2015 NCAA North Region

[Wisco21]

Loras released its schedule for 2015 today. Looks pretty tasty if you ask me!

http://duhawks.com/news/2015/4/28/MSOC_0428151034.aspx

[Medicated Pete]

Wow..Wheaton is on the list.. Thought these two teams were done playing each other during the regular season 

[D3soccerwatcher]

High probability that Wheaton (IL) will be ranked #1 in the pre-season polls.  Loras will have their hands full early.

[Cheesehead Henry]

Compare Loras' schedule to the other IIAC schools; Wartburg's looks weak and Luther has nothing to boast about either. The other IIAC school to look at would be Dubuque, too bad I couldn't even find a schedule to look at. Anybody finding anything?

[Wisco21]

Yeah Cheesehead, still haven't seen anything posted yet for UD.


http://athletics.uwplatt.edu/sports/msoc/2015-16/schedule
Looking at Platteville's schedule, they're playing a team called IEC Japan....anybody have any idea who that is?! I have a feeling UWP is going to be decent this year, returning a lot of players and not losing too much (although a robust attacking threat in Mbodje Sarr and a steady defender in Streich, I do believe Sibik is returning for another year). Their schedule looks appropriate for a team in their situation, a good blend of gimme's and tough competition.

Season is ~100 days away

[casualfan]

From watching UWP last season multiple times and knowing that they're losing their best 2 players in my opinion, I would imagine them to drop down another notch. They haven't been able to pull out some freshmen studs out of the latest recruiting classes and the top returning goalscorer had 2 goals 

Sibik is good enough to keep them in games but they're not going to outscore any teams by too much that's for sure.

[Wisco21]

Very true. If not 2015, possibly 2016. They will be fielding 7 seniors, 6 juniors, and 12 sophomores this upcoming fall, if Enzo can keep this group together the future looks bright for the pioneers. The team also took a trip to Italy this spring- a very team building experience.

[casualfan]

2016 could be a nice year for them. With the impending cut of the UW-Oshkosh program, I would imagine that both UW-Platteville and UW-Whitewater will benefit in the recruiting side of things with one less UW school to consider.

Hopefully the Pool B bid will continue to be dominated by the WIAC.

[casualfan]

Just been browsing some 2015 schedules in the North and came across UWW which may be one of the more difficult in the nation, but also has a streak of 8 games in 14 days   

Sept 18 @ Carthage
Sept 20 vs. Wittenberg @ Carthage
Sept 22 St Norbert
Sept 23 Concordia Wisconsin
Sept 25 Augustana
Sept 28 Lake Forest
Sept 30 @ Loras
Oct 1 @ North Park

Add that to a weekend in Minnesota against St. Olaf and Carleton, a matchup with MSOE, and the two rivalries with UWO & UWP.

Sounds like it'll be quite the test for the Warhawks this fall.

[Puerco Espin]

Any insight as to what WashU will look like this year? They face Wheaton in Wheaton the first weekend of the season at the Baptista Invitational. There's not much else to look at in their non-conference schedule with their best opponent on paper being Wheaton, followed by either Dominican or Carthage.

During the second week of the season, the Thunder travel to Dubuque to face Loras. Taking my bias out of the equation, this has got to be one of the top matches of the year, just eight days into the season. With the exception of a non-conference tilt against Chicago, the rest of Wheaton's non-conference schedule doesn't impress me much.

GAC will weather its fair share of bumps and bruises from the MIAC, but their non-conference schedule looks poor (Martin Luther, St. Norbert, Viterbo, Principia, Greenville). Barring a major surprise from one of those teams, the Gusties may be looking at the MIAC AQ or bust.

Dominican will be pushed to their limits I feel with a preseason scrimmage against Wheaton and the non-conference games against Chicago, WashU, and North Park. Could the Stars be pushing for higher Pool C value if the NACC title slips away from them again?

Chicago appears to have one of the stronger schedules in the region, helped in part from their membership in the UAA. In non-conference play, they'll face Dominican, North Park, Loras, Wheaton, and Carthage.

It does not appear as though Luther learned their lesson from last year and their sub-.500 SOS. On paper, their best non-conference opponent will be UW-Oshkosh, followed by Carleton. But a win over Wartburg or Loras could be just enough to get the Norse into the upper-tier of the Pool C selections come November.

[Puerco Espin]

Univ. of Dubuque has their schedule online now ... http://www.dbq.edu/Athletics/MensAthletics/Soccer/

Not a cakewalk for UD, but we could see some surprising results: 9/12 at MSOE, 9/16 vs. North Park, 10/21 vs. UW-Whitewater

[D3 Scout]

Looking at the UWW schedule and Casualfan pointing out the 8 games in two weeks. You have to think this has something to do with UWW not having a conference. Has to be tough to get games against conference affiliated teams late in the season. Coach Guinn's hand might have been forced on this matter.

My view of UWW this year is that they lost a ton of seniors including their main scoring threat in Gottwald. Luckily for UWW they have never scored goals in the prettiest of ways. They will still have their 6' 7" center back in Justin Stanko to aim at in the box and Sam Novak who had a busy summer with the Madison 56ers NPSL team could have a breakout season. In the end depth will come into play and a few new players will have to step up if UWW wants to return to the big dance.

My prediction is that UWW has another best of the rest season and barely edges past UWO for the pool b bid.

[Wisco21]

Definitely agree with you D3, Novak is a stud. If UWW can service him through the midfield, they may not have to rely as much on their set pieces. Can see Novak leading the WIAC in goals this season, very hardworking and fun player to watch imo.

Also, seems to me that UWW and UWP are returning a decent amount of underclassmen, will be interesting to see how much the rosters will change from the 2014 season. Rumor has it that almost all underclassmen for UWO will return despite the program ending in 2016. Don't know too much about Finlandia, however they seem to be figuring it out with each coming year.

3 weeks till the doozie of an opener with Loras visiting Oshkosh, any predictions??

[Puerco Espin]

Similar to you, Wisco, I also heard that Oshkosh will return a large number of players from last year's roster, despite the program being cut.

I think it'll be a very closely contested match with each team still trying to figure themselves out.

1-0 Loras.

[Cheesehead Henry]

Agreeing with Puerco on this one, but I'm going to guess a bit more of a high scoring debut. It is the first game of the season after all!

3-1 Loras.