2016 National Championship Contenders

[MidwestGrinder]

I know it's still super early and many schools are finishing up their recruiting classes, but I wanted to get a broader perspective and possibly some spotlights on the teams that you all expect to be either pretenders or legitimate Final 4 and National Championship contenders in 2016.

[lastguyoffthebench]

Nothing really bold in these predictions: 

Amherst
Middlebury (Elite 8)
Pretenders:  Tufts/Brandeis/MIT/Wesleyan/Bowdoin
Sleeper: ECSU/Gordon/MA Boston
--------------------
Haverford
Messiah/Lycoming
Pretenders:  F&M/E-town/Dickinson/Eastern
Sleeper: Cabrini/Kings
--------------------
Oneonta St
SLU
Pretenders:  Stevens Tech/Brockport St/Plattsburgh St
Sleeper: Hobart/Skidmore/RPI
--------------------
MSU
W&L
Pretenders:  Stockton/Rowan/Camden/Salisbury
Sleeper:  Roanoke/VWU/Kean
--------------------
Calvin (Elite 8)
Wheaton
Prentenders:  Chicago/North Park/MSOE/Washington
Sleeper: K-zoo
--------------------
Trinity
Whitworth
Pretenders:  Pacific Lutheran/Redlands/Texas-Dallas/Texas-Tyler/Colorado
Sleeper: tbd
--------------------
Kenyon (Elite 8)
OWU
Pretenders:  CMU/CWRU/John Carroll/Thomas More/DePauw
Sleeper: Denison
--------------------
Loras (Elite 8)
Macalester/St. Olaf
Pretenders:  CSS/GAC/Wartburg
Sleeper: Luther

2016 Tournament
Amherst over Middlebury
Haverford over Kenyon
Trinity over Loras
Oneonta St over Calvin

Unlikely that Oneonta and Calvin in the same region for tournament; would be a nice change from possibility of an Oneonta St vs a Haverford match-up.  I'd have Kenyon over Calvin and Oneonta St over the Fords.

Oneonta St would be my choice for national champion.

[Saint of Old]

"Whatever Man has Done Man Can Do"

This means every former Champ starts with the belief/knowledge that they can add a star to the crest!

I'm talking to you Amherst.
I was one of the firm believers that Amherst would not win a championship with their playing style.
I was wrong!!!
I made sure I was also one of the first to congratulate these deserved champions.
Amherst has a good chance to win again, if they do Division 3 will be in for a new dynasty I think.
The second one is always the hardest to get...
Ask Williams/SLU/Middlebury/Trinity/Rowan.

Better yet, ask Ohio Weslyan and Wheaton.
They stand as two of three truly elite programs because they were able to get that second chasmpionship.
Wheaton has been to the final 4 times since without getting over the hump.

Other teams poised to  make a breakthrough in no particular order are:
Oneonta: Great team, most consistent over the last 5 years (with apologies to Loras)
Loras: They will get one I think, but they have to take the chance soon while they are on top.
Haverford: Big breakthrough year, but Messiah is coming and so are a few more to battle them for Kings of PA.
Messiah: First time in 16 years Messiah have gone more than 2 years as champions. If they fail to win it this year we can call it the end of an era
Kenyon: OWU's nemesis might have a big year nad finally climb the mountain.

What a year this will be!!!!!

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Last Guy is pretty spot on in his picks. I will break my picks down to a smaller sample size 

I consider contenders to be the group of teams that have a REAL chance to reach a final 4 and make a run at the title. I think it's a selective group of who can realistically win a championship next season and I have picked 12 teams that, in my opinion, have the best chance to win it all. This is based off of this past year, recruits that we know of, how many kids graduated, upcoming schedule, league, some bias  etc...

Contenders:(no order)
Amherst
Kenyon
Rowan
Lycoming
Loras
Trinity
Calvin
Haverford
Brandeis
Tufts
F&M
OWU

My pretenders section is for the teams that I view as good quality teams that have the potential to make the tournament and maybe make some noise when they are their, but always seem to come up short and leave us disappointed. These are the teams for next year that I believe will get a lot of preseason hype and some will have great records and be favorites come tournament time but will then take a bow in the 1st or 2nd round of the tournament. So by no means are these teams bad...I just don't think they will have what it takes next season to make it to a final 4 and win it all. Obviously Messiah has not left us disappointed in the past but you can catch my gist of why they are on the pretender list...they have something left to prove after last season.

Pretenders: (no order)
Montclair St.
St. Lawrence
Middlebury
Rochester
Messiah
Etown
Dickinson
Wash. Lee
Salisbury
Stockton
MSOE
Texas-Dallas
Thomas More
DePauw
Dennison
Ohio Northern
Macalester
Kean
Newark
Plattsburgh St
Brockport St
Carnegie Mellon
Colorado

My sleeper section is for teams flying under the radar or getting under appreciated but have the opportunity to do well in their conference and surprise some people come tournament time. A good example from last year would be Scranton. Not favored to win their league but surprised Etown and made it to the second round of the tournament when they probably shouldn't have even made it. So here you go!

