Great Lakes Region Navigation Channel

[Shooter McGavin]

2nd ranking prediction:

Region 7
1. John Carroll
2. Kenyon
3. OWU
4. Case Western
5. ONU
6. Mt. Union
7. Denison

Others: Capital, Otterbein, Mt. Aloysius, CMU

[futbolislife247365]

Massive match in the OAC tonight as John Carroll travels to Mt Union.  JCU is looking to rebound and reassert itself as a legitimate top tier national contender.  Mt Union is still a bit of an enigma -- on this site (and especially for Eastcoasters) -- probably best known as SC's alma mater and "a football school."  The Purple Raiders are having perhaps their greatest season ever with back to back chances to enhance the resume further....JCU tonight and then Otterbein on Saturday.  Mt Union reminds me a little of Carleton...stellar campaigns but still with a lot to prove.  Would be fantastic if a few with knowledge of the top four in the OAC, their style of play, and key players to watch shared some insights and commentary.

In the NCAC, Denison has really stumbled (losing to Wooster last night at "historic Columbus Crew Stadium") and now must beat OWU (at Roy Rike) on Saturday to avoid dropping to 4th in the conference.  Perhaps they will prefer facing Kenyon first but in any case Big Red hopes for a Pool C are almost certainly dashed and so they will have to beat their two rivals back to back again to get an AQ.  The other thing is that teams holding a win over Denison will be negatively impacted by their recent slide, losing a valuable "ranked win."  Wooster travels to DePauw Saturday with high stakes.  The winner may rise to 3rd in the conference but the loser will find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture.

I know Mount's field (very small) is difficult to play against, especially with their defensive style.  I think Coach Poe (now at Case) had a similar tactic when he was there.  I haven't seen Mount play this year but their two biggest wins (Calvin, Case) were at home where I heard Mount had no problem sitting deep and waiting to counter.  Kudos to them regardless, they have had a great season so far.

[Christan Shirk]

REGION VII - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - October 25, 2023

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Kenyon	13-3-0	0.568	3-2-0	11-3-0	Y
2.	Ohio Wesleyan	11-3-1	0.588	2-3-1	11-3-1	Y
3.	John Carroll	11-4-1	0.574	4-2-1	11-4-1	Y
4.	Ohio Northern	9-5-2	0.613	3-4-1	9-5-2	Y
5.	Case Western Reserve	7-3-3	0.609	1-2-3	7-3-3	Y
6.	Otterbein	10-2-3	0.535	2-2-2	10-2-3	--
7.	Mount Union	14-1-1	0.501	2-1-0	14-1-1	Y

[OWU Dad]

Does anyone know why OWU isn't receiving credit for three ranked wins (ONU, Otterbein and St. Olaf)?

[paclassic89]

The RvR only includes the teams from the previous week's rankings.  Otterbein wasn't ranked last week so they don't count as an RvR eligible team this week. 

[PaulNewman]

What paclassics said...and this means Kenyon will lose the Denison W next week and be down to 2 ranked wins which means OWU and couple of others could jump Kenyon.

[TableMax]

SOS. R-V-R.  Serious question for the d3 "gurus" on this board. How can these rankings have 2 NCAC team 1 and 2 and have every worthy OAC team behind them after watching the games?  LOL..I say OWU and Kenyon good or maybe great teams but seriously?  CWRU legit team too..  Is there a bias I'm not familiar with when it comes to the Tournament.  EH

[D-Three Fan]

Otterbein wins OAC regular season title with 2-0 win over Mount Union.

[D-Three Fan]

The seeding for the OAC Conference Tournament are set:

1) Otterbein 8-0-1
2) Ohio Northern 7-1-1
3) Mount Union 6-2-1
4) John Carroll 6-3
5) Capital 4-4-1
6) Marietta 4-5

[Rcjh2245]

Denison 2-0 vs OWU. Rematch Wednesday @ OWU for NCAC conference semis. Going to be a game.

[PaulNewman]

Denison defibrillated itself at the Dr. Jay Martin Soccer Emporium last night, outplaying OWU from pretty much start to finish and leaving with a 2-0 win.  Kudos to Coach Bianco for having guys prepared and ready after a very disappointing loss to Wooster just a few days earlier.  I suppose the Big Red had more to play for, but win, lose, or draw Denison most likely still was going to need back to back wins over OWU and Kenyon in the NCAC tourney with only the order of those matches changing if Denison had lost last night to OWU.  OWU had something to play for presuming the Battling Bishops would have preferred a NCAC semi against DePauw instead of Denison. 

Denison provides a good window into how competitive Region VII is in the battle for regional rankings spots and positioning therein.  Denison was regionally ranked the first week but not the second, and I'm not sure even two back to back regionally ranked wins over OWU would get the Big Red back into the rankings.  Who could they overtake?  Maybe, maybe CWRU, although Denison lost to the Spartans head to head.  One glaring weakness when scanning the Region VII rankings is that Mt Union was in the last spot because of a dangerously low SoS.  However, otherwise, the Purple Raiders have the best record in the region and three ranked wins, and the SoS should jump to a more respectable .530+ level following matches with JCU and Otterbein.   

So there is a scenario where Denison could finish 11-5-3 with three ranked wins and still not get back into the regional rankings.  Denison's SoS is a little lower than one might expect but the back to back OWU games should boost the SoS to the .550+ range.  Regardless, even losing the next match with OWU, Denison comfortably would land in the #2 spot in Region II.

I do not envy the Region VII committee.  All seven currently ranked teams are very viable Pool C candidates.  Otterbein, who was unranked the first week, could jump all the way to the top spot.  If you had to pick two of the seven to leave out of a Pool C bid that would and will be difficult.  CWRU with an OK but not great record and only one ranked win might be most vulnerable but the Spartans also have one of the higher SoSs.  This is how complicated things can get.  CWRU would benefit from Denison sneaking into the rankings nest week or the very last week (which we won't see until after the selections), but Denison is the team that if ranked could knock CWRU out.  All the other teams have strong but not flawless resumes.  The margins between the teams are razor-thin.

[TableMax]

JCU most likely wins easy at home tonight. But if they lose I still say they get in if you use the sub par SOS and RVR scrub methodology..The OAC the strongest conference in Region 7 I say.. EH

[College Soccer Observer]

@TableMax JCU won, but it was certainly not easy.  Capital keeper with a great save with 30 seconds left in OT that led to a corner.  Uncontested header on goal that keeper got a hand to but could not keep out.  JCU 2, Capital 1 OT

[paclassic89]

JCU most likely wins easy at home tonight. But if they lose I still say they get in if you use the sub par SOS and RVR scrub methodology..The OAC the strongest conference in Region 7 I say.. EH

Feeding the troll here but what alternate methodology would you use in place of SOS and RvR? 

[TableMax]

The common sense troll..Heartbreaker tonight at JCU..