2022 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Hopkins92]

Man... Catholic is a wonky team.

[SimpleCoach]

Man... Catholic is a wonky team.

Definition of average.  If you can weather than in the first 15 or so, and not participate in what they want to do which is ram it down your throat, you have a chance at a result.

SC.

[jknezek]

Some interesting results...

CNU responds well in a 4-0 romp.

W&L equalizes in the last 2-3 minutes to draw with Lynchburg.

Otterbein equalizes even later in the 89th minute to draw with ONU.

Stevens 0 FDU-Florham 0?

Drew passes a good test against R-Newark.

MW beats Catholic 3-1.

North Central up 3-1 late on Wheaton.

Hopkins wins another 1-0 game.

Soccer is wonky. W&L outshot Lynchburg 20-6, 10-3 on goal, 6-1 on corners. Some days they just won't go in the net.

[Flying Weasel]

Avoiding the stuff that I really should be doing, and looking over last night's result . . .

Very surprised by the Stevens vs. FDU-Florham result, a scoreless draw, which halted the Ducks' win streak at 8 games. Outshot the Devils 17(6) to 6(2); I'm guessing they outplayed them as well.  Just a road bump for the #4 ranked team in the nation?

Ouch! Loras got drubbed 6-0 by Luther last night to drop to 5-5-0 on the heels of being swept by the Wisconsin state schools (Whitewater, Eau Claire, Platteville) over the previous two weeks.  The Duhawks opening weekend win over Ohio Wesleyan is seeming soooo long ago and not nearly as impressive as it did at the time.

UW-Platteville, overshadowed by UW-Eau Claire's unexpected 13-0-0 start, hasn't lost since their opening weekend defeat to . . . Eau Claire.  The Pioneers now sit at 8-2-1 after beating a sinking Loras last Saturday. Is there any reason for Christopher Newport to be worried come Coast-2-Coast playoff time?  Probably not, but they are shaping up to be the Captains' biggest hurdle to claiming an automatic berth to the NCAA's.

With last night's win over Wheaton, North Central (Ill.) continues as one of 14 remaining undefeated teams and now have a 27-2-3 post-pandemic record. Nothing too impressive on their resume yet this year.  A 3-0 win to hand 5-tie Wartburg their only loss of the campaign is the high point.

Speaking of undefeated teams . . .

After last night's tie with Buffalo State, Medaille is 6-0-5 in rather unimpressive fashion.  Ties with Hobart and Brockport State are about as good as it gets.  The Mavericks might be as likely as anyone to be champions of the quite mediocre Empire 8 in their first year since moving over from the AMCC.

Lynchburg's 6-0-5 record has a bit more credibility than Medaille's. The Hornets remained undefeated after hanging on against ranked W&L last night (almost got the win).  They opened the season holding Messiah to a 2-2 draw when they netted a last-minute equalizer.

Hadn't heard Brockport State mentioned this year, but there they sit on top of the SUNYAC standings at 5-0-0.  Closer look: they've played the bottom five teams in the conference. Starting Saturday they face Oneonta, Geneseo, New Paltz, and Cortland to close out the season, getting the two favorites at home where the Golden Eagles are a perfect 5-0-0.

Hanover got a much needed win last night over Transy, 4-1, to get back to .500 at 4-4-3.  The Panthers were 3-3-1 at one point last year and still turned some heads in the NCAA tournament after winning the HCAC AQ as the #2 seed. Can they build up steam in conference play again this year?

[Hopkins92]

Hopkins wins another 1-0 game.

I'm on record (probably annoyingly) about Hopkins and their "walk the ball into the net" style, and that they are living dangerously "eking out" all of these 1-0 results.

I watched a good deal of the Goucher game last night and it occurred to me... Once they got that goal, it was pretty much a clinic of possession and, not to be too dramatic about it, but kind of crushing the souls of the trailing team by forcing them to chase for very long stretches of time. Would I like for them to score that second goal and really put things away? Of course. But watching last night... It would've taken an extremely fluky, very much against the run of play goal for the Gophers to level up.

I still don't like it, especially once we get into November... But I'm feeling less critical about the approach.

[NEsoccerfan]

I was taking a look at how Giammattei has been doing at Maryland and while starting 6 games, his minutes in those are baffling:
- Started - 57 minutes
- Started - 54 minutes
- Started - 42 minutes
- off the bench - 25 minutes
- off the bench - 32 minutes
- off the bench - 33 minutes
- Started - 24 minutes
- Started - 38 minutes
- Off the bench - 31 minutes
- Started - 36 minutes

I dug into it a bit more and looks like they play 3 forwards with 2 of them playing either the entire or the large majority of the game and then German and 4 other forwards share time for the third spot. I've never seen such a committee approach to one position.

