2019 Great Lakes Region

[PaulNewman]

Speaking of Berkshire, Penas for Kenyon has yet to play this season.  He's on the roster so I assume some kind of injury.  Hopefully not to serious as he is arguably their best player and definitely helps with possession and organizing the offensive attack out of midfield.

[jcudad]

Enjoying the comments on here.   I have a son on the JCU squad and was pleased to see people recognizing the abysmal officiating in the Rochester game ( all in the second half) but JCU was clearly the better side.  The same can be said about Kenyon...they simply weren't strong enough and lost many 50/50's because of it.  Someone said is this the making of a special season for JCU and there is a long way to go with their schedule, but it should be a solid year with more to come.  The team is actually fairly young, they had a strong class of freshman enter so I assume they will be even stronger next year.  I'm curious to see everyone's take on Capital, OWU and Case.   I have never comment on a board before, so if I sound like an idiot..please let me know. 

[Ommadawn]

Enjoying the comments on here.   I have a son on the JCU squad and was pleased to see people recognizing the abysmal officiating in the Rochester game ( all in the second half) but JCU was clearly the better side.  The same can be said about Kenyon...they simply weren't strong enough and lost many 50/50's because of it.  Someone said is this the making of a special season for JCU and there is a long way to go with their schedule, but it should be a solid year with more to come.  The team is actually fairly young, they had a strong class of freshman enter so I assume they will be even stronger next year.  I'm curious to see everyone's take on Capital, OWU and Case.   I have never comment on a board before, so if I sound like an idiot..please let me know.

Welcome aboard, jcudad!  Your perspective on the OAC and other goings on in the Great Lakes region will be valued in the weeks ahead.  This board is a friendly place and a great venue in which to make your posting debut.

[Domino1195]

Echoing the sentiments to JCU Dad.  I go to a lot of games and watch many online.  No longer with an active player in the game but like Paul - still enjoy D3 soccer.

Per the refereeing comments - have been a former ref for 30 years - I will say the level of officiating is infinitely better in college than HS.  But you will have one-two games a year that aren't equally adjudicated, and you hope things balance out over a season.  Refs love it when a fan/player/coach says "The ref cost us the game."  Our trained response was:"Well, that means there's a fan/player/coach telling people that a ref gave them the game."  I've never heard that . . .

Wednesday:
Wooster-Berg: stats indicate more of a lop-sided game than it actually was.  Having seen Wooster twice this year: they did not use the width of the field as effectively as they did against Mount Union.  Their playmaker #5 did a good job keeping the ball moving out of the middle and to the flanks but ultimately skill/touch let them down.  This was another fairly evenly played game that could have gone to either team.
Otterbein handles Oberlin - tried to watch while driving (shame).  Bein missed a penalty that was not managed well by the CR.  All kinds of shenanigans by the Oberlin team and especially the keeper before the take.  Must have lasted close to two minutes. Bein player set the ball on the spot and then picked up and walked around with it waiting for the keeper to take his position. It worked for the keeper but the CR should have put an end to that nonsense a lot sooner.
Muskingum get a fluky goal 10 seconds into the first OT - almost identical to Otterbein's goal against STL.  I can go back through the records but I believe it has been years since the Muskies started a season 2-0.  With Thiel and Waynesburg up next they have a chance to add two more wins (Waynesburg will be a much tougher opponent)

I'm struggling with the definition of "shots" this year - Denison's first half last night another example (and did Baldwin Wallace take 31 shots on Allegheny last night??).  There is a level of subjectivity for the official score keeper but I feel there is a bit of overstating based on games I've attended.

Marietta at Denison.  I thought a lot about how to describe this game. Stylistically - Marietta played beautiful soccer.  Their personal technique - and I mean the majority of their players - was a 4 out of 5.  They all had above average first touch skills - I saw more one-touch passing than I've seen all year.  Their tactical formation had players where they needed to be so often that players could send a ball blindly to a space and a teammate would be there.  But they lost.  A missed PK in the last two minutes might be a simple way to chalk it up, but they missed 3 unobstructed shots from about 12 yards out - all three hitting the keeper in the stomach.

Denison was tougher.  Marietta was just a step slow to getting to the all - said another way - Denison's desire to win the ball was clearly stronger last night.  Marietta's miscues were on defense - backs got caught too flat on a couple occasions - first goal came from such a situation. Through ball - see you later . . . Second goal - cross finds a striker in-between the two center backs - beautiful header puts it away.

Case at Cap tonight.  They played twice last year - Case winning in OT in the regular season 1-0 and 3-0 in the second round of the NCAA tourney.  Case hasn't been down to Cap for a couple years (reg season) - their first road game of the year.  Tonight's beers will be provided by Harvest Pizza - directly across the street from the stadium.

[Domino1195]

Too many games without Scottie to beam me from place to place!

