2021 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[PaulNewman]

Mary Hardin-Baylor bounced tonight by Hardin-Simmons 2-0.

MHB is/was #2 in the West but has no ranked wins and mild glow of losing 1-0 to Messiah and F&M the first week of the season has faded.  Not sure how MHB could get a bid but if there is an intent to pick at least one team from the West who is it gonna be???  Colorado Coll at #3 has a more typical resume but below that of a bunch of teams already on the bubble, and hard to get excited about a team that had a 2-0 lead and lost 6-2. 

My guess?  Redlands beats C-M-S in their conference final, and then C-M-S gets the single West at-large.

[PaulNewman]

And the formerly 0-6 Stormy Petrels now 8-6-1 and in the SAA final after going unbeaten in conference play.  Will now face Centre for a NCAA bid as predicted when Oglethorpe was 1-6.

Almost forgot...a beautiful strike deep into OT2 top right that Birmingham-Southern GK could not keep out.

[Hopkins Walk-On]

No need to apologize @Simple Coach. Like @Hopkins92, I was not sold on this Hopkins team nor am I sold on the "system" JHU plays. It is very mechanical. Unless you have some forwards who can really take it to goal or defenders who are wiling to make penetrating passes instead of just playing with the ball in the back, it's a lot of possession with not much consequence. I was a little disappointed with how badly this year's team seemed to fold down the stretch. The last several games have been pretty ugly after the first part of the season seemed somewhat promising. I would be amazed if they get a tourney berth.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity(TX) will face St. Thomas(TX)a 1-0 victor over Southwestern, for the SCAC championship Sunday (neutral field).  The Celts put the sole blemish on Trinity earlier this year in a 1-1 tie.

Edit: St. Thomas is still in their transition to D3 so tonight's results mean Trinity has clinched the SCAC's Pool A bid.

[Mr.Right]

Trinity(TX) will face St. Thomas(TX)a 1-0 victor over Southwestern, for the SCAC championship Sunday (neutral field).  The Celts put the sole blemish on Trinity earlier this year in a 1-1 tie.

Edit: St. Thomas is still in their transition to D3 so tonight's results mean Trinity has clinched the SCAC's Pool A bid.

Good to see more  and more teams moving to D3..Was this an NAIA? or

[Mr.Right]

That's fantastic.

1-0 OT  Wash Coll Final

Sounds like the whole town is involved...pep rally in town square before the game...coaches and team there...."they'll be talking about that goal at all the pubs in Chestertown tonight."  Great stuff.  First ever Centennial final for Wash College.

Fantastic story.... possibly could help them find a local "godfather"

[Mr.Right]

No need to apologize @Simple Coach. Like @Hopkins92, I was not sold on this Hopkins team nor am I sold on the "system" JHU plays. It is very mechanical. Unless you have some forwards who can really take it to goal or defenders who are wiling to make penetrating passes instead of just playing with the ball in the back, it's a lot of possession with not much consequence. I was a little disappointed with how badly this year's team seemed to fold down the stretch. The last several games have been pretty ugly after the first part of the season seemed somewhat promising. I would be amazed if they get a tourney berth.

I caught the 2nd Half for the first 20 minutes until Hopkins let in the 3rd Goal. I thought JHU came out of Halftime on fire. Crisp clean passing with purpose and were rewarded with a Goal and a PK. I thought the striker #7? was very active and should have demanded to take the PK. I think they had a Frosh take it but whomever it was the opposing GK got in his head with intimidation tactics. It is up to the referee to clean that stuff up and not allow the shenanigans to go on but he was busy(phone call). Weak PK that was easily read and saved by the GK. Worse it looked to deflate Hopkins after such a fantastic opening to the Half. Obviously I am not a JHU follower and I know the complaints I read on here about the absolute refusal to mix it up a bit or possessing without progressing.  Those are legitimate complaints but still they are at least trying to play the right way. That opening 20 minutes was entertaining to watch with JHU getting about 4 solid chances on net from it all. One strong recruiting class with a combination of tweaking the system would get this team right back where they should be. I mean hey it could be much much worse.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity(TX) will face St. Thomas(TX)a 1-0 victor over Southwestern, for the SCAC championship Sunday (neutral field).  The Celts put the sole blemish on Trinity earlier this year in a 1-1 tie.

Edit: St. Thomas is still in their transition to D3 so tonight's results mean Trinity has clinched the SCAC's Pool A bid.

Good to see more  and more teams moving to D3..Was this an NAIA? or

They were members of the NAIA-I Red River Athletic Conference; this is the third and possibly last year of their transition.  In addition to the tie earlier this season they defeated Trinity 2-1 in the semis of last spring's SCAC tournament, but fell to sixth seed Centenary in the final. 

