Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

FINAL:  Occidental 0 - UC Santa Cruz 0

Oxy really has to be disappointed with this weekend.  After losing to Swarthmore 3-1, they had a golden opportunity to make amends after UC Santa Cruz went down to 10 men in the 17th minute on a double yellow.  As often happens, however, the team down a man becomes tough to break down and Oxy, despite outshooting Santa Cruz 23-6 and 17-2 in the second half, couldn't find a goal.  UC Santa Cruz gets the well-earned tie in the heavy hot air.

[BTXCru18]

St. Olaf vs. CMS

30': 2-1 CMS with 15' left in the 1st half. Stags jumped out to a 2-0 lead scoring on each side of the water break then the Oles responded with a laid off free kick that snuck under the wall to make it 2-1. CMS with a lot of the ball and more dangerous opportunities, however St. Olaf have the lead in shots 7-5. Shaping up for a good 1st half ending and for an exciting 2nd half.

[BTXCru18]

St. Olaf vs. CMS

30': 2-1 CMS with 15' left in the 1st half. Stags jumped out to a 2-0 lead scoring on each side of the water break then the Oles responded with a laid off free kick that snuck under the wall to make it 2-1. CMS with a lot of the ball and more dangerous opportunities, however St. Olaf have the lead in shots 7-5. Shaping up for a good 1st half ending and for an exciting 2nd half.

HALFTIME: 2-2. Oles tie it up with 10 seconds left. Corner kick straight to the foot of Ian Holtz-Hazeltine inside the 6 for a tap-in. Scrum at the front 6 had the goalkeeper distracted and the ball went through untouched straight to the Oles defender.

[Kuiper]

St. Olaf vs. CMS

30': 2-1 CMS with 15' left in the 1st half. Stags jumped out to a 2-0 lead scoring on each side of the water break then the Oles responded with a laid off free kick that snuck under the wall to make it 2-1. CMS with a lot of the ball and more dangerous opportunities, however St. Olaf have the lead in shots 7-5. Shaping up for a good 1st half ending and for an exciting 2nd half.

HALFTIME: 2-2. Oles tie it up with 10 seconds left. Corner kick straight to the foot of Ian Holtz-Hazeltine inside the 6 for a tap-in. Scrum at the front 6 had the goalkeeper distracted and the ball went through untouched straight to the Oles defender.

I don't think this was what was going on here (your "distract" description seems more accurate since no one was even touching the GK), but I think in many cases the "surround the GK" strategy on corner kicks is effectively just obstruction and would be called a foul anywhere else on the field.  If the refs aren't going to call it a foul, though, I can understand why coaches use it.  It's why goalkeepers have resorted to pushing one of their own players against the opposing players right as the ball is kicked to create separation.

[Kuiper]

St. Olaf vs. CMS

30': 2-1 CMS with 15' left in the 1st half. Stags jumped out to a 2-0 lead scoring on each side of the water break then the Oles responded with a laid off free kick that snuck under the wall to make it 2-1. CMS with a lot of the ball and more dangerous opportunities, however St. Olaf have the lead in shots 7-5. Shaping up for a good 1st half ending and for an exciting 2nd half.

HALFTIME: 2-2. Oles tie it up with 10 seconds left. Corner kick straight to the foot of Ian Holtz-Hazeltine inside the 6 for a tap-in. Scrum at the front 6 had the goalkeeper distracted and the ball went through untouched straight to the Oles defender.

A real slugfest in Northfield.  Otero scores a second goal for CMS and they take a 3-2 lead in the 59th minute.

FINAL:  CMS 3 - St. Olaf 2

St. Olaf drops to 2-3 in a tough start to the defense of their nat'l championship.  CMS jumps to 3-0-1, with the only blemish a tie against Luther in the opening game.  Successful trip to Minnesota for CMS with wins against Mary Hardin-Baylor and St. Olaf.  They also have demonstrated that their offense is in fine form with 13 goals in 4 games.

