Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[D3Navy]

Here are some game notes from the Trinity - UT Dallas game... with some Montclair-Elmira commentary interspersed...

Game Notes - Trinity v UT Dallas Men's NCAA First Round

Thanks for the notes, Coach.  Wish you'd stuck around for the 2nd half!  The tension during so many PKs was intense!

[Kuiper]

FINAL:  Colorado College wins in PKs over Emory

Region X is now guaranteed to have two teams in the Sweet 16 of this year's tournament, with the second team to be determined by the Occidental @ Trinity game in a couple of hours.

Big moment for Colorado College.  I believe this is the first time it has made the Sweet 16 since 1993

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity goes a man down in the 16th minute when Wilman draws a red trying to break up a two man Oxy jailbreak just outside of the box and loses 4-1. 

[Kuiper]

Big win for Oxy last night, but interesting selection of photo to use for the game recap.  Maybe Oxy GK Riley Nyhan offended the Trinity Sports Communications staff and in a passive-aggressive attempt to get back at him, this was the only photo they provided to their sports communications counterparts at Occidental?

https://oxyathletics.com/news/2023/11/13/mens-soccer-tigers-roll-into-sweet-sixteen-with-impressive-win.aspx

[Gray Fox]

Big win for Oxy last night, but interesting selection of photo to use for the game recap.  Maybe Oxy GK Riley Nyhan offended the Trinity Sports Communications staff and in a passive-aggressive attempt to get back at him, this was the only photo they provided to their sports communications counterparts at Occidental?

https://oxyathletics.com/news/2023/11/13/mens-soccer-tigers-roll-into-sweet-sixteen-with-impressive-win.aspx

The Oxy write-up failed to mention they were up a man most of the game.

[Kuiper]

Big win for Oxy last night, but interesting selection of photo to use for the game recap.  Maybe Oxy GK Riley Nyhan offended the Trinity Sports Communications staff and in a passive-aggressive attempt to get back at him, this was the only photo they provided to their sports communications counterparts at Occidental?

https://oxyathletics.com/news/2023/11/13/mens-soccer-tigers-roll-into-sweet-sixteen-with-impressive-win.aspx

The Oxy write-up failed to mention they were up a man most of the game.

I saw that too, but I've noticed that in recaps from other schools as well.  I'm not sure why, but maybe they just want to focus on the positive.

For what it's worth, Oxy was largely in control even before that and likely would have scored (since they had two players on the break) on that play if Trinity's GK had not intervened, but it surely unsettled Trinity and influenced the score if not the result too.

[College Soccer Observer]

By the way, circling back to the leg-breaking tackle by St. Thomas vs Texas Lutheran, nothing was ever formally announced for the St. Thomas player beyond the mandatory one game suspension.  Looking at the box scores, in addition to the game against Austin, he also sat out vs UT Dallas and Centenary.  Whether imposed by the conference or the school, it turned out to be a three game suspension. 

[Kuiper]

This isn't a full preview of the Occidental @ Amherst Sweet Sixteen game, but since we have all week, I thought I would offer one bit of "it's a small world" color to the game that most people won't know about.  I'm putting it on the tournament thread and the Go WEST thread since the Amherst/NESCAC fans may not look in the Go WEST thread.

This is the first time Occidental and Amherst will ever play in men's soccer, but for a number of people, it will be a reunion.  Max Landa, Amherst's starting goalkeeper, is from Southern California and went to La Canada HS, Class of 2020.  Marcus Chmielewski, Occidental's starting striker also went to La Canada HS Class of 2020, as did Tyler Na-Nakornpanom, Occidental's backup striker, who was two years behind Max and Marcus.  Over their four years, Max and Marcus only lost two games in league and both were first team All-League their senior year, with Marcus named league MVP, while Tyler was an honorable mention that same year.  Here's a link to an article about the team:

https://www.latimes.com/socal/la-canada-valley-sun/sports/story/2020-03-25/la-canada-boys-soccer-standout-chmielewski-earns-league-mvp-honors

In addition, Max and Marcus were club teammates on LA Surf ECNL, which was coached by Rod Lafaurie, LA Surf's Director of Elite Programming and Occidental's head coach.

I don't think any of them thought they would all reunite on a field in Western Masschusetts, but it should be cool to watch.

[Kuiper]

Preview:  Occidental @ Amherst @11 am local team on Saturday 11/18

Occidental is 15-3-3 and was ranked #6 in Region X.  It beat St. Thomas 2-1 and Trinity TX 4-1 in the first two rounds, both played at Trinity.  Amherst is 15-2-3 and was ranked #1 in Region I.  It beat SUNY Poly 2-1 and Stevens 1-0 in OT in the first two rounds, both played at WPI in Worcester, MA.

