Mid-Atlantic Region

[paclassic89]

As an example, Eastern was ranked in this week's rankings when they 1) didn't make their conference's tournament and 2) have an RPI that would not place them in a ranking based on the D1 model.   I mainly calculate the RPI to see the distance between ranked teams.  Obviously this exercise has no bearing on the Pool C outcomes but 75% of the postings on this board are similarly superfluous i.e reporting scores etc.   

[Hopkins92]

As an example, Eastern was ranked in this week's rankings when they 1) didn't make their conference's tournament and 2) have an RPI that would not place them in a ranking based on the D1 model.   I mainly calculate the RPI to see the distance between ranked teams.  Obviously this exercise has no bearing on the Pool C outcomes but 75% of the postings on this board are similarly superfluous i.e reporting scores etc.

I guess... Add your voice? The folks chiming in are just trying to add more buzz to D3 soccer, not piss off followers of certain programs.

[paclassic89]

ok, I will.  Thanks for the permission.  There was no mention of followers being pissed off so i'm not sure where that came from lol

[PaulNewman]

As an example, Eastern was ranked in this week's rankings when they 1) didn't make their conference's tournament and 2) have an RPI that would not place them in a ranking based on the D1 model.   I mainly calculate the RPI to see the distance between ranked teams.  Obviously this exercise has no bearing on the Pool C outcomes but 75% of the postings on this board are similarly superfluous i.e reporting scores etc.

It's not clear what your point is.  First, you posted the regional rankings by the coaches that has nothing to do with the real regional rankings.  And the NCAA regional ranking do have very specific criteria which they follow pretty religiously.  So yes, Eastern snuck into the real regional rankings in the last slot, but that was determined by decent SoS, decent record, and a couple of "ranked" wins.  You may not like the criteria or think they provide a good measure, but they are what they are and are about as transparent as one could imagine.

[paclassic89]

They're not transparent.  Provide me with the exact weight that is given to SoS for regional ranking purposes.   

[Hopkins92]

This is actually a pretty good conversation, just has a weird tone.

Somebody way smarter than I could probably come up with something similar to what hockey does with the Pairwise ranking. They do a very good job of predicting the 16 teams that make the college hockey tourney every year. https://www.uscho.com/faq/pairwise-rankings-explanation/

While there are a few bubble teams every year, there seems to be a lot less drama and controversy than, say, the D1 basketball madness. (There's a totally OT discussion on the lack of weight one should put on the kvetching of bubble teams in a 68 team field, but I'll leave that for another universe.)

[Falconer]

LVC leads Messiah, 1-0, at halftime. A brilliant shot from well outside the box is the reason. An equally brilliant shot by Messiah's Trevor Goodling hit the left post and was in if struck 2 inches to the right. Messiah dominates the game and the stats. They appear to have a couple goals in them still, but soccer can be a cruel mistress. LVC is a very good team to be sure but they have been more than fortunate so far.

[Hopkins92]

Nice job  on the half-time breakdown, Flying Weasel!!

[Hopkins92]

Matt McDonald with a candidate for GOTY to level. That was incredible. That guy is a joy to watch.

[Falconer]

Great game in second half: tune in now if you can. Messiah got the tying goal and hit the post on great free kick.

[Falconer]

LVC keeper stands on his head multiple times and OT is coming In Grantham. Dutchmen playing for their season and Falcons for hosting rights. They both want this. No one is just watching the ball go by.

Shout out to falcon RB Jarec Morlote. He owns that side of the field. Very smart for a senior, let alone the rookie he is.

[Falconer]

And just like that, Morlote sends a ball into the box and right onto the head of the big CB, Jake Lent-Koop, who buries it. Falcons win, 2-1, about 4 minutes into OT. Should have been 5-1 or 5-2.

[LetteroftheLaw]

Catholic up 1-0 on Drew at the half. Catholic scored in the 6th minute off a corner. Game has been pretty even with a slight advantage to Catholic who has had more of the possession and the better of the chances. Drew really has only been dangerous on set plays, Catholics defense has been strong against drew in the run of play. I'm still concerned about the center backs for Catholic. A second goal by Catholic should really open up this game.

[LetteroftheLaw]

2-0 Catholic in the 54th minute. Second goal also off a corner after drew controlled the first 9 minutes of the half.

[Falconer]

Landmark playoffs set for Tue.

#4 Susquehanna (3-2-2; 9-7-2) @ #1 Catholic (5-1-1; 9-6-2)
First meeting was 2-1 in OT to Catholic

#3 Elizabethtown (4-2-1; 9-5-2) @ #2 Drew (5-1-1; 8-7-1)
First meeting was 2-1 in OT to Drew

This is a conference that is one where I ask, why aren't the teams better?  So much going for these schools.

