Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

No surprise here, but Trinity women are on the road to start their NCAA journey, so that opens the door for the TU men to host should they get a bid.

TU hosting UTD, UST and Oxy. Pac Lu got sent to Minnesota and Colorado to Emory's regional.

Nice.  Best grass field of the participants, among other factors.  First time for two Pool C bids from Region X in a long while.

[Ron Boerger]

No surprise here, but Trinity women are on the road to start their NCAA journey, so that opens the door for the TU men to host should they get a bid.

TU hosting UTD, UST and Oxy. Pac Lu got sent to Minnesota and Colorado to Emory's regional.

Nice.  Best grass field of the participants, among other factors.  First time for two Pool C bids from Region X in a long while.

The Paul (field) should be in excellent condition as weather has been quite decent since the last game (with 70s/80s since Thursday, some sun).  A front is coming through promising rain Thursday night into Friday morning with scattered showers possible again Sunday.  Highs will be in the low-mid 60s all weekend, and it'll be a little breezy. 

[BTXCru18]

No surprise here, but Trinity women are on the road to start their NCAA journey, so that opens the door for the TU men to host should they get a bid.

TU hosting UTD, UST and Oxy. Pac Lu got sent to Minnesota and Colorado to Emory's regional.

Nice.  Best grass field of the participants, among other factors.  First time for two Pool C bids from Region X in a long while.

2019 if I remember correctly. Trinity and Colorado also got at-large bids that year too. Almost a carbon copy of this year's situation actually, now that I think about it.

[Kuiper]

No surprise here, but Trinity women are on the road to start their NCAA journey, so that opens the door for the TU men to host should they get a bid.

TU hosting UTD, UST and Oxy. Pac Lu got sent to Minnesota and Colorado to Emory's regional.

Nice.  Best grass field of the participants, among other factors.  First time for two Pool C bids from Region X in a long while.

2019 if I remember correctly. Trinity and Colorado also got at-large bids that year too. Almost a carbon copy of this year's situation actually, now that I think about it.

Good memory!  Only time in the last decade.  UT Dallas won the ASC that year too. 

Here are the Pool C bids from Region X over that period:

2022 - Pacific Lutheran
2021 - none
2020 - no tournament
2019 - Trinity and Colorado College
2018 - Southwestern
2017 - Texas-Tyler
2016 - none
2015 - none
2014 - UT Dallas
2013 - none

[Kuiper]

Preview of Pacific Lutheran v. Carleton @ St. Olaf for Saturday 11/11:

Carleton is 15-2-1, ranked #4 in Region IX, has a 3-2 RvR, with the only losses to St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus, and a .548 SoS.  Pacific Lutheran is 14-2-4, unranked, has a 1-1 RvR, with the only ranked win against Colorado College the first game of the season and the only ranked loss to Emory 2-1 in Tacoma, and a meager .488 SoS in the Northwest Conference, which was down this year.  It also is coming off a 2-1 loss to Willamette to end the season when Willamette had nothing to play for anymore.  So, the stats all favor Carleton.

To make matters worse, this is essentially a home game for Carleton, which is 1.4 miles from St. Olaf in Northfield.  Pacific Lutheran is going to have to take a 3+ hour flight from Seattle/Tacoma, to Minneapolis and then another 40 minute drive to St. Olaf, so that's a big advantage for Carleton.  Travel takes a lot longer than the time in the sky these days, so you're probably looking at a full day of travel for Pac Lu.  Plus, flying itself stiffens your muscles like a bus ride, but it's more dehydrating, and there is a two hour time difference between Tacoma and Northfield, so the 1:30 pm game will feel like a 11:30 am game for Pac Lu.  Not a huge difference, but it's worse than if it was an evening game.  It means that if the coaches want the normal pre-game routing the Pac Lu players likely have to get up earlier in the morning than they are used to, eat at a different time than their body clocks expect etc.  The Carleton players will also be more accustomed to the weather than the Pacific Lutheran players.  To top it off, Carleton will likely have all the fan support (unless the St. Olaf and/or Wisconsin-Superior fans stick around to root against Carleton).

