2022 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[PaulNewman]

Wilmington 2 ONU 1 Final

ONU announcer is sadly closing out the season and looking ahead to next year....clueless that ONU is an almost lock for a Pool C.

[PaulNewman]

Brevard College ousted USAC (I think that's right) #1 seed NC Wesleyan in double OT 2-1.  Both teams are nearly 90% international and both have reserve squads with full reserve schedules. 

Mr. Sager will be all over this....how does this work?  Are all those players playing and that's why the colleges load up on internationals?  Or some kind of special grant money?  How can these colleges that are likely fighting to stay above water taking so many internationals?

[MNBob]

Small correction to Gregory Sager's post. The WIAC has women's soccer. There are not enough WIAC schools with mens' soccer to support a men's league.

[Hopkins92]

Have to say... First time I'm watching Stevens for any real stretch in their playoff game tonight.

Waiting to be impressed. And I say that having watched about 50 minutes of Messiah dismantling York. (6-1 as I type.)

I'm trying not to have a snap judgement, but... Good team. Great team?

And I'm saying on this thread because of the earlier discussion about 1-4 seeds in the tournament. I was impressed by Kenyon... They were VERY dangerous going forward and organized in the back. Stevens looks super organized in the back (so far) but they are not bossing this game like I would expect the #4 team in the nation should.

/2 cents

ETA - That convo is in the regional rankings thread, but I know we all hop around.

[PaulNewman]

Those anxious about Pool C (so, almost all of us) might want to keep an eye on Otterbein @ JCU in the second OAC semi.  Otterbein already up 1-0 early.  Imo Otterbein has been undervalued all year. 

[Kuiper]

Those anxious about Pool C (so, almost all of us) might want to keep an eye on Otterbein @ JCU in the second OAC semi.  Otterbein already up 1-0 early.  Imo Otterbein has been undervalued all year.

I think the early loss to Case Western, before Case was viewed as legit, and the cancellation without rescheduling of the Ohio Wesleyan game, combined to keep Otterbein under the radar, especially when that Centre win in the opening game didn't look so special as the season went on.

[MNBob]

I don't know a lot about D3 soccer but I've seen the history of Messiah. I'm surprised at the under 30 roster size and love seeing all US players.

[Hopkins92]

Have to say... First time I'm watching Stevens for any real stretch in their playoff game tonight.

Waiting to be impressed. And I say that having watched about 50 minutes of Messiah dismantling York. (6-1 as I type.)

I'm trying not to have a snap judgement, but... Good team. Great team?

And I'm saying on this thread because of the earlier discussion about 1-4 seeds in the tournament. I was impressed by Kenyon... They were VERY dangerous going forward and organized in the back. Stevens looks super organized in the back (so far) but they are not bossing this game like I would expect the #4 team in the nation should.

/2 cents

ETA - That convo is in the regional rankings thread, but I know we all hop around.

They are now up 3-0 and I'm starting to get their vibe a little better. They are very relentless on the attack, kind of like gnats, but in a good way? They ping the ball around centrally and open things up with a frequency that explains all their success. It's not, like... overwhelming, but I can see how it wears the opposition down and leads to results.

And, again, they just don't give a lot of opps to the other team.

Simple Coach kind of linked them to Hopkins in terms of a deliberate style. I'd just tweak that to say they are Hopkins but with more guys that can finish.

/not quite a snap judgement at this point

[PaulNewman]

JCU prevails in an extremely intense, competitive match.

[Gregory Sager]

Small correction to Gregory Sager's post. The WIAC has women's soccer. There are not enough WIAC schools with mens' soccer to support a men's league.

Yes. Force of habit. I have a tendency to say "men's and women's soccer" all the time because people sometimes forget that women's soccer is an NCAA sport, too. But you're right -- the WIAC does sponsor women's soccer. Men's soccer is basically a Title IX casualty in that league.

Brevard College ousted USAC (I think that's right) #1 seed NC Wesleyan in double OT 2-1.  Both teams are nearly 90% international and both have reserve squads with full reserve schedules. 

Mr. Sager will be all over this....how does this work?  Are all those players playing and that's why the colleges load up on internationals?  Or some kind of special grant money?  How can these colleges that are likely fighting to stay above water taking so many internationals?

I know nothing about Brevard. I do know that NC Wesleyan's roster has been dominated by international players for many years.

International students pay tuition and room & board, just like everybody else. Colleges that are fighting to stay above water want international students, as a good pipeline to a another country that has plenty of young people eager to get an education in America means a steady stream of tuition income. Where that money comes from varies from country to country. Some countries subsidize their students who are attending school in the U.S., some don't. I know that Norwegians go to school here for practically nothing, since Norway is so awash in North Sea oil money that it is willing to pay for the education abroad of its young people, while their Scandinavian neighbors to the east mostly pay out of pocket or through bank loans, just like American kids, because Sweden doesn't subsidize the American-based education of college-age Swedes.

[Hopkins92]

C2C Semifinals kicking off down in Salisbury:

11a - CNU vs. UW-Whitewater
2p - Mary Washington v. Salisbury

Reminder that Salisbury is a 5 win team (after PK win yesterday) and they just beat MW last week on this very field (2-1)

[PaulNewman]

If anyone -- SC? -- can find video of the JCU goal with announcer reaction included please post.  I've searched every way I know how, and all I can come up with is below...a mini picture-story of the goal.

https://twitter.com/jcusports/status/1588360277090701312?s=20&t=Wqe7MFmCivKAAgEN47uPlw

[Hopkins92]

Blue Streaks is still one of the sillier mascots I've come across in D3 land.

[southsidejet]

If anyone -- SC? -- can find video of the JCU goal with announcer reaction included please post.  I've searched every way I know how, and all I can come up with is below...a mini picture-story of the goal.

https://twitter.com/jcusports/status/1588360277090701312?s=20&t=Wqe7MFmCivKAAgEN47uPlw

I attended this game and viewed the video highlight clip of that call early this morning... announcer's reaction was an instant classic! Unfortunately the link is no longer available for some reason nor the game itself, but if I stumble upon it later I'll try to share.

[southsidejet]

Blue Streaks is still one of the sillier mascots I've come across in D3 land.

"The 1924 season was barely underway when the sports editor of The Ignatian noted that other colleges had nicknames for their teams. John Carroll used "Fighting Irish" for a short time, but that was already University of Notre Dame's nickname.

The person generally credited with christening the team with the new name, "Blue Streak," is Raymond Gibbons '24, who followed the team on the practice field after his graduation, despite a serious illness. On one of these occasions, he reportedly remarked, "they're tearing around like a blue streak." At his death in 1925, The Carroll News referred to him as "one of the most ardent followers of Carroll's teams and since his graduation he has kept up his interest in the Blue Streak eleven that he so aptly christened, attending every game he possibly could."

Its early use was always in the singular; it became "Blue Streaks" in the 1930s."