SC, can you say a little more?  What strikes you as attractive about them?  They don't get talked about much here, other than occasional passing references to Catholic, and E'town in context of its rivalry with Messiah.

Sure.  I can't speak for Susquehanna.  My only familiarity with it is I had a colleague from years ago ... who went there.  I am thinking in the context here of the other three schools.  Not talking about academics because ultimately that's something beyond the control of coaches, etc.

So lets start with Elizabethtown.  They have a long history of success, including a national championship.  Central PA with access to some premier level talent ... think PA Classics, FC Continental, Delco, Lehigh Valley, and I haven't even gone west yet.  Competitively, they contend with Messiah, Gettysburg, maybe Muhlenberg, for talent.  I would actually suggest Scranton is in the same situation.

Drew is in a similar position.  Great location in New Jersey.  Probably compete with more schools in the area for talent, but they  have access to top clubs like PDA, STA, Cedar Stars, and a number of other clubs that I would categorize as second tier.  And if a kid is good enough, he has to choose from RU-Newark, Rowan, RU-Camden, maybe Stockton.  From a soccer perspective, TCNJ is no longer in the mix as I don't think the coach cares one way or another.  So unless a kid is going out of state, those are his choices. 

And then Catholic.  Right in DC on a beautiful campus, 10 minutes from the White House.  In the middle of some incredible soccer as well.  All the Baltimore clubs, the NOVA Clubs ... no shortage talent.  Frankly in my mind, I don't see why they are not in the Top 20 conversation year in and year out.

I don't know much about Juniata, Goucher, and Moravian, so not including them in this take.

Not familiar with the coaches of the schools, their recruiting strategies, and how they get along with youth coaches in the area.  I am sure that is the biggest factor.  I do know a couple of kids who went to each of those schools and met with different degrees of success.  But everyone has those stories.

That's my thinking at least.  Not sure if it is right or fleshed out completely, but it is what it is now.  Would like for someone to convince me otherwise so I don't ask myself that question every time they come up in conversation.

I'm intimately familiar with many of these schools and that's a decent take on the situation.  The Landmark schools should be on par with the Centennial schools, the only difference is they don't have the name brand recognition.  For example, many people know Gettysburg and Muhlenberg, but not many know Drew or Scranton - which are more or less peer institutions.

What's even more interesting is that half of the Landmark schools have no football teams, so you would think soccer would be THE sport. And at times it was, though not consistently. The 2003 Drew team was 20-2-3 and gave up 6 goals all season, including 17 straight clean sheets which was an NCAA record.  They lost to Trinity in the NCAA final 2-1. Scranton was a powerhouse in the 80's, rarely losing more than 2-3 games and went deep in the Tournament several times. 

The recruiting comment is interesting.  As SC noted, the NJ, Eastern PA and DC area is a hotbed for recruiting.  I just think there are too many options in the area, and the school themselves don't really have anything unique to distinguish themselves so the talent pool gets diluted among all the schools.

I'd love to see a unique thread that talks about programs which should be better, or were once really good but no longer are, and what happened.  The prime example being TCNJ.  No reason whatsoever that program shouldn't be fielding a Top 20 team every year, as they do in almost every other sport beside men's soccer. As a NJ guy, it's such a shame to see.

Messiah doesn't normally compete with any of these schools for soccer players, except perhaps for Etown in a few instances. Thirty years ago (shortly after Etown won it all), that competition would have been more noticeable, b/c then Etown was more strongly tied (but not too strongly) to its religious heritage in the Church of the Brethren. Those ties are much looser today, and rarely does a player deliberate on Etown vs Messiah for soccer.

As a school, Messiah mostly gets students from the East Coast plus Ohio. To my knowledge, they don't actively recruit outside that region: they aren't a national liberal arts college (as in NESCAC), nor a national research university (as in UAA), and they aren't very academically selective as those places are. However, for men's soccer, players seek out Messiah rather than the other way around. They come from all over the nation. In the past 5 years, players have come from CA, AZ, NM, IL, VA, NC, ME, MA, NY, NJ, OH, MD, MN, TN, and Mexico. That's just wholly unlike the student body in general. They generally compete for talent with low to mid-level D1 schools, as well as high level D3 schools; in a few cases, they compete with the best in the business, such as Akron or Maryland, but more typically with places like Brown, Boston College, Syracuse, UNH, or UNM. Sometimes they win that battle, sometimes they don't. Very few players transfer in, or out. Often a majority of the roster is all-state, and some players are regional or national AAs.