By all measures, Carleton should win this game and a loss would be deemed an upset (and a lost opportunity for Carleton).  So, is all hope lost for Pacific Lutheran?  Here are a few reasons for optimism among fans of the Lutes should they want to grasp on straws:

1.  Pacific Lutheran has had success traveling and beating opponents who had the home field advantage.  It beat Colorado College this year in Colorado Springs, where CC has built a fortress.  Last year, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Pac Lu beat Mary Hardin-Baylor 4-2 in Belton, Texas where MHB was unbeaten before the Pac Lu game.

2.  Pacific Lutheran is a battle-hardened NCAA tournament veteran team.  This is the third straight year Pac Lu has made the NCAA tournament and it has won in the first round two years in a row, in 2021 at home against Trinity and in 2022 away at Mary Hardin-Baylor.  It has 22 Seniors and Juniors on its roster, all of whom have experienced two years of success in the NCAA tournament environment, whether they played in the games or not, plus 6 sophomores who also experienced it last year.  Carleton didn't qualify last year and in 2021 it lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to North Park.  The last time Carleton won an NCAA tournament game was in 2018. 

3.  Weather is overrated as a factor in this game.  Today's forecast in Tacoma is a high of 51 and a low of 44, with rain showers, while Northfield's forecast for Saturday is high of 47 and low of 40, with clouds but no rain.  That's not a significant difference.  Plus, Pacific Lutheran beat Mary Hardin-Baylor last year at MHB when the high was 50 degrees and the low was 39 degrees.  This isn't St. Thomas (Houston) playing at Chicago, like last year.  Players from the Northwest know and are comfortable with this weather.

4.  St. Olaf's artificial turf field could neutralize some of the home field advantage. Carleton plays on a grass field.  I don't even think Carleton has an artificial turf field to use for practice on campus.  Pacific Lutheran's home field, where the Lutes were 8-0 this year, is artificial turf, as are most of the fields in the Pacific Northwest, and Pac Lu's passing game is well-suited to artificial turf.  Carleton, of course, has played on artificial turf plenty in the MIAC, so I wouldn't necessarily call this an advantage for Pac Lu, but it underscores that just because Carleton is at home in Northfield doesn't mean it has a home "field" advantage on St. Olaf's turf.  In fact, the last time Carleton won at Rolf Melby Field was in 2018, so there isn't a single player on the Carleton roster who has ever won a game on the field where the game with Pac Lu will be played.

[PaulNewman]

Preview of Pacific Lutheran v. Carleton @ St. Olaf for Saturday 11/11:

Carleton is 15-2-1, ranked #4 in Region IX, has a 3-2 RvR, with the only losses to St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus, and a .548 SoS.  Pacific Lutheran is 14-2-4, unranked, has a 1-1 RvR, with the only ranked win against Colorado College the first game of the season and the only ranked loss to Emory 2-1 in Tacoma, and a meager .488 SoS in the Northwest Conference, which was down this year.  It also is coming off a 2-1 loss to Willamette to end the season when Willamette had nothing to play for anymore.  So, the stats all favor Carleton.

To make matters worse, this is essentially a home game for Carleton, which is 1.4 miles from St. Olaf in Northfield.  Pacific Lutheran is going to have to take a 3+ hour flight from Seattle/Tacoma, to Minneapolis and then another 40 minute drive to St. Olaf, so that's a big advantage for Carleton.  Travel takes a lot longer than the time in the sky these days, so you're probably looking at a full day of travel for Pac Lu.  Plus, flying itself stiffens your muscles like a bus ride, but it's more dehydrating, and there is a two hour time difference between Tacoma and Northfield, so the 1:30 pm game will feel like a 11:30 am game for Pac Lu.  Not a huge difference, but it's worse than if it was an evening game.  It means that if the coaches want the normal pre-game routing the Pac Lu players likely have to get up earlier in the morning than they are used to, eat at a different time than their body clocks expect etc.  The Carleton players will also be more accustomed to the weather than the Pacific Lutheran players.  To top it off, Carleton will likely have all the fan support (unless the St. Olaf and/or Wisconsin-Superior fans stick around to root against Carleton).