Let's face it, despite having similar records, Occidental faces an extremely uphill battle here. 

Occidental traveled halfway across the country - over 1300 miles - to San Antonio, Texas to play two Texas teams at Trinity University and then traveled all the way back across the country to Los Angeles and now has to fly all the way across the country - almost 3000 miles - to Amherst, Massachusetts to play in the Sweet Sixteen.  That's a lot of flying in one week.  Plus, after playing two games in the rain last weekend and doing all that flying, hotel, and airport time, it will be a miracle if no one is sick.  And to top it off, the game on Saturday is scheduled for 11 am, which is 8 am Los Angeles time, so the jet lag could be pretty brutal unless Coach Lafaurie somehow managed to get the players to stay on central time all week.  And that's to say nothing about any differences in weather, which actually won't be that terribly bad - maybe 10-15 degrees -- even if it rains since it actually rained today in LA, probably while Oxy was practicing, and they've already proven they can play in the rain.

Of course, Amherst could protest that they too played both games away last week.  That 54.7 mile drive to WPI might even have taken a little over an hour if there was traffic!  Occidental's trip to LAX for the flight will be longer than that, especially with LA in traffic hell because of the shut down of a crucial stretch of the I-10 due to the massive pallet fire below an overpass last weekend. And, Amherst will be sleeping in their own beds this weekend and have no commute at all. 

The one possible trick up Occidental's sleeve is if the Oxy Ultras travel to Amherst as well.  From the stream, it looked like they may have had as many as 20 or 25 people or more at the games in Texas.  They are diehards and this is the first time Oxy is in the NCAA tournament, so if they went to Texas they might go to Amherst too.  If they do make it, there will be much discomfort, tongue-clicking, harumphing and maybe even pearl-clutching among the locals.  I don't know if Serpone has ever had his sideline drowned out by drums, vuvuzelas, cow bells, and non-stop chanting.  The play-by-play announcer in Trinity noted that Oxy's fans created all the atmosphere at the game.  He even mentioned that he was going to go crazy if they kept the drum beating all game.  And, despite the rain, they did.

Putting all of that aside, does Oxy have a chance on the field?  They have no common opponents.  In Massey, where the ratings are updated to include this past weekend's games, Amherst is rated #4 and Occidental is rated #17, so not quite as separated as some who don't follow Regions outside their own might assume.  That's ahead of some teams in the Round of 16, like Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Colorado College, Washington & Lee, Washington College, and Ohio Northern, but still behind Amherst and everyone else (and behind Bowdoin and just ahead of Williams, among NESCAC non-qualifiers).

What does Oxy have? They do have more truly legit goal scoring threats than most D3 programs.  They come at you in waves with Oury Diane and Marcus Chmielweski starting, but their leading scorer, who came off the bench most games to score double the goals of anyone on Amherst's roster, is Andrew Notter, and they have other players like Tyler Na-Nakornpanom and Kai Fiedelholtz who they run out there a lot, plus they have guys in midfield who can rip a shot to the top corner.  More importantly, they rotate all those players to keep them fresh and so they can run relentlessly.  That rotation is something I didn't see from Amherst, at least when they had a close game against Stevens where they used most of their starters for the full 110 minutes or close to it.  Oxy also has decent size and speed and their taller players are fairly athletic, but Amherst is even taller, also has some great outside speed players, and has that size at virtually every position. 

As I wrote in an earlier post, the most interesting thing to watch for me is to see those boys from La Canada HS playing against each other.  I bet Marcus Chmielweski has shot on Max Landa well over a 1000 times in their youth and HS careers during practices and warmups and Tyler Na-Nakornpanom probably had his fair share of shots on Landa as well during their time together in the HS team.  They probably took a hundred PKs against Max in practice alone.  It would be quite the full circle moment if the game came down to something like that, even though with the passage of four years all of the players have grown and changed.

[coach analytics]

Preview:  Occidental @ Amherst @11 am local team on Saturday 11/18

Occidental is 15-3-3 and was ranked #6 in Region X.  It beat St. Thomas 2-1 and Trinity TX 4-1 in the first two rounds, both played at Trinity.  Amherst is 15-2-3 and was ranked #1 in Region I.  It beat SUNY Poly 2-1 and Stevens 1-0 in OT in the first two rounds, both played at WPI in Worcester, MA.

Let's face it, despite having similar records, Occidental faces an extremely uphill battle here. 

