Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Big game in the SCIAC on Wednesday at 4 pm local time as Chapman hosts Occidental.  Oxy has work to do after losing to La Verne on Saturday, but if they beat Chapman and Cal Lutheran and Chapman loses to Redlands the last game of the season, Oxy can jump up to first seed for the conference tournament.

The other big game is Cal Lutheran at Pomona-Pitzer, also at 4.  If P-P wins, they would move up to a tie with Cal Lutheran and presumably hold the tie breaker by virtue of beating them twice.  Otherwise, Pomona-Pitzer likely is going to find itself on the outside looking in at the conference tourney.

[Kuiper]

In the USC rankings for Region X for Oct. 25, there's a bit of a shakeup.  Occidental drops from 3 to 6 after the loss to La Verne and St. Thomas jumps from 5 to 3 after the win over Trinity (TX).  I'm unconvinced by Concordia (TX), which hasn't really had a strong win and seems to benefit more from the University of Ozarks losing to LeTourneau.  If Concordia (TX) beat Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday, though, that would definitely move it up. 

Region X - Poll 7 - October 25, 2022
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Willamette University    1    12-1-2
2    Pacific Lutheran University    2    13-3-0
3    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    5    11-1-3
4    Chapman University    4    9-1-5
5    University of Mary Hardin-Baylor    6    11-1-2
6    Occidental College    3    9-3-2
7    Colorado College    7    8-2-4
8    Concordia University (Texas)    NR    9-3-3

[Kuiper]

Here are the NCAA regional rankings for Region X.  None of the Southern California teams are on the list, which isn't exactly surprising given that none of them have a very strong resume.  It is a little surprising to have Whitman on there given their conference and overall record, but they have  beaten both Willamette and Pacific Lutheran.  The problem for the SCIAC right now is that you can't incur expensive out of conference trips every year and so teams have to pick the right year to build up their SoS and the wrong teams (C-M-S, Redlands, and Cal Lutheran) picked this year to do it and both didn't get results and haven't dominated in conference.

Region X          
         
1    Willamette    12-1-2    12-1-2
2    Mary Hardin-Baylor    9-1-2    11-1-2
3    Pacific Lutheran    13-3-0    13-3-0
4    St. Thomas (Texas)    11-1-3    11-1-3
5    Whitman    8-5-1    10-6-1
6    Colorado College    8-2-4    8-2-4
7    Trinity (Texas)    8-4-2    8-4-2

[Kuiper]

Big game in the SCIAC on Wednesday at 4 pm local time as Chapman hosts Occidental.  Oxy has work to do after losing to La Verne on Saturday, but if they beat Chapman and Cal Lutheran and Chapman loses to Redlands the last game of the season, Oxy can jump up to first seed for the conference tournament.

The other big game is Cal Lutheran at Pomona-Pitzer, also at 4.  If P-P wins, they would move up to a tie with Cal Lutheran and presumably hold the tie breaker by virtue of beating them twice.  Otherwise, Pomona-Pitzer likely is going to find itself on the outside looking in at the conference tourney.

Chapman and Oxy tied 0-0, which means Chapman clinches the top seed in the tournament for what is apparently the first time in school history, while it leaves Oxy vulnerable to losing the second seed since they are only three clear of a group of three schools behind them.

In the second game, Pomona-Pitzer beat Cal Lutheran 3-2 to move into a three-way tie for third place with Cal Lutheran and Redlands.  Pomona-Pitzer played some beautiful soccer at times, looking dominant when playing their pass and move game, but remain vulnerable to crosses and set plays with the shorter GK and less experienced central defenders.  Cal Lutheran is now at risk of falling out of the conference tournament completely with a tough game at Occidental on Saturday night, especially since Oxy will have an incentive to play to win given that the second seed and staying at home for the semifinals is on the line.  Redlands also has a tough game hosting Chapman, but with Chapman already wrapping up the top seed, Redlands may have the upper hand in terms of motivation.  Pomona-Pitzer has arguably the easiest last game of the three, at least on paper, at Whittier, but the Poets did beat Redlands earlier in the season and played P-P somewhat close in a 2-0 loss the first time they played.