By all measures, Carleton should win this game and a loss would be deemed an upset (and a lost opportunity for Carleton).  So, is all hope lost for Pacific Lutheran?  Here are a few reasons for optimism among fans of the Lutes should they want to grasp on straws:

1.  Pacific Lutheran has had success traveling and beating opponents who had the home field advantage.  It beat Colorado College this year in Colorado Springs, where CC has built a fortress.  Last year, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Pac Lu beat Mary Hardin-Baylor 4-2 in Belton, Texas where MHB was unbeaten before the Pac Lu game.

2.  Pacific Lutheran is a battle-hardened NCAA tournament veteran team.  This is the third straight year Pac Lu has made the NCAA tournament and it has won in the first round two years in a row, in 2021 at home against Trinity and in 2022 away at Mary Hardin-Baylor.  It has 22 Seniors and Juniors on its roster, all of whom have experienced two years of success in the NCAA tournament environment, whether they played in the games or not, plus 6 sophomores who also experienced it last year.  Carleton didn't qualify last year and in 2021 it lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to North Park.  The last time Carleton won an NCAA tournament game was in 2018. 

3.  Weather is overrated as a factor in this game.  Today's forecast in Tacoma is a high of 51 and a low of 44, with rain showers, while Northfield's forecast for Saturday is high of 47 and low of 40, with clouds but no rain.  That's not a significant difference.  Plus, Pacific Lutheran beat Mary Hardin-Baylor last year at MHB when the high was 50 degrees and the low was 39 degrees.  This isn't St. Thomas (Houston) playing at Chicago, like last year.  Players from the Northwest know and are comfortable with this weather.

4.  St. Olaf's artificial turf field could neutralize some of the home field advantage. Carleton plays on a grass field.  I don't even think Carleton has an artificial turf field to use for practice on campus.  Pacific Lutheran's home field, where the Lutes were 8-0 this year, is artificial turf, as are most of the fields in the Pacific Northwest, and Pac Lu's passing game is well-suited to artificial turf.  Carleton, of course, has played on artificial turf plenty in the MIAC, so I wouldn't necessarily call this an advantage for Pac Lu, but it underscores that just because Carleton is at home in Northfield doesn't mean it has a home "field" advantage on St. Olaf's turf.  In fact, the last time Carleton won at Rolf Melby Field was in 2018, so there isn't a single player on the Carleton roster who has ever won a game on the field where the game with Pac Lu will be played.

Very well done! And only 31 more write-ups to go!

[Kuiper]

Preview of Pacific Lutheran v. Carleton @ St. Olaf for Saturday 11/11:

Carleton is 15-2-1, ranked #4 in Region IX, has a 3-2 RvR, with the only losses to St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus, and a .548 SoS.  Pacific Lutheran is 14-2-4, unranked, has a 1-1 RvR, with the only ranked win against Colorado College the first game of the season and the only ranked loss to Emory 2-1 in Tacoma, and a meager .488 SoS in the Northwest Conference, which was down this year.  It also is coming off a 2-1 loss to Willamette to end the season when Willamette had nothing to play for anymore.  So, the stats all favor Carleton.

To make matters worse, this is essentially a home game for Carleton, which is 1.4 miles from St. Olaf in Northfield.  Pacific Lutheran is going to have to take a 3+ hour flight from Seattle/Tacoma, to Minneapolis and then another 40 minute drive to St. Olaf, so that's a big advantage for Carleton.  Travel takes a lot longer than the time in the sky these days, so you're probably looking at a full day of travel for Pac Lu.  Plus, flying itself stiffens your muscles like a bus ride, but it's more dehydrating, and there is a two hour time difference between Tacoma and Northfield, so the 1:30 pm game will feel like a 11:30 am game for Pac Lu.  Not a huge difference, but it's worse than if it was an evening game.  It means that if the coaches want the normal pre-game routing the Pac Lu players likely have to get up earlier in the morning than they are used to, eat at a different time than their body clocks expect etc.  The Carleton players will also be more accustomed to the weather than the Pacific Lutheran players.  To top it off, Carleton will likely have all the fan support (unless the St. Olaf and/or Wisconsin-Superior fans stick around to root against Carleton).

