UAA 2019

[Buck O.]

Now that the 3rd Regional Rankings are out, the picture is clearer for UAA teams making the 2019 NCAA Tournament: 

• Chicago - 2nd in the Central, in as the UAA Champ regardless of their result vs. WashU
• Rochester - 3rd in the East, a win tomorrow at Emory should punch their ticket, a draw or loss means nervy times on Monday
• Brandeis - 8th in New England, a win vs. NYU along with some help from others means they still have real hope in Boston

No other UAA teams made the 3rd weekly rankings, which usually means their seasons end this weekend. As will the prediction game, so here's my final go at that for the 2019 UAA season:

- Rochester 2 @ Emory 1:   The extra gear of tourney motivation, plus a timely cold spell in Atlanta, means the Yellowjackets go home winners.
- WashU 0 @ Chicago 2:     I think Chicago gets a 7th clean sheet of the UAA campaign, and finishes out the league play unblemished.
- NYU 1 @ Brandeis 2:       Brandeis rights their game just in time and makes a strong case for a tournament ticket.
- Carnegie 0 @ Case 1:        Case uses the home field advantage to avoid a complete UAA shutout and lay some groundwork for next year.

My predictions are almost identical to yours.  The only difference is that I'm predicting a 1-1 tie in Atlanta.

[MaturinNYC]

And that's a wrap on the 2019 UAA season - here's our final Preseason Prognosticators Leaderboard (3 pts for each accurate placement as shown on uaasports.info):

FINAL STANDINGS: 
Top 3: Chicago, Rochester, Brandeis
Mid 3: NYU, Emory, WashU 
Last 2: CMU, CWRU   

RollDeisRoll     15 PTS
Top 3: Rochester, Chicago, Deis (a bit biased, but who cares)
Mid 3: NYU, Case, Wash U
Bottom (but still competitive): Emory, Carnegie

MaturinNYC:    9 PTS
Top 3:   CWRU, NYU, ROC
Mid 3:   BRA, CHI, WAS
Lower 2:  CAR, EMR

Buck O.:    9 PTS
Top three:  Case, Chicago, WashU
Second three:  Deis, Emory, Rochester
Last two:  CMU, NYU

Dr.Walk-On*    9 PTS
Top 3: Case, NYU, UR
Mid 3 : Brandeis, Chicago, Emory
Bottom 2: Carnegie, WashU

Congrats RollDeisRoll - 15 pts. in a season with more twists than a Chubby Checker song is not bad at all!  And tip of the hat to the 3-way tie for 2nd - silver medal ain't bad boys.

Good luck to all of the UAA teams who make it to the NCAA's!

[rolldeisroll]

Hey, for the record, Deis should be bolded! I got 18 points, since they beat NYU for third place. Not bad for a former player, looks like I still know the league a bit

[blue_jays]

   UChicago rolled WashU today 3-0 and in the process became the first team to go 7-0 with no goals allowed in UAA history.
   For an extremely young team, they've figured out their identity. The defense is locked in with great play makers who relish 1v1 encounters, and they are very opportunistic on offense. For a team that doesn't score a ton, opponents play scared against them and revert to a shell behind the ball a lot because their technical skill can burn you if you give them any space (see all 3 goals WashU gave up today). Giving UC room to roam is asking for disaster: they can counter in an instant and they want nothing more than to one-touch you to death with their passing.
   Lich is the unsung hero of the team IMO. He never misses a slide tackle, he's fast enough to catch any forward, he plays physical and aggressive but with smarts, and he roams into the offensive half like Dani Alves. As the starting right back, you'll see him lead the counter as often as not.
   Who knows how far the Maroons can go this year, as it only takes one mistake to end a season. But they're battle tested with all the tough teams and styles they've seen this year.

[EastCoastSoccer]

Having watched Lich play a couple times this season, you can tell he is a tenacious defender. Sniffs out a lot of passes and is one of the most aggressive players on the field. Very fun to watch. In addition, Johnson who looks to be playing more of a midfield roll now from the beginning of the season  has been an anchor in front of their back line. This is going to be a back line that is hard to breakdown in the post season. To roll through the UAA without conceding a goal and only allowing 26 shots on goal in 7 games is pretty impressive. Can't wait to see what they do. Will be interesting to see just how many of these Chicago players are all conference. With Rookie of the year probably going to Gillespie, I also see Lich, Johnson, Holquist, Bloye and Katsimpalis picking up honors.

