Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Action today in the NWC:

Pacific Lutheran 7 - Whitman 0

Pacific Lutheran made a STATEMENT this afternoon.  Wow!  Whitman came into the game 8-1-1 and 5-0-1 in the NWC and PLU was 6-1-3 and 4-0-2 in the NWC. I wrote that the winner of this game should get some consideration for the Region X rankings next week, assuming they also won their Sunday game.  Pacific Lutheran has been really strong offensively of late, scoring 4, 3, and 4 goals the last three games, but those were not quite as strong opponents as Whitman. Whitman was on an 8 game winning streak, last losing to Redlands 2-1.  They don't have a lock-down defense, but they had only given up 2 goals in the last 4 games.  Not only did Pacific Lutheran score SEVEN goals on Whitman, but they scored four in the first half and kept pouring it on in the second even after completely emptying the bench (they played 30 players).  And it wasn't like Whitman had a red card or something else to explain the blow-out.  In fact, the shots and shots on goal were virtually the same and Whitman had an edge over PLU in corners.  Pacific Lutheran was just absolutely clinical in its shooting, making 7 goals on 10 shots on goal and 16 shots total.  It's the largest margin of victory for either team in this series against each other in the last 70 games (since 1980).

Whitworth 1 - Puget Sound 1

Whitworth dominated on the stats and was up 1-0 at half on a PK in the 22nd minute, but Puget Sound equalized in the second half in the 50th minute and Whitworth couldn't find a winner.  Neither team was able to make up ground on the NWC leaders.

Pacific 3 - Lewis & Clark 0

Pacific scored a couple of goals 5 minutes apart in the first half, and then added a third in the second half while emptying the bench.  Pacific is 6-6-1 and 4-4-1 in the NWC and Lewis & Clark is now 0-37-1 in its reboot.

[Kuiper]

SCIAC Saturday late games

Occidental 5 - Bethesda 0

This was a "scheduled win" for Oxy in the sense that Bethesda is a poor NAIA team (2-8 thus far).  Oxy sat almost all of its regular starters or brought them off the bench for limited minutes and gave significant minutes to players who normally come off the bench or who don't play much if at all. Gives the rest a chance to rest/heal up for the stretch run in the SCIAC.

Cal Lutheran 0 - Redlands 0

Good result for Cal Lu, which frustrated Redlands and, if anything, had the upper hand, but neither team did very well offensively in that each team only had one shot on goal.  Redlands drops behind CMS in the SCIAC standings and is only 3 points ahead of Cal Lu for third place.

Whittier 1 - Chapman 1

Whittier scored in the 15th minute and Chapman had to chase the game after that.  Chapman found the equalizer in the 72nd minute on a long shot that the GK appeared to mishandle, but couldn't get a winner in a game that got chippy in the end, with 4 yellow cards issued in the last 5 minutes, 3 to Chapman.  The point leaves Whittier currently one point behind Cal Lutheran for the fourth and final spot in the SCIAC conference tournament, but Cal Lu has a game in hand.

[Kuiper]

ASC action on Saturday

Hardin-Simmons 6 - Howard Payne 0

H-S bounces back from a loss to UMHB and a tie to UTD to take out its frustrations on Howard Payne.  The thorough beatdown started with a goal 32 seconds after kickoff and continued throughout the first half, with H-S going to halftime with a 4-0 lead.  H-S emptied the bench in the second half, but still scored 2 more.  It is now 7-3-2 overall and 3-1 in the ASC.  Howard Payne's winless streak stretches to 13 this season.

Mary Hardin-Baylor 1 - East Texas Baptist 0

UMHB scored in the 6th minute and made the score hold-up for the game.  The game got chippy at the end with an ETBU player earning a straight red in a tussle in the 89th minute with a UMHB player who got a yellow.  UMHB remains in first in the ASC with a 3-0-1 record.   

