2021 USC All-American Teams

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks, Christan. That's a very helpful overview of your process. And please don't take my grousing about your getting out your A-A team in February the wrong way. I realize the difficulties with which you guys are forced to operate. As far as this soccer fan is concerned, your A-A team is the gold standard for D3 soccer. I was just grousing because the bad taste of the USC A-A awards is going to linger until you guys get your awards out.

[PaulNewman]

Thanks for the response, Cristan.

So without putting you too much on the spot, is it fair to say that endorsements of a player on this board by posters, especially if 'cross-validated' by multiple posters where at least 2-3 don't have any apparent personal interest, is helpful?  In fewer words, does what you all see on the board have an impact?  And if the answer is YES, then do you have any counter-balance for teams/conferences/regions that don't usually have any advocating here in their favor, like relying more on the select coaches you mentioned in those instances?

In addition to your team's dedication and high motivation to get things right, I do think you have a big advantage by including the NCAA tournament, including through to the conclusion of the Final 4.  I'm not going to look through past teams, but certainly your Coach of the Year and Offensive, Mid, Defensive, and GK of the year (assuming I got that right) have reflected major success in the tournament.  Of course the major disadvantage is the tougher bar of only 33 players.

[Ejay]

Thanks, Christan. That's a very helpful overview of your process. And please don't take my grousing about your getting out your A-A team in February the wrong way. I realize the difficulties with which you guys are forced to operate. As far as this soccer fan is concerned, your A-A team is the gold standard for D3 soccer. I was just grousing because the bad taste of the USC A-A awards is going to linger until you guys get your awards out.

This +1

[Christan Shirk]

Thanks, Christan. That's a very helpful overview of your process. And please don't take my grousing about your getting out your A-A team in February the wrong way. I realize the difficulties with which you guys are forced to operate. As far as this soccer fan is concerned, your A-A team is the gold standard for D3 soccer. I was just grousing because the bad taste of the USC A-A awards is going to linger until you guys get your awards out.

No, did not take anything the wrong way.  Trust me, for a variety of reasons we (D3soccer,com staff) are more frustrated than anyone that we often haven't been able to name our teams before Christmas.

[Christan Shirk]

So without putting you too much on the spot, is it fair to say that endorsements of a player on this board by posters, especially if 'cross-validated' by multiple posters where at least 2-3 don't have any apparent personal interest, is helpful?  In fewer words, does what you all see on the board have an impact?  And if the answer is YES, then do you have any counter-balance for teams/conferences/regions that don't usually have any advocating here in their favor, like relying more on the select coaches you mentioned in those instances?

I don't know which coaches that we get input from visit the message board, much less if what they read here would in any way influence their input. Likewise I can't speak for other D3soccer.com staff/contributors that have been involved in the process over the years. For me personally, I imagine favorable mentions of players here on the message board might subconsciously help put a player on my radar, but there are so many other considerations and info/data being reviewed, so the message board certainly doesn't have a significant impact if it has one at all.  As you allude to, it wouldn't be fair to players from teams/conferences/regions that don't get much if any mention on the message board to be "penalized" for that, and I'm confident that they aren't. 

In addition to your team's dedication and high motivation to get things right, I do think you have a big advantage by including the NCAA tournament, including through to the conclusion of the Final 4.  I'm not going to look through past teams, but certainly your Coach of the Year and Offensive, Mid, Defensive, and GK of the year (assuming I got that right) have reflected major success in the tournament.  Of course the major disadvantage is the tougher bar of only 33 players.

Being able to include the tournament is not something we chose by design; it's just our reality--how could you ask and reasonably expect input provided after the NCAA tournament to be based only only performance/stats/etc. up to but not including the tournament?  But personally I do like the idea of being able to consider tournament performance.  Stepping up in big games when it matters most is something you look for in an All-American, right?  However, overall I imagine that being conscious of strength-of-schedule is as much or more influential in our eventual selections than being able to consider performance in the tournament.  For an individual player here and there, tournament performance may have made a significant difference, but we are really looking for players who were consistently excellent from the start of the season through to the end. So the tournament usually won't change who is in the mix, but in some cases it certainly can impact how we end up ranking those under consideration.

On that note, I think Washington & Lee's Adrian Zimmerman is a very interesting case where pre-NCAA Tournament he isn't making anyone's All-America team, but his tournament play is so incredible that it will be hard to ignore.  I can't remember anywhere near as stark a case of a player going from completely "off the radar" to impossible to ignore during the tournament.  As I mentioned above, usually the tournament is merely raising (or dropping) the stock of players who were always going to be in the mix anyway (or maybe it brings a player from "off the radar" onto the fringes of consideration but not into serious contention). Again, this is a season award, not a tournament award, so we are looking for season-long excellence.

[jknezek]

On that note, I think Washington & Lee's Adrian Zimmerman is a very interesting case where pre-NCAA Tournament he isn't making anyone's All-America team, but his tournament play is so incredible that it will be hard to ignore.  I can't remember anywhere near as stark a case of a player going from completely "off the radar" to impossible to ignore during the tournament.  As I mentioned above, usually the tournament is merely raising (or dropping) the stock of players who were always going to be in the mix anyway (or maybe it brings a player from "off the radar" onto the fringes of consideration but not into serious contention). Again, this is a season award, not a tournament award, so we are looking for season-long excellence.

