Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[camosfan]

Nice work!

[Kuiper]

The American Southwest Conference opened conference play tonight for most of the teams

Mary Hardin-Baylor 4 - East Texas Baptist 0

MHB has had a murders' row of non-conference games on the schedule this year.  They lost to Texas Lutheran 2-0, St. Thomas 2-0, and Trinity (TX) 6-1.  As it turns out, those are the best teams in the state this year, and possibly among the top 25 teams in the country, and they are all in the SCAC.  So, MHB just needs to take care of business in the ASC and they can still get an automatic bid.  In fact, MHB actually has an easier road to the NCAA tournament than the SCAC trio - or quartet if Southwestern is included - because 2-3 of them are going to have to sweat out the possibility that the NCAA selection committee won't take two Pool C teams from Region X, while MHB just has to be the best of the weakened ASC.  Tonight, MHB started that task with a conference win against ETBU.  Not the hardest opponent in the ASC, but ETBU did beat Schreiner in the SCAC in another of their non-conference games and is 1-3-4 (better than the record of half the teams in the ASC before conference play!), so they probably aren't the worst of the ASC teams MHB will face.

Concordia (TX) 6 - LeTourneau 1

Like MHB, Concordia has had a difficult non-conference schedule.  They lost 3-1 to St. Thomas, 1-0 to Texas Lutheran, and 1-0 to Southwestern. Only a tropical storm and hail and lightning kept them from playing (and probably losing) to Trinity.  They probably have done just as well as MHB and could easily challenge them for the ASC.  LeTourneau came into this game with a better record (4-2-1), albeit against weaker opponents.  So, Concordia TX is probably breathing a sigh of relief now that they are back in the ASC and if the first game is any indication, they are likely to resume their winning ways.

University of Texas, Dallas 1 - Howard Payne 0

Not a very convincing win for UTD considering Howard Payne was 1-6 coming into the game, but UTD has probably the most impressive ASC non-conference performances thus far, beating Colorado College 2-1, tying Southwestern 1-1 and Wheaton (MA) 0-0, and losing tight games to Babson 1-0 and to Texas Lutheran 2-1.  They currently are 4-3-2 overall and sit atop the ASC standings.

Hardin-Simmons 3 - Dallas Christian 0

Hardin-Simmons only won its first game of the year to go 1-4-3 (and it was a non-conference game), but they have played some good teams tightly, tying Trinity 2-2 and Southwestern 1-1, and losing to Texas Lutheran 2-1.  NCCAA team Dallas Christian isn't much of a test, but they are around the same level as Schreiner, LeTourneau, and Howard Payne.

Ozarks 1 - Sul Ross State 0

Ozarks rises to 4-4 on the year with this win.  They are basically battling for the middle of the ASC.  They lost a close game to Colorado College 2-1 earlier this year and blew out Centenary (LA).  Sul Ross State came into the game winless, so this isn't the most impressive showing for Ozarks, but they scored in the fourth minute of the game and simply couldn't put another one home despite outshooting Sul Ross St.  Sul Ross isn't eligible for the ASC or NCAA tournaments this year, by the way, because they are in the process of reclassifying to DII (which is for football reasons, not soccer).

[Kuiper]

Games of interest to me in Region X Friday - Sunday

Friday 9/29

Trinity (TX) @ Southwestern

This will be Trinity's first game away from home all season (they actually started an away game at Concordia last weekend that was halted in the 42d minute, so it doesn't count).  Southwestern is usually pretty good at home and is 4-0-3, even though they have been overshadowed by the SCAC trio ahead of them.

Saturday 9/30

Cal Tech @ Cal Lutheran

Cal Tech is 5-1-2, coming off a barnburner of a game with Whittier that ended 4-4, while Cal Lu is 3-1-4 and just tied Occidental 1-1.  I'm not sure Cal Tech can physically handle Cal Lu, especially away from home, but if Cal Tech's offense is firing on all cylinders, I wouldn't count them out.  If Cal Tech can win, it will be their most SCIAC conference wins (3) ever, or at least since 2006.  They already have their most wins total since at least 2006.  Cal Tech is effectively playing with house money at this point.

Whitworth @ Willamette

I think Willamette has righted the ship now that NWC conference play has resumed, but they've only played some of the weaker NWC teams thus far (Linfield, Puget Sound, George Fox).  Whitworth is unbeaten in the last three and beat Whitman and Pacific in the last two.  This will be a better gauge of where Willamette stands.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps @ Pomona-Pitzer

The Sixth Street Rivalry resumes after taking off last year due to CMS' hazing suspension.  The schools and the fields are literally separated just by a street on the Claremont Schools' campus and it's common for the players go to school with each other given the free ability to cross-enroll (they literally enroll in classes on the same system with all schools' courses listed) and to eat in the same dining halls.  Pomona-Pitzer is coming off their best game of the season probably - a 1-1 tie at Redlands - a team CMS lost to 2-1, but CMS' most recent game was also its most convincing victory - a 7-1 win over Whittier.  P-P is actually ahead of CMS in the SCIAC standings, which CMS will surely be fired up to change.  The game is at P-P, which is less conducive to big crowds, and it is in the afternoon (no lights), but a rivalry game is a rivalry game and there has been pent up demand for this one.

