2022 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[camosfan]

What became of Vince Sciarrotta at W&L?

[Kuiper]

Here's a preview of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, which was just barely picked to win SCIAC over Redlands in a close preseason coaches poll.  Their biggest loss might be at GK, but getting 5th year senior Donaldson back at center back will help.

https://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/msoc/2022-23/releases/20220823juocea

[PaulNewman]

I am gonna predict that this year will be remembered at least in part as the Covid Bonus Year.  I'm also gonna predict that because so many seniors from last year are returning for their final season of eligibility that 2022 could be one of the best, most competitive seasons for D3 in a long time.  Of course exaggerated excitement from crazed posters like myself is fairly typical with a week to go for opening day when everyone is still 0-0 and maybe as many as 40-50 teams believe they "got a shot."  That caveat aside, imo there is a rare convergence of the Covid bonus year and more parity than ever at least at the top couple of tiers (and parity not due to regression to the mean but rather an improved standard of play and player quality among a larger range of programs), yielding a broader and deeper competitive landscape.  By analogy, as I suggested in a prior post, I don't believe programs like Messiah, Tufts, and Amherst have slipped at all.  Rather, I believe there are just a significantly larger number of teams than in past years capable of taking on the Falcons or Jumbos or Mammoths straight up with even odds to prevail.  The teams that most immediately jump off the page in this category from my pov are W&L, North Park, Chicago, Kenyon, Trinity (TX), Conn Coll, Montclair...with Midd, Cortland, OWU, Calvin, St Olaf, John Carroll, a couple more UAAs like Wash U, Emory, UR, and/or NYU, F&M, Hopkins, Rowan, CMS or Redlands, Oneonta, Christopher Newport, etc also possibly in that group or knocking on the door.  That's not including any number of potential surprise standouts, like maybe Wash College, SLU, Otterbein, Wesleyan, MIT, Stevens, Mary Washington, North Central, GAC, St Thomas (TX), RPI or RIT, etc.

In terms of my own partisanship, I am surprisingly pumped.  I usually start seasons a bit more coy and conservative, and while anxious that there are never guarantees of anything including a NCAA bid, I am just gonna say that the Kenyon Owls are loaded.  They lose only one starter, CB Sam Hosmer-Quint, a NCAA Postgrad Scholar and Fulbright award winner, who exhausted his eligibility. All of last year's other starters and every other player on the roster return.  The Owls would be a handful just with that, but if even a couple of the 10 newcomers (8 frosh and 2 transfers) are difference makers they are gonna be very, very good.  Away at John Carroll in the second game of the season should be a good test.

[PaulNewman]

The team that keeps coming into my head is Chicago.  The Maroons are as due for a title as Calvin....three Final Fours in five years.  I can't figure out how many seniors from last year are returning yet but just the thought of Wada, Gillespie, and Yetishevsky is enough.  And of course the snippets about their incoming frosh sound fantastic...seem to have excellent soccer credentials, a lot of Summa Cum Laudes, and a kid who won a "Socrates Award."  Color me duly impressed.

I suppose one wild card with Chicago is having a new coach (and the second woman at a high profile men's program) and whether there will be any adjustment there.  Of course Conn College did OK with a first-year skipper.

[Mr.Right]

Wait so where did the W&L striker Zimmerman go? 

[Another Mom]

I don't know the answer to that question,  but I don't believe he left to play soccer at another school.

[jknezek]

I don't know the answer to that question,  but I don't believe he left to play soccer at another school.

He is a California kid. While the Generals recruit athletically nationally, the school itself remains very southern. Who knows, maybe it just wasn't a great fit in the end? As an NJ kid I thought about it a few times during my time in Lexington. Or maybe there are a hundred other reasons to change schools or take a year off. Wish him well though. That was an electric run he had for the Generals end of last year and really provided a heck of a personal story to a great team season.

[Kuiper]

The team that keeps coming into my head is Chicago.  The Maroons are as due for a title as Calvin....three Final Fours in five years.  I can't figure out how many seniors from last year are returning yet but just the thought of Wada, Gillespie, and Yetishevsky is enough.  And of course the snippets about their incoming frosh sound fantastic...seem to have excellent soccer credentials, a lot of Summa Cum Laudes, and a kid who won a "Socrates Award."  Color me duly impressed.

I suppose one wild card with Chicago is having a new coach (and the second woman at a high profile men's program) and whether there will be any adjustment there.  Of course Conn College did OK with a first-year skipper.

Gotta love a school that introduces each of its new recruits by first describing their academic honors before describing their athletic achievements.  Very D3.

[Another Mom]

I don't know the answer to that question,  but I don't believe he left to play soccer at another school.

He is a California kid. While the Generals recruit athletically nationally, the school itself remains very southern. Who knows, maybe it just wasn't a great fit in the end? As an NJ kid I thought about it a few times during my time in Lexington. Or maybe there are a hundred other reasons to change schools or take a year off. Wish him well though. That was an electric run he had for the Generals end of last year and really provided a heck of a personal story to a great team season.

Off the topic of Adran -- the school has changed considerably since you attended! While Lexington is very Southern,  W&L is less so. It's made huge, and continuing strides on the diversity and inclusion front, and its student body comes from all over.

(I am a little sensitive,  since so many people think of the W&L of 25 years ago, and not as it is today.)

