2021 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[OldNed]

I was on that Tufts team that tied St. Joes 0-0. I came away from the game feeling that they were on par with a Colby in the Nescac. A team that would finish 7th or 8th each year but every once in a while can go on a run to win the NESCAC tourney and on their day can certainly upset the top 2-3 teams.

D4, thanks for the reply, and I can't say as I disagree.  It took everything St. Joe's could muster to come away with a 0-0 tie.  The thing that struck me most from the stands was how physically big your team was.  I remember thinking during the game that St. Joe's couldn't compete with Tufts on many of the balls in the air, but Tufts also didn't allow any room to advance the ball up the field by keeping it on the ground.  If it wasn't for Blake Mullen in goal that day for Saint Joe's, it probably would have been 3-0 or 4-0.

[PaulNewman]

Yep, if the peak had been a handful of hours earlier don't think those games would have been played, although Williams was probably far west enough to avoid the worst.  Multiple towns south of Boston on the coast are mostly without power and there are trees on top of cars, trees and large branches down, areas of flooding, impassable roads, etc.   I lost power twice but luckily for only an hour or so each time.  Hearing that some towns expected to be without power for days.

[deiscanton]

Some thoughts this morning....

Region II:  First of the region's four conference tournaments started last night, with Wentworth (#7 seed prevaliing 2-0 over Suffolk in the Commonwealth Coast Conference's #7 v #8 opening round match.  Leave it to Suffolk to end their season by conceding a late penalty kick goal in the second half.   In the process, Nathan Gosselin of Wentworth, who scored a brace in the match, also scored his fifth made penalty kick (out of 5 attempts) of his career-- a Wentworth program record.   Their tournament continues Saturday with Endicott having a bye to the semifinals.  Saturday's quarterfinals have Wentworth at Roger Williams (#2 seed); Curry (#6 seed) at Salve Regina (#3 seed); and Western New England (#5 seed) at Gordon (#4 seed).

NEWMAC and MASCAC start their conference tournaments on Tuesday, Nov. 2.  The NECC (in which all of their 4 teams will compete for the AQ) has their semifinal round on Wednesday, Nov. 3.

Region III:  Skyline Conference tournament field is set, with Manhattanville (#1 seed) and Mount St. Vincent (#2 seed) having byes to the semifinals. 

Farmingdale State gets the #3 seed by tiebreaker over Mount St Mary (#4 seed).

For only the second time in program history (and the first since 2015), the Yeshiva Maccabees (a/k/a "the Macs") men's soccer team qualified for the confererence tournament as the #6 seed. Yeshiva scheduled 10 of their 11 conference games to fall in October this season due to the High Holidays, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah falling in September this year.  In the process, the Macs were able to qualify for the conference tournament with 1 match remaining.   In observance of Shabbat, the Skyline Conference quarterfinal round will be played over a 2 day period.

On Saturday, October 30 at 3 PM Eastern, it will be (#5 seed) Merchant Marine at (#4 seed) Mount St. Mary, with the winner playing Manhattanville in one semifinal. (Semifinal is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 7 PM Eastern)

On Sunday, October 31 at noon Eastern, it will be (#6 seed) Yeshiva at (#3 seed) Farmingdale State, with the winner playing Mount St. Vincent in the other semifinal.  (Semifinal is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 2 PM Eastern)

Championship is scheduled for Saturday, November 6 at noon Eastern at the site of the highest remaining seed.  However, if Yeshiva advances to the championship game, the final will be played on Sunday, November 7 at noon Eastern in observance of Shabbat.

Source: 2021 Skyline Conference Men's Soccer Championship

Region X:  The Northwest Conference is one of only 2 DIII soccer conferences (the UAA is the other) to award their AQ to the team with the most points after the completion of their round-robin.  With 3 matches remaining, Pacific Lutheran has the lead at 27 points.  PLU has a 2 point lead over Williamette and a 6 point lead over Whitman.   Their final matches will be played on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and on Saturday, November 6.

[Mr.Right]

deis--thanks for the good work as that got me really updated. I am surprised Merchant Marine is 5th in that league. I thought they would dominate when they first arrived.

[deiscanton]

deis--thanks for the good work as that got me really updated. I am surprised Merchant Marine is 5th in that league. I thought they would dominate when they first arrived.

Perhaps no more surprising than Mount St Vincent upsetting NYU in a non-league match a few weeks ago?    I would like the Dolphins to follow up and win their conference tournament this upcoming week so that they can get a chance to see if they can pull off a "giant-killing" in the NCAAs.  I really don't see any other Skyline Conference team in their tournament that can pull off an NCAA Round 1 "giant-killing".  Manhattanville couldn't get a shot on target against Amherst in the regular season, and the Liberty League got the better of Skyline in their regular season non-conference matchups, so it is hard for me to see the Valiants or any other Skyline Confernce team pull off a Round 1 upset. 

[Centennial1]

Agreed. Thx deis.

You sent me to The Wikipedia with your blurb about Yeshiva: a school I had heard of but knew nothing about. One of my favorite things about D3 soccer is discovering unique schools with cool (and sometimes not-so-cool) histories. Recents: Sul Ross, Guilford. Here's hoping that we see a couple of debutante teams make the tournament.

[deiscanton]

Agreed. Thx deis.

