2022 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[PaulNewman]

Some key results...

Brockport 2, Oneonta 0

CMU 1, Brandeis 0

CWRU 2, NYU 1

F&M 1, Gettysburg 1

Montclair 3, Rowan 0

W&L 0, CNU 0

Conn Coll 1, Williams 0

Midd 3, Colby 1

Amherst 2, Wesleyan 0

Cortland 3, Buff St 0

SLU 4, RIT 0

Vassar 2, Skidmore 2

Kenyon 1, Wabash 0

Denison 0, Oberlin 0

Stevens 1, Wilkes 0

Emerson 3, MIT 1

Drew 0, Moravian 0

Nebraska Wesleyan 3, Luther 3

JCU 3, Marietta 0

Calvin 1, Hope 0

Babson 3, CG 0

ONU 4, Capital 3

Hobart 1, Clarkson 0

Bates 2, Hamilton 2

J&W 1, Norwich 0

UW-Platteville 2, Concordia (Wis) 1

[Kuiper]

Not sure what is up, but the Pomona-Pitzer @ Claremont-Mudd-Scripps game (AKA the "Sixth Street Derby") is listed as cancelled on both school's websites with no explanation.  The two teams' soccer fields are just a few minutes away from each other across Sixth Street, so it's easy to reschedule, but the available Wed/Sat dates are all gone before the SCIAC playoffs.  They are also scheduled to play Oct 22, but it would be very odd to give up a conference game and they are supposed to play twice.

I don't have more information about why the Pomona-Pitzer - C-M-S game was cancelled tonight, but it appears that it is being recorded as a C-M-S forfeit.  The following message is on the SCIAC men's soccer standings page:

*Pomona-Pitzer awarded an additional Win not reflected above toward tournament seeding as a result of the cancelled 10/8 game vs. CMS.

That means that P-P jumps Redlands and is tied with Cal Lutheran for the fourth playoff spot right now. 

In other action, Occidental crushed Whittier 5-1.  It was a dominant performance against a team that has played other top SCIAC teams closely this year.  Oxy moves into first for now and is certainly on a roll.

Cal Lutheran and La Verne tied 1-1.  That's not a good result for Cal Lutheran.  They;ve stumbled a bit since being in first place not that long ago.

Chapman continued their high scoring ways and beat Cal Tech 7-2.  Between Wednesday's game against Pomona-Pitzer and this game, Chapman has scored 11 goals in two games. 

Redlands beat UC Santa Cruz in a non-conference game 2-1.

[PaulNewman]

Sunday


12:00 pm -- Paywallville Yellowjackets @ Wash U -- Paywallville is their usual 5-2-2 heading to their usual 9-4-3 heading to their usual NCAA bid.  To be precise, the extortionists finished 9-3-4 last year, made the tournament, and were summarily dispatched 4-0 by the honest and devout Calvin Knights.  Wash U?  Who knows?  For a couple of weeks there was a national missing program BOLO alert.  Now the Bears are 5-3, still two standard deviations below the radar, but 1-0 in the UAA.  You know it's bad when as a parent alum you are rooting for a team you care nothing about.

2:00 pm -- Conn Coll @ Middlebury -- Most underrated big game of the season and may end up being one of the best.  I love this matchup.  The only blemish will be the apparent absence of Conn's midfield magic-man, Rye Jaran, whose free kick skills and dangerous set-up plays would help combat the size and set-piece prowess of the Panthers.  Will this one come down to the battle in the midfield or between the pipes, with the latter featuring D3soccer.com GKOY, AA and NESCAC all-time great Grady versus the freshly tapped NCAA PK specialist stopper Silvester?  Very surprised that at least while Jaran is out that Creus hasn't racked up more minutes, the latter being one of the more dangerous offensive threats in the conference.