Sunday 10/1

Colorado College @ St. Thomas

Colorado College is coming off impressive victories over UC Santa Cruz and Christopher Newport, but this game isn't being played at altitude in Colorado Springs, but at St. Thomas, where they just beat Hardin-Simmons 5-0.

Trinity (TX) @ Texas Lutheran

A huge game in the SCAC with national implications.  Two unbeaten teams (assuming Trinity can survive against Southwestern).  Texas Lutheran hasn't won convincingly very often.  It usually does just enough, as it did this past weekend with a 1-0 victory against McMurray.  I'm not sure I see how Texas Lutheran can generate much offense against Trinity, but their field (which isn't the greatest as far as grass fields go) could slow down Trinity just enough to keep the game close. 

[SKUD]

Great coverage from the expert!  Thanks for reminding us that there is great soccer outside of the Mid- Atlantic, Northeast and Midwest!

[Hopkins92]

I'm here for the Cal Tech updates. :-)

Also always sort of follow CC because I have friends who went there.

[Kuiper]

I wanted to shine some light on top Region X players in various stats thus far this year who rank in the top 50 nationally according to the NCAA.  My point is not to give too much credit to stats or to ignore that they often reflect the performance of many (e.g., GAA).  Part of the value is giving credit to some players who get less attention because people in other parts of the country don't pay much attention to Region X or only pay attention to the teams who are in contention for national ranking. 

Data is from the NCAA.  There is some variance with data reported on individual team websites, but for consistency sake I'll stick with the NCAA numbers.

OFFENSE

Goals per game (national rank in parentheses)

1(6)       Taty Aleman                  St. Thomas        1.29
2 (10)    Louis Catchpole             Austin               1.14
3 (14t)   Craig Johnson               Pacific Lutheran  1.00
4t (32t)  Andrew Notter              Occidental            .89
4t (32t)  Adan Villarreal               La Verne              .89
5t (40t)  Jarrette Barajas            Redlands              .88
5t (40t)  Etienne Casanova         Cal Tech                .88
5t (40t)  Cole Friesen                 Whitworth             .88
6 (50)    Daniel Castro                St. Thomas           .83   

Game-Winning Goals - a dubious stat because it includes the first goal of a blowout

1 (2)       Taty Aleman                 St. Thomas            5 (in 7 games)
2 (5t)      Adan Villarreal              La Verne                4 (in 9)
3t (19t)   Louis Catchpole            Austin                   3 (in 7)
3t (19t)   Jack Manke                  Texas Lutheran       3 (in 9)

Assists per game 

1(13t)     Riley Thomas                Chapman              .67
2t (15t)   Spencer Palmer             Redlands              .62
2t (15t)   Joey Schwartz              Occidental             .62
3t (26t)   Chen Adjei                   Trinity                   .57
3t (26t)   Greyson Pinto              Southwestern        .57       

DEFENSE

Goals Against Average

1 (5t)     Noel Pina                      Texas Lutheran       .333
2 (27)    Christo Gayoso             St. Thomas             .502

[Ron Boerger]

In a battle of unbeatens, visiting Trinity totally dominated a strangely passive Southwestern in the first half, leading 2-0.  The Pirates for the most were happy to sit back in their half to limit Trinity's shots but their counter was almost totally non-existent.  About the only Southwestern presence resulted from an 8-3 disparity in fouls, but even with that there were no shots credited to the home side.   3 of 6 shots from Trinity were on goal, with Adam Knutson finding some space to open scoring at 12' on a strike from ~15', and Luke Mayfield scoring off a scramble in the box at 36'.

[Kuiper]

In a battle of unbeatens, visiting Trinity totally dominated a strangely passive Southwestern in the first half, leading 2-0.  The Pirates for the most were happy to sit back in their half to limit Trinity's shots but their counter was almost totally non-existent.  About the only Southwestern presence resulted from an 8-3 disparity in fouls, but even with that there were no shots credited to the home side.   3 of 6 shots from Trinity were on goal, with Adam Knutson finding some space to open scoring at 12' on a strike from ~15', and Luke Mayfield scoring off a scramble in the box at 36'.

Southwestern started out the second half much more aggressively, breaking lines with dribbling and one or two great through balls.  They just didn't have offensive prowess to finish any of the chances and Trinity scored a third goal on a corner kick about 8 or so minutes into the second half.