As for my Yellowjackets, a tie yesterday at Emory doesn't put them in a great spot to make the tournament. We will see what happens tomorrow. It's been a fun season watching the UAA. Even on a "down year" for the conference, the games were always competitive (except when playing Chicago). Congrats to the boys of the Windy City on quite the feat. 4 out right titles in 4 years for their seniors and finishing 7-0 without a single goal conceded ought to be a pretty good way to cap off a career.

[MaturinNYC]

Hey, for the record, Deis should be bolded! I got 18 points, since they beat NYU for third place. Not bad for a former player, looks like I still know the league a bit

Absolutely -  you were just two places away from a perfect prediction!
RollDeisRoll     18 PTS
Top 3: Rochester, Chicago, Deis (a bit biased, but who cares)
Mid 3: NYU, Case, Wash U
Bottom (but still competitive): Emory, Carnegie

[MaturinNYC]

As for my Yellowjackets, a tie yesterday at Emory doesn't put them in a great spot to make the tournament. We will see what happens tomorrow. It's been a fun season watching the UAA. Even on a "down year" for the conference, the games were always competitive (except when playing Chicago).

I also had higher hopes for Rochester this season, but i am impressed that they were able to rescue a terrible position (0-3) to grab 2nd place (on tiebreakers). Character is what you are when the chips are down, and the chips were definitely down. I think they have more to do, and having watched every match i also think they haven't had their best game yet.  I like their chances with the selection committee thanks to win %, RvR and SOS and - should Hobart not win the LL today - head to head. But it'll be an exciting selection show on Monday that's for sure.

[Gregory Sager]

Chicago's women are hosting a pod, which is why the male Maroons have to go on the road to Holland, MI next weekend. I didn't see that coming, because the U of C women were only ranked third in the region last week.

[EastCoastSoccer]

And Rochester sneaks in! Don't know how but they did it. Will definitely be a tough pod to get out of. Proud of my yellow jackets and for getting results to end out conference play.

In an almost bigger shock, Chicago is not hosting. How can this be? I see that their women's team is hosting, but didn't they both host in 2017? From reading other messages, I know that Hope is a tough field to play on. Will be interesting to see what the maroons can do.

[Gregory Sager]

Yes, the U of C did host both men and women in 2017. But the people who run the school's athletic department may have felt that they overextended themselves in doing so, and therefore decided to just put in one hosting bid rather than two -- and since this is the year for the women to get first-weekend precedence, the Maroons departmental braintrust may have thus elected not to put in a hosting bid for the men.

I can speak from firsthand experience in saying that it takes an awful lot of work to host a weekend's worth of D3 tournament soccer matches. Doubling that amount of work, plus juggling the logistics of having to satisfy twice as many teams and twice as many committee personnel may have proved to be too much for the U of C athletic department to handle. For a school that has the size and resources of the University of Chicago, the athletic department actually exists on a pretty modest scale.

[WUPHF]

Chicago is hosting two NCAA tournament pods this weekend as Women's Volleyball was awarded the first and second round after finishing 26-3 and among the best teams in the nation.

[Gregory Sager]

Didn't realize that. Thanks for pointing that out, WUPHF. All the more reason why the school's athletic department likely decided to forego putting in a bid for the men's soccer team to host.

[WUPHF]

Admittedly, I only know because the Washington University Women's Volleyball teams is traveling there for rounds 1-2. 

[Flying Weasel]

And we do not know what circumstances led to Chicago hosting both men's and women's in 2017. I am sure that the NCAA tried to avoid it as they have successfully done in almost all cases ever since instituting the alternating men/women hosting priority.  We don't know which participating schools did not apply to host (which is done well before the tournament and before any tournament berths have been won or awarded).  Apparently they just couldn't find another workable solution in that instance, but don't expect a repeat of dual-hosting.

[Caz Bombers]

I could look it up, but I wonder if one of those Chicago pods two years ago was a Friday-Saturday because it had Calvin, Hope, Wheaton "no Sundays" in it and the other one was Saturday-Sunday because it didn't. That would only put 3 games on Saturday instead of 4.