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[Kuiper]

Marietta has posted its 2024 Roster

It's actually labeled 2024 Preseason roster, which seems like the title all teams should use at this time of year since players can always drop out during pre-season.

Here are a few observations:

- 37 on the roster, compared with 33 last season

- 7 freshman

- a couple of transfers come in from DII Notre Dame college, which has closed

- Several players are back for super senior years, including last year's leading point scorer and 3rd team all-OAC player Reggie Grayek

[Kuiper]

John Carroll has posted its 2024 Roster

Here are a few observations:

- 58 players on the roster, compared with 43 last year

- 24(!) freshman on the roster

- 3 players transferred in from DII Notre Dame College, which closed.  1 (Diego Calixto) transferred from Hiram College

- 4 players are back for either a fifth year or a grad year to make up for the Covid year, including regular starters and conference, region, and nationally recognized players D Izac Coleman, D Daniel Kalic, F Patrick Koenig, and M Hayden Heffner

- Almost all of their top scorers are back

[Newenglander]

John Carroll has posted its 2024 Roster

Here are a few observations:

- 58 players on the roster, compared with 43 last year

- 24(!) freshman on the roster

- 3 players transferred in from DII Notre Dame College, which closed.  1 (Diego Calixto) transferred from Hiram College

- 4 players are back for either a fifth year or a grad year to make up for the Covid year, including regular starters and conference, region, and nationally recognized players D Izac Coleman, D Daniel Kalic, F Patrick Koenig, and M Hayden Heffner

- Almost all of their top scorers are back

They do have a full reserve team/schedule as well.

[Kuiper]

The NCAC has released its 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Kenyon (7)
2. Denison (1)
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Depauw
5. Wabash
6. Wooster
7. Wittenberg
8. Oberlin (1)
9. Hiram

I'm assuming coaches were allowed to vote their own school as #1 because it's hard to see how Oberlin got one first place vote otherwise

[SimpleCoach]

The NCAC has released its 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Kenyon (7)
2. Denison (1)
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Depauw
5. Wabash
6. Wooster
7. Wittenberg
8. Oberlin (1)
9. Hiram

I'm assuming coaches were allowed to vote their own school as #1 because it's hard to see how Oberlin got one first place vote otherwise

Come on @Kuiper.  We all know Oberlin is going to rock it this year....

SC.

[Kuiper]

The NCAC has released its 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Kenyon (7)
2. Denison (1)
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Depauw
5. Wabash
6. Wooster
7. Wittenberg
8. Oberlin (1)
9. Hiram

I'm assuming coaches were allowed to vote their own school as #1 because it's hard to see how Oberlin got one first place vote otherwise

Come on @Kuiper.  We all know Oberlin is going to rock it this year....

SC.

They are going to really miss Hiram when they depart for the PAC!

[Rcjh2245]

The NCAC has released its 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Kenyon (7)
2. Denison (1)
3. Ohio Wesleyan
4. Depauw
5. Wabash
6. Wooster
7. Wittenberg
8. Oberlin (1)
9. Hiram

I'm assuming coaches were allowed to vote their own school as #1 because it's hard to see how Oberlin got one first place vote otherwise

Come on @Kuiper.  We all know Oberlin is going to rock it this year....

SC.

They are going to really miss Hiram when they depart for the PAC!

Clearing the deck for JCU

[Kuiper]

Capital has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations

- 27 on the roster, which is the same as in 2023

- 9 freshman

- Notable departures include leading scorer and leading assist man (11/9) M Jack Koussoudji, who was first team All-Region VII and the OAC's Forward of the Year, and F Jack Francisco

[Kuiper]

The OAC has posted its 2024 coaches preseason poll

Ohio Northern seems to be the consensus pick among the coaches

Coaches Poll

Rank

School (1st Place Votes)

Pts.

 1  Ohio Northern (8)  80

 2  Otterbein (1)  69

 3  John Carroll (1)  67

 4  Mount Union  60

 5  Capital  42

 6  Marietta  41

 7  Baldwin Wallace  33

 8  Wilmington  32

 9  Muskingum  16

 10  Heidelberg  10

[Little Giant 89]

The Wabash soccer roster has been posted for the '24 campaign.  The roster includes eleven freshman including three from Texas and one from California.

