Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[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.

Region X - Poll 5 - October 10, 2023
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Texas Lutheran University    1    12-1-0
2    Colorado College    2    7-2-1
3    Trinity University (Texas)    4    8-1-2
4    Pacific Lutheran University    7    7-1-4
5    Southwestern University    NR    6-1-3
6    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    3    8-2-1
7    University of Redlands    6    9-1-1
8    Occidental College    5    8-2-2

St. Thomas drops after losing to Southwestern, as does Occidental, which lost to UC Santa Cruz and tied Chapman.  Texas Lutheran remains up top despite losing to St. Thomas, which is a bit unusual, but it's hard to argue that anyone else really grabbed the spot since last week.  Southwestern moves back in after beating St. Thomas.  Colorado College has a huge chance to take the top spot after this weekend when they host Southwestern on Friday and Texas Lutheran (without at least their starting GK for his misadventures in head butting against St. Thomas) on Sunday.

Region X - Poll 6 - October 17, 2023
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Pacific Lutheran University    4    9-1-4
2    Colorado College    2    9-2-1
3    Texas Lutheran University    1    12-2-0
4    Trinity University (Texas)    3    9-1-2
5    Southwestern University    5    7-2-3
6    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    6    9-2-1
7    University of Redlands    7    10-1-1
8    Occidental College    8    8-3-2

Pacific Lutheran jumps from 4th to 1st. I understand Texas Lutheran dropping past Colorado College after losing to them in Colorado Springs (and losing to St. Thomas before that), but kind of harsh that Pacific Lutheran jumps all the way to 1st over Trinity.  The issue is that Trinity beat a weak conference opponent (Schreiner), while the Lutes beat Whitworth and Whitman away over the weekend.  Everything else stays the same and no new entries on the list.  I think Colorado College had a pretty successful weekend too with victories over Southwestern and Texas Lutheran, but Pacific Lutheran beat Colorado College earlier in the season and has 1 fewer loss.

[Ron Boerger]

St. Thomas men's soccer site has finally updated their coaches and Ian Clerihew is no longer shown, nor is former (apparent) first assistant Daniel Fragachan Quintero.  None of the remaining coaches have so far had changes made to their titles, but Alex Baez is the first listed.   No other mention of the change can be found. 

Clerihew's LinkedIn profile no longer lists his position at St. Thomas. 

[Coach Jeff]

St. Thomas men's soccer site has finally updated their coaches and Ian Clerihew is no longer shown, nor is former (apparent) first assistant Daniel Fragachan Quintero.  None of the remaining coaches have so far had changes made to their titles, but Alex Baez is the first listed.   No other mention of the change can be found. 

Clerihew's LinkedIn profile no longer lists his position at St. Thomas.

Saw that as well.  Has anyone heard how the Texas Lutheran players is recovering?

[BTXCru18]

St. Thomas men's soccer site has finally updated their coaches and Ian Clerihew is no longer shown, nor is former (apparent) first assistant Daniel Fragachan Quintero.  None of the remaining coaches have so far had changes made to their titles, but Alex Baez is the first listed.   No other mention of the change can be found. 

Clerihew's LinkedIn profile no longer lists his position at St. Thomas.

Saw that as well.  Has anyone heard how the Texas Lutheran players is recovering?

No other public mention of himother than TLU Soccer's Instagram page posting a photo of him in the hospital on October 10th, two days after the game. Assuming it was post surgery.

[BTXCru18]

St. Thomas men's soccer site has finally updated their coaches and Ian Clerihew is no longer shown, nor is former (apparent) first assistant Daniel Fragachan Quintero.  None of the remaining coaches have so far had changes made to their titles, but Alex Baez is the first listed.   No other mention of the change can be found. 

Clerihew's LinkedIn profile no longer lists his position at St. Thomas.

Still very interesting to see how this will shake out... UST's senior day is this Friday when they host Centenary. We're all aware that #7 Taty Aleman has yet to appear since then, but another senior who didn't even play against TLU was #24 Matthew Turner(one of their captains, I believe), who was out with what I think was a two-game suspension for his second red of the season. Will be curious to see who all gets recognized on Friday. In addition, all three players sent off against TLU have also not made another appearance since, if that's news to anyone.

[Kuiper]

St. Thomas men's soccer site has finally updated their coaches and Ian Clerihew is no longer shown, nor is former (apparent) first assistant Daniel Fragachan Quintero.  None of the remaining coaches have so far had changes made to their titles, but Alex Baez is the first listed.   No other mention of the change can be found. 

Clerihew's LinkedIn profile no longer lists his position at St. Thomas.

Still very interesting to see how this will shake out... UST's senior day is this Friday when they host Centenary. We're all aware that #7 Taty Aleman has yet to appear since then, but another senior who didn't even play against TLU was #24 Matthew Turner(one of their captains, I believe), who was out with what I think was a two-game suspension for his second red of the season. Will be curious to see who all gets recognized on Friday. In addition, all three players sent off against TLU have also not made another appearance since, if that's news to anyone.