Occidental traveled halfway across the country - over 1300 miles - to San Antonio, Texas to play two Texas teams at Trinity University and then traveled all the way back across the country to Los Angeles and now has to fly all the way across the country - almost 3000 miles - to Amherst, Massachusetts to play in the Sweet Sixteen.  That's a lot of flying in one week.  Plus, after playing two games in the rain last weekend and doing all that flying, hotel, and airport time, it will be a miracle if no one is sick.  And to top it off, the game on Saturday is scheduled for 11 am, which is 8 am Los Angeles time, so the jet lag could be pretty brutal unless Coach Lafaurie somehow managed to get the players to stay on central time all week.  And that's to say nothing about any differences in weather, which actually won't be that terribly bad - maybe 10-15 degrees -- even if it rains since it actually rained today in LA, probably while Oxy was practicing, and they've already proven they can play in the rain.

Of course, Amherst could protest that they too played both games away last week.  That 54.7 mile drive to WPI might even have taken a little over an hour if there was traffic!  Occidental's trip to LAX for the flight will be longer than that, especially with LA in traffic hell because of the shut down of a crucial stretch of the I-10 due to the massive pallet fire below an overpass last weekend. And, Amherst will be sleeping in their own beds this weekend and have no commute at all. 

The one possible trick up Occidental's sleeve is if the Oxy Ultras travel to Amherst as well.  From the stream, it looked like they may have had as many as 20 or 25 people or more at the games in Texas.  They are diehards and this is the first time Oxy is in the NCAA tournament, so if they went to Texas they might go to Amherst too.  If they do make it, there will be much discomfort, tongue-clicking, harumphing and maybe even pearl-clutching among the locals.  I don't know if Serpone has ever had his sideline drowned out by drums, vuvuzelas, cow bells, and non-stop chanting.  The play-by-play announcer in Trinity noted that Oxy's fans created all the atmosphere at the game.  He even mentioned that he was going to go crazy if they kept the drum beating all game.  And, despite the rain, they did.

Putting all of that aside, does Oxy have a chance on the field?  They have no common opponents.  In Massey, where the ratings are updated to include this past weekend's games, Amherst is rated #4 and Occidental is rated #17, so not quite as separated as some who don't follow Regions outside their own might assume.  That's ahead of some teams in the Round of 16, like Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Colorado College, Washington & Lee, Washington College, and Ohio Northern, but still behind Amherst and everyone else (and behind Bowdoin and just ahead of Williams, among NESCAC non-qualifiers).

What does Oxy have? They do have more truly legit goal scoring threats than most D3 programs.  They come at you in waves with Oury Diane and Marcus Chmielweski starting, but their leading scorer, who came off the bench most games to score double the goals of anyone on Amherst's roster, is Andrew Notter, and they have other players like Tyler Na-Nakornpanom and Kai Fiedelholtz who they run out there a lot, plus they have guys in midfield who can rip a shot to the top corner.  More importantly, they rotate all those players to keep them fresh and so they can run relentlessly.  That rotation is something I didn't see from Amherst, at least when they had a close game against Stevens where they used most of their starters for the full 110 minutes or close to it.  Oxy also has decent size and speed and their taller players are fairly athletic, but Amherst is even taller, also has some great outside speed players, and has that size at virtually every position. 

As I wrote in an earlier post, the most interesting thing to watch for me is to see those boys from La Canada HS playing against each other.  I bet Marcus Chmielweski has shot on Max Landa well over a 1000 times in their youth and HS careers during practices and warmups and Tyler Na-Nakornpanom probably had his fair share of shots on Landa as well during their time together in the HS team.  They probably took a hundred PKs against Max in practice alone.  It would be quite the full circle moment if the game came down to something like that, even though with the passage of four years all of the players have grown and changed.

Interesting about the crowd and noise makers.  Maybe our NESCAC fan - College Soccer Observer — who I understand knows the rules quite well - can comment on whether noise makers like cowbells/drums etc are permitted in the crowds.  I was under the impression that they were not allowed.  In the past they have been a part of the Middlebury scene but I have noticed that this year they are not.

[College Soccer Observer]

Here is the actual rule:
5.6.9 Suspend the game, stop the clock and direct the game management personnel to remove whistles, air horns, electronic amplifiers and any other items that are not permitted from the spectators' areas.
5.6.9.1 It is permissible for bands to play at any time during the game.
5.6.9.2 It is permissible for musical instruments and artificial noisemakers to be used at any time during the game.
A.R. 5.6.9.a. Is amplified or pre-recorded music permissible? RULING: Only during pregame, intervals between periods, and anytime the clock is stopped and the ball is not in play.
A.R. 5.6.9.b. Are artificial noisemakers permissible? RULING: Yes, provided they are not one of the prohibited items under Rule 5.6.9 and do not interfere with the administration of the game.

So in theory, things like drums, cowbells, etc. are permissible.  The loophole, however, is in the last line.  Essentially, the host institution can decide that certain things interfere with the administration of the game and ban them.  An example for Midd was in 2021, Franklin and Marshall did not permit cowbells.

As far as cowbells this year, the players are not big fans of the cowbells, so they have been retired.  They made an appearance at one game this year, and perhaps not coincidentally, it was the game they lost. 

