2016 Great Lakes Region

[Domino1195]

And Great Lakes fans were upset in 14 when JCU was left on the sidelines...

We could legitimately see a 2 loss CAP team, with those losses coming to Calvin and let's say ONU in the OAC tournament - with no dance card.  This week's games, both away, could help a little... but Marietta has another couple losses in them and I would not so boldly predict will end up a .500 team. JCU won't be an easy out... and beating them isn't much of a prize given the tanked non conference schedule.  Home wins over Heidelberg and BW down the stretch don't impress the algorithm either.

Yeah, the NCAC teams will kick the hell out of each others' records the next couple weeks, but CAP would still be looking up at at least 2-3 NCAC schools, Hanover, Case, etc...  Ouch.

Honestly, I can't really blame Yost for a cupcake schedule either.  When you are willing to put OWU, TMore, Denison, Hope and Calvin on your out of conference slate - historically you certainly wouldn't expect to be quite so brutally punished for weak SoS. 

Look at ONU's non-conference games, and tell me, coming into the season, which staff were "braver" schedule makers.

Personally, I'll be pulling for the Crusaders to win the OAC tourney and we can see two OAC schools get in for once.

Cupcake . . .  ONU's  preseason wins - 3 teams (DIII) with a winning record, Capital - 3 teams with a winning record. ONU playing two more preseason games. As far as what the "potential" preseason scheduled appeared to be - did Capital really schedule "cupcakes?" Undefeated on the road - no goals conceded (forgot the debacle at Muskingum last week - my bad). Not easy to do. But we understand SOS -  Kenyon had to deal with this issue last year.

OWU losing tonight does not help - but everyone in the running must win the next game in front of them - not a thing anyone can do about SOS now.

Domino - I think we actually agree on this, but perhaps my paragraph was poorly worded. Cupcake is certainly a bit of a buzz word and probably disrespectful to the historically sub .500 teams I was referring to.

However, I was actually trying to praise Capital for scheduling an out of conference slate, that I feel, in "most" years - would have given them an opportunity for a pretty admirable SoS, or at least an above average one in the Great Lakes region... instead of what they are currently suffering from.  In other words, NO, Yost didn't schedule cupcakes - and good for him.

I was trying to compare that "bravery" in schedule making against what I felt was a much "softer" EXPECTED schedule for ONU.  But, when I wrote that post, I hadn't really dug into that feeling, I was just looking at those two programs' 2016 non-conference schedules, relatively speaking, and expressing what I thought from a quick overview.

So I actually dug into it a little.

Coaching staff cannot control SoS in the moment.  I obviously agree with that.  There is no accounting for under-performance of a typically solid program that, in most years, should you A) have the stones to schedule them, and B) beat them...would qualify as a quality win.  Same thing with programs that usually struggle having a resurgent season.  Obviously at the DIII level geography and budgets play an enormous role in schedule making as well - another uncontrollable factor.  Additionally, the best OAC schools (and the best HCAC schools, and TMore, and Behrend) also cannot control the fact that the bottom half of their own conference, historically, don't win many games.  Still have to play them. 

What's left that you can control?  Setting a non conference schedule where you can reasonably expect to play teams that will boost your SoS if you are good enough to get wins.

Here's a comparison of PAST RESULTS of the non conference opponents of two Great Lakes Region teams that have had a pretty strong season thus far:

Team A, 2016 opponents results over prior 4 seasons:
Combined record: 378-255-65 = .588 W%
Number NCAA Appearances: 12
Number of teams with 0 winning seasons ("cupcakes"): 2
Number of "perennial NCAA tournament programs": 3
Number of years opponents had a combined W% over .500: All 4
Number of times opponents won 5 games or less in any individual season: 8

Team B, 2016 opponents results over prior 4 seasons:
Combined record: 311-395-70 = .445 W% (not a typo)
Number NCAA Appearances: 5
Number of teams with 0 winning seasons ("cupcakes"): 4 (almost 5)
Number of "perennial NCAA tournament programs": 1
Number of years opponents had a combined W% over .500: 0
Number of times opponents won 5 games or less in any individual season: 16

When the coaching staff for team A makes that schedule, they have a reasonable expectation of a non conference boost to SoS.  Not so for team B.