[Kuiper]

United Soccer Coaches Regional Ranking for Region X

Region X - Poll 1 - September 10, 2024
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Colorado College    2    4-0-0
2    Southwestern University    4    3-0-1
3    Trinity University (Texas)    3    2-0-2
4    Claremont-McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges    NR    2-0-1
5    University of Redlands    8    2-1-0
6    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    5    2-0-0
7    University of California Santa Cruz    NR    2-0-2
8    Texas Lutheran University    6    3-0-1

[Kuiper]

United Soccer Coaches Regional Ranking for Region X

Region X - Poll 1 - September 10, 2024
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Colorado College    2    4-0-0
2    Southwestern University    4    3-0-1
3    Trinity University (Texas)    3    2-0-2
4    Claremont-McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges    NR    2-0-1
5    University of Redlands    8    2-1-0
6    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    5    2-0-0
7    University of California Santa Cruz    NR    2-0-2
8    Texas Lutheran University    6    3-0-1

These records are through Sept 8th and therefore don't include CMS' 3-2 win at St. Olaf on Sept 9th.  I would bump CMS up over Trinity and Southwestern based on strength of opponents.  I would also place Texas Lutheran higher on the same basis.  Beating Capital and Otterbein away on back-to-back days is no small task.

[Kuiper]

One morning result to report:

Caltech 5 - Life Pacific 0

Life Pacific is a bad NAIA team.  They were 2-12-2 last year. They did come into this game 1-0, having beaten Soka 1-0, but that was one of their two wins in 2023. Last year, Caltech beat them 5-1.  So, this result was expected.  Nevertheless, Caltech held them scoreless this year and Etienne Casanova and Ishaan Mantripragada each got a brace, with the team outshooting Life Pacific 24-7.  This bumps up Caltech's record to 4-1 with one more very winnable non-conference game (against NAIA side Bethesda) before starting conference play.  It's getting more and more likely that Caltech will exceed its record win total from last year of 6 and possibly end up with a winning record for the first time in program history if they can replicate their results from last year in conference.  The challenge for them in the SCIAC is that the teams they beat last year - Whittier, Pomona-Pitzer, and LaVerne - all seem to have improved, but the fact that they only lost to Swarthmore 1-0 demonstrates their rising level of competitiveness.

[Kuiper]

Three evening games out West tonight

Pomona-Pitzer 3 - LaVerne 0

The first SCIAC game of the season between two teams that were out of the conference playoff race early last season.  LaVerne outshot P-P 16-9, but most of their shots were way off target and P-P GK Jasper Broad saved the ones that did make it toward the net, ending with 7 saves.  Both teams try to pass and play the game, but P-P is better at it than LaVerne.  They really have a lot of skilled players.  Problem is that they aren't quite precise enough to play the way they do against teams that press hard, so they are going to give up goals against better teams than LaVerne just from giveaways in bad spots.  I admire the commitment to the game plan though.  It puts Broad under pressure at times, but that's actually where he excels.

UC Santa Cruz 1 - Pacific 0

Unlike in the P-P-LaVerne game, these were not teams that like to pass and play the game, at least tonight.  It really was a dreadful sight at times, made worse when Pacific was pushing to get a goal late in the game and UC Santa Cruz was trying to counterattack off their mistakes.  Santa Cruz had a 3 on 0 breakaway late in the game and the UCSC player panicked when he realized the Pacific defenders were catching up to him and skied a shot from 35 yards out instead of passing to one of his teammates.  I get that UCSC is emphasizing their size, athleticism and physical play, but they basically just ran through players, earning 16 fouls to 5 for Pacific.  It was ugly.

Whittier 4 - Bethesda 1

Bethesda is a bad NAIA team and they were only down 2-1 to Whittier until the Poets scored two goals in the last 15 minutes of the game. Whittier outshot Bethesda 27-3, but just wasn't clinical enough.  They also gave up a PK to give Bethesda a lead early in the game.

