2019 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Flying Weasel]

Yeah, I can't remember clearly what happened back in 2011-2013 that it went up and back down. I think I may have concluded it was a counting/mathematical error, actually.  They used to show their math in the Pre-Championships Manual, and I would regularly find errors in their numbers and send them an e-mail.  The cynic in me figured they stopped showing their math so they couldn't be corrected anymore. Usually the mistakes didn't change the final rounded number, but I vaguely remember one year being fairly certain they goofed. Or maybe it was more simply a case of them rounding up that one year instead of rounding down as they did every other year (well, until this year).

D3soccer.com does the math every year to see if it supports the field size and the number of Pool B and C at-large berths, and it almost always has checked out.  The 2016 jump from 61 to 62 from came when the math said it should, not a year early or a year late.  I'm not saying they weren't looking to get to an even number, as I have no clue about that, but it would have happened that year regardless of any effort to move to and stick to even-numbered field sizes.

I get the desire to limit how often you change the tournament field size from a planning and budgeting standpoint, and have no problem with that.  I just don't see why "balance" has any need to be a consideration, especially once the tournament field is nearing the maximum 64-team size.  If D-Mac says it is a consideration based on talking to committee members, I also defer to him, but find it completely unnecessary and ridiculous.  It is only "unbalanced" for the first round, and for nearly 90% of the tournament teams there is absolutely no difference if there are three byes or two byes.  I think it reasonable to say that the field size should only be adjusted every two or three or four years (take your pick), but I can't begin to understand why you'd feel the need to jump in increments of two from even number to even number, again, especially when the number of byes is about half the number of 1st/2nd Round pods or less.

[blue_jays]

An interesting development is taking place in the SLIAC. This school year the member schools of the league instituted new sportsmanship rules penalizing teams that draw excessive sportsmanship infractions in their various sports (ejections in baseball and softball, Class A technical fouls in men's and women's basketball, etc.). In men's and women's soccer, the new rule instituted by the SLIAC is that any team that has accumulated 35 yellow cards or more cannot take part in the league's postseason tournament.

Right away this has had an impact. Iowa Wesleyan, which has either 36 or 40 yellows (depending upon whether you're looking at the SLIAC stats or the explanatory tweet sent out by IWU), has been disqualified from appearing in the SLIAC tourney. This is pretty significant, as the Tigers won the SLIAC title with an 8-0-1 record this season. Instead, Principia (7-2 in SLIAC play) will be the #1 seed in the SLIAC tourney. Since Iowa Wesleyan's chances of drawing a Pool C berth are nonexistent, the season is over for the Tigers.

IWU appealed the decision, but the appeal was denied.

To the best of my knowledge, the SLIAC is the first and only league in D3 to have implemented sportsmanship rules of this nature.

Wow!  That is very interesting.

From the SLIAC Sportsmanship Guidelines

Team Sportsmanship Guidelines
Soccer----Maximum accumulated number of institution cards allowed before a team is disqualified from SLIAC
post-season play.       35 - Yellow cards      8 - Red Cards

Not quite sure how to interpret the combined yellow and red cards limits.  Does a team with 35 yellows and 8 reds get to play in the tournament, but a team with 36 yellows and no reds does not?  That doesn't seem fair or logical.  And I wonder how double yellows in a game that result in a red are counted: as two yellows or as one red?  Certainly not as two yellows and one red, right?

Given that different schools play a different number of non-conference games, shouldn't the limit be an average number per game?

BTW, the SLIAC stats do not include stats from Iowa Wesleyan's three games against non-Division III opponents.  They picked up 5 yellow cards in those games. Iowa Wesleyan had seven games in which they picked up 3 to 5 yellow cards.

Looking nationally, according to the NCAA statistics (which often has missing and/or duplicate box scores), seven men's teams have accumulated more yellow cards than Iowa Wesleyan and 21 total teams have exceeded the 35 yellow card threshold as of Sunday, November 4th.  The most red cards for a team is five.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/soccer-men/d3/current/team/545
YELLOW CARDS
Last updated November 5, 2019 - Through games November 4, 2019
1   Rowan  48
2   Neumann  45
-   Piedmont  45
4   Cobleskill St.  44
5   Salisbury  42
6   Greensboro  41
7   Minn.-Morris  40
8   Iowa Wesleyan  39
9   Muskingum  38
10 Rutgers-Camden  37
-  Alvernia  37
-  Muhlenberg  37
-  La Roche  37
-  Huntingdon  37
-  Lasell  37
16 Beloit  36
-  Capital  36
-  Kean  36
-  Curry  36
-  Ozarks (AR)  36
-  Ferrum  36

Having seen Rowan play in person this year, it does not surprise me at all that they are the leaders in yellows. It's as much rugby as soccer when stepping on the pitch with the Profs.