Can you guess who is who yet?

All good.  I misunderstood the comment about Capital's schedule - sorry! "On paper" - preseason - I thought 6-3 would have been an outstanding record - especially since they were 2-7 in the 2015 preseason.  NCAC - wasn't Kenyon something like 8th in the first regional rankings last year?  And Kenyon was top 5 in the NSCAA polls at the time.


Removing teams with strong SOS but with losing records I came up with this list of candidates - sorted by SOS.  As NCAC has been commenting about this in the National thread - SOS IS the deciding variable for rankings (bolded teams ranked).  Interesting for Rose-Hulman - if they win out - with Mt St Joe and Hanover yet to play - they would easily be ranked ahead of teams like Capital.

Institution	win-loss pct	win-loss record	In-Division SOS (weighted OWP-OOWP)	Overall WL Pct
Oberlin	( 0.821)	11-2-1	0.561	11-2-1 ( 0.821)
DePauw	( 0.708)	8-3-1	0.56	8-3-2 ( 0.692)
Ohio Wesleyan	( 0.731)	8-2-3	0.553	8-2-3 ( 0.731)
Ohio Northern	( 0.900)	12-0-3	0.545	13-0-3 ( 0.906)
Hanover	( 0.769)	10-3-0	0.543	11-3-0 ( 0.786)
Rose-Hulman	( 0.643)	9-5-0	0.54	9-5-0 ( 0.643)
Wabash	( 0.643)	8-4-2	0.54	8-4-2 ( 0.643)
Carnegie Mellon	( 0.769)	9-2-2	0.531	9-2-2 ( 0.769)
Kenyon	( 0.846)	11-2-0	0.528	11-2-0 ( 0.846)
Grove City	( 0.750)	10-3-1	0.502	11-3-1 ( 0.767)
Capital	( 0.857)	11-1-2	0.5	11-1-2 ( 0.857)
Geneva	( 0.750)	10-3-1	0.494	10-3-1 ( 0.750)
Transylvania	( 0.731)	8-2-3	0.493	8-2-3 ( 0.731)
Penn St.-Behrend	( 0.844)	12-1-3	0.47	12-1-3 ( 0.844)
Medaille	( 0.714)	9-3-2	0.458	9-3-2 ( 0.714)
Franciscan	( 0.700)	10-4-1	0.405	10-4-1 ( 0.700)

[DonkeyTouch]

And Great Lakes fans were upset in 14 when JCU was left on the sidelines...

We could legitimately see a 2 loss CAP team, with those losses coming to Calvin and let's say ONU in the OAC tournament - with no dance card.  This week's games, both away, could help a little... but Marietta has another couple losses in them and I would not so boldly predict will end up a .500 team. JCU won't be an easy out... and beating them isn't much of a prize given the tanked non conference schedule.  Home wins over Heidelberg and BW down the stretch don't impress the algorithm either.

Yeah, the NCAC teams will kick the hell out of each others' records the next couple weeks, but CAP would still be looking up at at least 2-3 NCAC schools, Hanover, Case, etc...  Ouch.

Honestly, I can't really blame Yost for a cupcake schedule either.  When you are willing to put OWU, TMore, Denison, Hope and Calvin on your out of conference slate - historically you certainly wouldn't expect to be quite so brutally punished for weak SoS. 

Look at ONU's non-conference games, and tell me, coming into the season, which staff were "braver" schedule makers.

Personally, I'll be pulling for the Crusaders to win the OAC tourney and we can see two OAC schools get in for once.