[Ron Boerger]

Totally different second half from the Pirates, much more dangerous but end up on the losing side of an 0-4 decision.  Shots ended up 11-7 in favor of Trinity with Willman making two saves (and a third skittered off the side woodwork).

[Kuiper]

Totally different second half from the Pirates, much more dangerous but end up on the losing side of an 0-4 decision.  Shots ended up 11-7 in favor of Trinity with Willman making two saves (and a third skittered off the side woodwork).

Trinity's defense looked strong and I was impresssd with Wilman.  He made one save on a bouncing or deflected ball that showed first class reflexes and he snuffed out another chance by coming off his line to his left.  The one weak spot for Trinity was the midfield in the second half.  They let some players dribble by them, although it may have been some second line Trinity players who were getting beat.  In any event, Trinity looked to be a different class than Southwestern even in the second half.

[Kuiper]

The Big Three in the SCAC all took care of business in impressive fashion tonight, albeit against mostly weaker opponents

Trinity 4 - Southwestern 0

The most impressive victory of the three because it was against an undefeated opponent. Having said that, Southwestern was 4-0-3 and its most impressive victory was probably the first of the season against Willamette.  The tie against Elmhurst looks bad in retrospect.  In this game, as @RonBoerger summarized up thread, was a tale of two halves, but only in the sense of Southwestern's tactics and aggressiveness.  Trinity won each half 2-0.

St. Thomas 6 - Wiley 0

I have no idea why St. Thomas scheduled this game other than to get a lot of players on the bench some playing time in mid-season.  Wiley is an NAIA team.  Some NAIA teams are quite good since they can give scholarships.  This is not one of those teams.  Wiley came into the game 1-7.  St. Thomas' Taty Aleman got a brace in 45 minutes, Sebastian Ibarolla got a brace in 28 minutes,  4 GKs for St. Thomas got playing time in the game. In fact, 37 players played at least 13 minutes or more for St. Thomas.

Texas Lutheran 4 - Schreiner 0

It looks like a comfortable victory, and it was in the final stats.  Schreiner only took 4 shots, two on goal, compared to Texas Lutheran's 17 and this was TLU's most goals and biggest margin of victory of the season.  Nevertheless, it was only 1-0 at half on a TLU goal with a few minutes left in the half. 

One other game involving possibly the next best team in the SCAC

Colorado College 5 - Centenary (LA) 0

Centenary is getting beaten badly by lots of teams, but a win is a win and Colorado College did it convincingly.  5 different scorers on 29 shots away from home is a good outing for CC and keeps them in the regional rankings.

[Kuiper]

SCIAC results tonight

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 2 - Pomona-Pitzer 1

CMS takes the Sixth Street Rivalry in a tight game after a 1 year hiatus in front of 264 fans.  It was a massive turnout for a 4 pm Saturday afternoon game at P-P - they have two small stands with obstructed views behind the benches, a hill behind one of the goals, and some space outside the fences opposite the benches where you can stand in front of a large area of brush, so fans basically had to line the field.  The game was tied 0-0 at half before CMS broke the deadlock with a goal in the 55th minute and P-P answered less than a minute later to make it 1-1.  There it stayed until CMS broke through with the game winner in the 81st minute.  It was a physical game and the difference might have been that CMS had a much deeper bench and used it liberally, while P-P seems pretty banged up and was missing some important players - CBs Niclas Ulrich and MF Keiran Veloria to name a couple, as well as CB Colin Eugster, who came up big in the Redlands game -- and only played 4 subs.  So they played valiantly to stay in it as long tbey did, but CMS pretty much dominated on the stats and was able to outlast the Sagehens.

Cal Lutheran 4 - Cal Tech 1

As I mentioned in my preview, Cal Tech doesn't do as well against physical, athletic, and pressing teams and Cal Lutheran has that going for them.  The game was a fairly even 1-1 early on, but Cal Lu rattled off two goals to go into the break 3-1 and then added an insurance goal after the break to coast the rest of the way.  Cal Tech also seemed tired after their exhausting 4-4 tie against Whittier mid-week.  One the bright side, Cal Tech's Etienne Casanova scored his 9th goal of the season, which is tied for the most in the SCIAC.  Cal Lu is now in third place in the SCIAC, jumping over Cal Tech, which is clinging to the fourth playoff spot (and likely to lose it with its next three games against Redlands, CMS, and Chapman).

Redlands 7 - Whittier 0

It seems like Redlands was motivated by the disappointing tie to Pomona-Pitzer earlier this week and Whittier, like Cal Tech, was still recovering from that exciting game.  Redlands moves to 7-1-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the SCIAC.