The squad's first match is just ten days away against Principia in Saint Louis.

https://sports.wabash.edu/sports/mens-soccer/roster?sort=class

WAF!

[Gregory Sager]

Denison has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

-  30 on the roster, compared to 28 last year

-  6 freshman added to the roster, including one from Lithuania.  I haven't seen many Lithuanians recruited to American college soccer

- One of the freshman is Kaden Kist.  He is the younger brother of Kameron Kist, a junior who was first team All-NCAC and third team all Region VII last year as a sophomore.

- 

Amherst has a Lithuanian.  Looking at the Denison recruit, I have to say that that name doesn't look particularly Lithuanian to me and it's a topic I am comfortable claiming proficiency in!

North Park had a Lithuanian GK a couple of years ago named Sebastianus Uribe.

It left me wondering if a goalkeeper from a Lithuanian women's soccer team somehow met and married a shortstop from the Dominican Republic a while back.

[PaulNewman]

In the name of humility, accountability, and sportsmanship, I want to apologize to the emerging "voice of the Blue Streaks" of John Carroll University, Gianluca DiGiacomo, and to supporters of JCU men's soccer.

At the beginning of last year, in the aftermath of JCU throttling Kenyon 4-0 in Gambier, I engaged in some friendly trolling by highlighting DiGiacomo's very flowery recap detailing the debacle. I caught some blowback from a couple of the JCU faithful that no doubt was well-deserved.

I continued to follow JCU and if memory serves I did later in the season tip my cap in appreciation of DiGiacomo's efforts, both from the booth and the writers' desk.

I of course listened to the broadcast of JCU vs Kenyon this year from Don Shula Stadium. Gianluca was outstanding. Always colorful and searching for a turn of phrase that is always hilarious if not entirely accurate on semantic details, he is thorough, on top of the action, extremely fair, and perhaps most importantly, obviously invested, interested, loyal to JCU, and appreciative of both program and matchup histories. During the broadcast Gianluca shared comments made by Kenyon coach, Travis Wall, apparently from an interview that week.

What spurred me to comment again now was seeing a couple of game previews Gianluca wrote (most recently regarding JCU tilts with Carnegie Mellon and Wooster). Some of the best and most comprehensive previews I've seen, inclusive of opposing coach interview snippets. This guy obviously loves the game and has enthusiasm for weeks. 

I am reminded of Lynchburg Hornets broadcasting and media sensation, "Jumpin' Joe" Hutzler. The latter was perhaps a little more polished in a Sportscenterish kind of way, but imho Gianluca is on a similar trajectory. 

I recommend a listen and a read from all diehard D3 fans.  I don't know anything else about Gianluca or his situation, but I have high confidence he would be a great hire for a lot of folks in the sports journalism/broadcasting space.

[Kuiper]

Wittenberg's game at Earlham today has been cancelled because of the ongoing bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio

https://wittenbergtigers.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule

Tue 17 at Earlham

Game cancelled due to campus security threat
 

Wittenberg has also cancelled all home and away athletics contests involving the school through 9/22

https://x.com/WittAthletics/status/1836060283803947470

https://www.wittenberg.edu/alert

Wittenberg is continuing to take precautions due to ongoing threats the University has received in recent days. As the threats continue to be assessed by Wittenberg police, local law enforcement, and the FBI, all classes and most operations will be delivered remotely until at least Sunday, Sept. 22, and on-campus activities and events are canceled.
Latest Update

After receiving new threats on Monday, Sept. 16, and in the context of ongoing threats of violence on our campus and in the Springfield community, Wittenberg will go fully remote for the rest of the week (Monday, Sept. 16-Sunday, Sept. 22). The University is taking each threat seriously, and Wittenberg Police are working closely with other law enforcement agencies to thoroughly investigate any and all threats made toward our campus, employees, and students.

All students engaged in field, clinical, or other off-campus experiences should cease attending their placement until in-person classes on campus are resumed. Faculty and staff are also expected to work remotely, except for essential employees. All academic facilities will remain locked throughout the week. The Center Dining Room (CDR) will remain open but may have limited options.

[Hopkins92]

Saw that on The Athletic just now... Tough to keep politics out of all this, but this site has been remarkable civil over the years, so...