UT Dallas 3 - LeTourneau 0

After beating Howard Payne and tying East Texas Baptist and Mary Hardin-Baylor in the last three games, LeTourneau had to be feeling fairly good about itself.  It appeared to use this "non-conference, conference" game against UTD as a chance to give a different group of players a chance to play, as they started a group of players who hadn't been starting this year.  They did OK in the first half, holding UTD off the scoreboard and going to halftime with a 0-0 tie, but they fell apart during a crucial stretch early in the second half with UTD scoring two goals in the 54th minute and a third in the 57th minute. 

[SimpleCoach]

Couple of additional results in Region X tonight:

Colorado College 3 - Concordia 0

The final score flatters Colorado College.  It was a 0-0 tie for most of the game, with Concordia actually out-shooting Colorado College 7-3 in the first half, holding the corner kick edge 2-0, and forcing CC's GK to make 5 saves.  Colorado College got on the board in the 77th minute and tacked on two more less than a minute apart in the 86th and 87th minutes to turn a very tight game into what looks like a route.  Regardless, it's a good away result for Colorado, moving it to 9-1-2 and 4-0 in the SCAC.

CC was sluggish the first half, for sure, but I think saying a 3-0 win was somehow a misleading or unwarranted result is a bit stingy. If Concordia outshot CC first half 7-3, CC outshot Concordia 11-3 the second half (not mentioned), so I think another take might have been "CC found its footing and outshot CTX 11-3 the second half, eventually capitalizing in the 77th minute and twice more before match end." I like a team that can pull out a win, even when the game wasn't their finest for all 90.

That's fair.  Didn't mean to slight Colorado College and definitely didn't say the result was unwarranted.  It's just that a 3-0 score in soccer is sufficiently uncommon given the difficulty of scoring that someone might look at the final score and assume this was an easy game for Colorado College or that they dominated the game, which isn't really true.  As you say, though, good teams can pull out a win even when they don't have their best game and Colorado College is definitely a good team. And, as I said, it's a good away result (against a decent Concordia team I might add).

While I thought they were the better team, indeed, Colorado really didn't seem to pull itself together until the second half.  Sometime as you say, this is what good teams need to be able to do.  Not sharp, but can piece together a couple of plays  to get the win.  Which is how I saw this one.

SC.

[wihsuafs24]

Couple of additional results in Region X tonight:

Colorado College 3 - Concordia 0

The final score flatters Colorado College.  It was a 0-0 tie for most of the game, with Concordia actually out-shooting Colorado College 7-3 in the first half, holding the corner kick edge 2-0, and forcing CC's GK to make 5 saves.  Colorado College got on the board in the 77th minute and tacked on two more less than a minute apart in the 86th and 87th minutes to turn a very tight game into what looks like a route.  Regardless, it's a good away result for Colorado, moving it to 9-1-2 and 4-0 in the SCAC.

CC was sluggish the first half, for sure, but I think saying a 3-0 win was somehow a misleading or unwarranted result is a bit stingy. If Concordia outshot CC first half 7-3, CC outshot Concordia 11-3 the second half (not mentioned), so I think another take might have been "CC found its footing and outshot CTX 11-3 the second half, eventually capitalizing in the 77th minute and twice more before match end." I like a team that can pull out a win, even when the game wasn't their finest for all 90.

That's fair.  Didn't mean to slight Colorado College and definitely didn't say the result was unwarranted.  It's just that a 3-0 score in soccer is sufficiently uncommon given the difficulty of scoring that someone might look at the final score and assume this was an easy game for Colorado College or that they dominated the game, which isn't really true.  As you say, though, good teams can pull out a win even when they don't have their best game and Colorado College is definitely a good team. And, as I said, it's a good away result (against a decent Concordia team I might add).

While I thought they were the better team, indeed, Colorado really didn't seem to pull itself together until the second half.  Sometime as you say, this is what good teams need to be able to do.  Not sharp, but can piece together a couple of plays  to get the win.  Which is how I saw this one.

SC.