Cupcake . . .  ONU's  preseason wins - 3 teams (DIII) with a winning record, Capital - 3 teams with a winning record. ONU playing two more preseason games. As far as what the "potential" preseason scheduled appeared to be - did Capital really schedule "cupcakes?" Undefeated on the road - no goals conceded (forgot the debacle at Muskingum last week - my bad). Not easy to do. But we understand SOS -  Kenyon had to deal with this issue last year.

OWU losing tonight does not help - but everyone in the running must win the next game in front of them - not a thing anyone can do about SOS now.

Domino - I think we actually agree on this, but perhaps my paragraph was poorly worded. Cupcake is certainly a bit of a buzz word and probably disrespectful to the historically sub .500 teams I was referring to.

However, I was actually trying to praise Capital for scheduling an out of conference slate, that I feel, in "most" years - would have given them an opportunity for a pretty admirable SoS, or at least an above average one in the Great Lakes region... instead of what they are currently suffering from.  In other words, NO, Yost didn't schedule cupcakes - and good for him.

I was trying to compare that "bravery" in schedule making against what I felt was a much "softer" EXPECTED schedule for ONU.  But, when I wrote that post, I hadn't really dug into that feeling, I was just looking at those two programs' 2016 non-conference schedules, relatively speaking, and expressing what I thought from a quick overview.

So I actually dug into it a little.

Coaching staff cannot control SoS in the moment.  I obviously agree with that.  There is no accounting for under-performance of a typically solid program that, in most years, should you A) have the stones to schedule them, and B) beat them...would qualify as a quality win.  Same thing with programs that usually struggle having a resurgent season.  Obviously at the DIII level geography and budgets play an enormous role in schedule making as well - another uncontrollable factor.  Additionally, the best OAC schools (and the best HCAC schools, and TMore, and Behrend) also cannot control the fact that the bottom half of their own conference, historically, don't win many games.  Still have to play them. 

What's left that you can control?  Setting a non conference schedule where you can reasonably expect to play teams that will boost your SoS if you are good enough to get wins.

Here's a comparison of PAST RESULTS of the non conference opponents of two Great Lakes Region teams that have had a pretty strong season thus far:

Team A, 2016 opponents results over prior 4 seasons:
Combined record: 378-255-65 = .588 W%
Number NCAA Appearances: 12
Number of teams with 0 winning seasons ("cupcakes"): 2
Number of "perennial NCAA tournament programs": 3
Number of years opponents had a combined W% over .500: All 4
Number of times opponents won 5 games or less in any individual season: 8

Team B, 2016 opponents results over prior 4 seasons:
Combined record: 311-395-70 = .445 W% (not a typo)
Number NCAA Appearances: 5
Number of teams with 0 winning seasons ("cupcakes"): 4 (almost 5)
Number of "perennial NCAA tournament programs": 1
Number of years opponents had a combined W% over .500: 0
Number of times opponents won 5 games or less in any individual season: 16

When the coaching staff for team A makes that schedule, they have a reasonable expectation of a non conference boost to SoS.  Not so for team B.

Can you guess who is who yet?

All good.  I misunderstood the comment about Capital's schedule - sorry! "On paper" - preseason - I thought 6-3 would have been an outstanding record - especially since they were 2-7 in the 2015 preseason.  NCAC - wasn't Kenyon something like 8th in the first regional rankings last year?  And Kenyon was top 5 in the NSCAA polls at the time.


Removing teams with strong SOS but with losing records I came up with this list of candidates - sorted by SOS.  As NCAC has been commenting about this in the National thread - SOS IS the deciding variable for rankings (bolded teams ranked).  Interesting for Rose-Hulman - if they win out - with Mt St Joe and Hanover yet to play - they would easily be ranked ahead of teams like Capital.