2:30 pm -- Colby @ Hamilton -- UPSET ALERT!  -- Facing a team on a back to back you always hope that team got a result the first day so that they are fat and happy on the bus ride to Clinton, NY.  Yes, Clinton, NY as several centuries ago the bigwigs at Hamilton somehow lost naming rights to their town with Colgate.  Of course, if you read the college review books when your kid is a NEPSAC prepster, they basically are the same school.  Pass my Brooks Brothers button-down please.  This is a massive game for.....Hamilton.  Coming off a draw with Bates and seeing what has happened in a very short period of time to fellow (previously) white-hot Wesleyan, the Continentals need an outright win.  Colby is a hard to read 3-2-6 (sounds like a Keno number...or zip code) and the White Mules are determined to get something out of their five day horse-and-carriage excursion through the Berkshires, Poconos, and Catskills on the way out and then back home via the Green Mountains, Appalachian trail, and pristine, untouched and brutally tough terrain of western-mid-northeastern Maine.  Seriously, Waterville, ME to Clinton, NY is no joke.  Take a picture of those NESCAC standings from a week ago to compare with three weeks from now.

2:30 -- Bowdoin @ Amherst -- (A very good Bowdoin team is quietly 8-1-1 (3-1-1), but aren't you pretty sure the Mammoths will find a way to snag a 1-0 or 2-1 win?  I am.)

3:00 -- St Thomas (TX) @ Texas Lutheran -- Can St Thomas stop the bleeding after an altitude draw and loss to Southwestern?  Getting a result at Gustafson Field in Seguin won't be easy as the Bulldogs look to avenge an earlier 2-1 defeat to St Thomas in Houston.  Amidst the vague fog of Region X (at least for us Easterners), I can't say who is better between Texas Lutheran at 6-3-3 and Cal Lutheran at another zip code record of 4-2-5, except to say that both are capable of beating a favored conference foe.

4:30 -- St John's @ St Olaf -- There are at least two Collegevilles in D3.  The Johnnies of St John's are one of them.  Don't look now but the Oles are 4-1 in the conference, only trailing GAC.  St Olaf needs this win over the rival Johnnies to set up St Olaf's two match combo of @GAC on 10/15 and @UW-Platteville on 10/17.  The Johnnies are 5-1-3 (2-1-1) but still may be dazed from the 5-0 shellacking at the hands of GAC as they had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Augsburg in the their last outing.

[PaulNewman]

Watch alert...Western CT moves to 14-0 and plays @Drew on Tuesday. 

Watched all of Conn @ Midd...important win for Midd and ultimately that's what counts, but was disappointed in both.  Disappointed in Conn for lack of discipline earning a red card forcing Conn to play entire 2nd half with 10 men.  Feels like Burk is a little out of sync with his team and searching for players and lineups on the fly and/or team is a little out of sync with Burk.  Creus, one of Conn's most dangerous players who almost (should have) scored in the 1st half did not get a minute in the 2nd half and did not appear injured.  Absolutely love Yeonas who I thought was best player on the pitch, but he is getting run into the ground with repeated 90 min efforts.  Very tough for him with Jaran out, but the kid almost never loses the ball and usually makes a positive play getting into space or playing a teammate into space.  I have a feeling Conn is going to feel very disappointed with the result.  As for Midd, you're playing against 10 men for an entire half and put almost no effort into getting a 2nd goal except for last 5 minutes when Conn had a 5'3 outside middie playing centerfield in the back as Conn pushed everyone forward.  Hopefully someone will explain differently, but almost seemed like a cynical approach from Midd and they easily could have been stuck with a draw.  St Louis had one moment of magic where he rocketed a shot Silvester managed to save, but otherwise was mostly invisible.  The defense and goalkeeping are rock solid but give me at least a little dynamic offensive play, please.

Hamilton scores late to salvage a home draw with Colby.  Good not to lose but back to back home draws with Bates and Colby not great.  But at least these teams were going for it, moving up and down the pitch and both teams having great chances in the final minutes.  The Ehrenfreund kid is fantastic...the next Yeonas in the conference.  Not sure why Colby kept trying him because he just kept ending up with the ball and making penetrating plays. 

And then of course another 0-0 affair with Bowdoin @ Amherst.  Bowdoin has a reputation for packing in but they also were going for it.  So I might give best result of the day all things considered to Bowdoin.