Sleepers: (no order)
Eastern
Catholic
MIT
Scranton
Hopkins
Camden
RPI
Stevens Tech
Chicago
Case Western
John Carroll
St. Olaf
Redlands
Wheaton

From my contenders section I would say the top 4 teams that have the best chance to reach the final 4 and make a run are Amherst, Loras, Lycoming, and Kenyon. I think you will see at least 2 of these teams in the final 4 next season.

My sleeper pick to make a sweet 16 run or better is RPI. I think they have real potential to do some damage come tournament time next fall.

And my pretender pick that could surprise us and have a good run would be either Rochester or Messiah...they are both on the pretender list because of poor showings a season ago but I think they can both get back to their winning ways and remove themselves from this list, but for now they find themselves stuck.

Good topic choice! Fun to think about. 

[MidwestGrinder]

A team that I think takes a big step this year is U Chicago.  Barring any transfers they should still return:
GK Bonin JR (Second Team All-UAA)
D Voulgaris SR
D Reimann JR
D Weis SR (Honorable Mention UAA)
M Scofield SO (Honorable Mention UAA)
M Lopez SO (Third Team All-Region, First Team All-UAA)
M Abedian JR
M Mathis SR
F Desai SR (Second Team All-Region, Honorable Mention All-UAA)
F Koh SO (Second Team All-Region, First Team All-UAA, UAA Rookie of Year)

Despite playing in the tough UAA, if their young sophomores develop over the season I think they could make a run to a Final Four in 2016. We can't forget that they beat a solid Thomas More team 3-0 last year in the First Round and then took Kenyon to the wire in the Round of 32.

[Golden_Fan]

Mid-Atlantic I think you may have forgotten oneonta some where in there.

Just looking at their roster from last year they look to lose quite a bit due to graduation but they tend to reload year after year.

[jknezek]

I think W&L definitely belongs in the Pretender category as several of you posted. They lost their best player and ODAC POY Ben Bayles to graduation. They also lose a 59 game starter in the defense. While those were the only seniors on a young team, they are parts that aren't easily replaced. I expect W&L to compete at least as well as they did last year, and they should have a shot at winning the ODAC again, but I would be surprised to see them advance too deep unless they have a hidden star to be the new focal point of the offense. I don't think they are quite ready to beat the big boys regularly, but I do think Coach Singleton has them going in the right direction and I don't think the big boys are going to be able to blow them off the field.

[lastguyoffthebench]

W&L will reload.  Playing in the ODAC, I think they will repeat... 

[jknezek]

W&L will reload.  Playing in the ODAC, I think they will repeat...

Agreed. My point isn't so much that they shouldn't be at least as good as last year, they should, my point is that I don't think they have the guns to take the final step.

[EasyGoer27]

Last Guy is pretty spot on in his picks. I will break my picks down to a smaller sample size 

I consider contenders to be the group of teams that have a REAL chance to reach a final 4 and make a run at the title. I think it's a selective group of who can realistically win a championship next season and I have picked 12 teams that, in my opinion, have the best chance to win it all. This is based off of this past year, recruits that we know of, how many kids graduated, upcoming schedule, league, some bias  etc...

Contenders:(no order)
Amherst
Kenyon
Rowan
Lycoming
Loras
Trinity
Calvin
Haverford
Brandeis
Tufts
F&M
OWU

My pretenders section is for the teams that I view as good quality teams that have the potential to make the tournament and maybe make some noise when they are their, but always seem to come up short and leave us disappointed. These are the teams for next year that I believe will get a lot of preseason hype and some will have great records and be favorites come tournament time but will then take a bow in the 1st or 2nd round of the tournament. So by no means are these teams bad...I just don't think they will have what it takes next season to make it to a final 4 and win it all. Obviously Messiah has not left us disappointed in the past but you can catch my gist of why they are on the pretender list...they have something left to prove after last season.

Pretenders: (no order)
Montclair St.
St. Lawrence
Middlebury
Rochester
Messiah
Etown
Dickinson
Wash. Lee
Salisbury
Stockton
MSOE
Texas-Dallas
Thomas More
DePauw
Dennison
Ohio Northern
Macalester
Kean
Newark
Plattsburgh St
Brockport St
Carnegie Mellon
Colorado

My sleeper section is for teams flying under the radar or getting under appreciated but have the opportunity to do well in their conference and surprise some people come tournament time. A good example from last year would be Scranton. Not favored to win their league but surprised Etown and made it to the second round of the tournament when they probably shouldn't have even made it. So here you go!

