Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Some additional games have ended out West.

Swarthmore 3 - Occidental 1

This was a game where Oxy's defensive inexperience and lack of bite were exposed in this game.  Cooper Gersh is a good center back, but the team lacked the organization that I suspect Evan Karp provided last season and I don't think Riley Nyhan (who missed entirely the corner that left the goal open for the third goal) is the kind of goalkeeper to provide that in his absence. Swarthmore also did a good job wof frustrating and slowing down with numbers Oxy's forwards and preventing counter-attacks.  It didn't feel like Swarthmore's attack was necessarily dangerous in the run of the play, but the Swarthmore players were more opportunistic and clinical with their shots and Oxy wasn't as precise as they needed with their passing.

Multnomah 4 - Lewis & Clark 0

Multnomah is an NAIA team that has already lost to Pacific 2-1 where Pacific was down to 10 men after a red card in the 60th when the game was tied 1-1, but still allowed Pacific to score the winner in the 80th minute.  Lewis & Clark apparently hasn't shown much progress from last year to even be at Pacific's level, although it did manage 2 corner kicks in the game and 7 shots to Multnomah's 16 and it showed a little fight with 4 yellow cards and 11 fouls.

[Kuiper]

Final game of the evening:

Redlands 2 - Puget Sound 1

This game was a lot closer than one might have expected.  Redlands was up 1-0 for about 50 minutes (from the 26th minute to the 76th minute), but Puget Sound tied it up on a breakaway until Phillip Kostenko broke the tie about 5 minutes later with a PK to seal the win.  Redlands dominated the stats, with a 15-7 advantage on shots and 7-2 advantage on shots on goal, but the stats were even in the second half and, if anything, Puget Sound looked more dangerous.  The nail in its coffin was a meltdown by Etienne Polak, who got a first yellow in the 87th and a second yellow and ejection in the 89th, leaving them down a man for the last 1:13.

Another game where Seth Lawrence didn't play in goal for Redlands.  Not sure if he is injured or what, but they substituted in Jason Salmeron for Brady Bachman in the 61st minute, so if Bachman is injured too, Redlands is down to their third keeper. 

[Kuiper]

At the half, Trinity leads Whitworth 1-0.  Whitworth is having trouble getting untracked and has had several offside calls in the first half as it tries to break out.

I never got back to this one in my write-ups, but Trinity won 4-0 over Whitworth, scoring three goals in the second half to break the game open.  It was complete domination for Trinity in the second half.  They outshot Whitworth 22-3 overall and 16-1 in the second half and had 15 corner kicks to Whitworth's 2, with a 14-1 advantage to Trinity in the second half.  Whitworth did have a player ejected on a second yellow card, but that was in the 84th minute after all 4 Trinity goals had been scored.  Trinity got to empty the bench, playing 26 players (but still no Meese).  Perhaps most impressive or revealing stat is that Whitworth's Cole Friesen, who scored 24 goals on 74 shots last season and has 3 goals on 8 shots in 3 games this season, didn't even record a shot in 61 minutes in this game.

[Ron Boerger]

That second yellow was a little cheap, but the guy went to stomp on his defender and did it right in front of the ref who had no choice but to pull the card.

Adam Knutson's goal early in the second was an absolute rocket from about 20 yards out, his second goal from distance and third in as many games this season.  It was good to see other players - including two of the transfers, Mark Donnelly and Cade Dougan - get on the scoreboard as Knutson had the only goals in the first two games.   

Whitworth had such difficulty maintaining possession that I have to wonder if they had travel issues getting into town.  It was a nice evening for early September so the heat wasn't a factor.

[Kuiper]

Colorado College is about to kick off in its game @ Nebraska Wesleyan.  One interesting note on CC's instagram story is that this is the program's first bus trip in over a decade!  They literally fly to every away game.  Lincoln, Nebraska is about an 8 hour drive (and about a 5,000 feet drop in elevation), but it's the closest D3 school to Colorado College.

UPDATE:  CC's Teddy Opler scores a well-worked goal in the 30th minute and they lead 1-0 at halftime.  I probably won't be able to watch the second half, but Colorado College settled in and were more dangerous as the half went on, but they probably were playing long ball a bit too much in the first half to attack this defense on what looks like a fast turf.

UPDATE:  Colorado College wins 2-0.  They brought their shooting boots today (outshooting Nebraska Wesleyan 30-3 and 9-2 on goal), but not enough precision to run up the score.

[BTXCru18]

A couple of additional game updates involving Region X teams

At the half, Trinity leads Whitworth 1-0.  Whitworth is having trouble getting untracked and has had several offside calls in the first half as it tries to break out.

