Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[D-Three Fan]

Am I missing something? Wouldn't UST want Southwestern to beat TLU. This would give UST and TLU 3 conference losses each. Would UST go through to the tournament based on the win over TLU?

[Kuiper]

Am I missing something? Wouldn't UST want Southwestern to beat TLU. This would give UST and TLU 3 conference losses each. Would UST go through to the tournament based on the win over TLU?

I was actually just going off what I heard the announcer say at the end of the broadcast, but I may have misheard or his misspoke.  You're probably right since UST beat TLU and lost to Southwestern.  I just don't know for sure that the first tiebreaker is head-to-head in the SCAC.

[SimpleCoach]

St. Thomas @ Trinity Men's Game Notes

[D3Navy]

St. Thomas @ Trinity Men's Game Notes

Thanks, Coach!  Terrific rundown.

Regarding the "melee", many were contending the goalie impeded Meese as he approached instead of attempting to stop the ball.  The very active Trinity crowd at that end of the field was also stirring the pot. 

And you are correct: the field was absolutely beautiful.  Magazine cover perfect!

[PaulNewman]

If I was itching for a fight Michael Meese is not the guy I would pick....looks like a Navy Seal in a soccer kit.

[Kuiper]

Games of note from the SCIAC:

Cal Tech 1 - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 1

Cal Tech's Etienne Casanova ties it up in the 88th minute and, for what I think is the first time in its history, Cal Tech does not end a season with a losing record, going 6-6-4 overall and 3-6-3 in the SCIAC.  It's a big deal, but because of the Redlands-Cal Lu result (below), CMS knew it was locked into third place regardless of the result, so CMS wasn't really pushing as hard as it might have and used perhaps a few more subs.  Nevertheless, if Duncan Gillis doesn't at least win coach of the year in the SCIAC, it will be a travesty (although I expect Occidental's coaching staff will get the award given past practices).

Redlands 3 - Cal Lutheran 1

Cal Lu scored first and led 1-0 at half, but Redlands equalized right after halftime and then scored two more to rebound from its disappointing loss to Occidental earlier this week.

Chapman 2 - Pomona-Pitzer 2

Chapman could have passed Cal Lu for fourth place and the last spot in the SCIAC tournament, but Pomona-Pitzer used the momentum of its big rivalry win over CMS to tie Chapman and knock it out of the playoff race.

Occidental 2 - La Verne 0

Oxy wins the regular season championship by beating La Verne in a game that was tight until late and that Oxy needed to win given Redlands' victory earlier in the day against Cal Lu.

SCIAC Tournament Matchups:

Cal Lutheran @ Occidental

CMS @ Redlands

Both semifinal games on Wednesday

[Kuiper]

Games of note in the ASC:

Concordia 2 - Mary Hardin-Baylor 1

Concordia beats MHB in Belton in a game that meant something to Concordia because it kept them ahead of Hardin-Simmons for the first round bye, but didn't affect MHB's standings going into the playoffs.

East Texas Baptist 3 - Howard Payne 0

HP had already clinched the playoffs on Friday when it beat LeTourneau, but it could have jumped Ozarks in the seeding. ETBU was only playing for pride.  Pride won out.

Hardin-Simmons 1 - Ozarks 0

H-S maintained 3rd seed with this win, but Ozarks wasn't hurt because of HP's loss.

UT Dallas 5 - McMurry 1

UTD finishes the regular season strongly after a disappointing stretch

ASC Tournament Matchups

#5 Ozarks at #4 UT Dallas; winner plays Mary Hardin-Baylor

#6 Howard Payne at #3 Hardin-Simmons; winner plays Concordia TX

[Kuiper]

One game in the SCAC, but it was a big one:

Southwestern 2 - Texas Lutheran 1

If St. Thomas beats Schreiner in their last game tomorrow, St. Thomas will jump ahead of Texas Lutheran for the fourth and final spot in the SCAC playoffs (because, as someone pointed out last night, St. Thomas has the advantage on head-to-head over TLU).  14-3 Texas Lutheran would then have to hope that its SoS and RvR wins against Occidental, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Trinity will be enough to get it a Pool C bid. 

