Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[D3Navy]

Cal Lutheran was aggressive out of the chute but slowly faded during the rest of the 1st half.  They didn't really show up in the 2nd half.

Much credit to a Trinity team that is playing as well as I've seen them over the last three seasons.  Lots of individual ball skills but it's clear they have team chemistry and play with obvious confidence.

Adam Knutson is particularly noteworthy.  He handles the ball extremely well and has a cannon leg. 

Overall, the team has found its stride.

[Kuiper]

A few afternoon games:

Caltech 5 - Bethesda (NAIA) 1

Fully expected this given Bethesda's low quality, but the game was tied at half 1-1 on PKs for each team before Caltech scored 4 in the second half to complete the route. Caltech goes to 5-1 on the season, one short of the entire win total of last season, which was a program record 6 wins. 

Northwest (NAIA) 3 - Lewis & Clark 1

L&C is 0-4 now and still doesn't look like they will win a game this season (just like last season), but signs of life as they score their first goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1 in the 61st minute.  Northwest only beat Linfield 3-2 in the previous game, so maybe Lewis & Clark isn't that far off.

UT Dallas 1 - Ohio Northern 1

UTD is going DII next year, so they are in DII/DII purgatory right now.  The tie probably says more about Ohio Northern's fatigue after a tough 1-1 tie against Colorado College than it does about UTD, which lost to Emory 4-1 yesterday.  Still, ONU can't be happy coming away from this weekend with two 1-1 ties.

LeTourneau 2 - Schreiner 1

After a tough trip to Michigan to open the season, LeTourneau has now gone 4 games without a loss.  Schreiner is not a strong SCAC program, but a win is a win.  The sign that LeTourneau's success is more mirage than reality, though, is that they went down 1-0 in the 6th minute and didn't pull out a victory until scoring goals in 82nd and 90th minutes after Schreiner went down a man because of a second yellow card in the 79th minute.

Concordia TX 4 - East Texas Baptist University 3

Concordia is undefeated (2-0-3), but they aren't doing it in impressive fashion.  They were up 3-1 in the 79th minute and hang on to win 4-3.  ETBU is 4-2 now and could be a challenger to Mary Hardin-Baylor for the ASC title this year.

Whittier 1 - Stanton (NAIA) 1

Whittier was up 1-0 virtually the entire second half, but let the win slip away when Stanton tied it up in the 88th minute.  Not a horrible result for Whittier, even if a missed opportunity.  Stanton is 5-2-3 and beat LaVerne 2-0 last week.  Stanton lost to Chapman 6-3, though, so it probably just gives a clue about the pecking order at the bottom of the SCIAC.

[Kuiper]

A post for the evening games of interest out in Region X:

Calvin 1 - Willamette 0

Calvin scored 5 minutes into the game and holds on for the win.  Willamette is now 0-3-1, while Calvin salvages its northwest trip after losing to Pacific Lutheran 2-1.

Colorado College 2 - Emory 1

Pretty tight game, but not quite at the level of the Ohio Northern - Colorado College match last night.  CC scored first and took a 1-0 lead into the half. Emory tied it up in the 60th minute, but Colorado College regained the lead three minutes later and then held on against a barrage of Emory shots and corner kicks, which explains why Emory outshot CC 16-7 and held an 8-2 edge on corners.  The story of the game was that the two teams were equal on shots on goal with 3 apiece.  Lots of aimless offensive chances for Emory and CC was more efficient.

Mary Hardin-Baylor 3 - McMurry 0

After scoring three goals between the 15th and 28th minute, UMHB was able to sit back and toy with the outmatched McMurry team, which is likely to be toward the bottom of the SCAC this season.

Chapman 1 - Wheaton 1

Both teams come into the game with only one win thus far this season and they kind of played like they were on the same level.  Chapman had a 1-0 lead at halftime, but Wheaton equalized in the 62nd minute and that was it for the scoring.  Chapman has a game Sunday against Whitman, so we'll see how they do on short rest.

