2016 D3 Season: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

[SuperSub15]

Wheaton IL down 3-0 in 30th minute

[PaulNewman]

Watched only most of the OTs but Lycoming vs Eastern appeared to be a very good, highly contested match ending 1-1.

Catching up from last night, John Carroll with huge road win at Wheaton (Ill) and now going to OT with Elmhurst.  Chicago looked extremely impressive whipping North Park away.  And Oberlin got a solid road win 4-0 at Geneva.

RPI got by Dickinson today in an almost must-win game for both sides.

Vassar is 4-0.

Carthage's rendezvous with the top 25 and "Who's #1" polls was brief, dropping two in a row after today...hammered by Hanover.

Kean picks up good win over Brockport while Rutgers-Newark spoils the front end of Whitworth's East Coast trip (3-1).

UMass-Boston impresses easily dispatching Union, and Gordon is held to a draw with Roger Williams.

John Carroll just hit the post at 91:50.  Frostburg and Carnegie Mellon appear headed to OT in a 0-0 affair.  F&M already has been taken to OT by Oglethorpe.

Texas-Dallas versus Trinity is a sleeper high quality match set to kick off at 8:00 pm.  Wheaton (Ill) badly needs a win tonight versus Kzoo.  York versus Gettysburg is another one to check out, along with the Kentucky derby with TMC and Centre just underway.

Forgot to mention Springfield is quietly 4-0.  And still scratching my head about Jekyll and Hyde Wheaton (MA) losing 6-1 to Keene St.  Wesleyan hanging on 2-1 late against Swat.  Ohio Northern about to be 6-0 (5-0), albeit against less than stellar competition thus far, and now the Polar Bears visit to OWU this week looms large.

[jknezek]

W&L takes out Ohio Wesleyan at the Battling Bishops home tournament. 3-1 after going down 1-0 in the first. All three goals scored in the second half. W&L outshot 15-14, but took more corners, 7-4. Two goals off corners, one off the run of play. OWU's goal came from the run of play. Outside the seasoning opening 2-0 loss to Rowan, W&L seems to be picking up the pace, scoring 10 goals in 3 games. Trip to Ohio raps up tomorrow with Wooster before the ODAC schedule begins.

[PaulNewman]

Christopher Newport heading out West next week to play Redlands in what should be one of the feature games of the week and an also still unbeaten Chapman.  I applaud these occasional cross-country trips at the D3 level, just as I applaud those programs that take advantage of preseason trips abroad.  I see these as big perks for the kids and an enhancement of their overall collegiate experiences as student-athletes. 

If state-funded schools like UMass-Boston and Christopher Newport can make cross-country trips then I see no reason why we can't get more at least cross-regional games, involving New England trips for Centennial, ODAC, NCAC, etc conferences and vice versa.  Again, interestingly, some of the state-funded NJAC and SUNYAC teams seem to travel more than some others.

[Gotberg]

I watched the Chicago v NPU game on Friday.  Chicago won 3-0 and NPU was fortunate they(we) only lost by 3.  Chicago is very good.

[PaulNewman]

St Norbert 2, Loras 1....right when I was penciling in Loras at #3 in my weekly poll.

A bunch of the unblemished are now blemished.  Alma falls to still unbeaten Transy.  Berry knocks off Mary Washington.  Bates snuffs out Newbury.  MSOE brings Rose-Hulman back down to earth.  And of course Loras spits the bit.

Kenyon sputters to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Frostburg, and the good news is that Tony "the Nimble Nigerian" Amolo gets the GW and his first goal of the year.  Carthage barely avoids losing three straight with a comeback late at Mud Hollow Stadium (Wabash).  DePauw picks up a valuable road win at CWRU as Gonzalez gets the GW.  Luther and St. Johns draw in a 4-4 shootout.

Lycoming perhaps saves their season scoring twice in the last eight minutes to draw with Haverford 2-2.  Whitworth outlasts TCNJ 4-3.  GAC is saddled with yet another loss at Salisbury.  Colorado Coll snakebites Pac Lutheran in OT.  NC Wesleyan spoils Emory's Tarheel road trip.

[PaulNewman]

NCAC NE Top 15 (Week 2)

1) Rowan (How will the Profs handle the early praise and massive attention?)
2) Amherst (Strong enough that we'll barely notice the adjustments they need to make from last season.)
3) Chicago (Probably benefiting from the bright lights being on the two above but just as impressive so far.)
4) Kenyon (Feels too high as a hysterical fan but don't see anyone else that is a better clear choice in this spot at the moment.)
5) Christopher Newport (Aye, aye, Captains!)
6) St Lawrence (The Saints, even with a storied history, tend to get buried for attention with all the focus on NESCAC, SUNYAC, new contenders, etc.  I'm gonna risk an upside assessment as they are always right there in the end and will be an handful for anyone in the Sweet 16.)
7) Middlebury (Mostly a projection this early but a very real wild card in the national title race.)
8) Trinity (TX) (See SLU above.  Trinity just keeps winning regardless of how many starters they really have back.)
9) Messiah (Who are we kidding?  No one will want to draw a bracket with this team.)
10) Elizabethtown (A team on a mission? E'town being good enough for a bid is good for D3.)
11) Loras (Should be punished more harshly but I have to believe today's result will prove to be a fluke.)
12) UMass-Boston (The risk of underrating the Beacons has become too great.)
13) Redlands (We'll have a better idea after the upcoming week with games against undefeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and then Christopher Newport.)
14) Calvin (Will be tough to gauge as the Knights roll their schedule the next few weeks.)
15) Washington & Lee (Going 2-1 with the gauntlet of Rowan, Oneonta and OWU.  Enough said.)