[Kuiper]

A few interesting games in Region X tonight:

CMS 2 - Wheaton (IL) 0

CMS looks like it might be the class of the SCIAC and Region X after beating St. Olaf and Mary Hardin-Baylor in Minnesota over the weekend and then handling Wheaton (IL) 2-0 at home.  Rafael Otero had 2 goals to bring his total goals up to 5.  Wheaton is not a particularly strong team, but CMS passed around them with relative ease and outshot them 14-7 (6-2 on goal).  It's rough on the eyes to watch games on CMS' home field because it looks so patchy (almost like well-tended weeds of different varieties), but it doesn't seem to hinder CMS' passing game.

Redlands 2 - Whitman 1

Whitman has only played 1 regular season game before this game (against a middling NAIA team), so they are both a mystery and not fully-formed.  This starts a three game stretch in Southern California against SCIAC teams with games against LaVerne tomorrow and Chapman on Sunday still to come, so we'll know a lot more about them after this trip.  You can see that they have quality, but they give away the ball pretty cheaply, often in their own end.  Whitman opened the scoring against Redlands to take a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute, but Redlands tied it up on an Anders Beckton goal in the 26th minute and took the lead on a Phillip Kostenko goal (his 5th of the year) five minutes into the second half.  Unlike CMS, Redlands' field is beautiful and well-manicured, but Redlands' precision in passing does not match CMS's passing game (which is only partly a function of the difference in quality of opponents).  Still, Redlands beat Luther, which tied CMS, and Redlands' only loss was to DII Cal Poly Pomona.

Mary Hardin-Baylor 2 - Austin College 1

UMHB mostly had their way with Austin College in this game, only giving up a goal on a PK late in the game, but it's clear that they have to work for the few goals they get.  They beat St. Olaf in Minnesota 1-0, but lost to CMS 3-1 and Texas Lutheran 2-1 and tied Concordia TX 1-1, which I think sums them up right now.  A good team that can be competitive with anyone, but isn't going to be dominant very often.

Concordia TX 1 - LeTourneau 1

This result kind of surprised me considering that Concordia has tied UMHB 1-1 and gone to Virginia where they tied Christopher Newport 3-3 and beat Virginia Wesleyan 1-0, while LeTourneau traveled to Michigan and was crushed by Calvin (4-0) and Hope (7-0).  Concordia was down 1-0 for almost the whole game, though, after LeTourneau scored in the 10th minute.  I wasn't able to watch the game, so I assume that LeTourneau basically went into a bit of a shell until Concordia broke through in the 74th minute.  LeTorneau had a player ejected in the 88th as well, but that was too late for Concordia to capitalize.

[Ron Boerger]

An article in today's Trinity student newspaper confirms that last year's leading scorer, Michael Meese, is likely lost for the season with a recurrence of the injury that has bedeviled him much of his collegiate career. 

[Kuiper]

An article in today's Trinity student newspaper confirms that last year's leading scorer, Michael Meese, is likely lost for the season with a recurrence of the injury that has bedeviled him much of his collegiate career. 

That's a real bummer for the young man.  Is that it for him or can he still use his Covid year next year and his medical redshirt this year?  Of course, he may want to call it quits for health reasons regardless.

[stlawus]

An article in today's Trinity student newspaper confirms that last year's leading scorer, Michael Meese, is likely lost for the season with a recurrence of the injury that has bedeviled him much of his collegiate career. 

That's a real bummer for the young man.  Is that it for him or can he still use his Covid year next year and his medical redshirt this year?  Of course, he may want to call it quits for health reasons regardless.

This is his covid year.  Theoretically you could get a medical redshirt but at that point it'd be 6 years of school on top of injuries.

[Ron Boerger]

An article in today's Trinity student newspaper confirms that last year's leading scorer, Michael Meese, is likely lost for the season with a recurrence of the injury that has bedeviled him much of his collegiate career. 