Occidental 5 - Soka (NAIA) 1

This game doesn't tell us much about Oxy, who hit a rough patch recently, but it was a game to watch more of the bench play.  Everyone who was healthy seemed to get into this game for Oxy, who played 25 players.  They were only up 2-1 at the half, but poured on 3 more in the second half to complete the route.  5 goals by 5 different scorers.

[wihsuafs24]

Colorado College 2 - Emory 1

Pretty tight game, but not quite at the level of the Ohio Northern - Colorado College match last night.  CC scored first and took a 1-0 lead into the half. Emory tied it up in the 60th minute, but Colorado College regained the lead three minutes later and then held on against a barrage of Emory shots and corner kicks, which explains why Emory outshot CC 16-7 and held an 8-2 edge on corners.  The story of the game was that the two teams were equal on shots on goal with 3 apiece.  Lots of aimless offensive chances for Emory and CC was more efficient.

A few notes on the weekend in Colorado:

Though most of us think the altitude has to be a factor, it did not seem so in either the CC-ONU or CC-Emory matches. Most of the time, opponents traveling to Colorado Springs may alter their tactics and sit back and defend quite a bit to avoid box to box play too early in the game. But both ONU and Emory brought their normal games, in normal formation, and with at least normal energy, for the full 90 minutes.

The CC-ONU game was a really beautiful game of soccer, imho. Both teams showed a lot of discipline and technical skill. Really fun to watch. The players were gracious to each other at the end of the match - saw a lot of bro hugs. Love that. 

The CC-Emory game, not so much. Emory was indeed productive in shots taken and played with a high press and aggressive marking. It made for a bit of an ugly/scrappy game, and CC's win was a satisfying and telling one in light of not being able to play their normal game and having to defend most of the 90.

Finally, if any of you have a chance to visit Stewart Field at CC, you should. It is stunning.

[Kuiper]

A few results from the Northwest Conference

George Fox 2 - Corban (NAIA) 0

I haven't written much about George Fox on this board. They were 5-11-4 last season and generally have finished in the bottom third of the Northwest conference in recent years.  This year, however, they are 4-0 after beating Corban.  Not a big achievement since Corban is 1-4 and lost 4-1 to Willamette and 3-1 to Linfield, but George Fox did beat a decent Emerson team 2-1 and a less decent Emmanuel team 5-1 on their Massachusetts trip. One noteworthy result, or so I thought, was a 6-0 shellacking of Warner Pacific.  WP is a strong NAIA side that was 13-3-3 last season.  They scrimmaged against D1 Gonzaga in preseason for instance.  Beating them 6-0 suggests that they may be moving up to at least the middle, if not the top, tier of the NWC this season.  When I looked more closely, however, the result seemed odd.  They scrimmaged WP 8 days before opening the season against them. Why play them twice?  Turns out, they beat the WP reserve team, which only plays three games all season, as an official game, and played the first team in the unofficial scrimmage.  So, while beating Corban by two goals (scored 53 seconds apart in the 62nd minute) and starting the season 4-0 is nice, I'm going to reserve judgment on them until after they play @Whitman and @Whitworth next weekend.

Pacific Lutheran 3 - Warner Pacific 1

PLU beats the WP first team with three goals in the second half to overcome a 1-0 deficit at halftime.  Craig Johnson and Trevor Thompson scored early in the second half to secure the lead and Yuta Shimazu added an insurance goal in the 87th minute.  PLU led the foul battle 14-3, but WP committed the critical foul that led to a penalty and PLU's first goal.  A nice weekend along with its victory over Calvin to leave them 2-1-1 leading into NWC conference play starting with Willamette next Saturday.