[coach analytics]

Here is the actual rule:
5.6.9 Suspend the game, stop the clock and direct the game management personnel to remove whistles, air horns, electronic amplifiers and any other items that are not permitted from the spectators' areas.
5.6.9.1 It is permissible for bands to play at any time during the game.
5.6.9.2 It is permissible for musical instruments and artificial noisemakers to be used at any time during the game.
A.R. 5.6.9.a. Is amplified or pre-recorded music permissible? RULING: Only during pregame, intervals between periods, and anytime the clock is stopped and the ball is not in play.
A.R. 5.6.9.b. Are artificial noisemakers permissible? RULING: Yes, provided they are not one of the prohibited items under Rule 5.6.9 and do not interfere with the administration of the game.

So in theory, things like drums, cowbells, etc. are permissible.  The loophole, however, is in the last line.  Essentially, the host institution can decide that certain things interfere with the administration of the game and ban them.  An example for Midd was in 2021, Franklin and Marshall did not permit cowbells.

As far as cowbells this year, the players are not big fans of the cowbells, so they have been retired.  They made an appearance at one game this year, and perhaps not coincidentally, it was the game they lost.

Thanks - Super helpful.

[Kuiper]

Preview:  Colorado College v. Ohio Northern @ Tufts (Medford, MA) at 1:30 ET on Saturday 11/18

These are two relatively evenly matched teams.

Colorado College is 14-3-2 this year and ranked #1 in Region X, while Ohio Northern is 13-5-4 and ranked #3 in Region VII. Colorado College got here by beating Oglethorpe 3-2 and advancing over Emory 5-3 in PKs after a 1-1 tie, with both games at Emory.  Ohio Northern got here by advancing over Lynchburg 7-6 in PKs after a 2-2 tie and beating Messiah 1-0, with both games at Lynchburg. 

This is a rematch of a game played @ONU on 9/9, which ended in a 1-1 tie.  CC scored its goal in the 9th minute on a cross that was tapped in on the back post and ONU scored on a PK in the 34th minute.  ONU outshot CC 17-8 and goalkeeper Jasper Broad, who was SCAC GK of the year this year as a sophomore, made 5 saves to preserve the tie.  ONU had lost to Calvin 1-0 the day before as part of the ONU invitational, and the tie with CC was the second game in a four game winless streak that included losses to Ohio Wesleyan and North Central.  So, this was probably both the toughest stretch of the season for ONU and a particularly hard series of opponents.  On the other hand, the tie with Colorado College was before they really went on their big run with a win against Christopher Newport that began a 10 game winning streak.  So, neither team was at the top of their game yet on Sept. 9.  Nevertheless, the game provides an unusual level of familiarity for two teams that wouldn't ordinarily cross paths in the regular season.

Both teams have proven the ability to travel and get wins, although Colorado College really specializes in travel.  As the most isolated DIII school in the country, they have a DI travel schedule really.  I think this will be the seventh airplane trip of the season for the Tigers.  By contrast, this is probably Ohio Northern's first travel to a game by airplane this season since the Lynchburg trip was under 500 miles.

As far as players to watch for Colorado College's defense is anchored by Broad in goal and fellow 1st team All-SCAC and defender of the year Curtis Hale on defense.  Oliver Ramirez in the midfield is speedy and is tied for the team lead in goals and Alexander Ward and Connor Webster are dangerous too, all of whom were named 2d team All SCAC.  For Ohio Northern, Will Shafer and Ryan Sommerfield were 1st team All-OAC and are the top goal scorers.  Defender Brendon Gervers anchors the back line and was 1st team all OAC, along with Noah Zebrek, who was 2nd team All OAC.  GK Lucas Hickey was also 2nd team All-OAC.

[Kuiper]

One other difference between Colorado College and Ohio Northern that is probably only of interest to me, but may affect D3 student-athletes (who are, after all, students first) more than D1 athletes:

Colorado College has a 4 block system where they take one class at a time for four weeks and then move on to the next class.  Colorado Colleges' third block ended Wed 11/15 and they have a fall break until 11/27 when the fourth block starts.  On the one hand, that might mean they had a little less practice time/focus this week as they got back from Atlanta and went straight into finishing up a project or taking an exam.  On the other hand, after that, they are free and clear and can focus entirely on this weekend's games and travel etc without worrying about missed class time or exam studying etc.  Ohio Northern has a traditional semester calendar and therefore they presumably had classes all week, although they probably are saving exam prep until after this weekend (more likely after Thanksgiving break).  Not a big deal, but little stresses can sometimes make a difference below the surface that we can't see.

[College Soccer Observer]

Kudos to Occidental on a really well played game.  They went toe to toe with Amherst, and their crowd support was phenomenal.