By all measures, Carleton should win this game and a loss would be deemed an upset (and a lost opportunity for Carleton).  So, is all hope lost for Pacific Lutheran?  Here are a few reasons for optimism among fans of the Lutes should they want to grasp on straws:

1.  Pacific Lutheran has had success traveling and beating opponents who had the home field advantage.  It beat Colorado College this year in Colorado Springs, where CC has built a fortress.  Last year, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Pac Lu beat Mary Hardin-Baylor 4-2 in Belton, Texas where MHB was unbeaten before the Pac Lu game.

2.  Pacific Lutheran is a battle-hardened NCAA tournament veteran team.  This is the third straight year Pac Lu has made the NCAA tournament and it has won in the first round two years in a row, in 2021 at home against Trinity and in 2022 away at Mary Hardin-Baylor.  It has 22 Seniors and Juniors on its roster, all of whom have experienced two years of success in the NCAA tournament environment, whether they played in the games or not, plus 6 sophomores who also experienced it last year.  Carleton didn't qualify last year and in 2021 it lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to North Park.  The last time Carleton won an NCAA tournament game was in 2018. 

3.  Weather is overrated as a factor in this game.  Today's forecast in Tacoma is a high of 51 and a low of 44, with rain showers, while Northfield's forecast for Saturday is high of 47 and low of 40, with clouds but no rain.  That's not a significant difference.  Plus, Pacific Lutheran beat Mary Hardin-Baylor last year at MHB when the high was 50 degrees and the low was 39 degrees.  This isn't St. Thomas (Houston) playing at Chicago, like last year.  Players from the Northwest know and are comfortable with this weather.

4.  St. Olaf's artificial turf field could neutralize some of the home field advantage. Carleton plays on a grass field.  I don't even think Carleton has an artificial turf field to use for practice on campus.  Pacific Lutheran's home field, where the Lutes were 8-0 this year, is artificial turf, as are most of the fields in the Pacific Northwest, and Pac Lu's passing game is well-suited to artificial turf.  Carleton, of course, has played on artificial turf plenty in the MIAC, so I wouldn't necessarily call this an advantage for Pac Lu, but it underscores that just because Carleton is at home in Northfield doesn't mean it has a home "field" advantage on St. Olaf's turf.  In fact, the last time Carleton won at Rolf Melby Field was in 2018, so there isn't a single player on the Carleton roster who has ever won a game on the field where the game with Pac Lu will be played.

Very well done! And only 31 more write-ups to go!

I was actually a little embarrassed for pressing send without even mentioning a single player's name!

So, here's a few key player match-ups:

Goalkeepers - both teams have strong, experienced, keepers, although Pac Lu's keeper is a bit more experienced than Carleton's

Pacific Lutheran

Nicholas Gaston - Senior GK for Pacific Lutheran.  Three-year starter who has started 67 games in his career, including all 4 NCAA tournament games over the last two years.  Gaston saved back-to-back PKs to win the shootout against Trinity to advance in 2021.  Has had his best statistical record of his career this year with a .89 GAA and a .775 save percentage.

Carleton

Daniel Linder - Senior GK for Carleton.  Very impressive season, with a fantastic GAA this year of .28, having only given up 4 goals all season in the 15 games he has played, and having a save percentage of .889.  Linder, however, has only started 26 games over the last two years and has never played in the NCAA tournament.

