

[igotthisfeeling]

Etown got screwed...plan and simple. Committee ignored criteria and decided to allow politics to determine selection rather then doing their job properly - from what I was able to find out, Etown was in before final decisions were made and then decision was made to switch at last second based on a unknown request...not confirmed but that is the info I am being told from my sources. Only criteria Etown lacked was SOS (which was low because teams who normally have good records had nightmares this season and you can't predict that)...that alone should have not omitted them from the tournament...they beat everyone who was put in front of them (including Dickinson and Messiah) with their only losses being v F&M early in the season and then the conference final. I know it sounds like someone just complaining because their team didn't get in, but this was down right criminal to leave Etown out...especially when they took other teams who did not deserve to be in ahead of Etown (Tufts/Dickinson)

Good luck to all the teams who were selected, will be an interesting and fun tournament to follow

[PaulNewman]

Etown got screwed...plan and simple. Committee ignored criteria and decided to allow politics to determine selection rather then doing their job properly - from what I was able to find out, Etown was in before final decisions were made and then decision was made to switch at last second based on a unknown request...not confirmed but that is the info I am being told from my sources. Only criteria Etown lacked was SOS (which was low because teams who normally have good records had nightmares this season and you can't predict that)...that alone should have not omitted them from the tournament...they beat everyone who was put in front of them (including Dickinson and Messiah) with their only losses being v F&M early in the season and then the conference final. I know it sounds like someone just complaining because their team didn't get in, but this was down right criminal to leave Etown out...especially when they took other teams who did not deserve to be in ahead of Etown (Tufts/Dickinson)

Good luck to all the teams who were selected, will be an interesting and fun tournament to follow

Agree with you.  Can't imagine what a coach says to his team in these situations, and any seniors for an E'town who have worked so hard to finally have such a great season and then be denied.  Win% does not seem to be a big deal for the cmtes.  I have a feeling even Calvin might have been in some trouble if they had not won their tournament, judging by their last regional rank and not hosting the first weekend.

[lastguyoffthebench]

NCAC NE, patiently waiting over here for your Regular Season Top 25...