D3Boards.Com Soccer Top 20 Fan Poll

[SimpleCoach]

As can be expected, I threw mine in a video..

The SimpleCoach Top 25 Rankings

[Ejay]

8 voters yet Messiah only received 7 votes? Someone didn't have them on their ballot??

[College Soccer Observer]

User error on my part.  I cut and pasted to move them and forgot to put them back in.  Have to knock off the rust for the pollster's too.

[PaulNewman]

OK, I'll ask for the group.  Was the D3 boards poll supposed to be posted today...or not?

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Dunno. I run the fan poll on the football boards and I usually post saying I'm still waiting on 2 ballots or waiting on a ballot that had an error on it or something if it's getting to this point in the week. Then again it seems like every week someone hasn't submitted or they make a mistake that needs to be fixed so I can never get that poll up on time.

Hopefully jknezek can get this either tonight or tomorrow morning.

[jknezek]

Last ballot came in this evening. I will get it out in the a.m.

[Gregory Sager]

Happy to hear that I'm not the straggler this time.

[jknezek]

Couple of new names join the poll, the two biggest outliers from last week fall off. The NESCAC has the movers and shakers as Tufts takes a beating while Williams has the biggest jump up.

D3Boards.com Soccer Fan Poll Games as of 9/17/2023

National Top 25

Rank		School			Points		Weekly Change		Voter Breakdown
1		Mary Washington (6)			198		1		2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1
2		John Carroll (1)			178		1		7, 3, 3, 6, 1, 4, 3, 3
3		Amherst			174		3		3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 9, 2, 4
4		Messiah (1)			155		-3		1, 2, 6, 2, 10, 2, 4
5		Franklin and Marshall			125		2		14, 7, 8, 21, 4, 5, 11, 13
6		Chicago			124		-2		10, 13, 9, 5, 10, 9, 2
T7		Middlebury			119		7		4, 16, 11, 3, 17, 7, 5
T7		Williams			119		10		17, 5, 2, 13, 3, 13, 10
9		Oneonta State			116		2		16, 11, 13, 9, 21, 6, 10, 6
T10		Montclair State			106		-2		11, 9, 7, 12, 22, 6, 9
T10		Texas Lutheran			106		6		5, 4, 11, 9, 14, 7
12		Case Western Reserve			96		7		8, 6, 20, 7, 12, 16, 17
13		Rochester			94		-3		6, 10, 12, 18, 20, 8, 14
14		Carleton			93		---		9, 15, 5, 21, 5, 8
15		Calvin			84		-10		19, 12, 10, 10, 7, 17, 23
16		St. Thomas (TX)			82		-5		20, 23, 16, 7, 8, 14, 12
17		Connecticut College			70		1		15, 8, 18, 6, 13
18		Bowdoin			60		-3		22, 15, 17, 8, 23, 15, 22
19		Mount Union			57		---		18, 22, 20, 14, 13, 12
20		Christopher Newport			49		-7		13, 20, 15, 22, 16, 21
T21		Cortland State			42		2		18, 23, 19, 19, 20, 15
T21		North Central (IL)			42		-2		24, 17, 24, 16, 25, 15, 21, 24
23		Tufts			40		-14		25, 19, 17, 18, 11
24		Redlands			34		---		14, 11, 19
T25		Denison			19		---		14, 25, 20
T25		Gustavus Adolphus			19				25, 17, 18, 25

Also Receiving Votes:
Colby (18) , Trinity (TX) (18) , Macalester (17) , Plattsburgh State (15) , Lynchburg (14) , Scranton (14) , New Paltz State (13) , Wartburg (13) , Capital (12) , Virginia Wesleyan (12) , Stevens (11) , UW-Platteville (9) , Emory (7) , MSOE (7) , Carnegie Mellon (5) , Widener (4) , Ithaca (3) , Johns Hopkins (3) , Lebanon Valley (2) , Mary Hardin-Baylor (2)

Newly Ranked: Carleton, Mount Union, Redlands, Denison, Gustavus Adolphus
Dropped Out: North Park (Prev:21), Trinity (TX) (Prev:22), Illinois Wesleyan (Prev:24), Bard (Prev:25)

1 = 1st Place Vote, 25 = 25th Place Vote in Voter Breakdown
Special Thanks to the Voters: FCGrizzliesGrad, Mid-Atlantic Fan, Coach Jeff, PaulNewman, Paclassic89, SimpleCoach, College Soccer Observer, Greg Sager

[PaulNewman]

I'm curious about St Thomas dropping 5 spots...based on a 2-2 draw with a D2 team, where STU had a major stats advantage?

[jknezek]

I'm curious about St Thomas dropping 5 spots...based on a 2-2 draw with a D2 team, where STU had a major stats advantage?

For whatever reason St. Thomas had a lot of really high votes last week. 5,7,4,6. This week they had no votes higher than a 7. So just about every poll either kept them the same or dropped them. They were undefeated, but was that really the strongest slate? Did they deserve the ranking the previous week given who they have played? I just compile the votes, but there isn't much in their schedule that is a wow factor, so as other teams get quality results, it doesn't surprise me that they give way, especially picking up a blemish. St. Edward's may be D2, but they are 0-4-1. We aren't talking about a powerhouse here, as they have lost 3 of those 4 games by 3 goals.