Scorers - Pac Lu has more experienced scorers and more scoring overall, but that is at least partly a function of weaker overall competition.  On the other hand, Carleton's scorers beefed up their stats with a few big wins (a 10-0 victory over Concordia-Morehead, a 6-0 victory over Simpson, and a 5-0 victory over St. Scholastica), so they also benefited from weaker competition.

Pacific Lutheran

Craig Johnson - Senior MF for Pacific Lutheran.  Four-year starter for the Lutes, who has started 76 of the 78 games he has played.  Has scored 41 goals and 26 assists in his career, but this year has been his best with an impressive 19 goals and 11 assists on 77 shots.  He is 5 for 5 on PKs.

Trevor Thompson - Junior F for Pacific Lutheran.  Two-year starter, with 44 starts to his record.  he has 36 goals and 21 assists in his career.  This year, for the second year in a row he has 16 goals and he also has 9 assists on 96 shots.

Carleton

Ben Pennell - Sophomore F for Carleton (from San Francisco, CA).  Two-year starter with 33 starts.  After only scoring 2 goals last year, scored 13 this year to lead Carleton, along with 7 assists on 68 shots.

Briggs Priem - Sophomore MF for Carleton.  Two-year starter with 35 starts.  After only scoring 2 goals last year, scored 7 this year and 5 assists on 34 shots.

[Kuiper]

Preview of Colorado College v. Oglethorpe at Emory on Saturday 11/11

Oglethorpe is 14-2-2 this year, ranked #6 in Region VI, has a 1-1-1 RvR, with a victory over Washington & Lee in the first game of the season (before it got its offense on track), a loss to Lynchburg, and a tie of Emory, and had a .536 SoS.  Colorado College is 13-3-1, ranked #1 in Region X, has a 5-1-1 RvR, beating all 4 ranked SCAC teams and Christopher Newport and tying Ohio Northern, while losing to Pacific Lutheran, and it has a .581 SoS.  On paper, Colorado College might look like the better team.

Oglethorpe's big advantage, however, much like Carleton against Pacific Lutheran, is that the game will be played in its hometown.  Oglethorpe University is 5-6 miles away from Emory University.  Colorado College, on the other hand, is about 1,387 miles from Emory and a three hour flight.  It's also a two hour time difference. 

On the other hand, it's not like Colorado College isn't used to flights.  They fly to every away game during the season because they are hundreds of miles away from any other DIII program (I think Nebraska Wesleyan is the closest at about 557 miles).  It's just that Colorado College is simply better at home at altitude in Colorado Springs than away.  They lost to UT Dallas in Dallas (not such a bad loss considering they won the ASC tournament) and they lost to eventual winner St. Thomas in Houston in the SCAC tournament.  Nevertheless, they have played well away from altitude too this year, tying Ohio Northern in Ada and beating St. Thomas during the regular season in Houston.

One additional advantage to Oglethorpe, though, is that it should feel right at home on Emory's field.  It already played a tournament at Emory to start the season, where it beat W&L and tied Covenant, and it played at Emory last year during the regular season.  If comfort level is worth anything, Oglethorpe should have it.

As far as the team goes, Colorado College won't want to look at any old tape to see how Oglethorpe plays.  The Stormy Petrols basically re-made their roster this year, bringing in some freshman and transfers who have played a lot this year, including freshman GK Nicolas Meija and former D1 players Luke Ferrari, JR Cozine, and Cristian Medina.   Ben Alram was the SAA's offensive player of the year, with 13 goals and 9 assists on 65 shots and Oglethorpe placed 4 players on the first team All-SAA and three more on the second team, plus 5 honorable mentions.

Colorado College has had a number of standouts itself.  6'3" Junior defender Curtis Hale was named Defensive Player of the Year, while freshman Jack Hillard was newcomer of the year, and Colorado College had two others on the first team All-SCAC, four on the second team, plus 3 honorable mentions.  One interesting aspect of Colorado College is that they don't really have one offensive centerpiece for their attack.  Oliver Ramirez is Colorado College's point leader, scoring 7 goals and 3 assists, and perhaps their most dangerous player, but they have 5 players with at least 4 goals.