Concordia (TX) tied Christopher Newport 3-3.

Very unusual to have a game end in a 3-3 tie when one team (CNU) outshot the other 23-7 and had an 11-2 advantage on corners.  That usually suggests the team with fewer shots was bunkering, but in this game the two teams traded goals the entire game and Concordia was up 3-2 on a goal in the 78th minute until CNU scored the tying goal in the 82nd minute.  Big result for Concordia away. It now has two ties after tying Mary Hardin-Baylor, which beat St. Olaf 1-0 in Northfield, MN on Thursday.  It may be that the ASC (and recently departed ASC) teams are the class of Texas this year.

I'll compliment CTX and their new coach, Jordan Parron. He's kept mostly the same tactical look that Mims employed and is leaning on the experienced group he has, so he hasn't had to change much there. What has changed is their discipline. While not to the level of St. Thomas last year, the Tornadoes always seemed to be a little into the "dark arts" as I like to call it. Late challenges, off the ball nonsense, crowding the ref, etc.

In the Cru's game to start the season, Parron subbed one of his starters for arguing with the ref and very loudly made it clear he wasn't going to allow that type of behavior anymore.

[BTXCru18]

UMHB with a regional matchup this time around, facing off against CMS who are 1-0-1. Kicking off here shortly in Northfield before CMS plays St. Olaf on Monday.

[BTXCru18]

UMHB with a regional matchup this time around, facing off against CMS who are 1-0-1. Kicking off here shortly in Northfield before CMS plays St. Olaf on Monday.

CMS take the lead 1-0 in the 15' from a poor clearance. Colin Ross finds the ball on the left side of the  box and picks out the back post with a curling effort.

25' UPDATE: CMS take a 2-0 lead in the 25' from a direct free kick right on top of the box. Rafael Otero with the goal.

37' UPDATE: UMHB benefit from a poor clearance this time and freshman Evan Ruiz pulls a goal back. 2-1.

39' UPDATE: CMS restores their 2 goal advantage. Heiko Schultz the goal scorer.

[Kuiper]

UMHB with a regional matchup this time around, facing off against CMS who are 1-0-1. Kicking off here shortly in Northfield before CMS plays St. Olaf on Monday.

CMS up 2-0 about halfway through the first half.  They just scored a fantastic free kick after an ill-advised tackle by a UMHB defender just outside the top of the box.

[BTXCru18]

UMHB with a regional matchup this time around, facing off against CMS who are 1-0-1. Kicking off here shortly in Northfield before CMS plays St. Olaf on Monday.

CMS take the lead 1-0 in the 15' from a poor clearance. Colin Ross finds the ball on the left side of the  box and picks out the back post with a curling effort.

25' UPDATE: CMS take a 2-0 lead in the 25' from a direct free kick right on top of the box. Rafael Otero with the goal.

37' UPDATE: UMHB benefit from a poor clearance this time and freshman Evan Ruiz pulls a goal back. 2-1.

39' UPDATE: CMS restores their 2 goal advantage. Heiko Schultz the goal scorer.

Halftime. 3-1 in favor of CMS who have been the better side and deservedly ahead. UMHB can't sort out their counterattacks and have been poor in defensive clearances and giving up dangerous set pieces. CMS leads 9-5 and 6-4 in shots and shots on goal, respectively.

[Ron Boerger]

Edward Cartee doing coaching work for CMS.

[BTXCru18]

UMHB with a regional matchup this time around, facing off against CMS who are 1-0-1. Kicking off here shortly in Northfield before CMS plays St. Olaf on Monday.

CMS take the lead 1-0 in the 15' from a poor clearance. Colin Ross finds the ball on the left side of the  box and picks out the back post with a curling effort.

25' UPDATE: CMS take a 2-0 lead in the 25' from a direct free kick right on top of the box. Rafael Otero with the goal.

37' UPDATE: UMHB benefit from a poor clearance this time and freshman Evan Ruiz pulls a goal back. 2-1.

39' UPDATE: CMS restores their 2 goal advantage. Heiko Schultz the goal scorer.

Halftime. 3-1 in favor of CMS who have been the better side and deservedly ahead. UMHB can't sort out their counterattacks and have been poor in defensive clearances and giving up dangerous set pieces. CMS leads 9-5 and 6-4 in shots and shots on goal, respectively.

Final 3-1. UMHB looked much less energetic today than on Thursday in the win against St. Olaf. CMS are a good side and should give the SCIAC a good test. Also, as Ron Boerger correctly pointed out, CMS are coached by former Trinity player and assistant Edward Cartee, entering his 2nd year at the helm. His familiarity with the Cru surely made it a little more comfortable today.