I haven't seen a lot of Colorado College native intel on the board - Kuiper, as the Region X correspondent, of course covers SCAC games, but CC supporters don't seem to be active here. Maybe it's because everyone is out hiking or doing something more productive - but not me!! So if I may, I'd like to offer my 7 cents: 

I agree entirely with SC's take. CC had to pull itself together or it was going to be in danger against a pretty shifty, quick CTX team. There was an issue with the video feed the first half ("FLOOOOOOOO!" [shaking fist at sky]) but that was actually good because I had just eaten and would've suffered some serious indigestion watching that. Thankfully, I think the second half was an entirely different story in CC's favor. Being able to transition to and maintain a much higher level of play second half and (eventually) converting the chances they created should be confidence-building.

For context, I used to be a NESCAC team affiliate and my team at that time - though actually quite successful in post-season for many years - was notoriously unconvincing for most of their games, and we were always a bit relieved with each win. I don't feel this CC team (or last year's) falls into this same category. They seem to play, by nature or by design, a more balanced, deliberate type of game, which doesn't always look great to viewers at home against shifty, quick, high press teams and can be dangerous, but I like watching that kind of a game. I do believe in their ability to score goals, they don't rely on just one or two players to get it done, and, of course, it works in no small part because of a super-disciplined defensive structure that's produced a GAA of .250 across 12 games now. Definitely helps keep the ship steady while everyone naps or reloads or whatever they're doing. In the loss to Mary Washington, I think what stood out to me was the fact that UMW only had 10 shots the entire game. Would have been nice for CC to capitalize on any of their chances, but you get my point.

Finally - I know the orchestra is playing - I've been nodding while reading the National Perspectives thread on travel and home advantage because CC was in Arkansas a week ago Friday, Austin last Friday and was on a bus to Abilene yesterday. Rinse and repeat for next weekend... I have to believe that has an impact, especially at this point in the season. But it's not an excuse, and it's not the whole story.

Thanks all! Appreciate the coverage and the platform.

[Kuiper]

I haven't seen a lot of Colorado College native intel on the board - Kuiper, as the Region X correspondent, of course covers SCAC games, but CC supporters don't seem to be active here. Maybe it's because everyone is out hiking or doing something more productive - but not me!! So if I may, I'd like to offer my 7 cents: 

Welcome to (or back to?) the Boards!  We definitely appreciate the insight into Colorado College, which has been one of the best teams in the country the last couple of years. 

To be clear, Colorado College is by no means unique in not having any fan supporters on the board up until now.  In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of fans of Region X teams who post on, or at least seem to semi-regularly like posts on, this thread and most of those are from Texas.  The rest are interested from a national rankings perspective or because Region X teams are involved in EJay's pool.  There are some lurkers from the SCIAC and NWC who I have noticed over the years, but that's about it.  Some of that is because of the overall downward trend of traffic on these types of boards generally (a subject that has been discussed several times previously), some of it is because most parent followers tend to move on after their kids graduate, and some of it is naturally the result of far fewer schools participating in D3 soccer in Region X than in other regions. 

I know some Region X coaches personally and I know some of the players who have come out of SoCal where I live (although that also means I know some SoCal players in the NESCAC, Centennial, UAA, NCAC, Liberty etc as well), but I'm not a fan poster in the sense that I didn't go to a school in Region X and I don't have a kid who is at or went to a Region X school.  Paul Newman created this thread and recruited someone to help man it, but I ended up mostly limiting it to Region X and ignoring the NORTH part of the thread because I can barely keep up as it is.

I post about the Region X teams to help support soccer in the west and to try to shine a spotlight on schools and teams that most people from other areas of the country tend to forget about if they ever knew they existed. Most of the time, I'm not sure anyone is reading what I write about the games or the region.  I would love it if more fans of the schools posted!  For now, I'm kind of the Board's biggest (only in most cases) fan on the Board of all of the teams in Region X  and I try not to play favorites.  I sometimes write more about certain teams like Colorado College because they are a strong team and their travel schedule is fascinating (I routinely remind readers about the block schedule providing openings for travel that minimizes class disruption in certain times of the year and I wrote about their bus trip to their closest D3 competitor in Nebraska earlier this season) or Occidental because of their tremendous fan support in recent years, or Trinity because they are such a model of consistency or St. Thomas because they have had such a tumultuous couple of seasons, but I'm not trying to push for one team over another.  I have to confess, however, that I have a soft spot for Caltech, which needs one more win this season to set its all-time program record for wins in a season, and for Lewis & Clark, which I keep hoping will get a win, any win, after 38 straight games without one!  Call me a sucker for underdogs.