[PaulNewman]

I'm curious about St Thomas dropping 5 spots...based on a 2-2 draw with a D2 team, where STU had a major stats advantage?

For whatever reason St. Thomas had a lot of really high votes last week. 5,7,4,6. This week they had no votes higher than a 7. So just about every poll either kept them the same or dropped them. They were undefeated, but was that really the strongest slate? Did they deserve the ranking the previous week given who they have played? I just compile the votes, but there isn't much in their schedule that is a wow factor, so as other teams get quality results, it doesn't surprise me that they give way, especially picking up a blemish. St. Edward's may be D2, but they are 0-4-1. We aren't talking about a powerhouse here, as they have lost 3 of those 4 games by 3 goals.

Fair enough I suppose.  I was one who had them high the first time and iirc I am probably the vote for #7 this week...I had been viewing them as neck and neck with JCU.  No doubt influenced by how good they were at the end of last year, Kuiper underscoring them as the top team in Region X, and four wins over maybe not great, but good teams.  Willamette has ended up looking like not as good as it did at the time, but 2 weeks ago that was still considered a pretty good win.

My ballot and yes, I had STU at #7...

1)    Mary Washington
2)    Messiah
3)    Middlebury
4)    Amherst
5)    Chicago
6)    John Carroll
7)    St Thomas (TX)
8)    Bowdoin
9)    Oneonta St
10)    Calvin
11)    Texas Lutheran
12)    Montclair St
13)    Williams
14)    Mt Union
15)    Carleton
16)    North Central
17)    Tufts
18)    Rochester
19)    Cortland St
20)    CWRU
21)    Franklin & Marshall
22)    Stevens
23)    Emory
24)    Lebanon Valley
25)    UW-Platteville

I think my biggest disagreements are F&M at #5, like really?  And JCU all the way up ar #2.  They've both lost since the period covered by the poll so that colors the impression a bit, but even before the blemishes those were too high for me.  Also, and I'm a Conn Coll fan, I'm not sure their ranking is warranted (yet).  And now I'm joking but I think Christopher Newport could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and still land in the top 25.

[SimpleCoach]

My Top 25s

[NESCACfan100]

@PaulNewman

I am a fan of your posts and I know that Top 25's are subjective, but I'm interested in your selection of Middlebury as #3

I've noticed that you rate them highly each season as a potential team to make a run in either Nescac or NCAA play. They are a good program, but I am curious why you have Amherst below Midd?

[PaulNewman]

@PaulNewman

I am a fan of your posts and I know that Top 25's are subjective, but I'm interested in your selection of Middlebury as #3

I've noticed that you rate them highly each season as a potential team to make a run in either Nescac or NCAA play. They are a good program, but I am curious why you have Amherst below Midd?

Fair question....I used to downgrade Midd and Mr.Right back in the day would negative karma me to death...but they had several years where they didn't make or barely made the tournament.  The NESCAC will sort itself out of course, and I think both weeks I've had them in a pair very, very high.  I just sense this is Midd's year, they've had a strong start, and of course I despise Amherst.  Just kidding.  Forget Midd for a second.  Why would I have Amherst so high?  And on what basis so far would you clearly put Amherst ahead of Midd?  The only thing I can think of is that they drew in Middlebury so in that case maybe one can favor the road team that earned a draw?

A few long-timers might remember this...I used to defend Amherst against the complaints and say I really hadn't "seen it."  The evidence just became too insurmountable over time.  I got a weird email anonymously that said they were several ex-players who wanted to appeal to me by explaining the sideline behavior and how it is an important part of the culture.

[NESCACfan100]

@PaulNewman

I am a fan of your posts and I know that Top 25's are subjective, but I'm interested in your selection of Middlebury as #3

I've noticed that you rate them highly each season as a potential team to make a run in either Nescac or NCAA play. They are a good program, but I am curious why you have Amherst below Midd?

Fair question....I used to downgrade Midd and Mr.Right back in the day would negative karma me to death...but they had several years where they didn't make or barely made the tournament.  The NESCAC will sort itself out of course, and I think both weeks I've had them in a pair very, very high.  I just sense this is Midd's year, they've had a strong start, and of course I despise Amherst.  Just kidding.  Forget Midd for a second.  Why would I have Amherst so high?  And on what basis so far would you clearly put Amherst ahead of Midd?  The only thing I can think of is that they drew in Middlebury so in that case maybe one can favor the road team that earned a draw?

A few long-timers might remember this...I used to defend Amherst against the complaints and say I really hadn't "seen it."  The evidence just became too insurmountable over time.  I got a weird email anonymously that said they were several ex-players who wanted to appeal to me by explaining the sideline behavior and how it is an important part of the culture.

For me, Midd hasn't had a real test this season besides Amherst (which was a tie). However, Amherst went to Tufts and beat them 3-1 scoring 3 unanswered goals. Based on your rankings you have Tufts at #17 so it seems like there's more evidence pointing to Amherst than Midd.