Institution	win-loss pct	win-loss record	In-Division SOS (weighted OWP-OOWP)	Overall WL Pct
Oberlin	( 0.821)	11-2-1	0.561	11-2-1 ( 0.821)
DePauw	( 0.708)	8-3-1	0.56	8-3-2 ( 0.692)
Ohio Wesleyan	( 0.731)	8-2-3	0.553	8-2-3 ( 0.731)
Ohio Northern	( 0.900)	12-0-3	0.545	13-0-3 ( 0.906)
Hanover	( 0.769)	10-3-0	0.543	11-3-0 ( 0.786)
Rose-Hulman	( 0.643)	9-5-0	0.54	9-5-0 ( 0.643)
Wabash	( 0.643)	8-4-2	0.54	8-4-2 ( 0.643)
Carnegie Mellon	( 0.769)	9-2-2	0.531	9-2-2 ( 0.769)
Kenyon	( 0.846)	11-2-0	0.528	11-2-0 ( 0.846)
Grove City	( 0.750)	10-3-1	0.502	11-3-1 ( 0.767)
Capital	( 0.857)	11-1-2	0.5	11-1-2 ( 0.857)
Geneva	( 0.750)	10-3-1	0.494	10-3-1 ( 0.750)
Transylvania	( 0.731)	8-2-3	0.493	8-2-3 ( 0.731)
Penn St.-Behrend	( 0.844)	12-1-3	0.47	12-1-3 ( 0.844)
Medaille	( 0.714)	9-3-2	0.458	9-3-2 ( 0.714)
Franciscan	( 0.700)	10-4-1	0.405	10-4-1 ( 0.700)

Re: Rose-Hulman.... right.  Which is stupid.  Thus my hope for the Crusaders to get the AQ and a bit of justice to "Cap" off what has already been a fine season.

[Flying Weasel]

Rose-Hulman may be ahead of Capital if they win out, but would it get them in the rankings?  And high enough to be selected for an at-large berth?  I'm not seeing a Pool C berth in Rose-Hulman's future with that moderate SOS and 5 losses already.  Capital has little chance at an at-large berth regardless of Rose-Hulman.

[PaulNewman]

Domino, I might be slightly off on this, but not by much.  I think Kenyon was ranked 8th regionally while ranked #1 nationally in BOTH polls last year.  Maybe they were #2 but they were #1 for several weeks.  In the 2nd regional poll they only moved up to like #7 and maybe only #5 or so in the 3rd poll.

I took some flak on this last year, with the response to Kenyon's SoS last year being that the coach didn't plan properly to ensure a decent SoS.  I had been slow to catch on to the whole SoS deal, but I tried to show there were some real arbitrary and factors one could not account for.  At any rate, even if I was 100% wrong, Kenyon this year DID try to fix the problem by going on the road for most of the pre-conf schedule, putting CWRU and TMC on as away games, and then only having 1 home game beyond the mandatory conference home games.  And yet they are no better off.  I think the Haverford example is great one because almost everyone loves Haverford and if memory serves some suggested over the summer or as the season was starting that Haverford might end up with one of the very highest SoS's in the nation.  And there the 'Fords are sitting at .533.

I will concede this much.  While I don't think one can account for what happens in any single year with unforeseeable results, I will credit the programs who have a shown a pattern of consistently high SoS (e.g. Brandeis, Rochester, Chicago, Amherst, etc).  So yes, you can schedule for a pattern of results over the years but that doesn't mean that will hold for any single year.  Amazingly it's possible Kenyon could end up with an even lower SoS than last year, and as I noted earlier having home conference playoff games (well-earned) actually hurts the SoS.

As an aside the NCAC race seems to be much tighter than most years with Kenyon, Oberlin, DPU, OWU and Wabash fighting for 4 spots.  No one is safe yet.  For example, I think Kenyon could be out if they lose to OWU and Wabash.  OWU could potentially be out if they lose to Oberlin Saturday.  And the DPU vs Wabash clash for the little brown jug or whatever it is also will be crucial.