Occidental 3 - La Verne 1

Oxy was up 2-0 at half and cruised to 3-0 before La Verne scored a late consolation goal.  Teams have figured out that the way to stop La Verne is to shut down Adan Villarreal.  He still got off three shots in this game,  but none of them were on goal. Oxy wins to go 8-1-1 and 5-0-1 in the SCIAC, just ahead of Redlands.  Still not entirely convinced Oxy is as dominant as their record suggests after a close scare against Whittier and a tie against Cal Lu in the game before this one, but for this day Oxy was back on track.

UC Santa Cruz 1 - Chapman 0

This is a non-conference game, but it continues a concerning trend for Chapman.  Since beating CMS on 9/16, Chapman has lost to Cal Lu 3-1, tied Pomona-Pitzer 2-2, tied La Verne 1-1, and now lost to UCSC 1-0. 

[Kuiper]

Northwest Conference

Pacific Lutheran 5 - Lewis & Clark 0

Not much to see here, but the Lutes did what they had to do.  The fact that it was only 2-0 is the only surprise, but PLU turned it on with 17 shots in the second half to coast to victory.

Whitman 3 - Linfield 0

Since starting NWC play, Whitman is beating the teams they usually beat (Puget Sound, Pacific, and Linfield), losing to the teams they usually lose to (Pacific Lutheran), and battling the teams they usually battle (Whitworth - a 3-2 loss)

Whitworth 3 - Willamette 2

This was the big surprise of the day, but if you read my preview you would have at least been primed for it. Whitworth is coming off of wins against Whitman and Pacific and has scored 3 goals in each of those games.  Willamette has been feasting on teams in the lower half of the conference (Linfield, Puget Sound, and George Fox) after a disappointing non-conference schedule, but this was its first chance to show it had really righted the ship.  At least this time, it didn't do what it needed to do at home.  After going up to a 2-1 lead early in the second half, Whitworth scored two unanswered goals, including the game winner in the 80th minute.  With the NWC's round robin play, Willamette may still climb to the top of the standings, but it's pretty clear not all is right with the Bearcats.

[Kuiper]

American Southwest Conference

Concordia (TX) 2 - East Texas Baptist 0

Kind of an underwhelming score considering ETBU only has 1 win all season and Concordia outshot them 26-4, including 13-1 on goal, but a win is a win.  Concordia goes to 2-0 in the ASC. 

Ozarks 2 - Howard Payne 1

Another underwhelming result considering HP was 1-7 into the game and this was Ozarks' senior day game, but they pull it out with a game winner in the 76th minute.

UT Dallas 5 - Sul Ross State 0

UTD has won 5 in a row since beating Colorado College 2-1 on 9/17.

Hardin-Simmons 3 - McMurry 0

A decent result, but still only Hardin-Simmons' second win of the season overall.

Mary Hardin-Baylor 4 - LeTourneau 0

Second straight 4-0 victory over an out-matched ASC opponent after getting crushed by Trinity 6-1.  They are kind of the Willamette of the ASC though.  They need to show they can do it against the middle and upper class of the ASC, like UTD, Hardin-Simmons, Concordia, and maybe Ozarks, none of which they will see until they play a couple of more ASC cupcakes (Howard Payne and Sul Ross State), which will either allow them to fully get their act back together or just fatten them up.

[Kuiper]

Several games in the SCAC today, two of which I'm cross-posting from the National Perspectives Thread:

Texas Lutheran 2 - Trinity 0

Huge win for Texas Lutheran, which establishes itself as the clear leader of the SCAC right now.  The turning point in the game was about a minute before halftime when a Trinity player was red carded and TLU scored on the free kick to go into half 1-0.  Trinity had most of the possession and the chances in the second half as it pressed for an equalizer despite being down a man, but couldn't break through and TLU put the game away scoring on a 1v1 breakaway on a counter attack.  Texas Lutheran is now 11-0, which I think may be the only perfect record in the country right now.

Colorado College 1 - St. Thomas 0

Huge win for Colorado College, which proves its victory over Christopher Newport was no fluke and wins away from home against St. Thomas.  This was probably the first game where the absence of Ayomide Salako from last year was probably felt acutely.  He would have been the big target body who could have absorbed the CC physical play and distributed the ball in spots where Aleman and Castro had the freedom to use their technical ability.  Colorado College 1st year player Dylan Rich gets the game winning goal in the 72nd minute.

We should see Colorado College in the rankings this week after winning 4 games in a row following its loss to UT Dallas.

Southwestern 7 - Schreiner 0

Southwestern recovers from the 4-0 beatdown by Trinity on Friday to impose its own beatdown on Schreiner.  Complete domination.  Southwestern outshot Schreiner 25 (10)-1 (0).  Southwestern moves to 5-1-3, to remind the rest of the SCAC that they should still be considered part of the upper-half, but they can't really call themselves among the big 4 unless they beat St. Thomas next Friday.