So, to any lurkers from a Region X school, please post and encourage your fellow fans to post!  It might even make a difference in recruiting (there are a lot of parent and some players who read these posts), but it will also be a lot more fun than me posting into the wind.

[D3Navy]

I haven't seen a lot of Colorado College native intel on the board - Kuiper, as the Region X correspondent, of course covers SCAC games, but CC supporters don't seem to be active here. Maybe it's because everyone is out hiking or doing something more productive - but not me!! So if I may, I'd like to offer my 7 cents: 

Welcome to (or back to?) the Boards!  We definitely appreciate the insight into Colorado College, which has been one of the best teams in the country the last couple of years. 

To be clear, Colorado College is by no means unique in not having any fan supporters on the board up until now.  In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of fans of Region X teams who post on, or at least seem to semi-regularly like posts on, this thread and most of those are from Texas.  The rest are interested from a national rankings perspective or because Region X teams are involved in EJay's pool.  There are some lurkers from the SCIAC and NWC who I have noticed over the years, but that's about it.  Some of that is because of the overall downward trend of traffic on these types of boards generally (a subject that has been discussed several times previously), some of it is because most parent followers tend to move on after their kids graduate, and some of it is naturally the result of far fewer schools participating in D3 soccer in Region X than in other regions. 

I know some Region X coaches personally and I know some of the players who have come out of SoCal where I live (although that also means I know some SoCal players in the NESCAC, Centennial, UAA, NCAC, Liberty etc as well), but I'm not a fan poster in the sense that I didn't go to a school in Region X and I don't have a kid who is at or went to a Region X school.  Paul Newman created this thread and recruited someone to help man it, but I ended up mostly limiting it to Region X and ignoring the NORTH part of the thread because I can barely keep up as it is.

I post about the Region X teams to help support soccer in the west and to try to shine a spotlight on schools and teams that most people from other areas of the country tend to forget about if they ever knew they existed. Most of the time, I'm not sure anyone is reading what I write about the games or the region.  I would love it if more fans of the schools posted!  For now, I'm kind of the Board's biggest (only in most cases) fan on the Board of all of the teams in Region X  and I try not to play favorites.  I sometimes write more about certain teams like Colorado College because they are a strong team and their travel schedule is fascinating (I routinely remind readers about the block schedule providing openings for travel that minimizes class disruption in certain times of the year and I wrote about their bus trip to their closest D3 competitor in Nebraska earlier this season) or Occidental because of their tremendous fan support in recent years, or Trinity because they are such a model of consistency or St. Thomas because they have had such a tumultuous couple of seasons, but I'm not trying to push for one team over another.  I have to confess, however, that I have a soft spot for Caltech, which needs one more win this season to set its all-time program record for wins in a season, and for Lewis & Clark, which I keep hoping will get a win, any win, after 38 straight games without one!  Call me a sucker for underdogs.

So, to any lurkers from a Region X school, please post and encourage your fellow fans to post!  It might even make a difference in recruiting (there are a lot of parent and some players who read these posts), but it will also be a lot more fun than me posting into the wind.

FYI - I truly appreciate your posts.  I'm a Trinity alum who spent 30 years around the world in the Navy.  The advent of the internet and Trinity's rising overall athletic success over that span have caused me to remain engaged.  A daughter who played both club soccer and volleyball caused us to head to games on campus here in SA.  Watching the teams in person and seeing the speed, power, and dedication solidified my love for the sports and teams.

You, and others like you, make the whole experience so much better.  Having context and insights allows for watching events in different ways.  For example, a local standout high school RB on the FB team who started in the Ivy League, returned to SA and Trinity, played LB for a year and is now back at RB and thriving.  Knowing his story makes watching richer.  Understanding rivalries, trends, and finer points of soccer does the same.