[Domino1195]

I've seen some incredibly poor decisions by goalkeepers this year - excessively agressive not only leaving the 6 but the 18.  Add today's debacle by Thomas More with 6 minutes to go - 1-0 Grove City.

[DonkeyTouch]

Rose-Hulman may be ahead of Capital if they win out, but would it get them in the rankings?  And high enough to be selected for an at-large berth?  I'm not seeing a Pool C berth in Rose-Hulman's future with that moderate SOS and 5 losses already.  Capital has little chance at an at-large berth regardless of Rose-Hulman.

Agreed on both counts.  Neither has a path to a pool C at this point.  I think Domino's point was that Rose could be farther up the list, albeit both well on the outside looking in.  I don't want to speak for him, but that particular comparison, for me, once again illustrates the occasional (regular?) silliness that comes with the system. 

I don't have a better proposal, it's clear that something has to account for making sure that say, 2016 Morrisville State... is not deemed more deserving than say... 2016 Babson.

To the point NCAC NE is making regarding Kenyon and their "on-paper" upgrade between 2015 and 2016 non conference schedule... indeed, it's pretty striking that they could end up with a lower SoS this year.

I did the same quick calculation I did earlier when comparing ONU and CAP's non conference schedule making...

For 2016 - Kenyon scheduled non conference teams with a combined w% over the prior 4 seasons at .565.... in 2015, that figure was .475.  Huge upgrade, and they have to play conference games in the NCAC.

So for the stuff a coach can control with non conference schedule - which NCAC NE recalls the crowd was more than willing to point out to him last year re: Kenyon... we can make the following comparison:

EXPECTED strength of Non-Conference schedule, based on opp combined w% 4 prior seasons:
Capital 2016 - .588
Kenyon 2016 - .565
Kenyon 2015 - .475 (widely panned, and punished in regional rankings for low ACTUAL SoS, yet turns out they really were pretty good  )
ONU 2016 - .445!!!

That is what strikes me the most, how remarkably fortunate ONU is to have a current SoS at .545 despite having given a blemish to all of their opponents... and how remarkably unfortunate Capital is to be sitting at .500... compared to what each could have expected looking at the schedule in August, when both have to play the same OAC slate.

[DonkeyTouch]

I've seen some incredibly poor decisions by goalkeepers this year - excessively agressive not only leaving the 6 but the 18.  Add today's debacle by Thomas More with 6 minutes to go - 1-0 Grove City.

And an audible groan can be heard coming from Bexley and Gambier!

[Flying Weasel]

Rose-Hulman may be ahead of Capital if they win out, but would it get them in the rankings?  And high enough to be selected for an at-large berth?  I'm not seeing a Pool C berth in Rose-Hulman's future with that moderate SOS and 5 losses already.  Capital has little chance at an at-large berth regardless of Rose-Hulman.

Agreed on both counts.  Neither has a path to a pool C at this point.  I think Domino's point was that Rose could be farther up the list, albeit both well on the outside looking in.  I don't want to speak for him, but that particular comparison, for me, once again illustrates the occasional (regular?) silliness that comes with the system. 

I don't have a better proposal, it's clear that something has to account for making sure that say, 2016 Morrisville State... is not deemed more deserving than say... 2016 Babson.

To the point NCAC NE is making regarding Kenyon and their "on-paper" upgrade between 2015 and 2016 non conference schedule... indeed, it's pretty striking that they could end up with a lower SoS this year.

I did the same quick calculation I did earlier when comparing ONU and CAP's non conference schedule making...

For 2016 - Kenyon scheduled non conference teams with a combined w% over the prior 4 seasons at .565.... in 2015, that figure was .475.  Huge upgrade, and they have to play conference games in the NCAC.

