Mid-Atlantic Region

[SierraFD3soccer]

On the less favorable side, a tough draw for F&M who are looking at a potential 2nd round matchup with Conn College

Definitely as to Conn College.  Same as two years ago when they had to play Middlebury.

W&L does appear to have a favorable weekend, but I would not sleep on W. Conn or Oneonta.  Both are proven teams this year and played very well last year. W. Conn is not your usual team as well.

[Hopkins92]

On the less favorable side, a tough draw for F&M who are looking at a potential 2nd round matchup with Conn College

Could say the same for the Jays, who have to get past Babson for the pleasure of playing Midd on their home ground. Not saying they "deserved" better, bu that's a tough pod.

[jknezek]

On the less favorable side, a tough draw for F&M who are looking at a potential 2nd round matchup with Conn College

Definitely as to Conn College.  Same as two years ago when they had to play Middlebury.

W&L does appear to have a favorable weekend, but I would not sleep on W. Conn or Oneonta.  Both are proven teams this year and played very well last year. W. Conn is not your usual team as well.

Like I said, no gimmes.

Honestly, W&L's season doesn't lead me to expect much. Their best win was the regular season win against Lynchburg. Other than that, a few ties and losses to the best teams they played. There just wasn't a game that they won this season where you look and say they beat a for sure top 25 caliber team. That just doesn't bode well for winning much in the tournament, at home or not.

So I do think it was surprisingly kind to them, especially as host, but maybe not given Lexington wasn't exactly a fortress with 3 of 4 losses this season coming at home.

[SierraFD3soccer]

On the less favorable side, a tough draw for F&M who are looking at a potential 2nd round matchup with Conn College

Could say the same for the Jays, who have to get past Babson for the pleasure of playing Midd on their home ground. Not saying they "deserved" better, bu that's a tough pod.

Plus in mid to high 30's on Saturday in Middlebury.  At least no snow yet like John Carroll.

[Hopkins92]

On the less favorable side, a tough draw for F&M who are looking at a potential 2nd round matchup with Conn College

Could say the same for the Jays, who have to get past Babson for the pleasure of playing Midd on their home ground. Not saying they "deserved" better, bu that's a tough pod.

Plus in mid to high 30's on Saturday in Middlebury.  At least no snow yet like John Carroll.

If matched us up with JCU again I was gonna lose it!

[SierraFD3soccer]

Hahaha.

[FBALLISLIFE]

On the less favorable side, a tough draw for F&M who are looking at a potential 2nd round matchup with Conn College

Definitely as to Conn College.  Same as two years ago when they had to play Middlebury.

W&L does appear to have a favorable weekend, but I would not sleep on W. Conn or Oneonta.  Both are proven teams this year and played very well last year. W. Conn is not your usual team as well.

Like I said, no gimmes.

Honestly, W&L's season doesn't lead me to expect much. Their best win was the regular season win against Lynchburg. Other than that, a few ties and losses to the best teams they played. There just wasn't a game that they won this season where you look and say they beat a for sure top 25 caliber team. That just doesn't bode well for winning much in the tournament, at home or not.

So I do think it was surprisingly kind to them, especially as host, but maybe not given Lexington wasn't exactly a fortress with 3 of 4 losses this season coming at home.

W&L is limping into the tourney beat up, with some very significant injuries.  Singleton is going to have to work some magic to make it to the second weekend (maybe even past day 1), but it is a surprisingly favorable draw.

[Falconer]

Here's my overall assessment of this year's Falcons in relation to earlier versions.

They are one of Messiah's best teams, but not quite as strong as the 2022 version. Messiah plays a 4-3-3, with emphasis on the middle 3, all of whom finished their eligibility last year, two of whom were AAs (Luke Groothoff and Luke Brautigam, who shared the CMF and AMF positions). At this moment (not at the start of the season), the Falcon starters at those 3 spots are SR Jarec Morlote, SO Patrick Lee, and SR Justin Bratager. Morlote is (IMO) best with the fall at his feet--a great passer and holder with good pace. Lee is the fastest and the best scorer (though his numbers don't reflect that, since he doesn't play upfront anymore), while Bratager fits well anywhere except on the wings. However, none of those players is as good as Groothoff, which is the main reason Macdonald has fewer goals this year--he used to get the ball more often while moving forward on the dead run, whereas now he gets it more commonly while moving more locally in a given area. When combined with some injuries to other attackers--one of whom, JR wing Dylan Englehart, missed the entire season, while speedster Cole Cristian (whose point-blank shot was saved by Williams' keeper last fall to keep the game scoreless) and backup target Stefan Leitzel both missed several games and had limited playing time in some others, and the loss of Lent-Koop's aerials for more than a month, kept the scoring numbers much lower this year. Everyone except Englehart is now healthy, however, so they are ready for the tournament even if being a step below the level of last year's offense.

Defensively, if anything the Falcons are even better than last year, as revealed by the fact that they are second nationally in GA/game. 5YR Lent-Koop is completely recovered (as far as the eye can tell), after initially it was feared his career might be over. There simply is no better 1-v-1 defender in all of D3, so this really matters. His dangerous presence on set plays at the other end is a big bonus. His backup, 5YR Chad Vrolijk, is good enough to start for anyone else in the conference, while the other starting CB, SR Ben Vollmer, is very highly skilled and could easily play somewhere up the field. The only bad news defensively, is that my favorite current Falcon, 5YR outside back Grant Johnson, had a career-ending injury a couple weeks ago. He's been replaced by SO Davis Pagett, who started the season at MF. (Pagett and Vollmer were HS teammates at State College.) Backup CB Mark Adja is going to be really good as he gets more experience, but injuries have limited his PT. The other outside back, SR Caleb Aldridge, is one of the fastest players on the team and very, very dangerous with the ball on the other end. If you fall asleep on him, watch out!

I like their chances to make the Final Four, but at this point in the season luck and matchups loom larger than they do in October. Last year, if they had won the PK shootout with Williams, I think it would have been Messiah vs Chicago. Anything can happen. Hold on to your butts!

[Hopkins92]

CC All Conference Teams are out:

https://centennial.org/news/2023/11/2/all-cc-mens-soccer.aspx

[Freddyfud]

Goodman for Hopkins looked to deserve better than honorable mention imo based on the few games I watched.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Goodman for Hopkins looked to deserve better than honorable mention imo based on the few games I watched.

Definitely was thinking the same.  Plus he is really, really hard to miss. However, being a one year only player is definitely a strike against you. Exception being Francis Meyer who was a no brainer as he had the numbers. A lot of politics.

[Hopkins92]

I've talked about him so my position is on the record, I think he's arguably a more important player than Meyer. When he is cooking, the offense is very very difficult to contain. Meyer is a no-brainer, but I agree on Goodman. I love watching that guy play.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Feel the same about Koa Kaliebe. He has 9 assists and I think 8 goals. Many of those assists went to Oscar. Without Koa there's no Oscar.

[D3Parent1]

It is a great day to be a D3 soccer fan for the mid-Atlantic region.  We get to see if the tension between the NEACAC and the Centennial Conference is deserved as one of the best from each league play each other.  I think this Dips team is up to the task against the Camels.   I think this Dips team is tough enough to get the job done.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Definitely, such great games today. F&M v. Conn, JHU v. Babson (and then hopefully Mid tomorrow).  Wash C v. Otterbein is a good game as well.