[Hopkins92]

1   Amherst College   - 20
2   Calvin University - 9
3   Johns Hopkins University - 12
4   Franklin & Marshall College - 13
5   Tufts University - 10
6   University Of Chicago - 20
7   John Carroll University - 14
8   Messiah College   - 6
9   Kenyon College - 20
10   SUNY Oneonta
11   Washington & Lee University - 12
12   Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - 12
13   Claremont-McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges - 18
14   Central College
15   University Of Mary Washington - 17
16   Luther College
17   Roanoke College - 28
18   Connecticut College - 17
19   North Park University - 18
20   Penn State University-Behrend - 22
21   Catholic University
22   Colorado College - 20
23   Christopher Newport University - 24
24   University of Texas-Dallas
25   Ithaca College - 27

I couldn't find a few, scanning the rankings, but the overall picture is interesting to me. Messiah with only 6 cards on the year is astounding.

[OldNed]

1   Amherst College   - 20
2   Calvin University - 9
3   Johns Hopkins University - 12
4   Franklin & Marshall College - 13
5   Tufts University - 10
6   University Of Chicago - 20
7   John Carroll University - 14
8   Messiah College   - 6
9   Kenyon College - 20
10   SUNY Oneonta - 24
11   Washington & Lee University - 12
12   Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - 12
13   Claremont-McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges - 18
14   Central College - 16
15   University Of Mary Washington - 17
16   Luther College - 22
17   Roanoke College - 28
18   Connecticut College - 17
19   North Park University - 18
20   Penn State University-Behrend - 22
21   Catholic University - 19
22   Colorado College - 20
23   Christopher Newport University - 24
24   University of Texas-Dallas - 20
25   Ithaca College - 27

I couldn't find a few, scanning the rankings, but the overall picture is interesting to me. Messiah with only 6 cards on the year is astounding.

Hopkins, I filled in your listing with the YC numbers missing - they are bolded above

[Christan Shirk]

NEW ENGLAND REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Amherst	14-0-2	0.582	4-0-2	14-0-2	1
2.	Tufts	12-2-2	0.595	6-2-0	12-2-2	2
3.	Connecticut College	10-3-3	0.603	3-3-3	10-3-3	3
4.	Williams	8-3-5	0.580	4-3-2	8-3-5	6
5.	WPI	11-2-4	0.576	1-1-3	11-2-4	8
6.	Middlebury	7-2-7	0.614	1-2-4	7-2-7	4
7.	Babson	12-5-2	0.557	2-5-1	12-5-2	7
8.	Brandeis	9-5-4	0.581	1-4-1	9-5-4	5
9.	Endicott	11-5-2	0.545	1-3-0	11-5-2	11
10.	Bates	9-6-1	0.565	1-5-0	9-6-1	9
11.	Eastern Connecticut	16-2-0	0.493	3-1-0	16-2-0	12
12.	Keene State	13-6-0	0.540	0-3-0	13-6-0	10

EAST REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	RPI	14-2-2	0.576	6-2-2	14-2-2	1
2.	Ithaca	12-4-2	0.562	3-2-1	12-4-2	4
3.	Rochester	11-5-0	0.567	4-2-0	11-5-0	5
4.	Hobart	13-4-1	0.561	3-3-1	13-4-1	3
5.	Vassar	9-6-1	0.592	2-4-0	9-7-1	6
6.	Oneonta State	15-2-0	0.551	0-1-0	15-2-0	2
7.	Cortland State	8-6-3	0.581	1-3-1	8-6-3	--
8.	Clarkson	10-4-3	0.527	3-1-2	10-4-3	7

MID-ATLANTIC REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Johns Hopkins	14-2-1	0.613	4-2-1	14-2-1	1
2.	Franklin and Marshall	15-2-0	0.602	5-1-0	15-2-0	2
3.	Messiah	14-2-2	0.569	4-2-0	14-2-2	3
4.	Swarthmore	11-3-3	0.593	2-3-1	11-3-3	4
5.	Haverford	9-5-3	0.624	2-3-2	9-5-3	7
6.	Gettysburg	10-6-1	0.622	3-4-1	10-6-1	5
7.	Catholic	16-2-1	0.526	3-1-1	16-2-1	9
8.	Dickinson	10-7-0	0.624	3-6-0	10-7-0	6
9.	Lycoming	12-6-0	0.572	1-4-0	12-6-0	10
10.	Elizabethtown	10-5-2	0.568	0-4-0	10-5-2	8