[Kuiper]

NWC games of note:

Pacific Lutheran 6 - Pacific 0

PLU is now 8 points ahead of Whitworth with three games to play.  If it beats Lewis & Clark Sunday (on senior day) or Whitworth loses to Willamette Sunday, then PLU will claim the NWC championship and the AQ.

Whitworth 4 - Linfield 1

Whitworth keeps pace with PLU, but need to hope Lewis & Clark pulls off a miracle tomorrow (its first win in 24 games I believe) and Whitworth can beat Willamette to stay alive.

[Ron Boerger]

One game in the SCAC, but it was a big one:

Southwestern 2 - Texas Lutheran 1

If St. Thomas beats Schreiner in their last game tomorrow, St. Thomas will jump ahead of Texas Lutheran for the fourth and final spot in the SCAC playoffs (because, as someone pointed out last night, St. Thomas has the advantage on head-to-head over TLU).  14-3 Texas Lutheran would then have to hope that its SoS and RvR wins against Occidental, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Trinity will be enough to get it a Pool C bid.

Schreiner has all of one win in conference, 3-2 over also one-win Centenary.  I'll be more interested to see if Taty Aleman plays - he never got back up to speed after the collision Friday night and it might just be best to rest him if there are any lingering aftereffects.   The Celts should be able to win this one easily without him on the pitch. 

I can't figure out Southwestern.  They looked absolutely terrible in a 4-0 loss at home to Trinity, then turn it around and beat St. Thomas prior to the debacle later that weekend, held Colorado College scoreless for nearly 70' before dropping a 1-0 decision on the road, now knock off TLU.  Guess they figured some things out after that early-season loss.

The regional rankings will be interesting this week behind CC.  Does Trinity move up to 2 with the W against St Thomas, or does TLU hang onto the spot despite the loss given the H2H result?  UMHB also lost, to an unranked Concordia; Redlands lost to similarly unranked Occidental; PLU won and face winless Lewis and Clark today.  Do those losses open the door for a Southwestern (10-2-3) or Occidental (10-3-3) to make an appearance?

1. Colorado (12-2-1) W @ Austin 3-0; Sun @ Dallas (1-11-3)
2. TLU (14-3) L Southwestern 1-2 (regular season over) 
3. St. Thomas (11-3-1) L @ Trinity 2-4; Sun @ Schreiner (5-8-2)
4. Trinity (10-2-2) W St. Thomas 4-2; Sun Centenary (4-8-3)
5. Redlands (12-2-2)  L @ Occidental 1-2; W @ CLU 3-1
6. UMHB (9-4-2) L Concordia 1-2 (regular season over)
7. PLU (11-1-4) W Pacific 6-0; Sun @ Lewis & Clark (0-16-1)

[PaulNewman]

One game in the SCAC, but it was a big one:

Southwestern 2 - Texas Lutheran 1

If St. Thomas beats Schreiner in their last game tomorrow, St. Thomas will jump ahead of Texas Lutheran for the fourth and final spot in the SCAC playoffs (because, as someone pointed out last night, St. Thomas has the advantage on head-to-head over TLU).  14-3 Texas Lutheran would then have to hope that its SoS and RvR wins against Occidental, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Trinity will be enough to get it a Pool C bid.

Schreiner has all of one win in conference, 3-2 over also one-win Centenary.  I'll be more interested to see if Taty Aleman plays - he never got back up to speed after the collision Friday night and it might just be best to rest him if there are any lingering aftereffects.   The Celts should be able to win this one easily without him on the pitch. 

I can't figure out Southwestern.  They looked absolutely terrible in a 4-0 loss at home to Trinity, then turn it around and beat St. Thomas prior to the debacle later that weekend, held Colorado College scoreless for nearly 70' before dropping a 1-0 decision on the road, now knock off TLU.  Guess they figured some things out after that early-season loss.