Pacific 4 - Linfield 1

Statement game for Pacific in the NWC opener. After being down 1-0 at half, they scored 4 goals, with braces from Buchert and Landy, to complete the route.  Oddly enough, Linfield won't have to wait long for revenge as it plays Pacific in the second game of the NWC round robin series on Wednesday at Pacific

[Kuiper]

Two more games of note in Region X

Trinity 8 - Howard Payne 0

According to Trinity's men's soccer page, which has a page listing the number of times Trinity has played each school since 2009, this is the first time Trinity has played Howard Payne since 2009.  I suspect they won't be scheduling each other anytime soon.  Not only did Trinity win 8-0, but they outshot Howard Payne 38-6, including 18-1 on shots on goal.  At least they got playing time for 31 of their players, including all 3 of their goalkeepers, and 7 different players scored their 8 goals.  I just feel bad for GK Aidan Roy.  GK Omar Sakpathy got credit for the win because he played the most minutes, but Roy was the only one who had to make a save in the game in his 8 minutes of playing time.

Whitman 2 - Chapman 1

Whitman leaves SoCal with 2 wins out of three, beating Chapman and LaVerne and only losing narrowly to Redlands.  This was a game where Chapman may have been too accommodating to Whitman, playing an 11 am game after playing at 7 pm v Wheaton the night before.  While it was Whitman's third game of the trip, they had Sat off.  Whitman secured the winning goal in the 73rd minute and held on the rest of the way.

[Kuiper]

On the NORTH part of this thread (which I mostly don't cover, because it's such a huge number of schools)

St. Olaf 2 - Bethel (MN) 1

Bethel was up 1-0 at half on a goal in the 10th minute and it took 2 goals by St. Olaf, one in the 89th minute, to get the win.  St. Olaf has certainly come back to earth after losing their three stars to DI covid years, but they managed to reclaim the magic at least for the moment. They outshot Bethel 30-11, but just didn't have the quality to wrap things up earlier.

[Kuiper]

This is hard to differ with too much.  Colorado College will either solidify its top spot or drop after games this weekend at Christopher Newport and new #1 Mary Washington.

https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-men-x/

Region X - Poll 2 - September 17, 2024

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

[BTXCru18]

This is hard to differ with too much.  Colorado College will either solidify its top spot or drop after games this weekend at Christopher Newport and new #1 Mary Washington.

https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-men-x/

Region X - Poll 2 - September 17, 2024

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

Just guessing here but, CC just might have the highest SoS in the nation. Stand-alone #1 if they get results against MW and CNU. I expect them to make a deep run again.

[Kuiper]

This is hard to differ with too much.  Colorado College will either solidify its top spot or drop after games this weekend at Christopher Newport and new #1 Mary Washington.

https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-men-x/

Region X - Poll 2 - September 17, 2024

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

Just guessing here but, CC just might have the highest SoS in the nation. Stand-alone #1 if they get results against MW and CNU. I expect them to make a deep run again.

At least on Massey, Colorado College's strength-of-schedule (pre-CNU and UMW games) is 133, which is third worst among the top 15 teams.  That's dragged down primarily by playing Fontbonne (#364 in Massey) and Concordia (MN) (#283 in Massey) in the its first two games.

[Kuiper]

Early Upset alert:

Cal Lutheran 3 - CMS 0 in the 34th minute

Cal Lu has only 3 shots in the first half. It's just that all 3 have been on goal and all 3 went in

[Kuiper]

One afternoon game in the SCIAC

Occidental 1 - Caltech 0

Oxy scored in the 7th minute and, while that was all they needed to win this one, Caltech didn't make it easy.  This is not your "little old lady from Pasadena" Caltech team.  They were outshot by Oxy 17-8 and 11-3 on goal, but Caltech's two GKs (who split halves) made five saves apiece.  Oxy can't feel too good about this win, which required them to resort to their bully ball approach, including 20 fouls and a team yellow card in the 85th minute.  Caltech, on the other hand, looks like they will no longer be an easy out in the SCIAC this year.

[Kuiper]

SCIAC after Dark

Cal Lutheran 4 - CMS 2

CMS can say goodbye to its lofty national ranking.  They were down 3-0 well before halftime and the only consolation is that they won the second half 2-1.  Cal Lu came into this game 2-3-1 after losing 3 out of 4 on its Pennsylvania and Texas trips, with the only result a tie against Gettysburg.  By contrast, CMS came in 4-0-1 after knocking off St. Olaf and Mary Hardin-Baylor on its Minnesota trip and Wheaton (IL) at home. The key was that Cal Lu really shocked CMS early, scoring a goal in the 3rd minute and a PK in the 8th minute.  CMS outshot Cal Lu 17-6 trying to catch up, but Cal Lu was extremely efficient, scoring 4 off of 6 shots, all on goal.  The key defensively was that Cal Lu managed to keep CMS' Otero off the score sheet. He's pretty much the focus of the CMS offense, as evidenced by his 5 shots this game.

