Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Interesting halftime scores from the NWC

Willamette 1 - Whitman 0

Relatively even game, but Willamette gets off a shot in the last minute before halftime and Jett Starr puts in the rebound to make it 1-0. Considering Whitman is the weaker of the two Whits and Willamette lost to Whitworth already this season, it's hard to argue that Willamette is separating itself from the pack yet.

Pacific Lutheran 0 - Pacific 0

Pretty even game.  Not ideal for PLU considering that Pacific's only win of the season thus far is against Lewis & Clark.

Whitworth 2 - Linfield 1

Cole Friesen has a brace in the first half (and could have had a hat trick on a giveaway at the top box in the last seconds of the first half) to give him 11 goals on the season.

[Kuiper]

Interesting halftime scores from the NWC

Willamette 1 - Whitman 0

Relatively even game, but Willamette gets off a shot in the last minute before halftime and Jett Starr puts in the rebound to make it 1-0. Considering Whitman is the weaker of the two Whits and Willamette lost to Whitworth already this season, it's hard to argue that Willamette is separating itself from the pack yet.

Pacific Lutheran 0 - Pacific 0

Pretty even game.  Not ideal for PLU considering that Pacific's only win of the season thus far is against Lewis & Clark.

Whitworth 2 - Linfield 1

Cole Friesen has a brace in the first half (and could have had a hat trick on a giveaway at the top box in the last seconds of the first half) to give him 11 goals on the season.

UPDATE:  FINALS  (tl/dr:  Chaos reigns in the NWC)

Willamette 2 - Whitman 2

Willamette has officially lost the plot.  They were down 2-1 before a strong shot from the top of the box evened it up halfway through the second half.  It's clear that they have some individual talent, but not quite enough to avoid getting shut down by determined opponents.  Dropping points at home to the Whits is a bad sign.

Pacific Lutheran 1 - Pacific 1

This is a big surprise.  The Lutes are still 4-0-2 in the NWC and 5-1-4 overall, but Pacific only has 1 win all season. 

Whitworth 3 - Linfield 1

This is the result that conforms the most to expectations among higher up teams.  Linfield simply couldn't hanndle Whitworth's offense (powered by a kid from Chula Vista, CA, I might add - Cole Friesen)

Puget Sound 4 - George Fox 1

No surprise, except maybe the score.  Puget Sound is now 4-2-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the NWC.  They can sneak into the top group (they tied Whitworth), but they aren't reliably there.  George Fox is an argument for the chaos of the NWC.  They get crushed by Willamette, Pacific Lutheran, and Puget Sound, but beat  Pacific (which tied Pac Lutheran)

[Kuiper]

Games of interest to me through Thursday in Region X:

Wednesday 10/4

Occidental @ Chapman

Replay of last year's SCIAC finals won by Chapman on a bicycle kick in the final seconds of double OT.

Redlands @ Cal Tech

Redlands just crushed Whittier after a small stumble where they lost to Occidental and tied Pomona-Pitzer.  Cal Tech is coming off a loss to Cal Lutheran.  Cal Tech is kind of similar to Pomona-Pitzer, but a bit more potent offensively, so they may be able to hang with Redlands.  Cal Tech has certainly shown resilience this season.  A mid-week afternoon away game with virtually no witnesses could be a trap game for Redlands. 

La Verne @ Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

CMS has won two in a row and should beat La Verne, but La Verne has done a better job of keeping games close against the top SCIAC teams, tying Chapman and Cal Lu 1-1, both teams that CMS lost to or tied as well.

Pacific Lutheran @ Puget Sound

After tying Pacific 1-1, a team Puget Sound tied 0-0, and tying Linfield 0-0, Pacific Lutheran can't take any team for granted.

Whittier @ Cal Lutheran

Cal Lu is unbeaten in the last seven since losing to Texas Lutheran, but four of those have been ties, including against La Verne and Pacific.  Whittier has been all over the place, from almost beating Occidental, tying Cal tech, and crushing La Verne, to getting crushed by CMS and Redlands.  Maybe they do better in midweek games.  Last two Wednesday games they tied Cal Tech and beat La Verne.

Thursday 10/5 (nothing too interesting, but here are the games involving the three favorites in the ASC)

Mary Hardin-Baylor @ Howard Payne

Should be an easy one for MHB, which does better against over-matched opponents.  Howard Payne, at 1-8, meets that definition, although they have basically played all of their D3 opponents very closely.

