2021 NCAA Tournament

[PaulNewman]

rudy, hello again and if iirc you may have a history as both a Messiah and Kenyon parent.

I have no interest in pushing this little debate further, but you're making an observation and implying/selling that means something particular.  If Messiah players were engaging in rare behaviors for them that could be for any number of reasons. It's also very rare for Messiah to be in the position they were in. They were in a panic and had no answers. That's when human beings including players start looking externally.  Kenyon players were throwing their hands up as well on non calls.  Messiah's own PbP guys estimated the Kenyon possession advantage at 70% or more so I presume the non calls for Messiah weren't during that time.  Messiah's best spell of possession was for about 10-15 minutes after the 1st goal when the goal gave them a little breathing room and Kenyon was stunned for a bit to be down against the run of play.  And Messiah had very little possession at all for the entire 2nd half during which Messiah's own coach acknowledged that Kenyon had been the better team.

Hi Paul
I did not see Messiah players arguing no calls was my point. Not trying to debate whether Kenyon fouled more or harder or not. Just saying that from what I could see on video they weren't complaining.  I never said anything about Kenyon playing dirty. And yes, I had a daughter at Kenyon ..played soccer a couple years. And I had daughter play at Tufts. So I have influences from several tournament teams...ha

OK, sorry, fair enough.  I don't recall seeing any players except for maybe Burns for Kenyon get a knock or get injured...certainly didn't see Messiah players writhing on the ground or grabbing their ankles after fouls or non calls.  I do recall Kenyon going for some slide tackles where they missed both ball and player completely.

[SlideTackle]

SlideTackle, I think saying NESCAC got no respect is a bit of distortion.  They did get 4, which is pretty good and about what they usually get.  Yes, they deserved five this year. And yes, they should have gotten one of the Centennial bids and Rochester should not have received a bid.

I didn't mean to say that they got no respect, just insufficient respect. Each of the 4 teams that got in deserved to be there by a good margin.  Can't say the same for a team like NYU, for instance, who lost 4 of their final 6 regular season games with the last one being to 6-7-3 Brandeis (who lost 4-0 to Tufts).  I guess I just can't shake my bitterness. It will take some time to heal . . .

[PaulNewman]

SlideTackle, I think saying NESCAC got no respect is a bit of distortion.  They did get 4, which is pretty good and about what they usually get.  Yes, they deserved five this year. And yes, they should have gotten one of the Centennial bids and Rochester should not have received a bid.

I didn't mean to say that they got no respect, just insufficient respect. Each of the 4 teams that got in deserved to be there by a good margin.  Can't say the same for a team like NYU, for instance, who lost 4 of their final 6 regular season games with the last one being to 6-7-3 Brandeis (who lost 4-0 to Tufts).  I guess I just can't shake my bitterness. It will take some time to heal . . .

LMAO....will take time to heal.. Ummm, no, it won't.  One never heals.

[SlideTackle]

SlideTackle, I think saying NESCAC got no respect is a bit of distortion.  They did get 4, which is pretty good and about what they usually get.  Yes, they deserved five this year. And yes, they should have gotten one of the Centennial bids and Rochester should not have received a bid.

I didn't mean to say that they got no respect, just insufficient respect. Each of the 4 teams that got in deserved to be there by a good margin.  Can't say the same for a team like NYU, for instance, who lost 4 of their final 6 regular season games with the last one being to 6-7-3 Brandeis (who lost 4-0 to Tufts).  I guess I just can't shake my bitterness. It will take some time to heal . . .

LMAO....will take time to heal.. Ummm, no, it won't.  One never heals.

So sad.  😥

[SimpleCoach]

Your take on Kenyon evolved over the season from pretty good but unsure if in the national mix, to seeing them outplay OWU, to yesterday when you posted your notes or at least wrote them I presume before you saw any comments here.  I would encourage anyone interested to read your notes.  You have praised Messiah and their superior style of play since Day 1, so I don't think any inherent bias from you can be presumed.

@Paul Newman thanks for the kind words as always.  Just to clarify, I had no idea about the discussions that were taking place until after I watched and posted my notes.  I was watching real time.   And thanks for the bias comment.  Try very hard to not get caught up in my personal preference v what I am watching.  You made my day/season. 

[calvin_grad]

6 straight Sweet 16s/Round of 16 (whatever it is called in D3 soccer) for Calvin.  I could do the research, but does anyone know off the top of their head if there are any longer current streaks out there?

[BracketMaster]

6 straight Sweet 16s/Round of 16 (whatever it is called in D3 soccer) for Calvin.  I could do the research, but does anyone know off the top of their head if there are any longer current streaks out there?

I believe 2009 was the last year that Amherst was not in the Sweet 16. 11 straight years

[ConnAlum]

6 straight Sweet 16s/Round of 16 (whatever it is called in D3 soccer) for Calvin.  I could do the research, but does anyone know off the top of their head if there are any longer current streaks out there?

Calvin currently has the 3rd longest streak of consecutive Sweet 16 appearances -- Amherst has made the Sweet 16 every year since 2010 and Tufts every year since 2014. Messiah follows closely behind Calvin with 5 straight appearances.

[Flying Weasel]

6 straight Sweet 16s/Round of 16 (whatever it is called in D3 soccer) for Calvin.  I could do the research, but does anyone know off the top of their head if there are any longer current streaks out there?