Yep. Even as a Generals alum and fan, I wouldn't think Zimmerman deserves a season AA award. First team Conference Tournament, no doubt. Tournament MVP? Definitely in the running going into the last 2 games and I'd say the lead candidate, but season All American? Not this year. But since he's a sophomore, I'd expect him to be on the preseason lists for next year!

[camosfan]

Does it speaks badly of a coach to have multiple All-Americans and not make it out of the first round?

[PaulNewman]

Does it speaks badly of a coach to have multiple All-Americans and not make it out of the first round?

If you're referring to Trinity you're talking about one of the legends of D3 soccer who I assume is also one of the most highly respected coaches in D3 history.  The field or facility also may be named after him.

[PaulNewman]

https://trinitytigers.com/facilities/McGinlay_Soccer_Field

[camosfan]

Not withstanding, know he has done a lot in 30 plus years, but even multiteam, multicup cham Pep comes up tactically short at times.

[PaulNewman]

Getting way off track here, but was curious to see the bio on asst coach Edward Cartee at Trinity, a NC native who found his way to Texas after IMG Bradenton.  Cannot imagine many assts have this stellar of a resume, and assuming he sticks around would think Trinity has their next HC.

Over the years, Coach Cartee has earned numerous high school coaching awards. United Soccer Coaches elected him as the Texas Private/Parochial Coach of the Year for three straight seasons. He was tabbed as the San Antonio Express-News Boys Soccer Coach of the Year in 2017, and the 2014 TAPPS Division I Coach of the Year, the season where Coach Cartee earned his first state title. Top Drawer Soccer ranked Central Catholic as the 14th top team in the nation, the highest ranking in the program's history.

Coach Cartee was selected for the prestigious 2017-18 class of the 30-Under-30 Program by United Soccer Coaches. Fifteen men and fifteen women, age 30 and under, received scholarships for special courses and were matched with veteran mentors.

A defender on Trinity's men's team from 2005-2008, Coach Cartee helped propel the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament each year. Trinity finished as national runner-up in 2007 with a 23-1-0 record. The Tigers also advanced to the national Quarterfinals in 2005, 2007, and 2008, as well as winning four Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championships. Coach Cartee was elected to the ESPN Academic All-America First Team in 2008.

Coach Cartee earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity in 2009 with majors in history, Chinese, and Spanish. He was a Murchison Scholar, a summa cum laude graduate, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Coach Cartee studied at the National Taiwan Normal University (Taipei, Taiwan) on a Ministry of Education Huayu Enrichment Scholarship, a postgraduate language immersion program.

He gained international playing experience with the Taipei FC during the 2009-10 season,and later trained at Estudiantes de La Plata in Argentina. Coach Cartee also competed in the Gothia Cup in Sweden in 2001 and 2002 and in Brazil in 2004 and 2009.

The Oak Ridge, North Carolina, native attended the IMG Soccer Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where he was a team captain. Coach Cartee was a summer staff coach at IMG from 2005-2011, supervising daily operations. He also played for IMG in the Premier Development League (PDL), which reached the national Semifinals in 2009.

[Another Mom]

Nice story on Adrian Zimmerman:

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/adrian-zimmerman-on-a-roll-for-w-l-soccer/article_923e37aa-5375-11ec-a6a1-57ed165994a4.amp.html

[PaulNewman]

Nice story on Adrian Zimmerman:

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/adrian-zimmerman-on-a-roll-for-w-l-soccer/article_923e37aa-5375-11ec-a6a1-57ed165994a4.amp.html

Zimmerman had two goals in a 3-1 win over Messiah in the quarterfinals.

"Their center back was just bear-hugging him all game, yet he scored twice," Singleton said.


Well, at least his parents aren't smart

[jknezek]

Nice story on Adrian Zimmerman:

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/adrian-zimmerman-on-a-roll-for-w-l-soccer/article_923e37aa-5375-11ec-a6a1-57ed165994a4.amp.html

Zimmerman had two goals in a 3-1 win over Messiah in the quarterfinals.

"Their center back was just bear-hugging him all game, yet he scored twice," Singleton said.


Well, at least his parents aren't smart

One thing I do find interesting, all 4 schools in the Final Four are at or toward the top of the academic schools in DIII. While that's going to be true of a lot sports considering how much the NESCAC and UAA hover over the DIII landscape, to see Conn, Amherst, Chicago and W&L.... there probably isn't a young man on those fields that didn't graduate in the top 20% of their h.s. class, and I'd wager a fair amount that most were inside the top 10%.

[Saint of Old]

Nice story on Adrian Zimmerman:

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/adrian-zimmerman-on-a-roll-for-w-l-soccer/article_923e37aa-5375-11ec-a6a1-57ed165994a4.amp.html

Zimmerman had two goals in a 3-1 win over Messiah in the quarterfinals.

"Their center back was just bear-hugging him all game, yet he scored twice," Singleton said.


Well, at least his parents aren't smart

One thing I do find interesting, all 4 schools in the Final Four are at or toward the top of the academic schools in DIII. While that's going to be true of a lot sports considering how much the NESCAC and UAA hover over the DIII landscape, to see Conn, Amherst, Chicago and W&L.... there probably isn't a young man on those fields that didn't graduate in the top 20% of their h.s. class, and I'd wager a fair amount that most were inside the top 10%.

Impossible to play this game well at a high level unless you are smart.
Now  not every smart person applies themselves, thats a different thing, but to be good at this game brainspeed  > footspeed.

That is why Usain Bolt never made it in the game despite having a decent touch.