[Mr.Right]

Trinity(TX) will face St. Thomas(TX)a 1-0 victor over Southwestern, for the SCAC championship Sunday (neutral field).  The Celts put the sole blemish on Trinity earlier this year in a 1-1 tie.

Edit: St. Thomas is still in their transition to D3 so tonight's results mean Trinity has clinched the SCAC's Pool A bid.

Good to see more  and more teams moving to D3..Was this an NAIA? or

They were members of the NAIA-I Red River Athletic Conference; this is the third and possibly last year of their transition.  In addition to the tie earlier this season they defeated Trinity 2-1 in the semis of last spring's SCAC tournament, but fell to sixth seed Centenary in the final.

So what was the reasoning for the switch?  If anyone knows..is it an NAIA thing or $$?.Is this Red River Athletic Conf have other teams looking to move?

[deiscanton]

Skyline Conference Championship Game

Mount St. Vincent leading over Manhattanville, 1-0, early on a goal from Carlos Romero in the 3rd minute.  The match is now in the 7th minute.

Mount St. Vincent is looking for their first ever Skyline Conference title and AQ in their first ever appearance in the championship game.

The Dolphins tied Manhattanville 1-1 earlier this season.

[deiscanton]

Halftime of the Skyline Conference men's championship game

Mount St. Vincent still up 1-0 over Manhattanville after 45 minutes.

The big story is that both Mount St. Vincent and Manhattanville are playing 10 on 10 after Mount St. Vincent's Dennis Andino and Manhattanville's Sebastian Testa both got red cards in the 35th minute.  One player will be suspended for the first round of the NCAA DIII tournament, while the other will be suspended for the first game next season.

Update-- Just looked at the play that drew the red cards.  According to the Manhattanville commentator, both players that got the red cards threw punches at each other.  That is violent conduct, which carries at least multiple game suspensions of at least 2 games for each player.

1:17 PM Eastern update-- Mount St. Vincent now up 2-0 over Manhattanville on a goal from Ian Lamas in the 51st minute.

[Centennial1]

Crazy season for the Centennial. Suddenly, Washington looks like a real threat to win what I think would be their first conference title. Looking at the home fans vs. F&M, I'm pulling for them. It's a good story for a team that's slowly transformed themselves from an opponent's guaranteed win to a legitimate program. G-burg played better and better as the season went on, and got very fortunate against Swat, IMO. There will be 2 teams very much on the tournament bubble assuming F&M and the conference champ are going. The runner-up will have a very strong case which leaves Hop and Swat. Hop has the slight statistical edge: head-to-head, and SOS. Swat played most of their tough conference matches away from home, and looked stronger at the end of the season, playing with more purpose. I would actually give the nod to Swat if I were awarding the berths. I'm still waiting for the call from the NCAA to ask my advice, maybe they've misplaced my number .

[deiscanton]

Congratulations to the Mount St. Vincent Dolphins.

2021 Skyline Conference Champions-- first time in program history that the Dolphins men's soccer team has won a title.
First AQ to the NCAA DIII Men's Soccer tournament for Mount St. Vincent.

Program record for wins this season-- and the Dolphins got their first ever win in program history this season over NYU and their first win in 25 years over Manhattanville-- NYU just a few weeks ago, and Manhattanville today in the first ever title game for Mount St. Vincent.

Before this season, the Dolphins last defeated Manhattanville back in 1996.

Minuses-- The punching incident in the 35th minute.

I do have mixed feelings about Mount St. Vincent fans storming the soccer pitch-- especially given the comments earlier this week about how the Dolphins supporters reacted after the victory over Yeshiva in the conference semifinals.

It does not take away the accomplishment that Mount St. Vincent did this season, and this team is capable of pulling off an upset in the DIII Soccer Tournament.

[OldNed]

St. Joseph's (Maine) takes down Norwich in the second overtime 1-0 to get the GNAC AQ this year.  I didn't catch the play that led up to the goal as I was trying to catch the score on Conn vs. Colby. I tuned in late because I had other things going on, but in the brief time I watched, Norwich has St. Joe's pinned in their own end for the 2 overtime periods. I'm guessing that based on the overall shots (24-7 in favor of Norwich), that's probably the way it played our the majority of the game.

Mr. Right posted earlier this week that he thought Norwich would end up with the GNAC AQ and I didn't reply because honestly I thought Norwich had too much offense for St. Joe's to overcome.  I'm happy I was wrong there.  I imagine St. Joe's will get a NESCAC team in the first round and that could be the end of things, but I commend Coach Pike and his boys on getting to the NCAA tournament.

[PaulNewman]

For next week all the polls should put Tufts and Trinity #1 and #2 in any order and then the next spot should be like #11.  No one else deserves a top 10 ranking.

And I wrote that before seeing that St Olaf lost.

Now the Pool C deal is going to be quite drama-infested.