[PaulNewman]

Didn't watch but the Wesleyan meltdown continues....up 3-0 on Bates, fall behind 4-3 and have to score just to level at 4-4 which is where things ended.  Credit to Bates for getting back to back draws on the road versus Hamilton and Wes.  After needing a 89th minute goal to tie Hamilton, Wes lost 3 in a row (albeit two of those to Midd and Amherst) and now draw with Bates.

[PaulNewman]

Meet the Rhodes Lynx....the new Sewanee.  Meanwhile, Centre drops to 0-10-2.

[Bucket]

Watch alert...Western CT moves to 14-0 and plays @Drew on Tuesday. 

Watched all of Conn @ Midd...important win for Midd and ultimately that's what counts, but was disappointed in both.  Disappointed in Conn for lack of discipline earning a red card forcing Conn to play entire 2nd half with 10 men.  Feels like Burk is a little out of sync with his team and searching for players and lineups on the fly and/or team is a little out of sync with Burk.  Creus, one of Conn's most dangerous players who almost (should have) scored in the 1st half did not get a minute in the 2nd half and did not appear injured.  Absolutely love Yeonas who I thought was best player on the pitch, but he is getting run into the ground with repeated 90 min efforts.  Very tough for him with Jaran out, but the kid almost never loses the ball and usually makes a positive play getting into space or playing a teammate into space.  I have a feeling Conn is going to feel very disappointed with the result.  As for Midd, you're playing against 10 men for an entire half and put almost no effort into getting a 2nd goal except for last 5 minutes when Conn had a 5'3 outside middie playing centerfield in the back as Conn pushed everyone forward.  Hopefully someone will explain differently, but almost seemed like a cynical approach from Midd and they easily could have been stuck with a draw.  St Louis had one moment of magic where he rocketed a shot Silvester managed to save, but otherwise was mostly invisible.  The defense and goalkeeping are rock solid but give me at least a little dynamic offensive play, please.

Hamilton scores late to salvage a home draw with Colby.  Good not to lose but back to back home draws with Bates and Colby not great.  But at least these teams were going for it, moving up and down the pitch and both teams having great chances in the final minutes.  The Ehrenfreund kid is fantastic...the next Yeonas in the conference.  Not sure why Colby kept trying him because he just kept ending up with the ball and making penetrating plays. 

And then of course another 0-0 affair with Bowdoin @ Amherst.  Bowdoin has a reputation for packing in but they also were going for it.  So I might give best result of the day all things considered to Bowdoin.

You don't know how spot on you are, Paul Newman, regarding out-of-sync Conn. 15 minutes to go before the game, when asked for starters, Burke said he didn't know yet!

No cynicism from Midd. Panthers are thin right now with injuries (starters Nelson and Payne out, top sub Sloan out today as well) Back-to-back days, Chea (#7) plays so hard and was only going to go a half. Luxury to take St. Louis off the pitch for the last 20+ minutes. (And he wasn't invisible to Camel defenders, drawing 2 or 3 just about every time the ball came near him.) Speedy frosh Gavin Randolph had two golden opportunities to widen Panther lead; turned away both times. He'll learn and will bury them in the future. Believe me, Midd was playing for 3 points.

[camosfan]

Conn. 15 minutes to go before the game, when asked for starters, Burke said he didn't know yet!

You should be able to tell from the players on the field warming up and divided into two groups. So he was less than truthful there.

[PaulNewman]

Bucket, don't get me wrong as Midd accomplished what they needed to do, appear to be the best positioned NESCAC at the moment, and I will "vote" the Panthers as the highest ranked NESCAC.  But I hope you aren't talking about the last 5 minutes when Conn did the equivalent of pulling the goalie in hockey and Midd then had several chances they should have finished.  Maybe you're talking about a chance or two the frosh had in the 1st half.  For the first 40 minutes of the 2nd half Midd looked like they were the team with 10 men defending a 1-0 lead and Conn dominated possession and mostly in the Midd half.  Midd also was fortunate to have a ball cleared off the line.  Anyway, like I said, I'm sure they know what they're doing better than I do....just sharing my observations as a viewer.  And at least St Louis should be fresh for Eastern Nazarene!