I don't pretend to have even an iota of the soccer knowledge a premier d1 coach has, but this seems very unusual to me. How can these 5 players get into a good rhythm (especially at forward) playing such short minutes? Curious about everyone's thoughts and if any of your teams have employed such an approach before.

[Gregory Sager]

With last night's win over Wheaton, North Central (Ill.) continues as one of 14 remaining undefeated teams and now have a 27-2-3 post-pandemic record. Nothing too impressive on their resume yet this year.  A 3-0 win to hand 5-tie Wartburg their only loss of the campaign is the high point.

North Central head coach Enzo Fuschino is a big believer in scheduling strategically rather than scheduling competitively. He relies upon scheduling what he surmises will be the second-, third-, or fourth-best teams in the local lower-tier leagues (MWC, NACC, HCAC, etc.) and eschews taking on the local non-conference heavyweights (Chicago, Calvin, GAC, St. Olaf, Wash U, Luther, etc.). It was a good enough strategy to get him a Pool C berth last season, and I'm guessing that it will work again this year -- but it doesn't really leave his Cardinals well prepared to face the big boys.

A lot is riding on next Wednesday's showdown at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium in Naperville when North Park comes to town to visit the Cardinals. NPU and NCC are again the two best teams in the CCIW, so this showdown will likely determine who wins the conference and thus gets the top seed in the CCIW tourney. The Vikings are more talented overall, but the Cardinals have a great equalizer in All-American GK Sid Marquardt. It should be a great game.

[SierraFD3soccer]

I dug into it a bit more and looks like they play 3 forwards with 2 of them playing either the entire or the large majority of the game and then German and 4 other forwards share time for the third spot. I've never seen such a committee approach to one position.

I don't pretend to have even an iota of the soccer knowledge a premier d1 coach has, but this seems very unusual to me. How can these 5 players get into a good rhythm (especially at forward) playing such short minutes? Curious about everyone's thoughts and if any of your teams have employed such an approach before.

We live in Maryland and have followed Sasho for many years, plus my son played on the same club team as several of UMD's players. Further, my son played/started in a D1 program (not the same level as UMD and that is a whole other subject)  This is classic Sasho MO. He has done this for years with respect to forwards.  Mids and backs are generally not subbed (the exception is UMD keepers which two keepers over the last two years have split time).  I am guessing and only guessing is that he wants lots of activity up top and with the crazy short season with games 3 or 4 days a part, he feels that he asks his forwards to max out in short time and next man up.  Plus D1 mens soccer has the highest rate of transfers even before the transfer portal. All strikers want to play and score.  If they are on the bench UMD could lose them.

Sasho is also the biggest proponent of split seasons. 8 or 9 games in the fall and the same in the spring with the tournament in May/June. He has gotten a lot of traction and was close pre COVID.  Hopefully he will be successful.  He also believes the crazy short schedule and limited soccer in the spring is why many good American players are opting to go pro before or shortly after starting college.  Ex. Ben Bender left after his soph year and was the No. 1 draft pick. 

My personal opinion is that Sasho is correct and we are ruining soccer in college.  Not a huge Sasho fan which is another story. D1, D2, D3 etc play way, way too many games in such a short time (two months and then back-to=back games during playoffs).  Plus UMD like many other programs regularly have to get on planes (miss the day before, game day, and sometimes day after classes)  It's been known for a long time that teams should only play games at the minimum of 6 days apart. Sasho's proposal which is supported by many may help this plus raise the visibility of college soccer by having the tourney in spring as opposed to winter.

On a positive note as to Sasho is that he does not heavily rely on foreign adult players (21-22-23 etc) to play for him. He does have some, but not the same level of Marshall and many other D1 programs.  He still heavily recruits Maryland, DC, Vir players who see substantial time on his team.

[stlawus]

The issue with split seasons has less to do with the soccer and more to do with the administration.  Athletic departments are stretched thin as is.  Asking them to take on another sport on top of an already full spring slate is a lot to ask.  A school like Maryland might be able to handle it, but the mid majors would be at an disadvantage.  There's a lot that goes in setting up and facilitating a game. 