[Kuiper]

In the American Southwest Conference, Concordia (TX) had a statement game, crushing Mary Hardin-Baylor 5-1.  The loss ended MHB's 12 game unbeaten streak (and 7 game win streak) and ran Concordia (TX)'s own unbeaten streak to 9.  MHB was ranked #2 in the NCAA Regional Rankings for Region X, while Concordia (TX) was unranked.  Presumably, both of those things will change for next week.  It doesn't change anything for the ASC standings, though, as MHB finishes #1 in conference and Concordia (TX) finishes #2.

In the Northwest Conference, Pacific Lutheran beat Willamette 2-1.  Willamette remains in first in the conference, but Pacific Lutheran is now only one game back.  Both teams have two games remaining against the same opponents - Puget Sound and Linfield.  If Willamette falters against either and the Lutes win out, then they will end up tied (and I don't know the tiebreakers after they split the season series 1-1).  That's important because there's no tournament in this conference.  Moreover, with NCAA Regional #3 Pacific Lutheran now 15-3, #1 Willamette 12-2-2 and #2 Mary Hardin-Baylor losing to land at 11-2-2 overall, it's not clear how things will shake out at the top of Region X.  For the Northwest conference schools, it will probably depend upon their games tomorrow.

[Kuiper]

In the SCIAC, Redlands soundly beat Chapman 3-0 in a game that clearly meant more to Redlands than it did to Chapman, which had already clinched first seed in the conference tournament.  For Redlands, I think it means they vaulted into third place. I say I think because the whole situation with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps really screwed things up.  Some teams are finishing the season with 11 conference games, while others only have 10.  That's because the C-M-S games were simply wiped out, but this year not every team played every other team twice.  So, the teams that only were scheduled to play C-M-S once end with 11 games and the teams scheduled to play them twice ended up with 10 games.  It appears they will be using winning percentage, but I'll have to wait and see how they populate the conference tournament.  Even that format is itself highly unclear because it appears they aren't just going straight to semifinals.  They can't go to quarterfinals either though because there are only 8 teams left without C-M-S.  It looks like there may be bye(s), but I can't tell or find an explanation.

In other games, Occidental and Cal Lutheran tied 0-0.  That point was enough to keep Oxy at second, but it dropped Cal Lutheran down to fifth. 

Pomona-Pitzer beat Whittier 3-2 in a back-and-forth game where Whittier channeled their inner-NYU and may have played better after a player was ejected with a red card in the 57th minute.  Pomona-Pitzer ends up 4th (I think) and Whittier finishes just behind Cal Tech in last.

[Kuiper]

We have some clarity on the SCIAC tournament, although the website is still fairly screwed up on the schedule page with place holder games not taken out.  Nevertheless, it looks like they are giving byes to the 1st seed (Chapman) and 2d seed (Occidental).  Four teams will then play in the quarterfinals

Quarterfinals - Tuesday, Nov. 1:

LaVerne (#6) and Pomona-Pitzer (#3) at 2:30 pm

Redlands (#5) at Cal Lutheran (#4) at 7:00 pm

Semifinals - Friday, Nov. 4:

Pomona-Pitzer/LaVerne winner at Occidental (probably at 7 pm, but it's TBA right now)

Redlands/Cal Lutheran winner at Chapman at 7:00 pm

Finals, Sunday Nov. 6

[Kuiper]

We have some clarity on the SCIAC tournament, although the website is still fairly screwed up on the schedule page with place holder games not taken out.  Nevertheless, it looks like they are giving byes to the 1st seed (Chapman) and 2d seed (Occidental).  Four teams will then play in the quarterfinals

Quarterfinals - Tuesday, Nov. 1:

LaVerne (#6) and Pomona-Pitzer (#3) at 2:30 pm

Redlands (#5) at Cal Lutheran (#4) at 7:00 pm

Semifinals - Friday, Nov. 4:

Pomona-Pitzer/LaVerne winner at Occidental (probably at 7 pm, but it's TBA right now)

Redlands/Cal Lutheran winner at Chapman at 7:00 pm

Finals, Sunday Nov. 6

A few morning observations in advance of the (partial) quarterfinal round tomorrow.