The regional rankings will be interesting this week behind CC.  Does Trinity move up to 2 with the W against St Thomas, or does TLU hang onto the spot despite the loss given the H2H result?  UMHB also lost, to an unranked Concordia; Redlands lost to similarly unranked Occidental; PLU won and face winless Lewis and Clark today.  Do those losses open the door for a Southwestern (10-2-3) or Occidental (10-3-3) to make an appearance?

1. Colorado (12-2-1) W @ Austin 3-0; Sun @ Dallas (1-11-3)
2. TLU (14-3) L Southwestern 1-2 (regular season over) 
3. St. Thomas (11-3-1) L @ Trinity 2-4; Sun @ Schreiner (5-8-2)
4. Trinity (10-2-2) W St. Thomas 4-2; Sun Centenary (4-8-3)
5. Redlands (12-2-2)  L @ Occidental 1-2; W @ CLU 3-1
6. UMHB (9-4-2) L Concordia 1-2 (regular season over)
7. PLU (11-1-4) W Pacific 6-0; Sun @ Lewis & Clark (0-16-1)

Great example of things that can happen to alter Pool C chances...Texas Lutheran can "win" without playing if Oxy gets ranked, giving TLU another ranked win.  Same for Trinity with Southwestern.  Whoever gets to three ranked wins might edge out the others.  Trinity would get to three ranked wins if Southwestern comes in....but wait, there's more...if Southwestern and/or Oxy knock MHB out of the rankings then Trinity would be back down to two ranked wins...or worse down to one if Oxy gets in but Southwestern doesn't and MHB drops out.

[Kuiper]

One game in the SCAC, but it was a big one:

Southwestern 2 - Texas Lutheran 1

If St. Thomas beats Schreiner in their last game tomorrow, St. Thomas will jump ahead of Texas Lutheran for the fourth and final spot in the SCAC playoffs (because, as someone pointed out last night, St. Thomas has the advantage on head-to-head over TLU).  14-3 Texas Lutheran would then have to hope that its SoS and RvR wins against Occidental, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Trinity will be enough to get it a Pool C bid.

Schreiner has all of one win in conference, 3-2 over also one-win Centenary.  I'll be more interested to see if Taty Aleman plays - he never got back up to speed after the collision Friday night and it might just be best to rest him if there are any lingering aftereffects.   The Celts should be able to win this one easily without him on the pitch. 

I can't figure out Southwestern.  They looked absolutely terrible in a 4-0 loss at home to Trinity, then turn it around and beat St. Thomas prior to the debacle later that weekend, held Colorado College scoreless for nearly 70' before dropping a 1-0 decision on the road, now knock off TLU.  Guess they figured some things out after that early-season loss.

The regional rankings will be interesting this week behind CC.  Does Trinity move up to 2 with the W against St Thomas, or does TLU hang onto the spot despite the loss given the H2H result?  UMHB also lost, to an unranked Concordia; Redlands lost to similarly unranked Occidental; PLU won and face winless Lewis and Clark today.  Do those losses open the door for a Southwestern (10-2-3) or Occidental (10-3-3) to make an appearance?

1. Colorado (12-2-1) W @ Austin 3-0; Sun @ Dallas (1-11-3)
2. TLU (14-3) L Southwestern 1-2 (regular season over) 
3. St. Thomas (11-3-1) L @ Trinity 2-4; Sun @ Schreiner (5-8-2)
4. Trinity (10-2-2) W St. Thomas 4-2; Sun Centenary (4-8-3)
5. Redlands (12-2-2)  L @ Occidental 1-2; W @ CLU 3-1
6. UMHB (9-4-2) L Concordia 1-2 (regular season over)
7. PLU (11-1-4) W Pacific 6-0; Sun @ Lewis & Clark (0-16-1)

Great example of things that can happen to alter Pool C chances...Texas Lutheran can "win" without playing if Oxy gets ranked, giving TLU another ranked win.  Same for Trinity with Southwestern.  Whoever gets to three ranked wins might edge out the others.  Trinity would get to three ranked wins if Southwestern comes in....but wait, there's more...if Southwestern and/or Oxy knock MHB out of the rankings then Trinity would be back down to two ranked wins...or worse down to one if Oxy gets in but Southwestern doesn't and MHB drops out.

