Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Lewis & Clark has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

- 29 on the roster, compared with 30 last season

- 9 freshman.

- They didn't have a single senior on the roster last season and only a couple of juniors, so the only way they dropped numbers overall after recruiting 9 freshman is through roster melt.  Unfortunately, their melt came in part from losing some of their best players.  Forward Nadav Dicovski, their leading scorer last season as a first year, doesn't appear on the roster.  He also competed in Track & Field for L&C last season and may have decided to focus on that sport.  Midfielder Nathaniel Pi-Sunyer, their second leading scorer, also isn't on the 2024 roster.  It looks like he transferred to De Anza College, a community college in CA, and is playing for them in 2024.  Defender/midfielder Beno Boda, their leading assist man, also isn't on the 2024 roster.  He came to Lewis & Clark as a kicker for the football team and played club soccer before a varsity team was created.  He kicked off in five games last season for the football team and it looks like he is focusing on football this season, perhaps because he has been elevated to regular kicker as a senior.  Another regular starter as a junior, Wesley Esparza Salazar, is no longer on the roster.

Unless some of their freshman are very strong and ready to contribute immediately, it looks like this year could be more of the same.  At least they open with a trip to play two teams in Hawaii, which should be fun.

[Kuiper]

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

- 33 on the roster, compared with 32 last season

- 11 freshman

- All of the CMS award winners from last year, including first team All-SCIAC outside back Shaan Malik and midfielder and leading scorer Rafael Otero and 2nd team All-SCIAC and 2nd leading scorer forward James Gomez, return.

- Notable departures include regular starters GK Kevin Box, F Jake Allmon, D Chase Keir, and M Liam O'Reilly and regular contributor D Andrew McSlarrow

[Kuiper]

Redlands has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

- 31 on the roster, compared with 29 last season

- 7 freshman

- A couple players return for a grad or Covid year: 1st team All Region X GK Seth Lawrence and regular contributor D Erik Davies.

- One transfer - Tristan Loggia from LaVerne, a defender who played 13 games and started 7 as a freshman

- Most notable departures include 1st team All Region defender Skyler Darwen, 1st team All Region and SCIAC Offensive Player of the Year midfielder Jarrette Barajas, 3rd team All Region midfielder Spencer Palmer, and 2nd team All SCIAC defender Jacob Sattler, as well as regular starting midfielder Gabriel Martinez

[Kuiper]

Whittier posted its 2024 Roster

I have been waiting for this one. For anyone that followed my post on Region X recruits, you'll know that Whittier's list of recruits was insanely large.  As in larger than their 2023 roster large.  So, I wondered if this would be (1) a completely new roster, (2) a much bigger roster, or (3) a tryout roster where a lot of the "recruits" might not show up on the roster.  It appears to be a combination of 1 and 2.

- 39 on the roster, compared with 22 on last season's roster.  So, they announced 26 new players on their instagram, but have only increased the roster size by 17. 

- In 2023, there were zero seniors listed on the roster, but they identified three graduating seniors in an Instagram post - Daniel Ramirez, Saar Swanson, and 1st team All-SCIAC forward and leading scorer Lawrence Dydell, who appears to have moved on to grad work at USC's School of Accounting.  All three were contributors, but Swanson and Dydell started every game last season and Dydell was the team's leading scorer, with almost half of all of the team's goals (12 out of 25).  He will be the biggest departure.

- 21 new freshman listed

- Five transfers, including F Teodor Hamilton from DII Fort Hays State (who is listed as a freshman because he redshirted last season), F Benjamin Banks from DII Montana State University Billings, who played 11 games with one start and one goal after transferring from NAIA Northwest University where he played 12 games and started 2, D Chris Flores from LA Mission College (Juco), M Osvaldo Avalos from Monterrey Peninsula College (Juco) where he started 33 games over two years and scored 4 goals and had 2 assists, and F Milton Olivera from Santa Monica College (Juco), who played in 17 games last season and scored 2 goals and had 5 assists.

- What are they going to do with all of these extra players?  Best I can tell, they have not lined up any reserve team games.  It would not be unheard of to have a full varsity roster of 39, so that may be what they are doing.  They still have only 3 GKs, so I expect that is what they will do.  It is probably a mandate from the central administration to increase roster size to add enrollment and bring in more tuition money, especially given the increase in international recruits.  Having said that, the influx of players may improve the team.  After all, they were 1-10-1 in conference last season, finishing last, and 3-12-1 overall, so they can't get worse and more competition in practice and depth for injuries can only help.

