2022 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[jknezek]

In terms of soccer conferences is it the general consensus that it's the NESCAC as a clear #1 and all other conferences behind?  What conference would be next?  Thanks.

I feel like this is UAA, but curious if anyone has another contender?

I'm going to agree it's the UAA, and I don't think it's all that close for the next couple conferences. But I'll throw a shout out to the Centennial. There's usually 4 or 5 good teams floating around in there. The NJAC and SUNYAC are pretty brutal most years, but never seem to pay off in the post-season.

[PaulNewman]

For me it's definitely the UAA and imo the gap between NESCAC and UAA is smaller than the gap between UAA and whoever is 3rd, 4th, etc.  Biggest difference between the two are that NESCAC is significantly bigger and has a huge trophy advantage, although to be fair, Brandeis and Chicago have had multiple Final 4 appearances in the past decade and Rochester had one.  CWRU got to an Elite 8.  I think Emory has had one or two Elite 8s.

[Gregory Sager]

In terms of soccer conferences is it the general consensus that it's the NESCAC as a clear #1 and all other conferences behind?  What conference would be next?  Thanks.

I feel like this is UAA, but curious if anyone has another contender?

I'm going to agree it's the UAA, and I don't think it's all that close for the next couple conferences. But I'll throw a shout out to the Centennial. There's usually 4 or 5 good teams floating around in there. The NJAC and SUNYAC are pretty brutal most years, but never seem to pay off in the post-season.

I'd agree with that assessment. NESCAC, then UAA, then waaay down to the Centennial and everybody else.

As an all-sports guy (I'm the play-by-play broadcaster for nine different sports at NPU, so that's nine different sports whose overall D3 landscapes I try to survey every year), I have to say that men's soccer is really an anomaly for my league, the CCIW. I know that a bunch of my fellow posters here on the soccer boards, and probably lurkers as well, are soccer-only types, so their perspective of the CCIW as a lesser league may be skewed by that. It's actually one of the strongest leagues across the board in all of D3; it's a powerhouse with multiple-ranked teams in any number of sports in a given year. The league has won 58 national championships, although only one in this sport (Wheaton, 1997); Wheaton did win another national title in 1983, but that was as an independent (Wheaton, as well as North Park and North Central, played soccer in the Midwest Metropolitan Soccer Conference at that point, which also included D1 and D2 schools; the CCIW didn't sponsor men's soccer until 1987).

For some reason I haven't quite been able to fathom, men's soccer has never really gotten any traction in the CCIW, apart from Wheaton and North Park (of course), and, to a lesser degree, Carthage, although North Central has been on the rise since Enzo Fuschino left UW-Platteville and took over the NCC program a few years ago. It's not a soccer thing, because CCIW women's soccer has been very successful on the national scene; since the CCIW started sponsoring the sport 25 seasons ago, Wheaton has won three national titles in women's soccer and has been to three other Final Fours, and Illinois Wesleyan has made the Final Four as well. The CCIW has had as many as three teams represent the league in the tourney (on two different occasions), which has never happened in men's soccer. The CCIW has an all-time mark of 73-33-11 (.671) in the D3 women's soccer tournament. It's just a men's soccer thing. I'll figure it out, eventually.

[NEPAFAN]

https://masseyratings.com/csoc/ncaa-d3/ratings?c=1

NESCAC
UAA
Centennial
NE W&M ?
Liberty League
SUNAYC
Landmark
NJAC
ODAC
MAC-C

[4231CenterBack]

NEWMAC

[Gregory Sager]

NEWMAC

That's this:

https://masseyratings.com/csoc/ncaa-d3/ratings?c=1

NESCAC
UAA
Centennial
NE W&M ?
Liberty League
SUNAYC
Landmark
NJAC
ODAC
MAC-C

It's the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference, aka the NEWMAC.

[Ejay]

Massey is always so wonky.  Landmark above ODAC AND NJAC?

[PaulNewman]

UW-Eau Claire appears to be on the way to 10-0.