[Kuiper]

Preview of UT Dallas @ Trinity on Saturday 11/11 at 5 pm local

This one can be much shorter.  Trinity is ranked #2 in Region X and is 12-2-3 with a 3-2-1 RvR and a .578 SoS.  UTD is unranked and is 10-6-4 with a 1-3-2 RvR and a .535 SoS.  The game is being played on Trinity's home field.

We don't need to talk about travel, familiarity, weather, or how they match up.  They played each other already this year, also at Trinity, and Trinity won 4-1.  It wasn't even that close as Trinity was up 2-0 by the 12th minute, was up 4-0 by the 67th minute, and only an 84th minute goal by UTD wiped out the shutout. Admittedly, this game was early in the season and it was five days after UTD returned from a challenging trip to Boston to play Wheaton to a 0-0 tie and Babson to a 1-0 loss.  A little over a week later, finally playing at home, UTD beat Colorado College 2-1 to start a 6 game winning streak.  After that, however, it went on a skid and only a run in a tournament, where it basically bunkered in against MHB in a 1-0 win and in a 1-1 tie with Concordia, brought it the ASC AQ by winning the PK shootout 7-6.  While that was a confidence boost for UTD, Trinity beat MHB 6-1 and was leading Concordia 1-0 before it was cancelled due to high winds.  The ASC teams generally got crushed by the SCAC teams this season (save for UTD's win v. Colorado College).

UTD doesn't really have a dominant scorer.  They spread the goals around, which is both a strength and a weakness.  Trinity is not all that different, but Chen Adjei and Michael Meese are both capable of dominating in games.  When they are on the field together and firing on all cylinders, it's really hard to defend them.  In fact, it was often Adam Knutson who scored because the other two have drawn all the defenders and dished off to him.  Both teams GKs are experienced and generally solid, but neither  tend to be able to have those stand on your head types of games teams often need.

Assuming Trinity is healthy and not carrying any knocks from the St. Thomas game, Trinity should advance.  That's a big assumption though.  Trinity definitely felt the absence of Knutson against St. Thomas as he came off after 18 minutes in the semifinal game of the SCAC tournament.  During the St. Thomas game, 8 players went all 110 minutes and they only used 3 subs, one of whom for only 10 minutes, which suggests Coach McGinlay's confidence in his bench is not particularly high right now.  Moreover, if Trinity's players are mentally scarred from the St. Thomas game or looking past this game to a re-match with St. Thomas in Round 2, though, UTD is certainly capable of hanging in there long enough to make everyone nervous.

[Kuiper]

Preview of University of St. Thomas (TX) v. Occidental at Trinity on Saturday 11/11 at 7:30 pm central

St. Thomas is ranked #3 in Region X with a 13-3-2 record, a 2-3-1 RvR, and a .564 SoS.  Occidental, which won the SCIAC, is ranked #6 in Region  X with a 13-3-3 record, a 3-1-0 RvR (all 3 wins coming against Redlands and the one loss against Texas Lutheran at home), and a .533 SoS.

St. Thomas isn't exactly at home in San Antonio, which is about 200 miles and a 3 hour drive from Houston, but it just played at Trinity a couple of weeks ago (losing 4-2).  Occidental obviously has to fly halfway across the country to get to San Antonio (about a 3 hour flight, which isn't that much longer than the drive from Eagle Rock to LAX depending upon when they left, unless they flew out of Burbank or Ontario), but this isn't completely unfamiliar territory for the Tigers.  Oxy played at Trinity in 2021, losing 5-2 to Trinity and 3-2 to Southwestern with both games on Trinity's field.  About 5 Oxy players were on that team and played in both games, with three starting.