So for the stuff a coach can control with non conference schedule - which NCAC NE recalls the crowd was more than willing to point out to him last year re: Kenyon... we can make the following comparison:

EXPECTED strength of Non-Conference schedule, based on opp combined w% 4 prior seasons:
Capital 2016 - .588
Kenyon 2016 - .565
Kenyon 2015 - .475 (widely panned, and punished in regional rankings for low ACTUAL SoS, yet turns out they really were pretty good  )
ONU 2016 - .445!!!

That is what strikes me the most, how remarkably fortunate ONU is to have a current SoS at .545 despite having given a blemish to all of their opponents... and how remarkably unfortunate Capital is to be sitting at .500... compared to what each could have expected looking at the schedule in August, when both have to play the same OAC slate.

Regarding Rose-Hulman versus Capital, given how much the committee seems to weigh SOS, it's very possible they'd have RHU above Capital if they went deeper with their rankings, but I'm not so sure.  The committee also very much likes Record-vs-Ranked, and especially Wins-vs-Ranked.  RHU is looking at a 0-2-0 or 0-3-0 RvR while Capital is looking at a 1-1-1 RvR with a win over OWU and a tie against ONU.  So Capital's much superior WLT% combined with a better RvR that includes a win and a tie could very well compensate for the inferior SOS in the eyes of the committee.  I am not ready to assume RHU would be ahead of Capital just because the the difference in SOS.

However, the larger points about SOS (1) being unpredictable and (2) its calculation (especially with the home/away multipliers) not always accurately gauging the strength of schedules are points I have been making for years.  SOS should not be weighted so heavily given these factors.  And since their introduction, I have been saying that the home and away multipliers are way too large.  (The committee has finally become convinced of that as well, and the modifiers will be completely scrapped starting next year.  They were looking at tweaking the modifiers or coming up with a new way to factor in home and away, but in the end didn't find anything that seemed satisfactory so there will be none come next year.  Why they couldn't have reached that conclusion in time for removing them this year, I don't know.)

Results vs. Ranked is even flawed if blindly used because their can be a huge difference between beating the regional #1 team and the regional #8 team.  Heck, a close, competitive loss to the #1 team may prove a team's credentials more than beating the #8 team in some instances.

I get the impression that the NCAA seems to place more value on having some "objective" (i.e numerical/quantifiable) justification for their rankings/selections than on actually selecting the best/most deserving teams.  That is, rather than have to defend their picks with a reasoned argument (that may include some subjectivity/judgement/discernment), they prefer to be able to fall back on the raw numbers (SOS, RvR, etc.).  If you don't like the committee's rankings/selections, it's not their fault, it's the system/guidelines/established criteria that are to blame.

I love all the data, and it should inform the selection/ranking process.  But SOS and RvR, given their flaws, seem to be weighted too much when they should be used a bit more discerningly.  My opinion.

[PaulNewman]

Domino, DonkeyTouch and anyone else interested...

I did a little research, so here's Kenyon's regional ranks from last year and place in the D3soccer poll at the time of each, along with SoS at each point which were even worse than I remembered.  As I recall now they were projected to get up to .520 in the secret 4th week regional rankings.

1st regional -- #7 -- 12-1 -- SoS .494 -- D3 rank:  #3

2nd regional -- #7 -- 13-1 -- SoS .489 -- D3 rank: #2

3rd regional -- #4 -- 15-1 -- SoS .510 -- D3 rank:  #1 (last poll entering NCAA tournament)

The year before, 2014, in my biased view the best Kenyon team in at least the last 20 years, Kenyon was regionally ranked #1 all three weeks and were ranked #2 nationally in the D3soccer poll for at least the last two weeks of the season heading into the NCAA tourney.  SoS's that year were .572, .569 and .544.

[TableMax]

2016

NCAC VS OAC
12-12-4

Top 3
Kenyon 3-0
Oberlin 3-1-1
OWU 1-1-1
Wabash and Depauw 0-0-0


ONU  2-0-1
Cap 4-0
JCU 1-0

Top 3 vs Top 3
ONU 4  Oberlin 0.   TABLEMAX
ONU 0. OWU 0

Cap 1  OWU 0

Yes these scores are ONLY from this year 2016

Yet Regional NCAA has 5/8 NCAC.   OAC 1.