Hardin-Simmons @ LeTourneau

Hardin-Simmons is the best of the rest in the ASC after MHB and Concordia and LeTorneau just lost to Concordia 6-1 and MHB 4-0.   

Concordia @ Sul Ross State

Concordia should win this game easily after Sul Ross just lost to UTD 5-0.

[bubbabeans]

Excellent stuff, Kuiper, and highlights just how even most of these teams are in the west.

[Kuiper]

USC Regional Rankings for Region X

https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-men-x/

Region X - Poll 4 - October 3, 2023
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Texas Lutheran University    3    11-0-0
2    Colorado College    8    7-2-1
3    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    1    7-1-1
4    Trinity University (Texas)    2    6-1-2
5    Occidental College    4    8-1-1
6    University of Redlands    5    7-1-1
7    Pacific Lutheran University    6    5-1-4
8    California Lutheran University    NR    4-1-4

Colorado College jumps all the way from 8 to 2 after beating St. Thomas. Occidental drops one spot from 4 to 5 after the tie to Cal Lutheran, which enters the rankings at 8. Pacific Lutheran drops from 6 to 7 after tying Pacific. Redlands drops from 5 to 6 after tying Pomona-Pitzer.  Southwestern drops out completely after losing big to Trinity.

I think we're at the point where the top of Region X has separated itself from the rest of the pack.  Normally some of these results would drop teams more than they did, but there just aren't a lot of other options and only Colorado College has more than 1 loss currently.  CMS is 4-2-2 and could get back into it, but they have tied or lost to four teams in the regional rankings and also to Chapman, which isn't on this list.  Chapman's tie to La Verne and loss to UC Santa Cruz rules them out.  Willamette's loss to Whitworth rules it out.  Whitworth, at 6-3-1, has a better chance of making an appearance on the rankings next, but its losses to Cal Lu, UC Santa Cruz, and Pacific Lutheran, and tie to Puget Sound, are keeping them out right now.  No one in the ASC appears to deserve it.

[Kuiper]

ALERT:

Willamette was up 3-0 in the first half over Lewis & Clark with less than 10 minutes left in the half and Lewis & Clark scored two goals 1 minute and 18 seconds apart to go into the half only down 3-2.  Why the alert?  Lewis & Clark, is 0-9 this year and was 0-7 last year in its inaugural season.  L&C has scored only 1 goal in its 9 losses this season and now has doubled its goal total for the season in a single half!  PLUS, the second goal was a GK assist as Ben Tallent (nice name!) hit a low, line-drive long ball over everyone and freshman Nadav  Dicovski (a CA kid) scored for his second of the game.  I think Dicovski may now be the leading scorer in L&C history since the re-birth, but I'll have to do some research. [UPDATE:  Dicovski is tied with another player from last year for 2 goals, but Dicovski has the first brace since the re-birth of the program]

Willamette officially imploded at the end of the half.  The first goal was caused by a casual pass from the GK directly to a L&C player, who passed it to Dicovski for the shot.

UPDATE:  Willamette scores on a PK to make it 4-2

FINAL:  Willamette 4 - Lewis & Clark 2. 

Lewis & Clark almost made it three (and Dicovski almost had a hat trick) after the Willamette keeper went up for an easy catch and misjudged the height and it went through his fingers to end up as a 50/50 ball between Dicovski and the Willamette defender in front of the goal.

Another uninspiring performance from Willamette, but a win is a win and they remain in contention for the NWC lead at 4-1-1, tied for second with Whitworth behind Pacific Lutheran.

[Kuiper]

Results from the early SCIAC games

Redlands 4 - Cal Tech 0

Redlands took care of business in the second half and bossed Cal Tech off the field, with all 4 goals scored in the second half.  It was a tight 0-0 game at half, but Cal Tech simply doesn't the benefit of health, energy, and a deep bench to hang a full 90 with the top teams.  They practically played Casanova a full 90 on a hot afternoon and they really only had three subs get significant minutes, one of whom was the backup GK.   Redlands, by contrast, had 5 non-GK subs get 30+ minutes, including one of the goal scorers.