• OAC wins versus Case, CMU and Hope hopefully help the conference's actual SOS. Hope was a preseason stretch; CMU - I'm on the fence - nice possession style but results? Case will rebound.
• Ironic I was talking to another fan tonight about a JCU let-down coming soon - and it happened tonight. But - they won. And as young as they are - this was the perfect game to learn the lesson: don't get cocky, take every opponent seriously, every game one at a time.
• Mt Union - going to sing their praises - but look what happened to JCU tonight. Watch out  for a letdown.
• OWU tomorrow night. Need to see them but could be #1 ranked in first GL rankings.
• Non NCAC, UAA and OAC teams are currently a liability to the region. Someone will win the PRAC - thought it would be Grove City. Yikes. PSU-B doing what's necessary for the AMCC to date. Impressive for Transylvania tonight. Curious to see Otterbein at Hanover tomorrow.

[jcudad]

As for the JCU let down, I'd give a lot of credit to Mt. Aloyuis or however you spell it coaches.  They knew the only chance they had was to pack it in and put 9 in the box and that is what they did....The goalie made some outstanding saves and they hung around waiting for the JCU error and when it came they tied it up.   JCU had about 80 percent of the possession and out shot them 32 or 34 to 4 or 5 on the game.  It was certainly a mediocre performance by the Blue Streaks...but have a feeling they will face this strategy against lesser opponents and we'll see how they grow from it.   As for Denison and Marietta game...I still think Marietta far better team, but time will tell.  The OAC is going to be fairly balanced and should make for some interesting games up and down the table.

[Domino1195]

Still a bit too early for most teams to say who might be overrated/underrated and whether any team's performances to date provide a clear indication of how their season will go.  For fun I took a look at Massey Ratings and sorted by the greatest deltas YTD.  Variances will be very large in the beginning on the year as initial rankings rely on LY history, but as a measure of who is playing better than expected:

• top 10% largest increases - all +50 - include Mt. Union, Hanover, Denison and JCU. Next group includes Rose-Hulman and DePauw.
• top 25% include Muskingum (+39), OWU, Heidelberg, Capital, Wilmington and Baldwin Wallace (+25)

JCU off to a great start - but no clean sheets. I saw the goal against yesterday - wasn't thrilled with it.  No one stepped to the shooter, and the keeper's approach to the shot was awkward.  Heavy schedule to start the year - got a week off before facing Denison Saturday. 

Speaking of which - Denison away at Capital Wednesday and home vs. JCU Saturday (week off and then Mt. Union).

Mt. Union taking 3 out of 4 points from UAA opponents now has Hiram and Defiance this week. Need to avoid a let down. Also need to learn how to play with the target on your back.  Programs that haven't, historically speaking, been used to be the favorite will see teams bring extra effort against them. They will also experience tactics that may frustrate them (parking the bus for example).

Wooster losing a tough one in OT at Case last night has Baldwin-Wallace and Calvin this week; Capital next week.  I think they are in the mix for sure for the 3rd and 4th place spots in the NCAC post season tourney - along with Denison, Wabash and DePauw.  Wabash hosts Rose-Hulman this week - ought to be a good one.  Rose-Hulman also takes on DePauw next week - love it when regional powers take each other on in pre-conference.

Over the next two weeks there are many Great Lakes match-ups that feature potential post-season candidates.  We'll know a lot more by Monday the 23rd and how the United Coaches Poll looks on the 24th.

[Domino1195]

http://ww2.nscaa.com/rankings/8390/NCAADivisionIII/men/GreatLakes/Poll1

First regional ranking out - no real issues except for PSU-B ranked higher than (anyone) OWU. OWU's pre-conference schedule has no easy games, then they have their conference. PSU-B plays only one challenging team pre-conference (Mt. Union) and then their conference, which currently has one team with a winning record right now. Current SOS over 300 (out of 419 teams).

Not a PSU-B hater but when you play in crap conference - play a challenging pre-season, will ya?  I believe it was 2-3 years ago when they lost the conference tourney to Mt. Aloysius and missed the NCAA's with a gaudy W-L record. Setting themselves up for a similar scenario this year.

[ChrisJS]

Agreed. My son was in that title winning Mt Aloysius team who lost 1-0 to Calvin in the NCAA.
Behrend almost always win the title and AQ berth, but when they don't they and no other AMCC team will get a bid selection as their respective SOS struggles to make .500.

[Domino1195]

I was at that game at OWU - they gave Calvin quite a scare!

[ChrisJS]

Yeah, Calvin scored after like 2 mins and that was it. I watched frustrated from across the pond like I did for many games.

[PaulNewman]

Congrats to the Blue Streaks.....#3 in the D3 soccer poll and #4 in coaches poll.  Pretty rarefied air. 

[midwest]

Capital -Denison is scoreless draw at end of regular time.

[midwest]

Capital Denison  ends 0-0 after double OT. That's game.

[Lesaborian96]

Wow. Absolute scenes at Geneva last night. CWRU takes a corner with about 20 seconds left and #11 Garrett Winter (one of the more prominent jersey numbers in Case history and Winter has lived up to the hype) gathers the ball and slots home with only three seconds left in the game. The goal prevented CWRU from playing their 4th straight overtime game. Bianco must be preaching conditioning at practice if these kids are able to go that long consistently, what a coach! Looking forward to the battle of Cleveland between Case and JCU coming up, should be a good game considering Case has had JCU's number recently. Geaux tigers!