[EnmoreCat]

Having watched a season of West Virginia, I don't think this is unique to Maryland.  The Mountaineers coach is a serial rotator of midfielders & strikers.  The substitution rules enable that and whilst I get the idea of immediate impact, it also relies on players quickly adjusting to the rhythm of the game and it's not crazy to say that 5-10 minutes are wasted whilst that process takes place.  I think that it's almost a waste of time being a D1 striker in that environment and certainly if you have aspirations post college, the ability to function for a battle-hardened 90 minutes feels pretty important.

[Gregory Sager]

Sasho is also the biggest proponent of split seasons. 8 or 9 games in the fall and the same in the spring with the tournament in May/June. He has gotten a lot of traction and was close pre COVID.  Hopefully he will be successful.  He also believes the crazy short schedule and limited soccer in the spring is why many good American players are opting to go pro before or shortly after starting college.  Ex. Ben Bender left after his soph year and was the No. 1 draft pick. 

My personal opinion is that Sasho is correct and we are ruining soccer in college.  Not a huge Sasho fan which is another story. D1, D2, D3 etc play way, way too many games in such a short time (two months and then back-to=back games during playoffs).  Plus UMD like many other programs regularly have to get on planes (miss the day before, game day, and sometimes day after classes)  It's been known for a long time that teams should only play games at the minimum of 6 days apart. Sasho's proposal which is supported by many may help this plus raise the visibility of college soccer by having the tourney in spring as opposed to winter.

D3 is not D1. At this level, it's not about becoming a professional soccer player or "raising the visibility of college soccer," it's about getting an education. As the D3 promotional materials say, "Our student-athletes go pro as doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, business executives, etc." If D1 is competing with the pros to get the best 17- or 18-year-old soccer players in the country, then that's D1's business. D3's business is about giving an opportunity to play to student-athletes who are focused first and foremost upon their education. Also, plane travel is irrelevant in D3, unless you're a student-athlete at a UAA school ... and even then, it's very limited.

D3 is also the level where the schools are (mostly) the smallest and resources are (mostly) the sparsest. Splitting men's soccer into two seasons would have a tumultuous ripple effect upon school resources (facilities, training staff, sports information and game staff, etc.) that are already overextended at many D3 schools. Men's soccer doesn't call the tune to which all of the other sports in D3 athletics must dance. Even football and men's basketball, which are far more popular than men's soccer, don't have that kind of clout on the D3 level. When one sport decides to alter its annual schedule at the D3 level, it throws all of the rest out of whack. We saw that in spades in the spring of 2020 when the fall sports decided in the wake of their Covid cancellations to play partial schedules in the spring on top of all of the spring sports that were playing their normal schedules. I know that a lot of people who participate here on the soccer boards are one-sport-only fans (the football boards have a similarly high percentage of one-sport-only fans), and I think that a lot of them miss just what a delicate juggling act is involved in keeping all of the sports in sync at a lot of D3 institutions.

A split season is wrong for D3 men's soccer for many reasons.

[NEsoccerfan]

 "Not a huge Sasho fan which is another story."

I'd be curious to hear said story...

[NEsoccerfan]

Apologies if this was already covered but does anyone know why MIT @ Brandeis was cancelled last night?

[PaulNewman]

Saturday

11:00 am -- Carnegie Mellon @ Brandeis (Must win for both? CMU is coming off a home loss to NYU and after Brandeis have Chicago on the road.  The Tartans cannot afford an 0-3 start in the UAA.  Brandeis has had a disappointing season thus far outside of a win over Babson and in the Judges' first UAA outing got smoked by CWRU.)

12:00 pm -- Emory @ Chicago (Emory is also 0-1 in the UAA thanks to a loss at home versus Wash U.  The Eagles desperately need an upset win over the Maroons to ignite a turnaround, but I don't see that happening.  Chicago probably will pick up a blemish over the next couple of weeks, although peeking at the rest of their schedule there's a fair chance the Maroons could run the table.)

12:00 pm -- Colby @ Middlebury (Midd needs to build off of recent momentum and especially at home should snare a win.  Colby, coming off a string of draws with Williams, Amherst, and at Tufts, has reason to be confident.  Not quite prepared to put an upset alert tag on this one, but it is tempting.)

12:00 pm -- Oneonta St @ Brockport St (Oneonta is starting to show some kinks in the armor with a loss at home to Geneseo and a draw at home with Potsdam. Meanwhile, Brockport may be closing in on Pool C range at 7-1-4 and 5-0 in conference.  The Golden Eagles still have a couple of tough games to close the regular season, but a win here would put them in an attractive position, not to mention just regular 'ol growing confidence that they can stand up to the big boys.  I'm gonna guess that pedigree will prevail, even on the road...Oneonta 3, Brockport 1.)

