Great Lakes Region Navigation Channel

[PaulNewman]

The OWU media guide....50 pages in small font...is worth browsing.  I can't imagine any other program has anything close.  Maybe Messiah?

I concede. North Park's is only 41 pages long.

Maybe after the season I'll add some picture pages to it to pad it out further.

OK, I checked it out.  Can't believe you conceded so easily.  Especially when with pictures you might have even topped 50.

The thing is, though....how many programs have a Gregory Sager?  That's basically cheating.

[PaulNewman]

To be fair, and not to suggest that North Park hasn't had tremendous success, but you do have to have success to warrant pictures in the media guide.  It is interesting to see the different jerseys and haircuts over the decades....and of course pictures of Dr. Martin when he took over the program in 1977 at age 12 through the years to the present.  He seriously looks like he could coach another 20 years, and he currently is in his 47th year....47.  He will easily eclipse 50 if he wants to do so.

[Gregory Sager]

To be fair, and not to suggest that North Park hasn't had tremendous success, but you do have to have success to warrant pictures in the media guide.  It is interesting to see the different jerseys and haircuts over the decades....and of course pictures of Dr. Martin when he took over the program in 1977 at age 12 through the years to the present.  He seriously looks like he could coach another 20 years, and he currently is in his 47th year....47.  He will easily eclipse 50 if he wants to do so.

I set the bar high for including pictures. Heck, I didn't add pics to the NPU men's basketball recordbook until this year, and the Vikings have won five national titles in that sport.

But I will probably get around to it for NPU men's soccer in next year's edition of that recordbook, especially since I have great sources for photos that date back to the program's beginning. After all, the traditional D3 sports program media guide is going the way of the dodo and the passenger pigeon, given how overworked the typical D3 sports information department tends to be, so the next most logical repository for a program's photography is either the recordbook or a special dropdown section of the program's webpage devoted strictly to pictures.

[Gregory Sager]

OWU vs ONU was a well-played and very entertaining game. The only goal came on a penalty kick for OWU in the first half. OWU dominated the first 20 minutes of the game and had to have at least 90% of the possession. ONU came on strong in the second half and probably had the better opportunities to score. But generally, the teams looked evenly matched. The only negative was an injury to one of our star players when an ONU player shoved him in the back, knocking him to the ground and injuring his shoulder.  For privacy reasons, I won't say more about the injury. The ONU player appropriately received a yellow card for the violation.

Was there as well as totally agree with your assessment. My concern was about the style of play - very direct - either from long balls or dribblers receiving the ball and just going balls to the wall forward. By the time attackers looked up they'd see they've dribbled into pressure - surrounded by 3-4 defenders. The energy in this game certainly was a factor, influencing player decisions. Compare this to the JCU-Case game - tons of possession and patience- but intensity once each time got into the attacking 3rd.  Case is very legit - looking forward to their UAA games.

It should be mentioned that the officiating crew at OWU had a high tolerance for shenanigans - lots of shirt pulling on both sides. But when #9 took the elbow to the mouth, drawing blood, and nothing was called . . . ?? #9 had the ONU defender trapped in the corner against the flag, AR1 inches - I mean inches away - player drops to the ground, play continues for another 30 seconds - then the officials decide to check on the player?

Paul - +1 for your suggestion for an Ohio soccer conference. The MAC has different members for soccer and pointy ball - but that's d1. When I was still reffing there was a proposal to spread HS soccer games over 4 days: girls playing Mon-We'd; boys Tues-Th. This to address the extreme shortage of officials. HS AD's - many of whom were knuckle dragged themselves - only cared about 3 things: pointy ball, pointy ball and fudging academic records of pointy ball players!

Illinois gets around the official-shortage problem by having the boys play soccer in the fall and the girls play soccer in the spring. It's the only way they'll get a sufficient number of refs.

[Hopkins92]

VA does that too

[Domino1195]

OWU vs ONU was a well-played and very entertaining game. The only goal came on a penalty kick for OWU in the first half. OWU dominated the first 20 minutes of the game and had to have at least 90% of the possession. ONU came on strong in the second half and probably had the better opportunities to score. But generally, the teams looked evenly matched. The only negative was an injury to one of our star players when an ONU player shoved him in the back, knocking him to the ground and injuring his shoulder.  For privacy reasons, I won't say more about the injury. The ONU player appropriately received a yellow card for the violation.