We're out here and we're reading.  Sincere thanks!

[wihsuafs24]

So, to any lurkers from a Region X school, please post and encourage your fellow fans to post!  It might even make a difference in recruiting (there are a lot of parent and some players who read these posts), but it will also be a lot more fun than me posting into the wind.

Good perspective - thank you, and I echo D3Navy's appreciation for your updates as well. I don't know much about Region X other than our involvement with Colorado College - just learning as we go, and your posts provide a lot of color! 

[Kuiper]

And if anyone is interested in watching another potentially great Texas D3 game, 9-0-2 Trinity is hosting 7-0-3 Southwestern and Southwestern is up 1-0 on a great free kick delivery by Grimm to an unmarked 6'2" Sharma in the middle of the box who beat the undersized Trinity Gk Satpathy (listed at 5'10") to the ball and headed it over him for the goal.

Southwestern 1 - Trinity 0 early in the first half

UPDATE:  Southwestern 1 - Trinity 1

Adam Knutson hits what seems to be a back post floating/curling shot (or cross?) from the top left of the box and it finds the top corner of the goal without the Southwestern GK making a play on it.

[Ron Boerger]

Knutson gets the game winner in the 57th minute off a corner that went all the way through and was redirected to him wide outside the box just before the ball went out of bounds.  He had a bit of room, drove around several defenders before taking a shot at the far corner of the penalty area that the Southwestern keeper could only get a finger on before it found the back of the net.

[Kuiper]

Knutson gets the game winner in the 57th minute off a corner that went all the way through and was redirected to him wide outside the box just before the ball went out of bounds.  He had a bit of room, drove around several defenders before taking a shot at the far corner of the penalty area that the Southwestern keeper could only get a finger on before it found the back of the net.

Thanks Ron (had to sign off at the half).  Here's a video of the game-winning Knutson goal, which I would describe as a bit niftier than "drove through."     That's a literal slalom job in close quarters!

[Kuiper]

A bunch of games in the SCAC today

Trinity 2 - Southwestern 1

See upthread for real time description.  Trinity is now 10-02 and 5-0 in the SCAC, while Southwestern falls to 7-1-3 and 2-1-2 in the SCAC.

Colorado College 4 - McMurry 0

McMurry shocked the SCAC by beating St. Thomas on Friday, but no such luck with Colorado College.  They did hold CC to 1 goal in the first half after being outshot 15-0, but Colorado College steamrolled McMurry in the second half with goals in the 50th, 65th, and 76th minutes.  Overall, CC outshot McMurry 31-2.  Colorado College is 10-1-2 and 5-0 in the SCAC, tied for the top spot with Trinity.  They have a tough pair of games awaiting them next weekend as they travel to play Southwestern and Texas Lutheran.

Texas Lutheran 2 - Schreiner 0

TLU recovers from the disappointment of the last minute stunner at Trinity to beat Schreiner on two first half goals.

St. Thomas 3 - Concordia 1

St. Thomas recovers from a tough 89th minute loss to McMurry on Friday by beating a Concordia team that is competitive with a lot of good teams, but keeps finding new ways to lose.  This time, a straight red card to Concordia's Marco Casulli in the 8th minute meant that they had to play down a man for almost the entire game.  UST took advantage, scoring goals in the 32nd and 34th minutes and tacking on an insurance goal in the second half in the 58th minute.  Daniel Castro, who has been relatively quiet this season without his partner Taty Aleman around to take off some pressure, got a brace.  UST needs him to get and stay hot.  The only blemish for St. Thomas was that they had 5 yellow cards, including one to the GK in the 59th minute that led to Concordia's only goal on a penalty kick.

Centenary 3 - University of Dallas 1

Despite losing a player to a double yellow in the 65th minute, Centenary, which was already up 2-1 at that point, holds onto the lead and even adds a goal in the 84th minute to win the game.  Dallas drops to 1-10 and 0-5 in the SCAC.