Redlands 1 - Chapman 0

Very tight game.  Redlands didn't secure the lead until the 79th minute.  Redlands outshot Chapman 16-6, but Chapman hung tough.

Whittier 1 - Pomona-Pitzer 0

Whittier scored in the 63rd minute and held on for the win.  A fairly typical game for Pomona-Pitzer in that they possess the ball well and got off a decent amount of shots, but lacked some quality in the final third and weren't as air-tight as they needed to be on defense.

UC Santa Cruz 1 - LaVerne 0

Not a SCIAC game, but pretty close since UCSC plays a lot of games against SCIAC teams.  Pretty even game.  UCSC was physical and committed a lot of fouls, but LaVerne doesn't shy away from that type of game.  The only goal was just before halftime.  UCSC is still unbeaten at 4-0-3.

[Kuiper]

A couple of games in the NWC

Pacific 1 - Linfield 0

This is the rematch as Pacific beat Linfield in the first game on Sunday 4-1.  Linfield obviously tightened things up, in this game, but it left them pretty bare offensively, which means perfection is required on defense.  Linfield tried to come out more aggressively in the second half after going into halftime down 1-0 and did manage all 5 of their corners and 3 of their 5 shots in the second half, but nothing was too threatening.

Willamette 2 - Lewis & Clark 0

Pretty admirable effort by L&C, despite losing failing to win again for the 25th straight regular season game [UPDATE:  they had one tie last season and it's the 32nd straight non-win if you go back to their first season when they were not yet admitted for conference play officially].  I like how the school media folks pointed out that this was the fewest goals they let in all season.  Congrats?  More impressive to me was that they kept Willamette off the board until the 42nd minute.  This was Willamette's first win of the season, after losing to Cal Lu, Occidental, Calvin and tying UC Santa Cruz - all pretty good teams.  The fact that they didn't score more, though, is probably an indication that Willamette is going to have to scrap for goals this season.  Matt Chase scored both goals, which puts him into a tie for the team lead.

1 game from the SCAC

Ouachita Baptist 1 - Austin College 0

In theory, this is not a bad result for 2-5-1 Austin considering that Ouachita Baptist is a DII team.  In reality, however, OB isn't a very good DII team and they've already tied DIII Lyon 1-1 and lost to DIII Centenary (Louisiana) 3-0.  Austin College actually outshot them 16-9 and had 8 corners to OB's 5.  The only goal conceded was a PK off a handball in the box.

[wihsuafs24]

Just guessing here but, CC just might have the highest SoS in the nation. Stand-alone #1 if they get results against MW and CNU. I expect them to make a deep run again.

At least on Massey, Colorado College's strength-of-schedule (pre-CNU and UMW games) is 133, which is third worst among the top 15 teams.  That's dragged down primarily by playing Fontbonne (#364 in Massey) and Concordia (MN) (#283 in Massey) in the its first two games.

Fwiw, #1 UMW and #2 Midd are the two other teams with worse SoS.. perhaps a testament to common wisdom of not putting that much weight on Massey week to week. Also fwiw, though not counted in SoS, folks may find it interesting that Colorado College beat CSU-Pueblo in its first preseason exhibition match. CSU-Pueblo has made the DII national championship game the last 2 years.

General question: does anyone know how the Massey SoS works? As just one example, Chicago's SoS of 5 seems strange given that its played games have not been against any serious top 25 teams. Only 2 of 4 were in top 25 - St. Olaf (23) and the other Gustavus Adolphus (8). The others were in the mid- to high-100s. SoS according to the key is for played games only. Its SSF (for future games) is 1, but it is playing mostly significantly lower ranked teams.