[Kuiper]

FINAL:  Southwestern 2 - Whitworth 0

Whitworth did not have a very good trip to the Lone Star State. After losing to Trinity 4-0 on Friday, where they were outshot 22-3, they were outshot by Southwestern 24-3 on Sunday.  It was only the fact that Southwestern wasn't quite as clinical as Trinity and Whitworth's keeper made 10 saves that made the score look a bit more respectable.  For the second game in a row, Whitworth's Cole Friesen had no shots.  Southwestern has started the season 3-0-1, with the only blemish a tie to Berry.

FINAL:  Colorado College 1 - Simpson 0

Not the greatest offensive results for Colorado College considering they outshot Simpson 22-3 (only 3 of CC's shots were on target), but they get the job done in the end on a goal in the 71st minute.

FINAL:  Montclair State 3 - Chapman 0

Two goals in about 4 minutes early in the 1st half really put this one to bed.  Montclair State simply had too much quality for Chapman even though the other stats were largely even.  I guess the one consolation is that Chapman was able to play a lot of its bench, giving 22 players minutes.

FINAL:  Swarthmore 1 - Caltech 0

Swarthmore pretty much dominated, outshooting Caltech 17-2 with Caltech having zero shots on goal, but only squeaked by with a goal in the 89th minute to take home the win.  The result made Caltech look better than Occidental, but that was partly a result of the time of day for the game and the tactics.
This was a really hot day with the game played at midday and the players were playing on turf, so energy was low.  Coach Gillis made the decision to absorb pressure, only using 5 subs, and make Swarthmore run around.  Almost worked.

FINAL:  Texas Lutheran 2 - Otterbein 1

Big win for TLU and successful trip to the Buckeye State, going 2-0 against Capital and Otterbein.  Very even on stats, but Otterbein's score in the 84th minute was too little, too late.  TLU is now 3-0-1.

FINAL:  Pomona-Pitzer 2 - Puget Sound 0

Big win for Pomona-Pitzer, both because its the first of the season after losing to UC Santa Cruz and tying Pacific Lutheran, but also because Kyle Lau scored both goals.  He was a huge part of the offense as a freshman, scoring 6 goals and getting 2 assists and winning SCIAC newcomer of the year, but hasn't had a goal or assist since he was a sophomore.  That's partly because he was called up to the Hong Kong National Team and missed a lot of time over the past couple of years, and possibly partly because of the absence of Coach Schwarz.  If, as a senior, he can get back on track for the Sagehens, that will be a large boost to its offense.  More generally, Pomona-Pitzer dominated offensively, outshooting Puget Sound 17-3 and 6-0 in shots on goal.  Jasper Broad also got his first shutout for Pomona-Pitzer, after sitting out the last game.  Given the difference in performance for Puget Sound between Friday against Redlands and this morning, it seems like the second game away from home and the heat of the day game really got to them.

FINAL:  Trinity 6 - Berry 0

After getting to halftime 0-0, Trinity has exploded in the second half again to score 3 goals in less than 10 minutes and break open the game, adding 3 more the rest of the way.  6 goals from 6 different players.  Will Powell had 3 assists.  Berry didn't even have a shot on goal in this game.  It did, however, have 5 yellow cards.

[Kuiper]

FINAL: St. Thomas 3 - Howard Payne 0

It took a long time for UST to break through in this game despite playing most of the game on Howard Payne's half, but they finally scored in the 69th minute and then followed up with two more to allow UST to empty the bench.  UST was remarkably disciplined.  They had 0 yellows and only 4 fouls compared with Howard Payne's 15 fouls, but for awhile I wondered whether the new coach's crackdown on behavior was stifling their personality and that was messing with their offensive mojo.  Probably more likely that UST misses Taty Aleman.

FINAL:  George Fox 2 - Emerson 1

After beating Emmanuel 5-1 on Friday, George Fox beats Emerson and comes home from a successful east coast trip. Emerson took the early lead in the 8th minute, but George Fox countered with an equalizer in the 11th minute and then secured what became the winner early in the second half.  George Fox has now started the season 3-0, after starting the season 0-3 the last two seasons.  In fact, I can't find a season going back to 2009 (as far back as the online records go) that they started the season 3-0.

FINAL:  UT Dallas 4 Schreiner 2

UT Dallas is 2-0 heading into its trip next weekend to Colorado Springs to play Emory and Ohio Northern at the Colorado College tournament.

FINAL:  McMurry 1 - University of Dallas 0

Pulls out the win with a goal in the 80th minute

[Ron Boerger]

UT-Dallas is on the road to D2 - they are not eligible for either ASC or NCAA D3 championships.