Ozarks 2 - Austin 1

The tie against TLU last week is a distant memory for Austin, which goes down to Ozarks 2-0n in the first half and can only cut the lead in half despite outshooting Ozarks 10-3 in the second half.

[Kuiper]

A full slate of games in the NWC

George Fox 2 - Lewis & Clark 1

Heartbreak for L&C.  After scoring first on a PK in the 8th minute for L&C's very first lead of the season after 12 games, L&C had some glimmer of hope this might be the day they break their 38 game winless streak. Sadly, it was not to be. They allowed an equalizer in the 31st minute, but they pressed forward and actually came close to matching George Fox on shots until a L&C player got a second yellow in the 79th minute and they went down a man.  They still held firm, but George Fox scored the game winner in the 89th minute to deny L&C their first point of the season and what would have been only their second point of the last 39 games since they re-started the program.  George Fox survives and despite the unconvincing performance, is 9-2-1 and 5-2-1 in the NWC, only one point behind Whitman for third in the NWC with Whitman and Whitworth coming to town next weekend.

Pacific Lutheran 2 - Whitworth 1

Not the blowout they enjoyed against Whitman, but PLU finishes the job in a fairly even game in which all three goals were scored in the first half.  The Lutes have a five game winning streak and have opened up a 3 point lead in the NWC.

Whitman 1 - Puget Sound 1

On the one hand, Whitman recovers from the 7-0 loss to tie a decent Puget Sound team that has tied PLU and Whitworth.  On the other hand, Whitman gives up points and drops further behind Pacific Lutheran in the NWC and is now only 1 point ahead of George Fox.  Perhaps even more frustrating for Whitman is that they pretty much dominated Puget Sound, outshooting them 16-3 and 9-2 in shots on goal and 8-1 in corners.  It took them until the 82nd minute to score, but when they did Whitman had to breath a sigh of relief and figure that they could walk away with a weekend split.  It wasn't to be as a Whitman defender took down a Puget Sound player on a through ball in the box and Puget Sound equalized with a PK in the 88th minute.

Linfield 2 - Willamette 2

After going into halftime down 2-1, Willamette outshot Linfield 20-4 in the second half as it tried to get back on track.  It got the equalizer in the 56th minute, but couldn't find a winner.  Probably a fair result as both teams only have one win - against Lewis & Clark - in the NWC.

[Kuiper]

Everything stays the same except Redlands jumps ahead of TLU (after its tie with Austin) and UC Santa Cruz (after its tie with Chapman).  I could see Pacific Lutheran entering the rankings in the next poll if they beat Whitman and Whitworth this weekend and someone else stumbles.

Region X - Poll 5 - October 8, 2024

Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Colorado College    1    8-1-2
2    Southwestern University    2    7-0-2
3    Trinity University (Texas)    3    8-0-2
4    Occidental College    4    7-1-2
5    Claremont-McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges    5    7-2-1
6    University of Redlands    8    6-2-2
7    Texas Lutheran University    6    5-0-3
8    University of California Santa Cruz    7    4-1-6

As I expected after Pacific Lutheran crushes Whitman and beats Whitworth this weekend, it replaces UC Santa Cruz in the poll, which had its game cancelled this weekend,, and Trinity climbs from #3 to #2 after beating Texas Lutheran and Southwestern.  Southwestern might not have fallen as far with just a close loss to Trinity, but the tie to Schreiner was a killer.  Surprised Occidental went up after tying Chapman at home and Redlands stayed where they were after tying Cal Lutheran.  I think a lot of teams are stumbling in conference and there is a sense that the SCIAC and the SCAC are better conferences than the NWC and the ASC.