Was there as well as totally agree with your assessment. My concern was about the style of play - very direct - either from long balls or dribblers receiving the ball and just going balls to the wall forward. By the time attackers looked up they'd see they've dribbled into pressure - surrounded by 3-4 defenders. The energy in this game certainly was a factor, influencing player decisions. Compare this to the JCU-Case game - tons of possession and patience- but intensity once each time got into the attacking 3rd.  Case is very legit - looking forward to their UAA games.

It should be mentioned that the officiating crew at OWU had a high tolerance for shenanigans - lots of shirt pulling on both sides. But when #9 took the elbow to the mouth, drawing blood, and nothing was called . . . ?? #9 had the ONU defender trapped in the corner against the flag, AR1 inches - I mean inches away - player drops to the ground, play continues for another 30 seconds - then the officials decide to check on the player?

Paul - +1 for your suggestion for an Ohio soccer conference. The MAC has different members for soccer and pointy ball - but that's d1. When I was still reffing there was a proposal to spread HS soccer games over 4 days: girls playing Mon-We'd; boys Tues-Th. This to address the extreme shortage of officials. HS AD's - many of whom were knuckle dragged themselves - only cared about 3 things: pointy ball, pointy ball and fudging academic records of pointy ball players!

Illinois gets around the official-shortage problem by having the boys play soccer in the fall and the girls play soccer in the spring. It's the only way they'll get a sufficient number of refs.

This is Ohio. Pointy Ball is king. And I hear you - but between the knuckle
draggers and women who support softball and could kick my ass - ain't nothing going to change.

[Flying Weasel]

The OWU media guide....50 pages in small font...is worth browsing.  I can't imagine any other program has anything close.  Maybe Messiah?

I concede. North Park's is only 41 pages long.

Maybe after the season I'll add some picture pages to it to pad it out further.

OK, I checked it out.  Can't believe you conceded so easily.  Especially when with pictures you might have even topped 50.

The thing is, though....how many programs have a Gregory Sager?  That's basically cheating.

Ohio Wesleyan and Wheaton always had very good, thorough record books. In recent times, Wheaton broke up their yearbook/media guide that contained their record book and now some of the content is on webpages instead of in a PDF document.  For a pure records book/historical record, Ohio Wesleyan's 50 pages is impressive. Which is fitting for one of the longest-standing and historically successful programs.

Many schools have a combination of yearbook, media guide and record book, and some of them (not many) start approaching 50 pages. Scranton had always had good archives and their media guides have exceeded 50 pages, but only about 30 of those pages were the record book.

Messiah has a pure record book that currently has 46 pages, so it's not a too risky assumption that, by page-count, Ohio Wesleyan has the biggest record book in men's D-III soccer. Messiah, like North Park, does not insert pictures throughout and it also has no player index. One of the coolest things found in the Messiah record book that you don't usually find is that the game-by-game all-time results includes the goal scorers for every single game in program history (going back to 1967). That helps jog the memory about games and/or helps you correctly connect your recollections to a specific game.

[Hopkins92]

The Hopkins record book is 46 pages (at least the flipbook/pdf is that length.)

[PaulNewman]

I having flashbacks to last year and my bid to award oldest bookstore to Kenyon...which I stand by after an actual direct consultation with the bookstore and despite FW I think suggesting Leb Valley or maybe the town of Annville had the oldest...or I might just be making up who he said.

More amazing to me than the page numbers for media guides is that OWU has Travis Wall on the cover of its 2023 addition.  The coach of your biggest rival on the cover of your media guide? How many times has that happened?

[Flying Weasel]

I having flashbacks to last year and my bid to award oldest bookstore to Kenyon...which I stand by after an actual direct consultation with the bookstore and despite FW I think suggesting Leb Valley or maybe the town of Annville had the oldest...or I might just be making up who he said.

Moravian Book Shop in Bethlehem, PA.  http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=9326.msg2052520#msg2052520

[PaulNewman]

I having flashbacks to last year and my bid to award oldest bookstore to Kenyon...which I stand by after an actual direct consultation with the bookstore and despite FW I think suggesting Leb Valley or maybe the town of Annville had the oldest...or I might just be making up who he said.