Don't you have to extend this analysis one round further?  Won't the winning teams in the SCAC semifinals also have one more ranked win (presuming that all four semifinalists are ranked)?

[PaulNewman]

@kuiper, absolutely, you are correct.  That's another whole set of permutations one would have to play out, including with Southwestern coming into the rankings (or not...and don't forget I was hot on Southwestern at the beginning of the season!), MHB staying or not, and the Oxy status.  And I may have missed that one of TLU's ranked wins also is over MHB, so if MHB drops out TLU would be down to one ranked ranked win (and pulling for Oxy while hoping Southwestern does not get ranked (which would add a ranked loss).  Southwestern's issue also is a very low SoS (akin to Mt Union that also like Mt Union gets a boost from now playing TLU and Trinity back to back. 

I was mainly trying to show how a team could be helped (or hurt) even though not playing and by something as random as whether Oxy gets ranked.  With TLU, if they don't end up with a bid, they have to look no further than those 90 secs playing up a man (or was it up 2 men?) when they gave up two goals to UST.

Anyway, for illustrative purposes only....let's assume that MHB drops out and Southwestern beats Trinity in the SCAC semis..and further assume that Southwestern loses to CC or UST in the final to add another ranked loss.  I think that would put Southwestern at a record of 11-3-3, RvR at 3-3.  If, in that scenario, Southwestern got ranked, then Trinity would pick up a ranked win and a ranked loss, and generally the former are more critical.  So then Trinity would be 10-3-2 with a RvR of 3-3 (which ends up being almost a wash losing the MHB win but gaining one with Southwestern.  The big difference between Southwestern and Trinity then (after splitting the two H2H encounters) would be on SoS, where Trinity now would be somewhere around .575+ and Southwestern perhaps would have climbed from .507 to maybe .535ish.  Southwestern's SoS would go up even a little further after playing the final, and that benefit would accrue whether they won or lost, but of course that would only matter if they lost or if that made the difference in Southwestern getting ranked or not.  Meanwhile, on this scenario TLU loses the ranked win to MHB (I previously thought that game got cancelled) and if picks one up from Oxy that keeps them at just two ranked wins.  TLU's SoS likely will land around .550ish.

Hunch....TLU will be haunted for months by the UST match.

[Kuiper]

Very nice analysis.  One interesting factor in Southwestern's SoS and RvR is that it was affected by a lightning and hailstorm.  Southwestern was supposed to host Mary Hardin-Baylor on Sept 24 and it was cancelled on account of the storm.  It's possible that the weather will cause Southwestern to miss out on a Pool C bid if it doesn't win the SCAC tournament and MHB stays in the rankings, which helps other teams but not Southwestern.

[PaulNewman]

Very nice analysis.  One interesting factor in Southwestern's SoS and RvR is that it was affected by a lightning and hailstorm.  Southwestern was supposed to host Mary Hardin-Baylor on Sept 24 and it was cancelled on account of the storm.  It's possible that the weather will cause Southwestern to miss out on a Pool C bid if it doesn't win the SCAC tournament and MHB stays in the rankings, which helps other teams but not Southwestern.

Ah yes, I knew there was an important cancelled game.  You're pointing out another example of something one wouldn't think would or should matter that much, but yes, that was a valuable game to lose especially when the rivals benefitted.

Btw, and I'm deferring to you and Mr. Boerger, but wouldn't you expect that MHB WILL drop out?