2015 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[Saint of Old]

Big Congrats to Super Saint Harry Copeland.

The kid has a shot at playing at the next level.

Three time All American Center back with good speed,  a smooth Touch and a strong goal scoring record.

Oh yeah... He's also 6 feet 5 inches.


Congrats to all the All Americans.
ESPECIALLY THE ONES STILL PLAYING!!!!

[lastguyoffthebench]

CSS Massey Rating SOS the last 4 years:

2015: 268
2014: Not updated
2013: 322
2012: 321

[firstplaceloser]

CSS Massey Rating SOS the last 4 years:

2015: 268
2014: Not updated
2013: 322
2012: 321

JOKE. the highest honor anyone from there should receive is 2-3 team all Region.

[lastguyoffthebench]

It will be something special if Rutgers-Camden can make a run in the NJAC next year.  I don't see where the goals will come without him in that formation...
In the common era of the NJAC, the team has still been a force.   Even Stockton and Rowan could not sustain what Camden has been able to do (after their title appearances in '00 and '01)... 

6 teams reach the FINAL FOUR from the conference, can Rutgers-Newark become a 7th in the near future?

With the resurgence of Kean, Stockton, and Rowan... the NJAC will continue to provide solid competition.  My guess would be that Stockton is the next NJAC school to reach the ELITE 8 - FINAL FOUR in the next few years.

[firstplaceloser]

It will be something special if Rutgers-Camden can make a run in the NJAC next year.  I don't see where the goals will come without him in that formation...
In the common era of the NJAC, the team has still been a force.   Even Stockton and Rowan could not sustain what Camden has been able to do (after their title appearances in '00 and '01)... 

6 teams reach the FINAL FOUR from the conference, can Rutgers-Newark become a 7th in the near future?

With the resurgence of Kean, Stockton, and Rowan... the NJAC will continue to provide solid competition.  My guess would be that Stockton is the next NJAC school to reach the ELITE 8 - FINAL FOUR in the next few years.

I agree RUC is in some trouble without Mike Ryan next year. I'm thinking they still make the playoffs but I don't see a NCAA appearance in their near future. I think Stockton with Colafranson next year has a pretty good chance but then there is always MSU who never fails to battle. it's going to be a war between Kean Rowan Montclair and Stockton.

I think Ryan deserves first team primarily because you can put him on any of the top 10 teams and that team could easily reach final four. Camdens talent dipped down since 2012 and 2013 and you can tell because he put Camden on his back after the 2013 class. imagine them without him...

[lastguyoffthebench]

The 2013 team was VERY solid, the box to box guys... Auleta and Balle with Grotti in the hole was an incredible front 6.

[firstplaceloser]

The 2013 team was VERY solid, the box to box guys... Auleta and Balle with Grotti in the hole was an incredible front 6.

4/6 front guys should have been AA that year. the wide guys did their job defending and getting the ball to grotti and Ryan up top. it's a shame they didn't have one more year with Balle and Grotti there

[Mr.Right]

I saw TCNJ when Williams beat them 3-0 in the Elite 8 in 1995 and then they went up to Williamstown and beat Williams 1-0 in the 118th minute off a goal from a sub that had not played all game in the Elite 8 in 1996 and went on to win the Title.

Those TCNJ teams between 1994-1997 were no joke and they sustained a very good run.

[firstplaceloser]

Damn these chicks need to work on PK's....Messiah bows out....

messiah misses 3 in a row with a couple chances of winning if they made it but failed. it's always good to see someone else other than messiah win

[Mr.Right]

lol...You can book Williams as the 0215 NCAA Women's Champion..

[blooter442]

The fact Pascual-Leone is not first team, is puzzling to me.  He is/was arguably the best player in D3 soccer this year.

Seconded. Was happy to see Lanahan and Ocel get recognized - particularly the latter, he is an incredible talent. The word around Brandeis when he first came in was that "he could be even better than his brother." And while I would never make a comparison between the two, since they are two different players and his brother was an incredibly clutch player who was instrumental in the resurgence of Brandeis' program, I suppose the quote is true in terms of NSCAA All-American honors (Sam was a 3rd Team AA)!