Occidental 0 - Chapman 0

Chapman came into this game on a bad run of form, losing to UC Santa Cruz and Cal Lutheran and tying La Verne and Pomona-Pitzer, but Occidental couldn't capitalize.  It wasn't a game where Chapman parked the bus and Oxy just couldn't punch one home through the bodies either.  If anything, Chapman was just as or more aggressive offensively.  In fact, Oxy only had one shot on goal the whole game and 7 shots total.  Chapman had more shots, more shots on goal, and more corners. 

[Kuiper]

Results from the late games in SCIAC

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 1 - La Verne 1

In a thrilling ending, La Verne scores in the 88th minute to grab a tie against CMS.  This was a game CMS largely controlled, scoring in the last 10 minutes of the first half and holding serve until almost the end before breaking down.  CMS outshot LV 17-8 and had 7 corners to LV's 2, but CMS couldn't put enough balls on frame to put a second one past LV's very good GK Logan Reese.  CMS is 4-2-3 and 2-2-2 in conference while La Verne, who has also tied Chapman and Cal
Lutheran thus far, is 4-4-3 and 0-3-3 in conference.

Cal Lutheran 3 - Whittier 0

Cal Lu used physicality and clinical finishing to take care of Whittier and move to 3-0-3 in conference (ahead of CMS for 3rd) and 5-1-4 overall.  Whittier drops to 1-5-1 in conference and 3-6-1 overall.  Whittier remains ahead of La Verne for the cellar, but La Verne is probably playing better right now.

[Kuiper]

A bunch of games in the ASC tonight

Concordia 1 - Sul Ross State 0

Not a very convincing win for Concordia in a game that was tied 0-0 at half, but they did just enough to win against Sul Ross State, which came into the game 1-6-2, but had yet to play a conference game.  Concordia goes to 4-5-1 and 2-0 in the ASC.

Hardin-Simmons 0 - LeTourneau 0

It's been a long time since Hardin-Simmons tied Trinity 2-2 and Southwestern 1-1 and lost to Texas Lutheran by a slim 2-1 margin.  LeTourneau isn't the worst ASC team, but they just got shellacked by Concordia 6-1 and Mary Hardin-Baylor 4-0.  I think it's safe to say Hardin-Simmons is not at that level at this point in the season.

Mary Hardin-Baylor 3 - Howard Payne 1

MHB seemed to be cruising in this game, up 2-0, until HP put in a goal in the 86th minute.  MHB pulled that back a minute later to seal the victory.  MHB moves to 3-0 in conference.

McMurry 3 - East Texas Baptist 2

McMurry breaks a 7 game winless streak to pull out a victory, although ETBU made it tight with two goals in the last 20 minutes.  McMurry is now 1-1 in conference and ETBU is 0-3 in conference

[Kuiper]

Games in Region X of interest to me Friday - Sunday

Friday 10/6

Southwestern @ St. Thomas

A chance for St. Thomas to get back into the saddle after losing to Colorado College, but Southwestern is 5-1-3 with the only loss against Trinity.

Pacific @ Willamette

Pacific has only one win all season, but it is coming off a tie against Pacific Lutheran.  Willamette beat Lewis & Clark, although giving up two goals to them in the process, which is double the number of goals L&C scored in the previous 9 games and the first time they have scored twice in a game since the re-birth of the program.  Willamette's starting GK has been out and his backups both looked shaky in the L&C game, one passing a ball directly to an L&C attacker for the first goal and another backup misjudging a high ball that slipped through his fingers for a chance at a third goal.

Saturday 10/7

UC Santa Cruz @ Occidental

This is a noon game (local time) in very high heat.  It's predicted to be around 90 degrees at kickoff, rising to about 95 degrees by the end of the game, and those temperatures should be higher on Oxy's artificial turf.  Those aren't ideal conditions for Oxy's pressing style or for the fans who typically show up in droves to urge on the Tigers with noisemakers and vuvuzelas.  Oxy just came off a disappointing 0-0 tie in afternoon heat against Chapman, a team UC Santa Cruz beat 1-0 a week ago.  Oxy should win, but it's not a gimme.

Cal Lutheran @ Redlands

Cal Lu is on an 8 game unbeaten streak.  This is another afternoon game and it should be even hotter in Redlands than Oxy's campus (which is a little closer to the ocean).  Temperatures are supposed to be 95 at kickoff rising to 96-97 or higher during the game.  Redlands' grass field should help, but it will still be difficult for the players.  Redlands has won two in a row against weaker opponents, but I expect Cal Lu will try to grind the game to a halt.  It has the depth to do so and the hydration breaks should help.