That's a real bummer for the young man.  Is that it for him or can he still use his Covid year next year and his medical redshirt this year?  Of course, he may want to call it quits for health reasons regardless.

He started at William and Mary in the 2020-21 season, full season at Trinity '21-'22, out for the season after five games in '22-23, full season in '23-24.  Listed as a senior on the roster which makes me think he got a medical redshirt for '22-23.  There are no COVID years after this season.

Even if they could work something out not only would it be a sixth season, but with two season-ending injuries in three seasons why would you want risk it (and possibly a more severe injury) again?

[Kuiper]

A few interesting games out in Region X tonight

Trinity 2 - Cal Lutheran 0

Trinity pretty much dominated this game, scoring the first goal halfway through the first half and the second in the first five minutes after halftime and out-shooting Cal Lu 25-3 and winning the corner kick battle 11-1.  Only thing Cal Lu nearly matched or matched Trinity on was fouls (16-17) and yellow cards (3 apiece). I don't think Cal Lu is a very strong SCIAC team this year, but they compete in most games, so I would consider this a solid victory for Trinity.

Colorado College 1 - Ohio Northern 1

Really tight playoff-type game between two teams that are likely going to be vying for the conference titles this year.  This is their third time playing each other in less than a year, with the teams tying 1-1 last year in the regular season in Ada, Ohio and Colorado College winning 1-0 in OT in the Sweet Sixteen.  So, I think it's fair to say that these teams know each other well and have a budding cross-country rivalry.  Consistent with all of that, it took something special - a top corner shot from outside the box by Colorado College in the 82nd minute to break open the game before ONU secured the equalizer in the 86th.

UC Santa Cruz 2 - Willamette 2

After a bad trip to LA, where Willamette lost to Occidental 4-1 and Cal Lutheran 2-1, this was a good result  against an undefeated (3-0-2) UC Santa Cruz team.  It probably felt like a victory since Willamette was down 2-1 from the 21st minute (when UCSC secured the lead after the teams traded goals in the first 7 minutes) until taking the lead for good in the 82nd minute on a PK.  UCSC's aggressiveness and physicality was their undoing in this game.  Not only did they concede the late PK, but they received 3 yellows to 1 for Willamette and committed 16 fouls to 9 for Willamette (and 12-4 in the second half).

Whitman 4 - LaVerne 3

After losing to Redlands 2-1 the night before, I wondered if Whitman would have the energy for this game.  At least on offense they did.  Sawyer Valero had a hat trick to lead Whitman.  It was a heartbreaker for LaVerne though.  After being down 2-1 at halftime, they scored two goals two minutes apart about 15 minutes into the second half and appeared to be cruising to a 3-2 victory before Whitman's Valero hit a PK in the 80th minute and followed it up with the game winner in the 84th.

St. Thomas 4 - Hendrix 2

Hendrix remains winless, but UST didn't look very good winning it.  In fact, they went into halftime down 2-1 (giving up 2 goals 1.5 minutes apart in the first 11 minutes) before scoring 3 goals in the second half.  It wasn't until Hendrix had a player ejected on a second yellow in the 87th minute that Tony Castro put things out of reach with the 4th goal.  Not only did UST have a shaky start, but they went back to their fouling ways, committing 14 fouls and incurring 3 yellows.  It was a chippy game and both teams committed infractions, but this was a far cry from the relatively foul free win over Howard Payne.

Texas Lutheran 1 - Hardin-Simmons 0

Much like last season, TLU isn't flashy and doesn't score a lot of goals, but it just quietly goes about its business and wins games. This win raises its record to 4-0-1 after beating Capital and Otterbein on its Ohio trip.

Pacific Lutheran 2 - Calvin 1

Big victory for the Lutes, but not as big as I anticipated preseason given Calvin's somewhat weakened state.  Trevor Thompson overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit with a couple of goals right after halftime to secure the victory.