[Kuiper]

St. Thomas (TX) has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

- 38 on the roster, compared with 42 last season

- 11 Freshman

- Several transfers, including Brandon Gasca, a CB from Blinn College (juco), who started 31 of 39 games over two years and Justin Burke, a midfielder/defender from DI Northeastern who played 10 games over four seasons and is doing his Covid year at St. Thomas. 

- A couple of players return after one or more years away from the team, including, most notably, Hamilton Estrada, who was 1st Team All Region X as a defender in 2022.  GK Paulo Valente also returns after playing 3 games for St. Thomas in the 21-22 season.

- Regular starting LB Ian Alvarez, who had 8 assists last season, returns for a 5th Covid year and is a captain

- Most notable departures include leading scorer forward Tay Aleman, who scored 17 goals last year and was a 1st team All American in 2022, forward Dany Ramirez, who had 3 goals and 5 assists, and forward Daniel "Tutu" Hernandez, who started 13 games and played in 17.  Fortunately, Daniel Castro, who had 14 goals and 6 assists, returns.

[Kuiper]

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

- 45 on the roster, compared with 47 last season (they have a 6 game reserve team schedule)

- 8 freshman on the roster, which seems a little light for a 45 person roster

- A couple of transfer students, including GK Zachary Verbeck, who transferred from Marietta College, where he played 2 games as a freshman and forward Francisco Maldonado, who played 14 games, starting 9, in 2022 for UMHB, scoring 3 goals with 3 assists, and then left for Richland College (juco) last year, where he started 10 games and had 2 goals and 2 assists before returning for this season

- One Covid senior, Ethan Buchanan, who played 14 games and had 1 goal and 3 assists last season

- Very young roster and they really don't have any notable departures as far as I could tell.  Amasan Agbu, a forward who played 5 games last season, is the only departure I could find of a player who played at all.

- For what it's worth in the depleted ASC, the conference gave preseason predicted honors and Chase Duhon was tabbed as preseason pick for Defensive Player of the Year, Alex Bethke was preseason pick for Offensive Player of the Year, and Sawyer Young was on the "Watch List."

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity(TX) has, at long last, posted its 2024 roster.

• Roster is down to 28 from last season's 31.
• Two of ten seniors (M Louis Instrall and D JC Rule) return for their COVID year.
• All six juniors return; four of six sophomores and five of seven freshmen return.  None of the departees saw significant time on the pitch. 
• Only three freshmen join the squad.
• Omkar Satpathy, who was a GK two years ago as a freshman, returns as a junior, but this marks two years running the team did not recruit a keeper.  With only two on the roster (last year's backup, Joshua Lynch, returns) injuries/suspensions to either will be a concern.
• Sr. D Tom Whitwell also returns after a year away.

Quite a few transfers:

• Jr. M Cade Dougan (UNC Wilmington - redshirt last season)
• Jr. M Alex Ramirez (Kenyon - started in 17 matches, 3 assists last season)
• Soph. F Joey Perryman (Central Connecticut - appeared in 8 games, 6 starts)
• Soph. M. Jason Sukow (Loyola Chicago - 5 appearances)
• Soph. M Samuel Thiess (UC San Diego - did not get on the pitch)
• Sr. M Mark Donnelly (West Liberty - 17 starts, 4 goals)

[Kuiper]

Cal Lutheran has posted its 2024 Roster

A few observations:

- 39 on the roster, compared with 43 last season

- only 4 freshman

- One transfer - midfielder Cole Cederwall, who started 12 games as a freshman at Lakeland College in 2022

- Notable departures include 2d team All Region defender Tyler Sherard, and regular starters GK Davis Sharts, F Chris Palaez, M Kai Nemoto, and D Aidan Johnston

- This is an underwhelming roster.  Not a lot of returning experience.  JP Melgoza and Maxi Schelotto are going to have to carry them offensively and one of the GKs and defenders like Jack Gominiak and Preston Fleming will have to grow up quickly defensively.

[Kuiper]

Occidental has posted its 2024 Returning Player Roster (not sure why they still haven't posted the freshman and newcomers, but I decided there was enough to say without it and I know a few of the freshman anyway).