I wouldn't be shocked if the red card recipients each got at least an additional one game suspension from the school, which would account for them missing the Austin and Dallas games this past weekend.  They might even have given them an additional two game suspension, which would leave them out of the upcoming Centenary game (not as consequential since none of them are seniors).  Not that I'm cynical, but that would allow them to come back for the Trinity game a week from Friday, which would be the first game where they might be needed and where it would have implications for league standings and conference tournament placement. 

Note that the three TLU players with red cards were all out for the Colorado College game this past weekend.  If the additional game was from SCAC and applied to both teams (or both schools agreed each on some punishment together), then they would be out the Austin and maybe the Dallas games too if a second additional game suspension had been imposed.  At the very least, that would have them back for the Southwestern game, which is the first game where they might be needed and where it would have league/tournament implications.

[Kuiper]

Here are the first official NCAA Regional Rankings for Region X (in alphabetical order and without accounting yet for the games against regionally ranked teams factor)

REGION X REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - October 18, 2023

                               D3                          Overall

Colorado College   9-2-1                     9-2-1
Mary Hardin-Baylor   7-3-1                     7-3-2
Pacific Lutheran           9-1-4                     9-1-4
Redlands                   7-1-1                    10-1-1
St. Thomas (Texas)   9-2-0                    10-2-1
Texas Lutheran          12-2-0                   12-2-0
Trinity (Texas)           9-1-1                     9-1-2
   
Colorado College will be helped when they add in the RvR factor next time, since they have beaten Ohio Northern, Christopher Newport, St. Thomas, and Texas Lutheran.  They also played Pacific Lutheran and that was one of their two losses.  Redlands will be hurt because no other SCIAC team is regionally ranked and this was a year Redlands did not play D3 teams out of region and only one D3 non-conference team (UC Santa Cruz).  Pacific Lutheran is also a little hurt because the NWC is having a down year, but it did beat Colorado College and its one loss was a "good" loss to regionally ranked Emory.

[Kuiper]

Four games in the SCIAC tonight:

Chapman 1 - Cal Tech 0

Hard luck for Cal Tech, which was hanging on for a tie before Chapman scored a beautiful goal from the top of the right side box to the far upper corner in the 86th minute to win the game.  The two teams had tied 2-2 a week ago and Cal Tech came out with a game plan on a hot afternoon to sit back and counter attack in the first half.  They may have been saving energy for the second half because CIT came out putting more pressure on Chapman.  It seemed to work as they scored a fantastic volley goal from the side of the box, but it was ruled offside.  Eventually, though, Cal Tech wore down.  They only used 1 sub for most of the game until finally one of their defenders went down with cramps in both legs and had to be taken off.  Chapman was much fresher and although they were wasteful with their chances most of the night, the goal they scored was a banger.  Big win for Chapman as it stays in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the SCIAC.

Redlands 0 - La Verne 0

Really disappointing tie for Redlands at home.  La Verne has been doing that to a lot of the upper half SCIAC teams, tying Cal Lu, CMS, and Chapman as well.  If you looked at the stats alone, with Redlands outshooting La Verne 29-7, you would think this was a case of Redlands dominating, La Verne bunkering, and maybe blocking a lot of shots.  In reality, Redlands was taking some really bad shots (both in terms of where they were taking them and their technique), which is often the result of impatience and lack of vision or failure to talk.  La Verne had a stretch in the second half where they had the far better chances and probably should have been up 2-0 if they had better shooters in front of goal.  This result doesn't change much for Redlands in terms of the SCIAC, but with their last three games against Chapman, Occidental, and Cal Lutheran, they could easily drop from first place if they aren't careful.

Occidental 0 - Cal Lutheran 0

Unlike in the Redlands game, this was a case where neither team's offense even got close enough to threaten the other team's goal.  They both took only 5 shots, with Occidental only taking one shot on goal.  So much for having a potent offense.  Cal Lu is at risk of dropping below the playoff line as they are now tied with Chapman on conference points although they have a game in hand.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 3 - Whittier 0

CMS had the easiest opponent and, not surprisingly, the most dominating performance of the evening.  CMS is now tied for 2d with Occidental, although Oxy has a game in hand.  On paper, CMS has an easier schedule with Pomona-Pitzer and Cal Tech left, but a Sixth Street Rivalry game is never easy and Cal Tech has proven it can make things difficult for teams.  Oxy has Whittier, Redlands and La Verne.

[Kuiper]

One game in the Northwest Conference tonight

Whitman 0 - Whitworth 0

Despite dialing up the pressure (and the shots) in the second half, it is more lost points for Whitworth, which is rapidly losing time to catch Pacific Lutheran. 