And wondering if it's time to put Stockon on my radar.

[PaulNewman]

Would be interesting to see something similar for D3...

https://www.slamstox.com/en/insights-fun-more-english/top-10-college-soccer-facilities/

Like ... kinda sorta ... Fields of Dreams?

I scratched my head for a day trying to get this reference...and I finally got it.  Seriously, you have so much content out there and I don't recall seeing a link on the board.  I do vaguely recall you mentioning that you had been touring around various campuses.

Anyway, I do love your new sitcom on Bravo.  You're unstoppable and the Emmy is being polished.

And you ghosted me on my joke about you already having a Manhattanville jersey.  I thought that was hilarious.

[PaulNewman]

Soccer is such a strange beast....not an endorsement for the associative property.  Hamilton jumps front and center from nowhere by a narrow, narrow win at Middlebury...and tonight scores in the 90th minutes literally to nip SUNY-Polytech 1-0.

UWEC 5, Ripon 0  (yeah, I know, Ripon is horrible).

And pulling for Saints Nation!

[PaulNewman]

SLU's field is maybe the most gorgeous in D3 but this Cortland field is impressive too.  I had to actually check to make sure it is natural grass.

[SimpleCoach]

SLU's field is maybe the most gorgeous in D3 but this Cortland field is impressive too.  I had to actually check to make sure it is natural grass.

Have to say, its a wonderful stadium, having been there.  And this is one entertaining game between two very good teams.

SC.

[Saint of Old]

SLU's field is maybe the most gorgeous in D3 but this Cortland field is impressive too.  I had to actually check to make sure it is natural grass.

Have to say, its a wonderful stadium, having been there.  And this is one entertaining game between two very good teams.

SC.

Have to say each and every time I see the the former SLU #33 play he oozes class.
What a dangerous soccer player.
Cant help but bring you back to yester year Saints or dare I say Saints of Old
Poise like Smooth
Scores like Britts
As tricky as Reps
Brainspeed of Demello and as tenacious as Dede, but all in one player.

The game was a good watch with great commentary.
Saint defense is starting to solidify with Cortland scoring on a freekick (in fairness, there were other goals Dragons should/could have scored, but thats football).
I like both these teams to make it to their respective tournament finals.
Cortland has some extremely dangerous and active players.

[PaulNewman]

Fantastic win for SLU, in part because that game meant a ton to Cortland as well.  Always enjoy watching SLU...would be nerve-wracking to be a fan because their style yields a lot of 3-2, 4-3 type games and you're never quite sure if they'll be on top at the end.

[PaulNewman]

What a fascinating game...based on the 20 minutes I watched best of the season so far.

So I started watching and immediately noticed #3 for Calvin...incredible looking athlete and I was thinking wow, they got another great Calvin defender although I guess he's basically started every game since coming on campus 4 years ago.  Calvin has Chicago trapped in their own half but Chicago really looks unphased and definitely not panicked as Calvin does what it does, cutting around inside and out, getting to byline, sending dangerous balls through the box, etc, etc.  Then #3 tries to get fancy, loses the ball, and earns a yellow imo fully deserved trying to get ball back because he screwed up.  The tables turn a little and Chicago gets some possession and then in his own third literally less than 5 minutes later #3 does it again and gets 2nd yellow.  Souders flipped out (wrongly imo) the first time and now really loses it.  Never seen him looking so unhinged and seems like is is totally fired up and desperate to win this game (which won't surprise if he does even with 10 men against one of top 3 teams in country.  Less than 2 minutes in half, Maroons get a corner, and of course the All-American Gillespie scores off the corner.  1-0 Chicago at the half.

Two very, very good teams evenly matched but now Calvin playing with 10.  Chicago has size and speed, Calvin has ton of speed and skill.  Well, Chicago has skill too but you know what I mean.

Souders though was literally pacing up and down his sideline, almost trying to defend himself, and he was all over the refs for what I thought at a great distance admittedly was totally out of line.