SOUTH ATLANTIC REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Washington and Lee	13-2-3	0.575	3-1-2	13-2-3	1
2.	Christopher Newport	12-2-3	0.597	3-2-2	12-2-3	2
3.	Mary Washington	12-3-3	0.622	2-2-2	12-3-3	3
4.	Centre	14-3-1	0.572	2-2-0	14-3-1	6
5.	Ramapo	11-1-5	0.579	1-0-1	11-1-5	7
6.	Rowan	10-4-3	0.609	1-1-2	10-4-3	8
7.	Roanoke	13-1-3	0.543	1-0-2	14-1-3	4
8.	Oglethorpe	13-3-0	0.549	2-2-0	13-3-0	5

[Christan Shirk]

GREAT LAKES REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	John Carroll	15-2-2	0.596	5-2-1	15-2-2	1
2.	Kenyon	13-1-2	0.565	3-1-1	15-1-2	2
3.	Ohio Wesleyan	12-4-3	0.589	5-3-2	12-4-3	3
4.	Ohio Northern	12-5-2	0.601	4-4-1	13-5-2	4
5.	Mount Union	10-3-4	0.544	2-1-1	10-3-4	5
6.	Otterbein	12-6-0	0.565	2-5-0	12-6-0	6
7.	Hanover	10-4-1	0.528	2-3-0	11-5-1	7
8.	Capital	8-5-4	0.557	1-3-2	8-5-4	8

CENTRAL REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Calvin	17-1-0	0.574	4-1-0	18-1-0	1
2.	Chicago	10-1-5	0.638	5-1-3	10-1-5	2
3.	North Park	13-4-1	0.607	3-3-1	13-4-1	3
4.	Kalamazoo	10-3-2	0.569	3-2-0	11-3-2	4
5.	North Central (Ill.)	11-5-2	0.580	2-2-0	11-5-2	5
6.	Wheaton (Ill.)	10-4-4	0.597	1-3-2	10-4-4	6
7.	Hope	13-5-0	0.573	1-4-0	13-5-0	7

NORTH REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Luther	13-4-1	0.587	4-2-0	14-4-1	2
2.	Central	14-2-2	0.560	3-1-0	14-2-2	1
3.	St. Thomas	11-3-3	0.579	0-3-2	11-3-3	5
4.	Loras	14-5-1	0.585	1-4-0	14-5-1	3
5.	Gustavus Adolphus	15-3-0	0.530	1-1-0	15-3-0	6
6.	St. Norbert	14-4-2	0.537	1-1-0	14-4-2	4
7.	Knox	14-3-2	0.532	1-2-1	14-3-2	--

WEST REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2019

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	12-3-2	0.556	2-1-2	12-3-2	1
2.	Colorado College	9-5-0	0.572	2-2-0	13-5-0	2
3.	Trinity (Texas)	9-4-2	0.591	0-3-1	10-5-2	3
4.	Texas-Dallas	13-3-2	0.495	2-1-0	14-3-2	--
5.	Hardin-Simmons	12-3-1	0.492	2-0-0	14-3-1	5
6.	Redlands	9-3-3	0.508	0-0-3	9-4-3	6

[PaulNewman]

There is perhaps no clearer lesson about the reality that "the criteria are the criteria" than the apparent oddities of Ithaca and Swat looking pretty good for Pool Cs after both had been declared done within the past 24 hours.  I wouldn't even be shocked to see Haverford and/or Wheaton and/or ONU get in.  Other recent examples of teams not even making their conference tourneys and then getting bids are RPI and OWU.  It's reasonable to think that a team not making their conference tourney doesn't deserve a bid, but that's not how it works.  Another oddity or perhaps unintended consequence is that having a great record and finishing first isn't always rewarded, especially in terms of SoS.  In the NCAC Kenyon's SoS will take another mild hit because of Oberlin's sub-500 record while OWU gets a boost from drawing Wabash.   And assuming OWU prevails tonight against Wabash the #2 team will get a big boost by playing Kenyon again while the boost for the Lords playing OWU will be more modest.  And then there is a situation where ONU loses in the OAC quarters but is spared another ranked loss because Marietta isn't ranked and isn't going to be ranked.  If ONU had advanced and then lost they would have most likely picked up a ranked loss.  One could even argue that Kenyon might have been better off losing to Oberlin today to keep their RvR intact, as playing OWU again exposes them to another ranked loss.  Of course, as the rules experts will remind us when they sniper in, just keep winning, win your AQ, and all will be fine.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