[Kuiper]

One game of note in the ASC tonight:

Mary Hardin-Baylor 3 - Hardin-Simmons 2

The Battle of the Hardin Family Beneficiaries.  It looked like MHB would cruise to victory in this one after scoring in the 3rd minute, but H-S played them tough, coming back to equalize early in the second half and then getting a goal back in the 81st minute to bring it to 3-2 after MHB had scored two in the second half to make it 3-1.

As seems to happen too frequently in Texas these days, however, this game went off the rails, with H-S getting two red cards (one a second yellow) and MHB getting one red card, all in a 10 minute stretch from the 78th minute to the 88th minute of the second half (in addition to the six other yellow cards handed out in the second half).  MHB stays atop the ASC at 6-0, but Concordia keeps pace, going to 5-1 after it beats McMurray 2-0.  Hardin- Simmons suffers its first ASC loss and is 3-1-1, while UTD beats East Texas Baptist and is 3-2 in conference.

[BTXCru18]

One game of note in the ASC tonight:

Mary Hardin-Baylor 3 - Hardin-Simmons 2

The Battle of the Hardin Family Beneficiaries.  It looked like MHB would cruise to victory in this one after scoring in the 3rd minute, but H-S played them tough, coming back to equalize early in the second half and then getting a goal back in the 81st minute to bring it to 3-2 after MHB had scored two in the second half to make it 3-1.

As seems to happen too frequently in Texas these days, however, this game went off the rails, with H-S getting two red cards (one a second yellow) and MHB getting one red card, all in a 10 minute stretch from the 78th minute to the 88th minute of the second half (in addition to the six other yellow cards handed out in the second half).  MHB stays atop the ASC at 6-0, but Concordia keeps pace, going to 5-1 after it beats McMurray 2-0.  Hardin- Simmons suffers its first ASC loss and is 3-1-1, while UTD beats East Texas Baptist and is 3-2 in conference.
[/quote

Was at the HSU-UMHB game. The box score makes it look slightly worse than it was. #23 for HSU got two yellows, both for dissent. The other two reds, were incredibly soft, especially the red to #8 for HSU. It was an extremely physical match, but nowhere near violent. Unfortunately, the officiating crew(who left the scene before anyone could shake their hands) lost control in this one and the center was card happy. Dampened the mood of what really was a great game.

P.S. #23 JJ Sissen is HSU's long throw specialist who found #15 Fiol all night. Made it really tough for UMHB and changed the game when he exited. He will be missed on Saturday vs. Concordia.

[Kuiper]

One game of note in the ASC tonight:

Mary Hardin-Baylor 3 - Hardin-Simmons 2

The Battle of the Hardin Family Beneficiaries.  It looked like MHB would cruise to victory in this one after scoring in the 3rd minute, but H-S played them tough, coming back to equalize early in the second half and then getting a goal back in the 81st minute to bring it to 3-2 after MHB had scored two in the second half to make it 3-1.

As seems to happen too frequently in Texas these days, however, this game went off the rails, with H-S getting two red cards (one a second yellow) and MHB getting one red card, all in a 10 minute stretch from the 78th minute to the 88th minute of the second half (in addition to the six other yellow cards handed out in the second half).  MHB stays atop the ASC at 6-0, but Concordia keeps pace, going to 5-1 after it beats McMurray 2-0.  Hardin- Simmons suffers its first ASC loss and is 3-1-1, while UTD beats East Texas Baptist and is 3-2 in conference.

Was at the HSU-UMHB game. The box score makes it look slightly worse than it was. #23 for HSU got two yellows, both for dissent. The other two reds, were incredibly soft, especially the red to #8 for HSU. It was an extremely physical match, but nowhere near violent. Unfortunately, the officiating crew(who left the scene before anyone could shake their hands) lost control in this one and the center was card happy. Dampened the mood of what really was a great game.

P.S. #23 JJ Sissen is HSU's long throw specialist who found #15 Fiol all night. Made it really tough for UMHB and changed the game when he exited. He will be missed on Saturday vs. Concordia.

Thanks for adding the color.  I had a feeling you would have more insight on the game.  I sort of wondered whether the St. Thomas-TLU game is influencing the ref crews in the region because this isn't the first game since then where the refs have been card happy trying to get control of a physical game.

[BTXCru18]

Colorado College lead Trinity 1-0 midway through the first half on an absolute screamer from Alex Meyerhoff.

[Kuiper]

Colorado College lead Trinity 1-0 midway through the first half on an absolute screamer from Alex Meyerhoff.

I haven't been able to watch, but LiveStats shows Colorado College is up 2-0 in the 62nd minute after a Trinity own goal near the end of the first half.  Trinity has a big hill to climb in this one.

[BTXCru18]

Colorado College lead Trinity 1-0 midway through the first half on an absolute screamer from Alex Meyerhoff.

I haven't been able to watch, but LiveStats shows Colorado College is up 2-0 in the 62nd minute after a Trinity own goal near the end of the first half.  Trinity has a big hill to climb in this one.

And 3-0. CC on their to handing Trinity their second conference loss and taking full control of the SCAC.