Sleepers: (no order)
Eastern
Catholic
MIT
Scranton
Hopkins
Camden
RPI
Stevens Tech
Chicago
Case Western
John Carroll
St. Olaf
Redlands
Wheaton

From my contenders section I would say the top 4 teams that have the best chance to reach the final 4 and make a run are Amherst, Loras, Lycoming, and Kenyon. I think you will see at least 2 of these teams in the final 4 next season.

My sleeper pick to make a sweet 16 run or better is RPI. I think they have real potential to do some damage come tournament time next fall.

And my pretender pick that could surprise us and have a good run would be either Rochester or Messiah...they are both on the pretender list because of poor showings a season ago but I think they can both get back to their winning ways and remove themselves from this list, but for now they find themselves stuck.

Good topic choice! Fun to think about.

Did I miss Oneonta?  In my mind the best team both of last two seasons.  One disallowed goal(2014) and a few post(2015) they are in two strait finals.  No idea what they look like this year but they seem to have a pipeline........

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Mid-Atlantic I think you may have forgotten oneonta some where in there.

Just looking at their roster from last year they look to lose quite a bit due to graduation but they tend to reload year after year.

Yes looks like they slipped through the cracks! My mistake. I would actually put them as a pretender because of the large group they lost this past season, but by no means does that mean they won't reload and make another final 4. It will be difficult for them though...could even fall under the sleeper category. That's a tough one. I did not omit them purposely just forgot to add them to a list 

[lastguyoffthebench]

Oneonta St was incredibly solid and unlucky to get to PKs vs Amherst.   The Lord Jeffs just absorbed pressure for the last 75 minutes of the game and did what they needed to...   

Oneonta St does lose some fire power, but as a whole they are always extremely organized and very technical.

[MidwestGrinder]

As my name would indicate, I am from the Midwest and therefore partial to Midwest soccer. That being said, the NCAA tournament for D3 soccer is divided up into 4 quadrants, with each one USUALLY representing a region. I do not follow other regions as closely and thus do not feel justified making predictions for teams outside of the Midwest region. From what you all are saying, it looks like Amherst, Oneonta, Haverford, Trinity, and Loras are the favorites to reach the Final Four from the other regions. In my opinion, the strongest team in the Midwest this coming year will be Kenyon, making my predicted final four as of today: Amherst, Oneonta, Trinity, and Kenyon. Kenyon graduates one player on the entire roster (1st Team All-American Barnes) and barring any transfers, returns the following starters:

GK Clougher SR- (1st Team NSCAA AA, 1st Team All Great Lakes Region, 1st Team OCSA All-Ohio, 1st Team All NCAC, 2014 D3soccer.com Goalkeeper of the Year)
D Wynn JR- (2nd Team All NCAC)
D Myers JR- (2nd Team All Great Lakes, 1st Team All-Ohio)
D Lowry SO- (Honorable Mention NCAC)
D Resnakov SR
M Eudy SR- (2nd Team All-Ohio)
M Carmona SO- (2nd Team All NCAC, NCAC Newcomer of the Year)
M Lee SR- (Honorable Mention NCAC)
F Glassman SR
F Amolo SR- (1st Team NSCAA AA, 1st Team All Great Lakes, 1st Team All-Ohio, 1st Team All NCAC)

Kenyon brings back 10 starters with 6 of them seniors, making a very talented AND experienced group that has had success in recent years. They should not have the strength of schedule problems that they ran into last year as they now flip their schedule and have 11 away games in the regular season.

The three main pillars of building a championship (as showcased by past champions) are talent, cohesion, and experience. The Lords appear to be strong in all three categories this year and that is why I predict that they will represent the Midwest in the Final Four in 2016. (Not to mention I personally like them to win the NC as well  )

[Saint of Old]

"The three main pillars of building a championship (as showcased by past champions) are talent, cohesion, and experience." - MW Grinder

I love it when a succinct and well stated truth pops up on this board!!!!


The Fourth  (but still important) factor is Lady Luck.
But cannot happen without getting the three above right!

[Shooter McGavin]

My Final 4 for next season will be Whitworth, Lycoming, Kenyon, and Tufts. Bold but I think it could happen. Amherst won't get back to the Final 4 especially after losing Bull and NPL. Loras will have a good shot but think Kenyon gets past them. Kenyon and Lycoming in similar situations...both top 10 nationally last season and combined the 2 teams lose 1 player. I would keep my eye on both squads throughout the year. Whitworth had a great record but fell off early in the tournament. I think with their stronger schedule they will be more competitive come tournament time and make a surprise run to the Final 4. Tufts will get back to the Final 4 after a tough exit from a season ago. Well coached, talented, and will be battled tested which will spark their run to another Final 4.