(1) This is a winner-take-all conference tournament.  With none of these teams being regionally ranked and Chapman/Occidental not having strong non-conference schedules or even dominant conference performances, I don't expect any bids outside the tournament winner. 

(2) LaVerne is the last seed, but they may be a sneaky darkhorse on their side of the bracket.  Despite being a dreadful 4-13-2 overall (3-7-1 in conference), they beat Pomona-Pitzer 1-0 in their only meeting and they beat Occidental 2-1 in their only meeting.  I'm not predicting an upset (they lost to Cal Tech, after all, twice), but for whatever reason they seemed to give those teams a little trouble and they are scheduled to play both of them if they advance.  Of course, even if they do somehow get by both teams playing in hostile territory, they lost to Chapman 4-0 and Redlands 2-0 and 5-0 (although they did tie Cal Lutheran 1-1 in their most recent meeting after losing the first game 2-1).

(3) Redlands may be the hottest team coming into the tournament.  They are on a three game winning streak, out-scoring opponents 13-2 in those games, which includes a 3-0 win over Chapman, their potential opponent in the semifinals.  Redlands also has the most experience in tournament settings, having won the SCIAC tournament and advanced far in the NCAA tourney last season. Chapman was the hottest team down the stretch, but they stumbled with a couple of ties (3-3 to Cal Tech and 0-0 to Occidental) and then got blasted by Redlands.  Occidental hasn't won the last three games.  More concerning is that they have only scored 1 goal the last three games and that was in a loss to LaVerne. 

[Bearcat Press]

If Willamette falters against either and the Lutes win out, then they will end up tied (and I don't know the tiebreakers after they split the season series 1-1).  That's important because there's no tournament in this conference.

The NWC's second tiebreaker is win-loss record versus the next team in the standings, which is Whitman. Willamette holds the tiebreaker because the Bearcats went 1-1 against the Blues while PLU went 0-2.

So Willamette wins the NWC with a win, a draw + a PLU draw, or a loss + a PLU draw. PLU wins the NWC with a win + a Willamette draw/loss.

[Kuiper]

If Willamette falters against either and the Lutes win out, then they will end up tied (and I don't know the tiebreakers after they split the season series 1-1).  That's important because there's no tournament in this conference.

The NWC's second tiebreaker is win-loss record versus the next team in the standings, which is Whitman. Willamette holds the tiebreaker because the Bearcats went 1-1 against the Blues while PLU went 0-2.

So Willamette wins the NWC with a win, a draw + a PLU draw, or a loss + a PLU draw. PLU wins the NWC with a win + a Willamette draw/loss.

Thanks for the very helpful information (and confirming that someone else is reading this thread).  I've been keeping tabs on the Northwest Conference because they generally play a few California teams each year, but I'm a little more plugged in to the SCIAC.

Willamette tied Puget Sound 0-0 and Pacific Lutheran beat Linfield 4-0 on Sunday.  They switch opponents on 11/5.  One would think Willamette has the upper-hand since are playing the weaker Linfield squad, who they beat 4-1 earlier in the season, but Pacific Lutheran beat Puget Sound 4-0 earlier in the season and Linfield has been known to frustrate stronger opponents, like when they beat Whitman 1-0.