St. Thomas is deeper than Occidental, but it becomes a little one dimensional on offense if Taty Aleman is not 100% and Danys Ramirez is out (with a red card, hopefully for the whole tournament based on what he reportedly did in the Trinity game).  Oxy's defense is pretty stout, limiting opponents to .79 goals per game.  Evan Karp and Sebastian Romero are formidable in the back and GK Riley Nyhan may be the best keeper in this pod.  He's certainly the biggest at 6'4." The most important player for Oxy might be Vicente Navarrao at the 6.  He's probably one of the most technical players for Oxy and the one who likely has the most ability to navigate the middle of the field.  He also has experience playing against teams like St. Thomas growing up in LA.   I think St. Thomas has more overall team speed and technical ability than Oxy, but Oxy is probably the most athletic team in the SCIAC and I don't think St. Thomas' wingers will be able to blow by the Occidental defenders the way they did in the SCAC.  Oxy's size also could give St. Thomas headaches on set plays.  They have a number of players who can score on headers in the box.

I think this game could be closer than it looks on paper.  Oxy is a maddeningly inconsistent team, but they tend to get up for the big games.  St. Thomas, however, has far more experience as this is the first NCAA appearance ever for Occidental.  That should push them over the line.

[Kuiper]

Really good games involving Region X teams right now.

Pacific Lutheran 0 - Carleton 0 at the end of 1OT

Really strong advertisement for playing out of the back and passing rather than chaos ball.  Beautiful passing sequences and through balls by both teams and both GKs/defenses have held strong.  Craig Johnson had a chance to win it for PLU in the last minute of regulation and his shot hit the underside of the cross bar and went down just outside the goal side of the line.

Colorado College 2 - Oglethorpe 2 with about 20 minutes left in regulation

Oglethorpe was up 2-0 in the 60th minute and Colorado College has roared back into it.

[Kuiper]

Really good games involving Region X teams right now.

Pacific Lutheran 0 - Carleton 0 at the end of 1OT

Really strong advertisement for playing out of the back and passing rather than chaos ball.  Beautiful passing sequences and through balls by both teams and both GKs/defenses have held strong.  Craig Johnson had a chance to win it for PLU in the last minute of regulation and his shot hit the underside of the cross bar and went down just outside the goal side of the line.

Colorado College 2 - Oglethorpe 2 with about 20 minutes left in regulation

Oglethorpe was up 2-0 in the 60th minute and Colorado College has roared back into it.

Pacific Lutheran lost in PKs to Carleton

Colorado College came back from 2-0 down in the second half to win 3-2.

Basically what my previews predicted:  As I wrote above, Carleton was the clear favorite against Pac Lu, but I thought the Lutes would be a formidable opponent, while I thought Colorado College was the favorite against Oglethorpe, but the Stormy Petrols (last chance to write that nickname for awhile) had a number of advantages and they could surprise the Tigers.

[Ron Boerger]

Light rain in San Antonio much of the mid-late afternoon (a tenth or two) with a little more possible could certainly impact field conditions for tonight's games at Trinity.

[Kuiper]

Light rain in San Antonio much of the mid-late afternoon (a tenth or two) with a little more possible could certainly impact field conditions for tonight's games at Trinity.

It's definitely raining steadily on the stream right now.

Trinity 1 - UTD 0

Meese scores a back post shot on a great ball across the goal mount in the 34th minute.

[Kuiper]

Light rain in San Antonio much of the mid-late afternoon (a tenth or two) with a little more possible could certainly impact field conditions for tonight's games at Trinity.

It's definitely raining steadily on the stream right now.

Trinity 1 - UTD 0

Meese scores a back post shot on a great ball across the goal mount in the 34th minute.

UTD scores late in the first half to make it 1-1 (on a GK assist no less)

A big looping free kick by the UTD GK that went to the top of the box - too far out and in too much traffic for the Trinity GK to come out for it - and then it is headed halfway to the goal in a scrum and the GK got beat on the shot (partly because he was a couple steps off his line to try to get the second ball).

UPDATE:  UTD 2 - Trinity 1

UTD has a breakaway and a retreating Trinity defender ends up deflecting the UTD shot so that it wrong foots the Trinity GK into the goal