RV -- Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Cortland St, Eastern, Franklin & Marshall, Haverford, Lynchburg, Macalester, Montclair St, Ohio Northern (let's see how you do with OWU and CWRU back-to-back), OWU, Plattsburgh St, Rochester, Rutgers-Newark, Scranton, Vassar, Wash U

Contender or Pretender -- Centre, Chapman, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Dubuque, Endicott, Grove City, Kean, Luther, Potsdam St, Springfield, St. Thomas, Transylvania

DO NOT DELETE LIST -- Babson, Bowdoin, Carthage, Colorado Coll, DePauw, Elmhurst, Gettysburg, Gordon, John Carroll, MIT, Oneonta St, Rose-Hulman, Rutgers-Camden, Tex-Dallas, Tex-Tyler, Thomas More, Tufts, UWW, Wartburg, Wesleyan, Wheaton (Ill), Whitworth, Williams, York (PA)

[Toure87]

Wheaton (IL) down 6 (yes 6) starters due to injury, including Danny Brandt. If they can't get healthy by Tuesday, U Chicago is not going to be a fun match. Chicago is certainly a team that could end up in the final 4. That being said, Wheaton's opener against UT-Dallas with most starters on the field was a convincing performance.

[Gotberg]

Wheaton (IL) down 6 (yes 6) starters due to injury, including Danny Brandt. If they can't get healthy by Tuesday, U Chicago is not going to be a fun match. Chicago is certainly a team that could end up in the final 4. That being said, Wheaton's opener against UT-Dallas with most starters on the field was a convincing performance.

Wheaton always figures it out by the end of the season, so I wouldn't worry about them quite yet.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

http://d3soccer.com/columns/ryans-ruminations/2016/ruminations-09-09-2016

Great piece Ryan!

[Ron Boerger]

Breaking news:   The NCAA will move all championships from North Carolina, including the men's and women's soccer championships originally scheduled for Greensborol

http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/ncaa-relocate-championships-north-carolina-2016-17

[lastguyoffthebench]

Whitworth closes out the East Coast trip vs MSU tonight.    After narrowly escaping TCNJ in the waning seconds, I'm thinking MSU rolls... 3-1, maybe 4-1.   Playing a 3rd game in 4 days certainly will not help their case.   NJAC, along with other South Atlantic schools are getting great results vs the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions... throw in wins over OWU and Whitworth, we might see a South Atlantic team back in the Final Four this year.  MSU, Rowan, W&L will be the best chance...

CNU absolute best case to me would be Sweet 16 (face a real test heading West to play Redlands and Chapman)  With Lynchburg, York, and Randolph after the road trip, we will see where the Captains fit.  Let us not forget, started 10-0-3 and missed the tournament in 2015. 

MSU doesn't know how to win in November (minus 2011 when they avoided Messiah).   
Rowan is young, but NCAA experience last year may be just enough to get them in an Elite 8 match-up vs Messiah/SLU... 
W&L had a tough draw last year and have done well to start the season.  I'll be pulling for them to make a run.

------------------------------------------------

Messiah looks excellent going forward in the games that I have seen so far.   Give them 10 more weeks and I am confident they will be firing on all cylinders.   
Lyco took it to Eastern for the 30-40 minutes that I was able to watch.   Eastern let up a real soft goal with some sloppy defending...   

The Warriors season hinges on this Messiah result 10/11.  I say this because even in a best case 7 blemish season, two losses to the same school if they fail to win the AQ will crush them.   I'm expecting a close 2-0 win in favor of the Falcons (2nd goal coming late when Lycoming keeps bombing forward to equalize).   The draw vs Haverford might have saved their season... mentally and physically.   Being down 2-0 and scoring twice late against the Fords is a STRONG STRONG result!       




     

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

http://d3soccer.com/top25/men/2016/week2

[jknezek]

http://d3soccer.com/top25/men/2016/week2

Always amazed when you see something like the OWU/W&L pairing in this poll. Polls don't matter, but it has to make you chuckle. Yep, let's just ignore the head to head, with the road team scoring 3 and winning by 2. We know better than to actually go by results on the field!

I know, there's more data than just one game, and especially as the season goes on a single stale head to head is not the default answer, but given these teams comparative efforts to date, and the head to head just this past weekend, how does someone justify putting the losing home team over top of the visiting winning team? Ah, wait, W&L wasn't ranked and we simply can't move them too far forward! And OWU has a quality win, so we can't drop them. Well, the Battling Bishops must be better. We started the year believing that and we aren't ready to give it up yet!

Full circle back to my second sentence...

[lastguyoffthebench]

ONU at #9 is laughable as their schedule has been incredibly easy thus far...  It's comparable to something like Ramapo (4-0).   Is Ramapo deserving of votes, NO.  Should ONU be top 10, definitely NO.  Should ONU be top 25, QUESTIONABLE.

W&L loses to #3 Rowan, beats OWU.  Still behind OWU... Makes sense!   

Also have no problems with Kenyon ahead of Rowan... 

CNU will go to Redlands and get the WIN.