You sent me to The Wikipedia with your blurb about Yeshiva: a school I had heard of but knew nothing about. One of my favorite things about D3 soccer is discovering unique schools with cool (and sometimes not-so-cool) histories. Recents: Sul Ross, Guilford. Here's hoping that we see a couple of debutante teams make the tournament.

Yeshiva has made the DIII headlines in recent years with their men's basketball team, which is deserving of their top 25 status in that sport.

[jknezek]

Agreed. Thx deis.

You sent me to The Wikipedia with your blurb about Yeshiva: a school I had heard of but knew nothing about. One of my favorite things about D3 soccer is discovering unique schools with cool (and sometimes not-so-cool) histories. Recents: Sul Ross, Guilford. Here's hoping that we see a couple of debutante teams make the tournament.

I wouldn't get too interested in Guilford. They are my betting favorite for "ODAC school with men unlikely to survive the upcoming changes in higher education." Especially now that E&H has left in search of D2 athletes to round out their admissions...

[PaulNewman]

So, in prepping for the weekend and choosing games to watch, the headliners are of course the final weekend of UAA play (with great action tonight) and the NESCAC quarters.  Also, tonight, rivals Trinity (TX) and Colorado College face off in Colorado Springs at 6:00 EST.

Elsewhere, tomorrow, we've got Hopkins at F&M and Wilmington at John Carroll.  Sleeper picks are Babson at Springfield, WPI at MIT, and the LL final slate of matches to determine conference tourney seeding.

Follow @deiscanton for full coverage of the "mid-major" conference tournaments.

[Ron Boerger]

Agreed. Thx deis.

You sent me to The Wikipedia with your blurb about Yeshiva: a school I had heard of but knew nothing about. One of my favorite things about D3 soccer is discovering unique schools with cool (and sometimes not-so-cool) histories. Recents: Sul Ross, Guilford. Here's hoping that we see a couple of debutante teams make the tournament.

I wouldn't get too interested in Guilford. They are my betting favorite for "ODAC school with men unlikely to survive the upcoming changes in higher education." Especially now that E&H has left in search of D2 athletes to round out their admissions...

In a Forbes article, "Will Your Alma Mater Survive Covid?"  published last February, the authors observed:

Fiscal responsibility is anathema to many in higher education. Greensboro, North Carolina's Guilford College, a 184-year-old Quaker school with an undergraduate enrollment of 1,500, had been operating with multimillion-dollar budget deficits for years. After the pandemic hit, its interim president prudently decided to cut costs, announcing she would terminate nearly a third of its faculty members and cut half of its majors. But no sooner was the plan announced than an alumni outcry and pledges of donations successfully reversed most of the cuts. So Guilford lives on in misery for another few years.

[Centennial1]

I wouldn't get too interested in Guilford. They are my betting favorite for "ODAC school with men unlikely to survive the upcoming changes in higher education." Especially now that E&H has left in search of D2 athletes to round out their admissions...

Yeah. It is for that exact reason I was interested. A legacy school very much on the ropes. Crazy.

Elsewhere, tomorrow, we've got Hopkins at F&M and Wilmington at John Carroll.  Sleeper picks are Babson at Springfield, WPI at MIT, and the LL final slate of matches to determine conference tourney seeding.

Can't wait. Centennial seeding, save for #1, is wide open!

[PaulNewman]

Apropos of nothing...my 86 year old Mom lives half a mile from Guilford.  Lovely campus, nice area, close to GSO airport.

When I was in high school Guilford had a fairly strong reputation but has seemed to suffer with Wake Forest and Davidson close by and especially the rapid rise of even closer and more popular institutions like Elon and High Point (the latter of which is dressed up with swimming pools outside and ice cream trucks).  Of course UNC and NC State are within a hour and UNC-Greensboro is only a couple of miles away.

[deiscanton]

So, in prepping for the weekend and choosing games to watch, the headliners are of course the final weekend of UAA play (with great action tonight) and the NESCAC quarters.  Also, tonight, rivals Trinity (TX) and Colorado College face off in Colorado Springs at 6:00 EST.

Elsewhere, tomorrow, we've got Hopkins at F&M and Wilmington at John Carroll.  Sleeper picks are Babson at Springfield, WPI at MIT, and the LL final slate of matches to determine conference tourney seeding.

Follow @deiscanton for full coverage of the "mid-major" conference tournaments.

I do not use Twitter all that much, but thanks....  I'll just post. 

[PaulNewman]

So, in prepping for the weekend and choosing games to watch, the headliners are of course the final weekend of UAA play (with great action tonight) and the NESCAC quarters.  Also, tonight, rivals Trinity (TX) and Colorado College face off in Colorado Springs at 6:00 EST.

Elsewhere, tomorrow, we've got Hopkins at F&M and Wilmington at John Carroll.  Sleeper picks are Babson at Springfield, WPI at MIT, and the LL final slate of matches to determine conference tourney seeding.

Follow @deiscanton for full coverage of the "mid-major" conference tournaments.

I do not use Twitter all that much, but thanks....  I'll just post. 

Yup, that's what I meant.  I don't have all the social media terminology nailed down.

[PaulNewman]

I could be off, but comps for Guilford back in the day might have been Coe, Beloit, Hendrix, Millsaps, Ursinus, etc.  Actually, iirc, Guilford has been one of the CTCL (colleges that change lives) schools for years.