2015 NCAA North Region

[Madhatter5]

I think Bradley sat to give awareness to Rooney sitting for ManU. Those Brits are thick as thieves.

[KICKIN95]

I think Bradley sat to give awareness to Rooney sitting for ManU. Those Brits are thick as thieves.

You might be right Fletch!

Actually had a little soreness not related to the knee, he should be good to go soon.

[dontshootthegoose]

St. Johns wins 2-1 at St. Thomas. After a bad loss to MSOE, the Johnnie's are starting to make a statement. Tie at Loras, now huge win against an undefeated St. Thomas team.

Loras with a 4-0 spanking on Chicago. Huge statement win for Loras, Chicago plays beautiful soccer but struggles to put it in the back of the net. The Duhawk's high pressure can stress good quality teams.

Oshkosh beats MSOE 2-0 at home. Oshkosh with another quality win.

GAC vs Macalester was called off due to weather.

[repete]

Um! Yah! Yah!

http://www.foxsports.com/buzzer/video?vid=528166467754

[dontshootthegoose]

Loras with its first loss of the year at Depauw 2-0 (4-1-1)

UWW with a 7-0 spanking on Wittenberg, 7-0...   (UWW is now 7-0, with only 3 goals given up)

I think UWW may have taken the Duhawk's position as the top team in the region (as of today)

My thoughts on Whitewater, they have always had one of the best defenses in the nation, but now they have an actual offense.. Scary, very scary.

[casualfan]

Keep an eye on UW-Oshkosh this year. With it being the last year of the program, they're off to a good start under the radar a bit.

5-1-1 with loss to Loras and tie out west to Willamette.

Almost 575 minutes without giving up a goal.

[Wisco21]

I have been keeping close tabs on the whole situation at Oshkosh. Apparently the Chancellor has yielded that it's not about $$$/budget cuts, the reasoning has now been "changed" to the fact that UWO doesn't have a real conference and therefore no automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The #saveUWOsoccer boys are pressuring their Athletic Director, Darryl Sims, to find them a conference or to create one with other independents/Pool B teams. Unfortunately, Sims is of football background and has no interest in working to reverse the decision.

Will try and keep updates posted on here as the information comes to me.

[Homegrown Harry]

Anyone know what's up with Carleton?
Saw they dropped another game yesterday, 1 - 3 to Wartburg.
I had a pretty good feeling about them going into the season but they have not looked very competitive (at least on the box scores).

[Cheesehead Henry]

From the looks of it, they just haven't quite found their groove. Augsburg is usually a pretty sound team, a tie to Luther isn't a terrible result, and a loss to Wartburg shouldn't be too unbelievable considering Wartburg is starting to hit a stride. Not to mention Carleton's all-american forward has been injured.

[Wisco21]

Anyone have regional ranking predictions? Love how unpredictable this season is shaping up to be.

[casualfan]

I'll throw my thoughts into this week's rankings.

Things I considered
Will UWW drop a spot or two? Will UWO rise up? Loras dropped a 2nd but to D1 Western IL. Macalester stays unbeaten but at 4-0-4. The MIAC is all over the place with GAC dropping a few and St. Johns, St. Thomas, & St. Olaf all having decent starts. Wartburg should drop out after a loss to Dubuque. St. Scholastica sits at 9-1 with a soft schedule remaining due to their conference aside from UW-Superior who they beat 4-0. This week was hard.

1. UWW 9-1
2. Loras 6-2-1
3. UWO 8-1-1
4. Macalester 4-0-4
5. St. John's 6-1-2
6. St. Scholastica 9-1
7. St. Thomas 6-2
8. UW-Superior 8-2
9. Dubuque 5-2-1
10. GAC 5-2

Does any team deserve the 10th spot?

[Homegrown Harry]

Nice to see Dubuque and Luther crack the top 10 in the North and Loras back on top.

[D3 Scout]

UWW @ Loras tonight. #1 against #2 in the region. Loras has four consecutive wins over Whitewater. Is this the year the Coach Guinn finally puts his hands on the Hawk Cup?

Prediction: Loras will dominate the middle of the field all night and see upwards of 65% possession. I believe UWW will try to slow Loras's up tempo game and play a counter attacking style with Hottsmith leading that attack. UWW has a tendency to get stretched out when this happens leaving their back line vulnerable. I believe that Loras's depth and the long stretch of games UWW have played recently will lead to another Loras victory.

Final Score: Duhawks 2 UWW 1

Hopefully the Warhawks can prove me wrong and bring the Hawk Cup to Whitewater for the first time.

[casualfan]

Loras 2-1 UWW
I also think this is the scoreline but does Loras ever have 65% possession anymore? I'm sure the swarm will give UWW fits all night but I don't see the midfield being the key to success.

I see Rummelhart going at the outside backs of UWW most of the night with quite a bit of success. Hottsmith will likely do the same at the other end for UWW. If the Warhawks can gain a fair amount of set pieces in dangerous areas, I could see UWW pulling it out. Stanko is just a monster in the area and then hits a nice driven free kick as well. I'm not sure if Loras can cope on set pieces with the wrecking ball that he can be.

Could be an overtime kind of game. It's always hard to win at the Rock Bowl and that's why I go with 2-1 win.

[dontshootthegoose]

Little late to this discussion, I have Loras 3-1. I think their high pressure, speed, and playing at home on turf will rise tonight. UWW has been in a recent slum of barely beating mediocre teams as of late. With all that said, it should be a very interesting team. The king of the North will be crowned tonight.