2022 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[PaulNewman]

Speaking of the super-talented, MIT lost to Suffolk last night.  NEWMAC brothers Babson and Wheaton draw with Tufts and Conn College, respectively....and MIT loses to Suffolk....3-0.

[OldNed]

If anyone cares to learn more about the genius of @PaulNewman, check out the New Show that was hatched literally during the discussion.  It was supposed to be a segment in Around D3 but it was too good, so my production team, CMO, CSO, and CDO all agreed in starting a show.

The New Show

That was fun.  Enjoyed hearing about St. Joseph's (ME)'s 57 game winning streak in-conference, although that makes me think they should have moved conferences at some point!  Has there been a team with a more dominant streak in a conference?

My kid played at St. Joe's for the beginning of that streak and it was a lot of fun.  Even though the Monks won all of those games, I wouldn't really say they were completely dominant - their battles with Norwich and Johnson & Wales were really good.  At one point Norwich & St. Joe's played to 3 straight 0-0 ties with one of those going to PKs to send St. Joe's to the NCAA tournament where St. Joe's and Babson went to PKs at 0-0 and my son hit the winning PK to advance St. Joe's to the second round for the first time ever.  Good times!

[blue_jays]

Welp...I guess Yetishevsky is healthy.

Hard to imagine anyone not putting Chicago #1 next week after a 3-0 victory over North Park on a Yetishevsky hat trick.  That defense AND an in-form striker?  Sheesh.

Chicago is fantastic...I enjoy watching them.  There are two teams by themselves...the Maroons and Messiah.  If you're a neutral that's your national final dream game as of today.  And out of the next 10 teams one of the only ones I would have confidence in beating either?  Calvin.

I agree on your Calvin point for sure. They played down a man most of that UChicago game and still almost got a tie out of it.

The UChicago vs. North Park was a huge game for regional ranking purposes, as well as a great measuring stick for both teams. Heading into the match, I was feeling pessimistic about UChicago's chances to win, and thought a tie would be be a good result as well. Watching the game in-person, you could see both teams were immensely talented in terms of dribbling and fending off challenges, and they were pressing each other all over the field. UChicago had the better chances in the first half, including a close-in sitter off a corner kick that skied over the cross bar.
The Maroons stayed poised throughout and demonstrated exactly what they needed to show. The defense had very few lapses, and blocked almost every dangerous ball that headed towards the net. Boyes only needed to make 1 save. But this was nothing new: we all know how good the Maroons are defensively.
The offense is what really impressed me in the second half. The Maroons are superb front-runners: once they go up a goal, the whole tenor of the match changes. Teams have to change whatever initial plans they had and are forced to press up more. And that's where UChicago thrives: they make you pay for every subsequent over-extension. Their counter attack last night was lethal.
Yetishefsky isn't on the level with UChicago legends like Lopez or Koh (who was in attendance at the game along with Capotosto). But if he keeps submitting performances like he did last night, he could well join them. Yeti has the exact attributes UChicago needs at striker: he's good size (6-1), built like a brick wall, his straight-line speed is surprisingly fast, and his feel with the ball at his feet is exceptional. His third goal saw him juke his defender hard to set up the right foot. Earlier in the half, yeti literally dusted his man who was hanging on to him straight into the turf.
UAA play is about to begin, and UChicago has a gauntlet ahead of them. Teams have to decide: are you going to play them straight up or are you gonna put 11 behind the ball. I foresee plenty of ties coming for all the UAA teams. Asking the Maroons to go undefeated is likely too much to ask, even if they are the best team in the league. It only takes one bad bounce to put 1 in the loss column. It will all come down to how consistent the offensive unit will be.

[PaulNewman]

And the Sewanee Tigers now 8-1.

So since naming five under the radar teams....

Otterbein and Sewanee won.  North Central, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Ohio Northern all had draws.

Speaking of draws, North Central's opponent, Aurora, is 3-1-5...with two of their five draws Calvin and North Central.

[PaulNewman]

Just because....

Most D3 schools by state...and I could be off by one here and there but it's close...

New York = 64

Pennsylvania = 58

Massachusetts = 36

Illinois and Ohio (tied) = 22

Minnesota and Wisconsin (tied) = 17

Texas and Virginia (tied) = 16

New Jersey = 15

Maine = 11

Iowa = 10

California, Connecticut, Oregon/Washington combined (tie) = 9

[jfreddys]

and hence the reason why so many west coast/California kids look east for the academic/high academic D3s.

[Kuiper]

and hence the reason why so many west coast/California kids look east for the academic/high academic D3s.

This is true.  The best high academic D3s are Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, which are both arguably top ten among small liberal arts colleges.  Occidental and maybe Chapman are probably the next closest.  After that, there's a pretty big drop off in SoCal in part because there simply aren't many small liberal arts colleges in the West, let alone ones with decent academic profiles.  Lewis & Clark and Willamette are top 100 liberal arts colleges with soccer in the Northwest.  UC Santa Cruz is a good school, but it's a big state school that doesn't appeal to the same type of student.

But the other reason so many kids from CA get recruited for D3s elsewhere is there are so many kids in CA.  I've said before on other threads that it's one of the top feeder states for most nationally-minded D3s for their student bodies generally. Plenty of schools you wouldn't think of have admissions staff either based in Los Angeles or who travel here so much they might as well.

[camosfan]

Reed is a nice school but they don't seem to play?

[Kuiper]

Reed is a nice school but they don't seem to play?

Reed is a great school for the right type of kid, but they only have club soccer.  In fact, they don't have any varsity sports.

[EnmoreCat]

Reed is a nice school but they don't seem to play?

Reed is a great school for the right type of kid, but they only have club soccer.  In fact, they don't have any varsity sports.

That's the same Reed that doesn't participate in the USA News Today academic rankings either, from memory.  Not saying that's good or bad by the way, but they clearly have their way of doing things.

[Kuiper]

Reed is a nice school but they don't seem to play?

Reed is a great school for the right type of kid, but they only have club soccer.  In fact, they don't have any varsity sports.

That's the same Reed that doesn't participate in the USA News Today academic rankings either, from memory.  Not saying that's good or bad by the way, but they clearly have their way of doing things.

Correct.  Reed stopped answering the US News questionnaires in 1995 or 1996 after deciding that colleges were manipulating the data. They are still ranked on publicly available data and reputation surveys, but the consensus is that they are typically under-ranked, presumably because they are ranked at the bottom on certain measures for which they don't provide info.

[Hopkins92]

Reed is very much focused on de-emphasizing traditional American elitist trappings, including varsity sports and Greek life. They also have a unique approach to evaluating students, which results in not giving out or focusing on letter grading. Unless you dip below a C on a paper or in a class, grades aren't given out or shared with students.

VERY unique place. 

[PaulNewman]

What, no Deep Springs mention?

Gotta admit I didn't see Reed as a possible hidden solution to the dearth of elite West Coast D3 soccer options landing on my Sunday bingo card!

[PaulNewman]

Upset alerts in Walla Walla and Whitewater...both 2-2 with Willamette @ Whitman late in the 2nd.

Update...early 2nd UWW leads 3-2 over GAC.

[PaulNewman]

Welp...looks like the Whitman live stats were not reliable.  Willamette Bearcats win 3-2.  They were up 2-0, Whitman leveled with about 16 to go and apparently Willamette went ahead again a minute or two later.  Gorgeous field in Walla Walla but the woods surrounding the field made me think an Elk or Grizzly would be running on to the pitch at any moment.