Cal Tech @ Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

I think Cal Tech is too worn out and too thin in skill and numbers of players at this point of the season to continue to compete, especially on these three game weeks.  They've already been undone by Cal Lu and Redlands this week and have used very few subs.  On the other hand, CMS just had a bad tie against La Verne on Wednesday, so they aren't exactly hitting on all cylinders either.

Pomona-Pitzer @ La Verne

Pomona-Pitzer has been sneaky good the past few games, even though it hasn't shown up much in terms of points in the standings.  It tied Chapman and Redlands and it lost to CMS 2-1 on a late goal in the Sixth Street Rivalry.  Then they made a scheduling decision that is interesting to me.  Rather than play a non-conference game mid-week against a local NAIA team in their off week from SCIAC, Coach Ditta chose to simply not play at all.  That means they are much fresher than La Verne, which just expended a lot of energy on Wednesday to tie CMS.  This is the first of two games in a week between these two teams, with La Verne coming to Pomona-Pitzer next Saturday.  If the Sagehens can win both and grab a point against Cal Lu mid-week, they might jump back into the SCIAC playoff race.

Sunday 10/8

Texas Lutheran @ St. Thomas

Texas Lutheran comes in flying high at 11-0 after beating Trinity (12-0 assuming they beat Centenary (LA) on Friday night).  St. Thomas will be coming off a loss to Colorado College and possibly a tough battle against Southwestern Friday night.  This is the battle for supremacy in the SCAC and a chance to watch Jack Manke and Cole Sixkiller, both of whom have received mention in the National Perspectives thread.

Willamette @ Pacific Lutheran. 

These are the two traditional heavyweights in the NWC and may still be the two title contenders if Whitworth can't stay consistent

[Kuiper]

Some results from the SCAC

Southwestern 1 - St. Thomas 0

Big win for Southwestern.  Something's not quite right for St. Thomas.  They have trouble generating offense against top defenses. They need someone in the middle to relieve pressure around Aleman and Castro.

Texas Lutheran 5 - Centenary 0

TLU gets the easy win to move to 12-0

Trinity 3 - University of Dallas 0

Trinity dominates (outshoot Dallas 23-2 and 16-1 on goal) to go to 2-1 in the SCAC and 7-1-2 overall

Austin 4 - Schreiner 1

Nice victory, but Austin will face Trinity on Sunday for a true measuring stick of where it stands.

[Kuiper]

Willamette 2 - Pacific 0

For 75 minutes, it looked like Willamette was heading for another tie or even a loss and I began to wonder if Pacific was a giant killer.  Then Willamette scored 2 goals less than 2 minutes apart in the 76th and 78th minutes to put the game away. The win was deserved, but it doesn't inspire a ton of confidence that Willamette can do it regularly.  Willamette is now 5-1-1 in the NWC, which is the only record that matters right now because its 5-5-1 record won't help if it doesn't win the NWC.

[PaulNewman]

Imo the game of the year in Region X coming Sunday when Texas Lutheran at 12-0-0 visits St Thomas in Houston.  Finding themselves 0-2 in conference after two HOME losses to Colorado Coll and Southwestern, this feels basically like a "must-win" match for the Celts.  Coach Salazar for Tex-Lutheran has been waiting many years to grab the catbird's seat in the SCAC and a win here for the Bulldogs would be an endorsement for their meteoric rise on to the national stage while delivering another blow to St Thomas' dreams of a magical campaign.  Have to think St Thomas and Coach Clerihew will find a way to get a W, but if they don't?  Houston, we've got a problem.

[Kuiper]

SCIAC early game results.

UC Santa Cruz 2 - Occidental 1

My preview of this game proved prescient:

Saturday 10/7

UC Santa Cruz @ Occidental

This is a noon game (local time) in very high heat.  It's predicted to be around 90 degrees at kickoff, rising to about 95 degrees by the end of the game, and those temperatures should be higher on Oxy's artificial turf.  Those aren't ideal conditions for Oxy's pressing style or for the fans who typically show up in droves to urge on the Tigers with noisemakers and vuvuzelas.  Oxy just came off a disappointing 0-0 tie in afternoon heat against Chapman, a team UC Santa Cruz beat 1-0 a week ago.  Oxy should win, but it's not a gimme.