Region X - Poll 6 - October 15, 2024
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Colorado College    1    10-1-2
2    Trinity University (Texas)    3    10-0-2
3    Occidental College    4    8-1-3
4    Claremont-McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges    5    9-2-1
5    Southwestern University    2    7-1-3
6    University of Redlands    6    7-2-3
7    Pacific Lutheran University    NR    8-1-3
8    Texas Lutheran University    7    6-1-3

[Kuiper]

Wednesday action in the SCIAC:

Occidental @ Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 7 pm Pacific

Oxy has been climbing in the polls, while my assessment is they have only gotten shakier.  They still have great players and they aren't losing, but a comeback win against La Verne and a 0-0 tie against a Chapman team that played down a man for the last 21 minutes doesn't inspire confidence.  The 5-0 win against Bethesda should be considered a reserve team game in assessing the team.  CMS hasn't been overwhelming either, though.  It at least has won three in a row (against weaker teams La Verne, Pomona, and Caltech), but it had a bad loss to Whittier right before that streak started.  Oxy and CMS play twice in a week - today at CMS and next Wednesday at Oxy.  By the end of that second game, we should know a lot more about which of these two teams has the upper hand in the SCIAC.

La Verne @ Redlands 7 pm Pacific

La Verne lost a close 3-2 game to Oxy, going up 2-0 before Oxy scored three goals in the second half, including the game winner in the 82nd minute, and a close game 3-2 to CMS, going down 3-1, before scoring a goal in the 80th minute that made for a potentially nervy last 10 minutes.  While Oxy and CMS are beating each other up twice in the next week, Redlands gets to take its crack at La Verne at home with a chance to atone for a disappointing 0-0 tie away to Cal Lutheran on Saturday.  If it can dispatch La Verne, Pomona-Pitzer, and Caltech over the next three games (and it already beat P-P 4-1 and Caltech 5-0 before the Cal Lu game), it could go into the game against CMS in 10 days with a chance for revenge after losing to them 2-0 earlier in the season and a chance to solidify a spot at the top of the SCIAC.  If, however, Redlands repeats its Cal Lu game and loses or ties against La Verne, it might find itself fighting for a playoff spot.

Caltech @ Chapman 4 pm Pacific

Chapman has tied the last three games, including a great tie earned at Oxy and a not-so-great tie against Whittier.  They have been playing much better of late, but if they want to keep their faint conference tourney hopes alive, they need to win games against a bottom of the conference team like Caltech.  Caltech is on a 4 game winless streak after tying Pomona and beating La Verne.  It needs to get back on the winning track, but I fear their lack of depth is hurting them again as the we reach the final stretch of the season.  They are better than last year, but Ishaan Mantripragada missed the game Saturday at CMS and that will really hurt their chances of picking up one more win if he has a longer-term knock.  They generally need both him and Casanova to keep defenses off-balance and give them a chance to win.

Cal Lutheran @ Pomona-Pitzer 4 pm Pacific

Cal Lu is currently in the fourth and final conference tourney spot, but Whittier is nipping on its heels.  It has had a bad habit of doing well against some of the better teams (beating CMS, tying Redlands) and losing or tying against weaker teams it should beat (loss to La Verne, tie to Caltech).  It has two games in a week against Pomona-Pitzer that it really needs to get six points from to solidify its spot in the tournament.  Pomona-Pitzer, by contrast, is winless in conference and it has a tough schedule the rest of the season (Cal Lu x2, Redlands, Oxy, and Whittier).  If it is going to pick up a win, beating Cal Lu on its slow grass field at home in a 4 pm game after an 80 mile bus ride in LA traffic might be its best chance to catch an inconsistent team sleeping in a trap game.

One game in the NWC today:

Willamette @ Lewis & Clark 5:00 pm Pacific

Willamette beat L&C 2-0 at home a month ago for its only win of the season.  After tying Linfield 2-2 at home, things are looking pretty bleak for the Bearcats.  This may be its best chance to get a second win.  Despite losing to George Fox on an 89th minute goal on Sunday after going down a man because of a second yellow, L&C may be kind of feeling good about itself.  Losing to a GF team by a score of 2-1 that was 8-2-1 and 4-2 in the NWC coming into the game is a pretty big accomplishment for a team with a history of no accomplishments. With this game at home and the second game against Linfield away, this might be L&C's best chance for the first win in its rebirth.