A few observations since the season is upon us:

- They return a ton of experienced talent offensively.  Senior Andrew Notter, who was 1st team All Region X and leading scorer with 14 goals, is back, as is senior Oury Diane, who had 8 goals and 6 assists, junior Tyler Na-Nakornpanom, who had 6 goals and 2 assist, and senior Kai Fiedelholtz, who had 2 goals and 2 assist, but scored the only goal in their recent scrimmage win against D2 Biola, all return at forward (although Notter is listed at midfield).  Only Marcus Chimielewski and his 5 goals and 1 assist departs from the forward group, and they have a freshman coming in, Devin Bening, who played MLS Next for Coach Lafaurie and could be a contributor off the bench.  Plus, although they lose midfielder Joey Schwartz and his 10 assists, rising sophomores Ethan Carr and Charlie Miller had 5 and 3 assists, respectively, as freshman. If you deliver the ball into the box, Oxy has players who can score and they can do line changes at forward to keep them fresh.  They will need to replace Schwartz's passing from the middle of the field, but rising junior Aidan Aley started 21 games in midfield last year and had 3 goals and 3 assists, so he may be able to step up and fill the gap. 

- They lose a ton of talent and experience on defense.  2nd team All American Evan Karp and regular starter Sebastian Romero were very strong at center back last season and both are gone.  They also lose wing/CB Lukas Howlett, who was 2nd team All-SCIAC.  They still have 3rd team All Region GK Riley Nyhan and 2nd team All-SCIAC outside back Max Stanley, but Karp covered so much ground and made everyone look good on defense, that he will be tough to replace.  2nd team All-SCIAC defensive midfielder Vicente Navarro may have to cover more ground in front of the center backs to help them out, which will take away some of his distribution strength and ability to break lines.

[Gray Fox]

Occidental has posted its 2024 Returning Player Roster (not sure why they still haven't posted the freshman and newcomers, but I decided there was enough to say without it and I know a few of the freshman anyway).

A few observations since the season is upon us:

Oxy is always slow to post players in all sports.  Women's soccer has only named the newcomers and their numbers.

[jaysoccer]

Not sure if Meese is playing this year at Trinity.
Generally light on starting experience -- having lost Joseph Kuri, Jesus Veloz, Jack Eubank and then Jack Downes and Pieter Blank and Austin Wilman who exhausted eligibility..

The transfers will have to play a major role IMO

[Ron Boerger]

Meese is on the 2024 roster with a new photograph but I agree that the larger-than-usual number of transfers will have to make significant contributions.

[Kuiper]

SCIAC preview:

Top Tier

Occidental has the strongest returning roster, especially offensively, and should win the SCIAC.  Biggest question mark will be the center of its defense. Having a strong GK helps a lot, but this will be the first time Nyhan plays without Karp in front of him.  I don't know if I have ever seen him really take over a game and carry a defense (as opposed to simply making a good save here or there) and I suspect Karp was doing more of the organizing of the defense than the GK, which means Nyhan will have to step up with inexperienced center backs taking over.  Having Vicente Navarro at DM and Max Stanley at outside back should help though.  Perhaps more importantly, I don't think any other SCIAC team's offense has the kind of returning offensive talent to pick apart Oxy's defense, or to match its offense in a shootout, if it does drop a level. 

CMS has had a couple of underperforming years the last two years, but I suspect they will be back competing for the championship again.  They return their top players (outside back Malik, midfielder Otero, and forward Gomez), but losing GK Kevin Box could be an issue.  He has been really steady, if not spectacular, and none of the backups have much experience.  This is the first year for a Cartee recruiting class and they have a few good ones I've seen play before.  Watch out for freshman midfielder Heiko Schultz, who is super smooth when he's confident and I suspect he will find his way onto the field early on.  Big question for me is the mentality of this team.  They played well in some big games, beating Oxy 3-1 and taking Redlands to PKs in the SCIAC semifinals after tying them 1-1 in regulation, but they failed to beat Chapman (tying 0-0 and losing 0-1) and lost to Pomona-Pitzer 3-1 at home in the 6th Street Rivalry game when P-P had nothing to play for and tied Cal Tech 1-1 after beating them 4-1 earlier in the season.

Ralph Perez always makes sure Redlands is ready to play, but he'll have some work to do replacing a trio of great players in defenders Darwen and Sattler and midfielders Barajas and Palmer.  He does get back GK Seth Lawrence, but like with Nyhan and Karp at Oxy, Lawrence definitely benefitted from Darwen/Sattler and he doesn't have the size Nyhan has to deal with the crosses in the box that his defenders have handled in the past.  On offense, I expect senior F Phillip Kostenko (8 goals and 4 assists) and Sophomore F Anders Beckton (4 goals and 3 assists) to rival Oxy for offensive prowess if they can get a midfielder or two to step up and replace some of Barajas' ball carrying ability and late runs/long shots, and Palmer's distribution.