[coach analytics]

Bucket, don't get me wrong as Midd accomplished what they needed to do, appear to be the best positioned NESCAC at the moment, and I will "vote" the Panthers as the highest ranked NESCAC.  But I hope you aren't talking about the last 5 minutes when Conn did the equivalent of pulling the goalie in hockey and Midd then had several chances they should have finished.  Maybe you're talking about a chance or two the frosh had in the 1st half.  For the first 40 minutes of the 2nd half Midd looked like they were the team with 10 men defending a 1-0 lead and Conn dominated possession and mostly in the Midd half.  Midd also was fortunate to have a ball cleared off the line.  Anyway, like I said, I'm sure they know what they're doing better than I do....just sharing my observations as a viewer.  And at least St Louis should be fresh for Eastern Nazarene!

I also think that Conn is so disciplined and patient in building possession that at times it looks like the other team is getting 10 players behind the ball.

[Ejay]

Watch alert...Western CT moves to 14-0 and plays @Drew on Tuesday. 

Drew will be without their ace striker Kiernan who was red carded against Moravian on Saturday. 

[Coach Jeff]

Paul Neuman I just wanted to say you hit the game of the NESCAC of the day was Middlebury v Conn College.  However I think the Camels are playing with a little championship hang over.  Playing with some uncontrolled play.  The red card was just plain bad choice from the camels defender.  Middlebury played well enough to hold on with the early goal.  But I am not sure holding on when the camels are down a man is a complement to Middlebury. 

Amherst v Bowdion tie
Colby v Hamilton tie

I wish that the NCAA would have left the OT rules alone.  I really think Bowdoin was putting on a lot of pressure in the end of the game OT might not have been good for Amherst  In the game Hamilton looked like they were set to win in OT. 

Another team that I was considering to move into the top 25 was Sewanee until they lost to Hendrix and Rhodes this weekend.

Trinity TX win today will get them into the top 25

Looking to UW Eau Claire dropping to games this week will drop the Independent school out of the top 25.

Not looking to see much movement in the top 5   Messiah and Chicago look like they are clicking in every aspects of their games.  As long as they stay healthy and away from taking a team for granted they are going to stay in the top 

[Coach Jeff]

Not to change the topic but I wanted to make sure that all members are aware of the tragic passing of a York College PA player this weekend.  That is way their game with Mary Washington was postponed.  Keep the team and family in your thoughts and prayers

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

https://d3soccer.com/top25/men/2022/week6

As we know the USC rankings aren't always as aligned with D3Soccer or Massey, but this latest poll for D3Soccer has a few head scratchers for me...but note that for the most part I think the poll is fair and reasonable until the final few RV spots. Who cares right? But it gives us something to discuss 

Loras RV? A 6-5 record including a 6-0 loss to Luther last week. Who is giving Loras 3 votes???

I know this is nitty gritty stuff at the end of the poll but shocked that anybody would give them votes. There are about 30 other teams you could and should replace them with.

St. Olaf is another one RV that could be questioned. 8-4 record and 2 losses to Chicago and NP which is nothing to be down about but then a loss to a decent Wartburg side and another loss that you should be down about against Carleton more recently. The only win that stands out is UW-EAU (which some are skeptical about). I don't understand how this team can RV over 20-30 other teams with less losses, similar blemishes, stronger SOS, better wins, etc. They were top 25 early on but really nothing impresses me on the resume this year. Not even to receive votes at this point.

Yes, I know it's a poll and there's parity. And that both teams are barely RV, but it's still a head scratcher to me 

[paclassic89]

Yeah, they're both well out of the top 25 according to RPI.  Including games through the 9th, St. Olaf is ranked 36th and Loras is ranked 72nd.  Another notable omission is Drew who RV but is currently ranked 8th in RPI.  I know they don't pass the eye test after some poor recent results but they still have strong numbers