[PaulNewman]

The team that keeps coming into my head is Chicago.  The Maroons are as due for a title as Calvin....three Final Fours in five years.  I can't figure out how many seniors from last year are returning yet but just the thought of Wada, Gillespie, and Yetishevsky is enough.  And of course the snippets about their incoming frosh sound fantastic...seem to have excellent soccer credentials, a lot of Summa Cum Laudes, and a kid who won a "Socrates Award."  Color me duly impressed.

I suppose one wild card with Chicago is having a new coach (and the second woman at a high profile men's program) and whether there will be any adjustment there.  Of course Conn College did OK with a first-year skipper.

Gotta love a school that introduces each of its new recruits by first describing their academic honors before describing their athletic achievements.  Very D3.

The first kid, Alex Gomas, sounds like he should be a Power 5 All-Conference freshman starting defender at Stanford, Duke, or UCLA who already has received a Rhodes Scholarship.  President's Academic List all four years (I assume means no B+'s in four years), Summa, President's Award for National Latin Exam....AND...Georgia state POY, ECNL 1st Team All Conference.

Then there's Alex Lee...USYS National League leading goal scorer (2019-2020), MLS Next Southeast leading goal scorer (2021-2022), National Team Training Camp Invitee.

And last (alphabetically), poor Kai Walsh who has no academic achievements listed.

https://express.adobe.com/page/er6LmLSoGDK26/

Gotta say I didn't find the formatting visually and reader friendly.

[jknezek]

I don't know the answer to that question,  but I don't believe he left to play soccer at another school.

He is a California kid. While the Generals recruit athletically nationally, the school itself remains very southern. Who knows, maybe it just wasn't a great fit in the end? As an NJ kid I thought about it a few times during my time in Lexington. Or maybe there are a hundred other reasons to change schools or take a year off. Wish him well though. That was an electric run he had for the Generals end of last year and really provided a heck of a personal story to a great team season.

Off the topic of Adran -- the school has changed considerably since you attended! While Lexington is very Southern,  W&L is less so. It's made huge, and continuing strides on the diversity and inclusion front, and its student body comes from all over.

(I am a little sensitive,  since so many people think of the W&L of 25 years ago, and not as it is today.)

Definitely possible. I haven't been back in a couple years though I try to get to any athletic event that hits Sewanee or B-SC on a weekend. It probably doesn't help that my fraternity is now one of the most southern on campus, though it wasn't when I was there, and I get a lot of networking from those students. It also probably doesn't help that I live in Birmingham and am often talking with W&L students and alums from this area. I think our sendoff event in 2019 from the Birmingham area had about 40 first years, so 10% of the incoming class came from this area alone.

[calvin_grad]

There are a number of teams that would be great to get a preview on for those who know.  Calvin comes to mind...a typical Calvin team this year or down just a little? 

Calvin (ending up at #9 last year) had 4 seniors starters on the team last year, including the team leading scorer and central defender, both All-Americans. Senior starters accounted for 39% of goals scored.

Rumor has it that Calvin has a strong recruiting class, including 3 D1 transfers. Of course, it remains to be seen whether coach can form these players into a coherent team by August 30...

Kadin Shaban, who played at Michigan State last year, is on the roster, as is Colin Iverson, who was a starting defender at Carthage.  I believe those are the only 2 new players on the roster who transferred in.

[Gregory Sager]

There are a number of teams that would be great to get a preview on for those who know.  Calvin comes to mind...a typical Calvin team this year or down just a little? 

Calvin (ending up at #9 last year) had 4 seniors starters on the team last year, including the team leading scorer and central defender, both All-Americans. Senior starters accounted for 39% of goals scored.

Rumor has it that Calvin has a strong recruiting class, including 3 D1 transfers. Of course, it remains to be seen whether coach can form these players into a coherent team by August 30...

Kadin Shaban, who played at Michigan State last year, is on the roster, as is Colin Iverson, who was a starting defender at Carthage.  I believe those are the only 2 new players on the roster who transferred in.

I saw a lot of Iverson last year. He's a 6'5 beast who made All-CCIW First Team as a sophomore last season for the Firebirds. He has the potential to be a great one.

I'm guessing that in this case Calvin was the beneficiary of Carthage's coaching change.

[jknezek]

Anyone interested in participating in the D3soccer Fan poll this season?

If you are interested in participating, I will run the poll again if we get enough pollsters. My only caveat is that if you agree to participate you try your best to do it every week so that things are consistent. Also, you try to be on time because it's no fun for anyone if I have to track you down every week and pester you to get your votes in.

Unless someone has a better idea, I'll run it the same as last year with the same deadlines, so the poll will include games that start before Sunday at midnight EST and will be due to me before Tuesday EST at midnight and I will try to post on Wednesday.

I will not do a preseason poll. I hate them. They set up a ton of positional bias and, especially with 400+ teams in D3, there simply is no way to do a good one. The first poll will be based on games played prior to 9/11 and will be due to me on 9/13. That gives us roughly 2 weeks of games to start making judgements.

If you are interested, and I realize we about 2 weeks out, please send me a PM. I hope we get our pollsters back from last year, as they did an excellent job, but if you want to join in, I'm always open to more!

[PaulNewman]

Mystery solved.  Hector Gomez, who would have been a leading candidate for D3 NPOY at OWU, is using his last year of eligibility as a grad student at D1 Cleveland State.  In two games thus far, Hector has logged 47 minutes versus Canisius and 50 minutes versus UIC, both victories for the Vikings.