Middle of the pack

Cal Lutheran and Chapman tend to be competitive, but I just don't see a lot on their rosters that suggests they are breaking into the top tier this season.  Between the two, Cal Lu has more promise, with Maxi Schelotto showing scoring ability as a freshman and JP Melgoza back for a 5th year.  Losing GK Davis Sharts and top defender Tyler Sherard, however, suggests the defense will be a work-in-progress at best.  Chapman didn't have many standout players last season and the couple they had have not returned.  So, unless some of their recruits break out, I wouldn't be surprised if other schools pass them by.

Cal Tech may have the best two midfielders (or players generally) in the conference returning in Etienne Casanova and Ishaan Mantripragada, who each scored 11 goals last year despite the fact that its opponents knew they were the only real threats on the whole team and could key on them completely.  The question for Cal Tech is have they brought in anyone who can help them.  Dean Yao from FC Delco MLS Next looks promising as another midfielder, but they need help defensively, at goalkeeper, and with depth.  Last year, they probably had 8-9 starters who were competitive and very little else.  If they could get 11 competitive starters and a couple of depth pieces, they not only could pass Chapman (who they tied 2-2 and lost to 0-1 last season), but they might have a chance to sneak into the SCIAC playoffs.  Right now, if one of their top players is out or not at his best, as happened later in the season, they can be bull-rushed defensively.  For example, when they got in a track meet with Pomona-Pitzer in the second-to-last game of the season, which beat them 5-2 after losing 1-0 earlier in the season.

Pomona-Pitzer is a team with some skill and smarts, but some tactical naivete, inconsistent goalkeeping, and lack of athleticism and guts has held them back.  They pass and play possession beautifully as a matter of principle, but they aren't quite skilled, fast, or athletic enough to avoid or make up for mistakes.  They are also a little too tactically naive (or overconfident) to know when to make the killer pass and when to slow down the game and they aren't athletic enough or gritty enough to know when to foul or how to deal with physical players.  As a result, they can beat teams that take them lightly, and get crushed by teams that are highly motivated.  A couple of things have changed that suggest this year may be different and one thing gives me pause.  The positive is they are a year older and some of the important players, like defenders junior Niclas Ulrich and senior Nicholas Mikhail, should be experienced enough and have played together long enough to hold a better defensive shape and to provide adequate cover.  The big addition to the 2024 Roster (which was just posted and I hadn't analyzed fully) is transfer GK Jasper Broad from Colorado College, who first team All SCAC last season.  He won't have Curtis Hale in front of him at P-P, but he's aggressive and athletic and I expect he will solidify the GK position.  They also have an intriguing grad transfer midfielder from Kent, England and a Nebraska NAIA school, Thomas Moulder, who was a regular starter and won some all conference awards there.  That's not a typical P-P recruit. If he has the grit to play physically in the middle of the park, that might unlock some of their skilled offensive players and help the defense too.  The one change to P-P that gives me pause is that Bill Schwarz is back from medical leave and interim Mike Ditta is gone. They also brought back Jen Clark, who was women's coach at CMS and Cal Tech.  We'll see how that affects their play.  If, and it's a big if, they can pull everything together, they have the talent to sneak into the playoffs.  They also have the inconsistency to fall to the bottom tier.

Bottom tier

LaVerne and Whittier.  Both schools have talent and can make things difficult for an opponent, but they haven't put it together in recent years.  Whittier is a complete wild card because they fully revamped their roster and brought in a ton of new players, many of them from Sweden and Norway.  Either could easily pass a school or two in the middle-of-the-pack, but it would be an upset if they got farther than that.

[jaysoccer]

Meese has ankle issues he is trying to overcome. Outcome very iffy

[Kuiper]

I broke down and got the Flo Sports subscription because someone has to watch Cal Tech host NAIA side Park (AZ) at 11 am local on a Friday.  Picture and sound quality are superb.  You can hear every instruction from the coaches and most of the player talk on the field.  Partly that's because there are almost no fans in attendance it seems (I count 12 in the stands)!

0-0 at half.  Cal Tech's defense is holding up even though they are passing out of the back.  GK made a 1v1 save on a breakaway.

UPDATE:  Cal Tech 1 - Park 0 34 minutes to go in the 2nd half

Nice dribble out of trouble led to a long ball in the middle that Jack Myles scored on a 1 v 1 with the GK

Also, there are no LiveStats in this game for some reason and there's no commentator for Cal Tech games, but I haven't see Ishaan on the field.  If so, they are doing really well without him (UPDATE2: LiveStats appeared and Ishaan only played 7 minutes.  Not sure what happened)

FINAL:  Cal Tech 1 - Park 0

The drive for the first winning record in school history begins!