There is perhaps no clearer lesson about the reality that "the criteria are the criteria" than the apparent oddities of Ithaca and Swat looking pretty good for Pool Cs after both had been declared done within the past 24 hours.  I wouldn't even be shocked to see Haverford and/or Wheaton and/or ONU get in.  Other recent examples of teams not even making their conference tourneys and then getting bids are RPI and OWU.  It's reasonable to think that a team not making their conference tourney doesn't deserve a bid, but that's not how it works.  Another oddity or perhaps unintended consequence is that having a great record and finishing first isn't always rewarded, especially in terms of SoS.  In the NCAC Kenyon's SoS will take another mild hit because of Oberlin's sub-500 record while OWU gets a boost from drawing Wabash.   And assuming OWU prevails tonight against Wabash the #2 team will get a big boost by playing Kenyon again while the boost for the Lords playing OWU will be more modest.  And then there is a situation where ONU loses in the OAC quarters but is spared another ranked loss because Marietta isn't ranked and isn't going to be ranked.  If ONU had advanced and then lost they would have most likely picked up a ranked loss.  One could even argue that Kenyon might have been better off losing to Oberlin today to keep their RvR intact, as playing OWU again exposes them to another ranked loss.  Of course, as the rules experts will remind us when they sniper in, just keep winning, win your AQ, and all will be fine.

I think we will see lots of movement from the 3rd to the final rankings across each region. There is already so much that has happened from even before these rankings were posted based upon the date when the games were played and accounted for in the 3rd rankings. So Ithaca sitting at what the regional ranking has looks way different than what they are looking at now. The same goes for Clarkson as they will have 2 head to head wins over Ithaca, a boost in SOS (is it enough of a boost though?) and similar RvR and overall resumes. They have to jump a few spots IMO. Oneonta has to be in a panic right now looking at that region but I think it will shift dramatically from what we already know and the same will go for other regions.

[Mr.Right]

Love how JCU plays at Home. They spread out their opponent(Marietta)  to the touch and they interchange very well. They keep the ball  on the carpet and are sending wide guys and defenders forward at the same time..Very entertaining stuff so far.


Update---Still 0-0 but Marietta is growing into the game and are a decent team on the defensive end. They are starting to force JCU to hit long balls into the path of their strikers which has had mixed results so far.

[Gregory Sager]

Shatil Khoury's goal in Wednesday's CCIW semifinal between North Park and Elmhurst has gone viral on Instagram. It's had 21,000 views as of a couple of hours ago, about 11,000 likes, and over 40 comments. The goal's been dubbed "the Flip and Rip".

https://twitter.com/VikingsNPU/status/1192484134540783616/video/1

[Gregory Sager]

Here's a column from d3hoops.com about the SLIAC's new sportsmanship rules. Although it's written by a basketball writer and is published on the basketball site, it does deal extensively with the ramifications of the new rule from the perspective of soccer:

https://www.d3hoops.com/columns/around-the-nation/index

[YoungBuck]

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/franklin-marshall-game-postponed-after-students-stage-a-sit-in/article_5152e590-0298-11ea-a936-cb3fefec5cc3.html

F&M had to cancel a basketball game this evening after students protested the Halloween costume choices of a group of basketball and soccer players worn and posted online last weekend.  They are also hosting the CC tournament this weekend, and I'd imagine tomorrow's games will see similar protests.  Definitely not what this program needs heading into the NCAAs.  I don't really know enough to speak on the issue and how it relates to students on F&M's campus, but figured this issue might interrupt games for 4 teams with Pool C and AQ aspirations (F&M, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Hopkins), and figured it warranted posting on the big thread.

[blooter442]

Pretty interesting look on D3soccer's Facebook page at the geographic spread of programs around the country. I knew the West required some traveling for teams to play opponents, but, man — did not fully appreciate the paucity of local competition west of the Mississippi.

[Gregory Sager]

It's not bad for the ARC schools in eastern Iowa such as Loras, Luther, and Dubuque, because they're close enough to the large clusters of schools around Chicago and Milwaukee to be able to travel to those metro areas for an evening game and still get back to campus at a respectable hour. And of course the Twin Cities schools on the western side of the Mississippi are hardly more disadvantaged than those on the eastern side.

But, yeah, the farther away from the Father of Waters you get on the western side, the sparser the potential competition.

Travel is no picnic for D3 schools in the South, either.

[Mr.Right]

Trinity(TX)---

In late September this article comes out in a local San Antonio news outlet that Paul McGinlay gets his 500th win after recovering from open heart surgery.

https://foxsanantonio.com/sports/max-sports/trinity-soccer-coach-bounces-back-from-open-heart-surgery-to-earn-500th-career-win

So everything rolling smoothly....

Then, in what reads as a former disgruntled player, this op-ed in Trinity's school paper comes out after the season finishes. This is the most egregious act one could do before transferring out to your next school. Kid might as well have sucker punched McGinlay in the gut on his way out the door. It is basically a hit piece. While some of his complaints might be valid you most certainly do not air them in an op-ed for public consumption. Ugly stuff


https://www.trinitonian.com/my-experience-with-the-trinity-mens-soccer-team/