Endowments don't count.  Results should. 

[PaulNewman]

Kenyon looked like most of the team had mono in a 4-2 win over a weak Allegheny team.  Terrible passing, sloppy possession, bad defending and goalkeeping on set pieces.  Hopefully was partly the field conditions.  Game was 2-2 well into 2nd half.  Overly reliant on our own set pieces pushing both centerbacks up on every chance off long and short free kicks, offensive throws and corners.  That does generate offense but leaves a lot of room for counters for teams talented enough to take advantage.  Kenyon right now would get crushed by Chicago, Rowan, etc.

Since I coached a lot of U8, I feel qualified to recommend putting Amolo at attacking mid where he can get more of the ball, along with Eudy, Carmona and Anderson who all can hold and possess and pass.  I would bring in Jeon and Lee off the bench and maybe even put them up top and just keep running forwards in and out.  Or they could try to provide a spark as subs in the midfield which also might help motivate them differently to play with more energy and laser focus.  We need more control of the game out of the midfield and less reliance on the defenders providing key scoring.

[PaulNewman]

Excellent game going on with Oberlin at OWU.  Very even, very well played.  Oberlin with more high quality chances and probably has deserved a goal.  OWU got one from left back off a delayed opening.  This is best Oberlin team I've ever seen.  Everyone can possess the ball and the they do combinations the way OWU frequently has in the past.  Really enjoy watching Oberlin play.  Tough ask for Oberlin to come back on senior night at OWU in front of raucous crowd, but they sure don't panic or change how they play based on score.  Good video and great crowd sound. One of the best venues and atmospheres in all of D3 at OWU. Can't beat that kind of tradition and alumni/family support on top of student body fans.

[PaulNewman]

Well, the video was pretty good.  Couldn't get out of the halftime feature of young woman who is an athlete and double major, and when finally did score was 2-0 OWU.  Can't see Oberlin coming back from that.  And now video is frozen at 36 min left.  Very tight NCAC race.  Could see a scenario where 3 teams end up 7-2 and OWU 4th even after winning tonight and beating Kenyon Tuesday.

Update:  now 3-0.  If Oberlin's game with ONU resembled this then that 4-0 result was deceptive.  This was more like a 1 goal game than 3-0 and with all this momentum wouldn't surprise me if OWU gets 1 or 2 more.

Meanwhile, JCU appears to be hammering Capital....4-0 at 70 minutes.

[Flying Weasel]

Wow. JCU spanks Capital 5-0!!!  Don't know what to make of either of these teams.  JCU goes 3-5-1 in non-conference, but now 6-0-1 in the OAC.  Capital's SOS may be rather low, but they beat Thomas More and Ohio Wesleyan, and then tied a Top 10 Ohio Northern, so at that point it was easy to figure they were for real, but since tying ONU they have had their hands full with a poor Muskingum and tied a mediocre Mount Union before beating Marietta 2-0.

[Domino1195]

Wow. JCU spanks Capital 5-0!!!  Don't know what to make of either of these teams.  JCU goes 3-5-1 in non-conference, but now 6-0-1 in the OAC.  Capital's SOS may be rather low, but they beat Thomas More and Ohio Wesleyan, and then tied a Top 10 Ohio Northern, so at that point it was easy to figure they were for real, but since tying ONU they have had their hands full with a poor Muskingum and tied a mediocre Mount Union before beating Marietta 2-0.

Interesting that on the day Ryan writes a great piece about mental toughness - JCU displays it in spades while Capital probably should have stayed on the bus. I've seen both these teams several times this year - not typical performances for either.  From the Senior Night ceremony through the final whistle JCU dominated - every aspect of the game, every player, every position. Their will to win never wavered; Capital's will to win never appeared.