On the men's side, Amherst are in their 11th straight Sweet 16 as already mentioned.

On the women's side, Messiah had a streak of 16 straight Sweet 16's snapped this year, which I believe would have to be a Division III record.

[Novacat]

6 straight Sweet 16s/Round of 16 (whatever it is called in D3 soccer) for Calvin.  I could do the research, but does anyone know off the top of their head if there are any longer current streaks out there?

On the men's side, Amherst are in their 11th straight Sweet 16 as already mentioned.

On the women's side, Messiah had a streak of 16 straight Sweet 16's snapped this year, which I believe would have to be a Division III record.

Amherst streak is absolutely unbelievable.  In such a tough game as soccer where scoring is so difficult to win 22 straight first round games in impressive. (Although I still think Serpone should evolve his style of play an field surface now that he has such a skilled group)

[Hopkins92]

Quick reminder to anyone who is interested in participating in the bracket pool - I have set the deadline for 12pm EST tomorrow so make sure to submit your picks by then. Participation has been impressive so far, already 48 entries!

All of the picks will be visible after the deadline and I'll share some notable takeaways from the submitted brackets on here before the tournament kicks off.

The link to the bracket pool is below. As I said before, your name and email will not be visible, just your username and entry name.

https://www.runyourpool.com/join/pool_info.cfm?id=179402&p=ytcoyu

I'd almost forgotten I filled this out, as I did it with haste.

[College Soccer Observer]

6 straight Sweet 16s/Round of 16 (whatever it is called in D3 soccer) for Calvin.  I could do the research, but does anyone know off the top of their head if there are any longer current streaks out there?

On the men's side, Amherst are in their 11th straight Sweet 16 as already mentioned.

On the women's side, Messiah had a streak of 16 straight Sweet 16's snapped this year, which I believe would have to be a Division III record.

Amherst streak is absolutely unbelievable.  In such a tough game as soccer where scoring is so difficult to win 22 straight first round games in impressive. (Although I still think Serpone should evolve his style of play an field surface now that he has such a skilled group)

Amherst's streak is indeed impressive, but let's put it in a little bit of context.  During all of the first two rounds since 2010, they have played a total of 4 games away from home.  2010 vs Plattsburgh @ St. Lawrence and then @ St. Lawrence.  2014 vs Fitchburg St @ St. Lawrence and then @ St. Lawrence (advanced on pks).  2021 vs Rosemont and @ Babson. All of their other games have been at home.  In 2012, 2015, and 2016, they had a first round bye, so they only needed to win one game at home to go to the sweet 16. 

Here are all the opponents in the first two rounds over that span (hosting 9 of 11 years)
2010 Plattsburgh and @ St. Lawrence
2011 Husson and Eastern Connecticut St
2012 Dickinson
2013 Bridgewater St. and Gordon
2014 Fitchburg St. and @ St. Lawrence
2015 SUNY Morrisville
2016 Daniel Webster
2017 Salem St and Springfield
2018 Bridgewater St. and St. Joseph's (Maine)
2019 Thomas and Ithaca
2021 Rosement and @Babson

The streak is impressive, but they also benefit from frequently hosting and getting weaker opponents in opening round.  Amherst is a team that benefits more than most from playing on its homefield due to its style of play.

For purposes of comparison, here is what Franklin and Marshall has faced since 2013 (hosting 6 of those 8 years)
2013 Catholic and @ Dickinson
2014 Johnson & Wales and Rochester
2015 Babson and Gordon
2016 Geneva and Washington & Lee
2017 Drew and @Lycoming
2018 Western Connecticut and Eastern
2019 Penn State Harrisburg and Montclair St.
2021 SUNY Poly and Middlebury

Not in any way to denigrate Amherst because they can only play who they are assigned to play, but I would submit that they have had substantially easier early rounds than a team like Franklin and Marshall.

[D3_Slack]

This is my first time really getting engaged in the NCAA D3 soccer tourney and have a thought - it seems that since these are very regional events that some schools do have an advantage in that they play at home in the first couple rounds...and it seems the comp is also not that spread out.  Is that the case?

[jknezek]

This is my first time really getting engaged in the NCAA D3 soccer tourney and have a thought - it seems that since these are very regional events that some schools do have an advantage in that they play at home in the first couple rounds...and it seems the comp is also not that spread out.  Is that the case?

Most of D3 exists in a couple areas, namely the NE, the northern Midwest, and the Mid-Atlantic. There are groups in other places, but the bulk of the membership stretches from Minnesota East to New England, widening South as it moves East to Virginia, which I consider the southern most state with a true concentration of DIII schools. There are smattering in NC, TN, GA, AL, groupings in TX and along the West Coast, and an oddball or two in Mississippi, Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska, etc., but not really a concentration in any of those areas.

So when you are trying to minimize travel expenses the way DIII does, the pods congregate in those areas of high concentration. It's expensive to send 3 schools to TX when you can have 1 school from TX travel somewhere else. Since the same schools tend to be pretty good year to year, they tend to host a lot. And if you are within 600 miles of those schools... which is a pretty big radius... that's where you are going to end up. It's not always fair, especially to some of those very good schools that exist on an island like Trinity, but money is finite.

[Gregory Sager]

St. Olaf has a very cool hype video.