*fingers crossed*

[PaulNewman]

Posting primarily to give a shout out to Otterbein coach, Jason Griffiths, an England transplant who had a strong collegiate career at the University of Kentucky, had a cup of coffee with New England after being drafted by the Revolution, tore up his knee, and his professional career ended. Griffiths has elevated (or at least restored) the Cardinals' program since arriving in Westerville in 2017.  He led Otterbein to a Sweet 16 appearance in his first campaign, and he has kept Otterbein very much in the OAC and national mix to the present.  Sometimes overshadowed by JCU and ONU, Otterbein has been right there with those programs for more than a half-decade, and I would consider Otterbein one of the Ohio "Gang of Seven," along with JCU, ONU, CWRU, Kenyon, OWU, and more recently, Denison.  At any rate, my impression is that Griffiths is one of the more under the radar outstanding coaches and I'm also guessing would be a great hire by any top D3 program or possibly in D1.

While I'm here, a few observations from last night...

Kenyon 0, Otterbein 0

Off the top, I have no sense about whether the weather had a significant impact or not, as Otterbein had no audio and I had the audio muted for Denison game.

An overall sloppy, physical match with both sides struggling to keep the ball and rarely threatening.  Kenyon looked fairly talented but concerningly anemic with literally almost zero chances, except for a Duratovic attempt very late where he had a decent opening from distance.  I'm sure missing arguably their best overall player (and NCAC midfielder of the year), Dujakovich, did not help, and the Owls also are trying to integrate 7-8 frosh who are either starting or playing major minutes.  A good problem to have I suppose, at least longer term, but there are also a few talented frosh who haven't gotten much of a chance yet who have looked good in limited mop-up minutes.  In addition to the alarming lack of offensive prowess, the Owls suffer from far too many lazy or overly optimistic long square passes, including ones in their own half gifting free opportunities to the opponent.  Otterbein wasn't much more effective, UNTIL, for a 10-12 minutes stretch late in the match, when the Cardinals generated a series of fairly dangerous chances even though Owls GK Pedeschri only was forced to make one good save.  I'm not sure if Kenyon was pressing the last 15 minutes to avoid a draw, or not, but the Cardinals seemed to catch the Owls out of sorts on multiple counters.  On balance, Otterbein deserved a W if there was gonna be a W, but a draw seemed about right too.  I do want to highlight the performance of Kenyon CB, Matt Nguyen.  Transferred from Marshall two years ago after not playing as a frosh and getting stuck with a jersey number in the 50s, and he has been a stalwart cog for Kenyon defensively for now his third season and just may be the best Owls CB since the All-American, Bret Lowry.  Nguyen was all over the field winning balls, and he can be pretty effective initiating some offense as well.  I do worry about fatigue.  The CB next to him is very good too but a frosh.

Denison 4, Christopher Newport 2

Long bus ride? Tough flight?  Underestimating the Big Red with the Kenyon match tomorrow looking like the sexier of the two fixtures?  Weather?  I have no idea, but Denison was up 2-0 before CNU had barely gotten off the bus.  I didn't really watch because of the other game, but the Captains once down 4-1 surely felt they had been dragged into an unwelcoming vortex they didn't expect.  I would guess that the Denison honeymoon of being underestimated is over...or it should be.  Big wins against OWU, beating Kenyon at Kenyon in the NCAC tourney final two out of the last three years, taking Conn Coll to OT in the NCAA tourney after narrowly missing on a great chance in the last minute of regulation, and several other very good results should be enough to get everyone's attention.  Plus they got that spanking new home venue.

On Sunday, will be interesting to see if Denison can create more good chances against Otterbein than the Owls  did, and one would presume that CNU will have a much better performance in a bounce-back scenario against a high profile opponent.

P.S.  This question will expose just how unsophisticated of an observer I am, but I know there are a handful of GK experts, so what the heck.  I don't know exactly when the change happened, at least to the current extreme, but are GKs now required to do the short roll pass to a CB every single time???  It reaches a point where it just seems stubborn/obstinate, like we are not going to give in, lower ourselves, and occasionally get the ball out of one's own end to relieve a little pressure and allow the defense to catch a breath. I also do not need my 6'5 GK trying to be Neymar inside the six (or anywhere on the field).