1:00 pm -- MSOE @ Dominican (This one has lost the luster it never had after MSOE drops one to Concordia (Wis) and Dominican stumbles to a home loss to NACC mid-table Marian.)

1:00 pm -- Kenyon @ Wabash (In 2014 the then Lords were 12-0 and #2 in the country behind only Messiah but a small crack in the foundation was detectable on MRI scan after escaping a blemish at Denison with a last minute 2OT goal.  The Little Giants had no interest in contributing to Kenyon euphoria and earned a 1-0 upset at Mud Hollow Stadium in Crawfordsville off a header served up from a 2nd half corner.  Kenyon didn't lose again until the Sweet 16.  Wabash in 2022 is 9-2-1 in the context of a relatively soft schedule, and will be pumped up to grab a major signature win that would go a long way towards insuring a place in the NCAC playoffs. Speaking of which, the Little Giants likely have stewed over last year's NCAC semi in Gambier where they got thumped by the tune of 8-0.  I am contractually prohibited from placing an upset alert here but others might be interested.)

2:00 pm -- Conn Coll @ Williams – (Great dynamics at play in Williamstown.  Defending national champ searching to revive last year's form going against a resurgent Williams highly invested in putting the Ephs back where they are supposed to be...at or at least near the top of the NESCAC standings.  I deem this game prediction-wise uncallable.)

2:00 pm -- Vassar @ Skidmore (Another excellent LL match that will be over by the time I try to tune in, as some of these conferences like the LL and SUNYAC seem to have weekday 4:00 games and then early-mid-afternoon weekend fixtures.  These teams are similar in that they probably fall just barely below the line of most believing they are really good and not just good.)

3:00 -- Wesleyan @ Amherst (The Wesleyan dream season is in jeopardy.  Two straight losses after soaring up the polls, one to Midd that was very understandable, and then a second not so understandable unless pollsters are inclined to offer a mulligan because of harsh weather.  The pollsters won't do that because they'll say they'd be setting a precedent for everybody.  Amherst needs this game very badly as well.  Otherwise, the Mammoths will find themselves drifting around in very unfamiliar waters.)

4:00 pm -- Hopkins @ Washington College (Last call at the Chestertown Saloon.  The Shoreman cannot afford another loss, especially if they want a decent chance of maintaining a top 4 Centennial finish.  I'm tempted to go with an upset alert, but it's seeming more and likely that Wash College simply doesn't have the horses this season.  As for Hopkins, the pundits want more...like a 3-0 or 4-0 victory.)

4:00 pm -- CWRU @ NYU (Sneaky huge game.  The winner, should there be one, will be feeling really good about ending the regular season strong.  Vital game to bolster hopes for a potential Poll C bid.)

6:00 pm – W&L @ Christopher Newport (I just don't trust CNU in a big spot.  Sometimes the Captains seem almost like a poor man's version of other teams that chronically disappoint me.  I feel a bit better about this one having some real juice because CNU rebounded so well from the Messiah game. Not a must-win for W&L but very important to keep momentum growing, especially after just drawing with rival Lynchburg.)

7:00 pm -- Calvin @ Hope (Toss out the record books for this one.......and Calvin will still win.)

7:00 pm -- F&M @ Gettysburg (A Saturday game under the lights in Gettysburg in early October against a key rival with both hoping to keep pace with each other and current top dog Johns Hopkins.  Very similar records...F&M at 8-1-2 and Gettysburg at 7-1-2 where SoSs for both imo are OK but do not provide clear insight about the relative strength of these squads. Great opportunity for the Bullets to impress the pollsters.)

7:00 pm -- Rowan @ Montclair St (Rowan is 5-4-3 and seemingly living through their season slipping away from them.  I thought the monster schedule might pay dividends as the season progressed but a 6-0 loss to NJ City ended that thesis.  Rowan either starts a 5 or 6 game win streak here or they're probably done.  Montclair hasn't been spectacular either, but they still are a heavy favorite in the NJAC and in good position.)

10:00 pm -- Pomona-Pitzer @ C-M-S (Kuiper time.)

[Hopkins92]

I had a post teed up about the Hopkins game last night, but I couldn't quite pull the trigger. They just aren't built score 3 or 4 goals. I think if they'd launch a few balls into the box, they'd wind up with a few more of those games. But they are a "dribble the ball into the 6 yard box" kind of team... Just not gonna happen.