Moravian Book Shop in Bethlehem, PA.  http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=9326.msg2052520#msg2052520

Ah, yes.

Straight from the website today...

"Fact: The Bookstore is the nation's longest continuously operating college bookstore and the third-oldest bookstore of any kind in America."

I encourage everyone to get some gear...

https://www.kenyon.edu/kenyon-on-a-tour/bookstore/

[PaulNewman]

I'm hoping my Lords...I mean Owls...don't relax today.  Mt Aloysius has saddled up to and maybe overtaken PS-Behrend in the AMCC and I believe have made the last two NCAA tourneys...and last year in the first round took Ohio Northern to PKs.  Coach Hutchinson, better known as simply "Hutch," has the Mounties off to a 3-0-2 start.

A look at the Mt. Aloysius website cost me 20 minutes of internet search time...The roster finds these countries represented...

England 4

Spain 4

Jamaica 3

Columbia 2

New Zealand 2

Sweden 1

France 1

Australia 1

But then I vaguely recalled NC Wesleyan is known for a high volume of international players...and wow, look at these numbers from the Bishops' roster...

Argentina 16

France 8

Italy 5

England 2

Spain 2

Brazil 2

New Zealand 2

Netherlands 2

Mali 1

Ecuador 1

Iceland 1

Germany 1

Sweden 1

Portugal 1

Uruguay 1

Pretty sure someone like Sager has explained this before but how do so many internationals end up in Cresson, PA and Rocky Mount, NC? 

[EnmoreCat]

The Australian is from my hometown, Perth.  I can't imagine too many Western Australians have made it to D3 soccer.  There wouldn't be many longer trips possible.

[PaulNewman]

Perhaps not because of the teams you are used to, but Great Lakes (now known as Region 7) is on fire.  JCU, CWRU, and Mt. Union are the current leaders, with Ohio Northern, OWU, Kenyon, Denison, Otterbein, and Carnegie Mellon hoping to stay within shouting distance.

JCU continues their remarkable season and indeed look to be the best Blue Streaks squad I can remember.  JCU consistently has been good to very good, and now has a chance to be great.  Not many teams could go on the road and win in Gambier, Pittsburgh, and Delaware in succession.  CWRU holding JCU to a draw (at JCU) was a mild surprise, but now the Blue Streaks get to see if they can pull off beating Calvin away and North Park at a neutral site with Denison at home to begin the next trio of matches.  After the big win at Roy Rike JCU found a way to get a recap out pretty quick and front and center, with Gianluca putting together another enjoyable, fun-filled narrative, replete with a major tribute to Jay Martin that was only marred by turning Martin's two national titles into runner-up ribbons.  Seriously, though, and I wouldn't have said this right after the drubbing of Kenyon, JCU has a very legit chance to make a run to the Final Four. 

CWRU also has remained unbeaten while doing so a little more quietly.  Denison also remains unbeaten by arguably has had the easiest schedule among the most likely regional contenders.

And don't look now, but here come the Mt Union Purple Raiders galloping around the turn.  Impressive win over Calvin that was not the least bit fluky.  I'm gonna have to dig into research on Mt Union now.

I'm guessing OWU is a little stunned after JCU last night.  The Battling Bishops were missing one of their two best players but still...not many teams go into Roy Rike and handle OWU like that.  The silver lining is that these kind of losses enable teams like OWU and Kenyon to reassess where they are at with time for corrections. 

Speaking of Kenyon, imo the Owls are a good team with potential to be very good (akin to OWU) IF they can get several key injured players back.  Very good looks like might the ceiling this year but if you can get to very good with a little luck you still have a shot to knock off great.  Mt Aloysius hung in with Kenyon and managed to equalize but a late Kenyon goal where the Mounties shouted for offsides led to a Mounties meltdown in the final minutes and two shows of red.  Getting Ramirez, Cortez, and hopefully Martinez back in the midfield would be huge, and they also need Martens and Thesing to produce.  Would be nice if 13th year senior Hrafnkelsson could make a few positive plays or else Wall is gonna have to look elsewhere on his bench to support the profilic Duratovic up front.

[JFPIV]

My Little Giants would like to stay within screaming distance of that race.