[Ji Sung Park the Bus]

And JSPTB - Etown can't control how good the teams are in their conference each year...many teams in the Landmark under-performed greatly this year...Catholic (preseason favorite) Scranton, USMM all did not perform as expected...Drew had a good run til they played Etown. Unfortunately, Etown's conference SOS was under .500 which killed them. Then having the nscaa regional committee chair being from their league and the guy doesn't back Etown is just a slap in the face - but I guess he got intimidated by the other coaches on the committee.

And are you saying if Etown had gone 19-1 (loss being in the conference finals) that they would not be good enough to be in the NCAA tournament?

19-1 without winning the conference they should make it but they'd have to sweat it out.  Unfortunately unless you are in one of the more powerful conferences from top to bottom you are going to be on the bubble without winning the conference.  Also I believe their out of conference scheduling should be better.  Yes you cannot predict another teams season, like Messiah this year but if you schedule better you don't have to rely on one team to help you.  I also get the budget constraints for traveling but there are plenty teams not too far, NJAC etc that they should schedule 1 or 2 a year.  It's all done and dusted but in the end they had one game that was a must win this year and they lost.  Maybe next year that will be the chip on their shoulder and continue to grow on this season.  D3 soccer is better with programs like Etown in the mix!!

[CovensCorner]

The fact Pascual-Leone is not first team, is puzzling to me.  He is/was arguably the best player in D3 soccer this year.

Seconded. Was happy to see Lanahan and Ocel get recognized - particularly the latter, he is an incredible talent. The word around Brandeis when he first came in was that "he could be even better than his brother." And while I would never make a comparison between the two, since they are two different players and his brother was an incredibly clutch player who was instrumental in the resurgence of Brandeis' program, I suppose the quote is true in terms of NSCAA All-American honors (Sam was a 3rd Team AA)!

Josh Ocel was being recruited to Boston College pretty heavily if I am not mistaken, however he and his family ultimately decided Brandeis because of his brother and experience at the school.

[lastguyoffthebench]

For purposes of NSCAA...  Ashame you will not see the likes of E-town, Stockton, Middlebury in the Top 25.   Not sure how they will be slotted in the D3soccer.com final poll

TOP 25
RV:  Macalester, Washington (MO), RPI, TMC, Plattsburgh St, Eastern, CMU, Whitworth
25) W&L
24) Chicago
23) Redlands
22) Dickinson
21) Rutgers-Camden
20) Bowdoin
19) Ohio Wesleyan
18) UW-W
17) MSU
16) St. Olaf
15) DePauw
14) Tufts
13) SLU
12) MIT
11) Lycoming
10) F&M
9) Brandeis
8) Wheaton
7) Kenyon
6) Trinity
5) Haverford
4) Calvin
3) Oneonta St
2) Loras
1) Amherst

[Falconer]

Congratulations to Amherst--and to the other three Final Four teams for great seasons, too.

Here's my thoughts on AA selections. I was glad to see Jacob Bender make it; doesn't matter to me if it's not first team. He had a terrific season, the single best season by a Falcon outside defender I can ever recall watching. At least a few times he was actually the best player on both ends of the field for either team. I extend my congratulations to him, with the hope that he does just as well next year on a team that improves enough to go make the dance and go deep into the tournament.

As for St. Scholastica, do they have any Americans on that team? I mean Americans, not All-Americans. All four AA guys are from England--are you serious? Do they have a British coach? Anyone have the back story on this?

I see two of the three AA's for Kenyon are also foreign players. Speaking of which, Amolo looked about as good as any attacker I've seen this year, and IMO he merits an AA honor. Ditto for Gilbert Waso from Etown--who is just a freshman. However, the best attacker I've seen from this whole list is Michael Ryan from RU-C. He's simply dynamite, better IMO than either Amolo or Waso. Then again, the two best players from Messiah in the past few years, Thompson and Ramirez, both of whom are now playing professionally, were not named at all last year (2014) or the previous year (2013), though Ramirez was second team in 2012. It's hard to see how that happens, when Kenyon has 3 first-team players this year. I'm not saying that those guys aren't deserving (I just said that Amolo certainly is, and I'm not implying anything about the other two guys), but I am saying that these things can be hard to figure out. Was Kenyon really as good this year as Messiah was in 2012-14? Or even better? I have my doubts, but obviously this is just one man's opinion...