[Ron Boerger]

Since this seems to be the catchall thread including the ASC and the SCAC, the SCAC tournament, which will be held on the campus of non-qualifier Austin College (Sherman, TX) was set last weekend:

#4 Colorado College (8-2-6/4-0-4 SCAC) vs. #1 Trinity (8-4-3/6-1-1), 5:00pm CT Nov 4
#3 Southwestern (8-5-2/6-2-0) vs. #2 St. Thomas (12-1-3/5-1-2), 7:30pm CT Nov 4

Finals:  Winner Match 2 vs. Winner Match 1, 1:00pm CT Nov 6

Pretty wide-open tournament this year and I daresay the only SCAC team to participate in the NCAAs will be the one who wins the conference championship.   Right now the championship website is indicating only live stats will be available; there are no broadcast links.

[MNBob]

Hello! Brand new to the board. Just got approved this morning. New to the D3 college landscape as I have a freshman son playing for UWEC. From what I have read, I believe the team has a good chance of capturing the Group B invite, if not Group C. As an independent they don't have an AQ but finished 18-2 and the two losses started when UWEC lost a starting forward to a broken leg during the first loss. Came at a tough time just as UWEC started playing some of the stronger MIAC teams. Another positive for the team (unrelated to receiving a berth) was beating all 4 of the teams that they lost to last year when they finished 15-4.

[PaulNewman]

Hello! Brand new to the board. Just got approved this morning. New to the D3 college landscape as I have a freshman son playing for UWEC. From what I have read, I believe the team has a good chance of capturing the Group B invite, if not Group C. As an independent they don't have an AQ but finished 18-2 and the two losses started when UWEC lost a starting forward to a broken leg during the first loss. Came at a tough time just as UWEC started playing some of the stronger MIAC teams. Another positive for the team (unrelated to receiving a berth) was beating all 4 of the teams that they lost to last year when they finished 15-4.

Welcome and congratulations!  UWEC absolutely should make the tournament field.

The info about the injury also is helpful.  That's the kind of info most are in the dark about and helps put some results in context.

[Coach Jeff]

Hello! Brand new to the board. Just got approved this morning. New to the D3 college landscape as I have a freshman son playing for UWEC. From what I have read, I believe the team has a good chance of capturing the Group B invite, if not Group C. As an independent they don't have an AQ but finished 18-2 and the two losses started when UWEC lost a starting forward to a broken leg during the first loss. Came at a tough time just as UWEC started playing some of the stronger MIAC teams. Another positive for the team (unrelated to receiving a berth) was beating all 4 of the teams that they lost to last year when they finished 15-4.

Welcome MN Bob...the lack of an IR report is what makes D3 soccer difficult at times.

[Kuiper]

In the USC rankings for Region X for Oct. 25, there's a bit of a shakeup.  Occidental drops from 3 to 6 after the loss to La Verne and St. Thomas jumps from 5 to 3 after the win over Trinity (TX).  I'm unconvinced by Concordia (TX), which hasn't really had a strong win and seems to benefit more from the University of Ozarks losing to LeTourneau.  If Concordia (TX) beat Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday, though, that would definitely move it up. 

Region X - Poll 7 - October 25, 2022
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Willamette University    1    12-1-2
2    Pacific Lutheran University    2    13-3-0
3    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    5    11-1-3
4    Chapman University    4    9-1-5
5    University of Mary Hardin-Baylor    6    11-1-2
6    Occidental College    3    9-3-2
7    Colorado College    7    8-2-4
8    Concordia University (Texas)    NR    9-3-3

Region X - Poll 8 - November 1, 2022
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Pacific Lutheran University    2    15-3-0
2    Willamette University    1    12-2-3
3    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    3    12-1-3
4    Chapman University    4    9-2-6
5    Concordia University (Texas)    8    10-3-3
6    University of Mary Hardin-Baylor    5    11-2-2
7    Colorado College    7    8-2-6
8    Trinity University (Texas)    NR    8-4-3

Not surprised Willamette and Pacific Lutheran flipped spots given their head to head result, but sort of surprised Chapman didn't suffer at all for their 3-0 loss to Redlands.