Oxy had a 1-0 lead in the first half, but kind of over-heated in the second half, giving up two goals in a three and a half minute stretch in the 72nd and 75th minutes and then losing it's cool as Joshua Hamlett got yellow cards in the 82nd and 85th minutes to leave Oxy down a man for the final push.  It was a very chippy game, which is one way a really hot and humid game can go.  The teams combined for 7 cards, 5 in the second half, and Oxy had a whopping 29 fouls and UC Santa Cruz had 16.  That's what can happen in the extreme heat. Players arrive late to challenges and trip and push and then everyone's tempers flare.  I've said before that Oxy is inconsistent for a team capable of dominance and this game kind of demonstrated how some of that inconsistency can be handed down to an inability to keep their cool when the chips were down.  A contributing factor might have been that senior defender Evan Karp, who was first team all-SCIAC and second team All Region X last year, has been out the last two games (a tie to chapman and a loss to UCSC).  He's their rock in the middle and probably the team's emotional ballast.  Give credit to UC Santa Cruz though, which has now beaten Chapman and Occidental in successive games against SCIAC opponents.  Occidental goes to 8-2-2 overall and 5-0-2 in conference and UCSC goes to 6-5-1, which isn't a gaudy record, but they may end up with some wins against regionally ranked opponents depending upon their upcoming game against Cal Lutheran.

Redlands 4 - Cal Lutheran 2

In this game, my preview was not quite on the mark.  Cal Lu was not able to grind the game to a halt.  Redlands scored 2 goals in each half and was up 4-1 late in the game before Cal Lu got a consolation goal in the 84th minute to make it a bit more respectable.  Redlands is now 9-1-1 and 5-1-1 in conference, while Cal Lu drops to 5-2-4 and 3-1-3 in the SCIAC.

Chapman 3 - Whittier 1

Chapman takes care of business, although it was 2-1 until late

[Kuiper]

Cal Tech 1 - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 0 at the HALF

CMS had most of the possession and chances in the first half, but Cal Tech GK Derek Ing made some good saves (including a 1 v. 1 that likely wasn't registered as a save, but was the hardest of the evening thus far) and Etienne Casanova received a pass just before midfield and made a brilliant cross-field pass over the CMS defender and onto the path of Casanova's on-rushing teammate Ishaan Mantripragada, who slipped it by the CMS GK with 53 seconds left in the half.  It was a little bit of a mistake by the GK, who came out fast, but was neither sliding nor set.  I think he was taken by surprise with the pass and thought he might be able to reach it on the run. 

UPDATE:  Cal Tech 1 - CMS 2

CMS scores in the 57th minute on a header off a cross that just beat the CIT GK

CMS scores a second in the 63rd minute.  You can tell the top Cal Tech players are tiring.  The shot was a good one, but the GK got a hand on it and wasn't firm enough pushing it, which allowed it to sneak by the far post.  This is the second GK for Cal Tech because they tend to rotate their keepers.  I don't mind it from a psychological perspective because the coach has stuck with it, but the starter is a senior and the second half keeper is a freshman.  I can't help but think CIT could use the veteran presence in the second half in games like this.

CMS 4 - Cal Tech 1

As I type above about using two GKs, the second Cal Tech keeper makes an insane triple save, but the defense has a hand ball on the fourth shot and gives CMS a PK, plus a red card for the defender for denying a goal scoring opportunity and CMS slots the PK home.  A minute later, up a man, CMS buries a second goal after a tidy passing sequence at the top of the box.

FINAL CMS 4 - Cal Tech 1

Cal Tech couldn't keep up with CMS in the second half, especially after going down a man.  CMS moves to 3-2-2 in SCIAC, moving past Chapman to 4th place and the final playoff spot.

Pomona-Pizer 1 - La Verne 0 at the HALF

P-P scored at the 1:30 mark in the game before La Verne had even settled in and that was all they needed to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.

UPDATE:  P-P 1 - La Verne 1

Adan Villarreal gets La Verne back even with a goal in the 48th minute

FINAL P-P 1 - La Verne 1

Pomona-Pitzer, like Cal Tech, rotated its GKs at half and the second keeper had to make a lot of saves to keep the tie as the P-P defense was on their back heels for awhile.  P-P moves to 1-3-3 in SCIAC, while La Verne remains in last place at 0-3-4, although now tied with Whittier.