Fall Schedules

Falconer · June 08, 2022, 08:19:57 PM

Messiah posted their schedule, and it's a bear:

https://gomessiah.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

Not many cupcakes. That's good. The boys return most starters and will (we hope) heal up over the summer. They finished the tournament last fall without their indisputably best player (Luke Groothoff, who is returning for a final season) and several other starters were either out or playing with more than trivial injuries.

Kuiper · June 08, 2022, 11:23:54 PM

Two of the Final Four participants - Chicago and Amherst - have also posted their schedules. Chicago's is not surprisingly harder as the Nescac schools get beaten up enough in conference and the UAA schools have fewer conference games due to the travel

https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/msoc/2022-23/schedule

https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule?path=msoc

And just because I'm always curious, Colorado College's schedule should be seen by anyone whoever complains about travel. During September alone, they will be traveling to Washington, Texas, and Minnesota for multiple game weekends.

https://cctigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

Gregory Sager · June 09, 2022, 02:06:12 AM

Quote from: Kuiper on June 08, 2022, 11:23:54 PM
Two of the Final Four participants - Chicago and Amherst - have also posted their schedules. Chicago's is not surprisingly harder as the Nescac schools get beaten up enough in conference and the UAA schools have fewer conference games due to the travel

https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/msoc/2022-23/schedule

Three of the four teams that played in the Chicago sectional last November -- Chicago, North Park, and St. Olaf -- will be engaging in an informal round-robin, as the Oles will play at NPU on Friday, Sept. 11 and then travel down to da Sout' Side to take on the U of C two days later. The Maroons and Vikings will then have their annual regular-season crosstown battle on Sept. 28 at Stagg Field.

Chicago will also travel to Grand Rapids to take on the fourth team from that sectional, Calvin, on Sept. 21.

The Maroons are taking on a ridiculously difficult schedule in '22.

Ron Boerger · June 09, 2022, 12:00:52 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on June 08, 2022, 11:23:54 PM
And just because I'm always curious, Colorado College's schedule should be seen by anyone whoever complains about travel. During September alone, they will be traveling to Washington, Texas, and Minnesota for multiple game weekends.

https://cctigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

Seven of their first eight matches are away and all involve air travel. The price of being the only D3 school in the Mountain time zone...

WLCALUM83 · June 09, 2022, 12:54:30 PM

Quote from: Falconer on June 08, 2022, 08:19:57 PM
Messiah posted their schedule, and it's a bear:

https://gomessiah.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

Not many cupcakes. That's good. The boys return most starters and will (we hope) heal up over the summer. They finished the tournament last fall without their indisputably best player (Luke Groothoff, who is returning for a final season) and several other starters were either out or playing with more than trivial injuries.

Gregory Sager · June 09, 2022, 01:17:43 PM

Kuiper · June 09, 2022, 01:43:19 PM

Quote from: WLCALUM83 on June 09, 2022, 12:54:30 PM
Quote from: Falconer on June 08, 2022, 08:19:57 PM
Messiah posted their schedule, and it's a bear:

https://gomessiah.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

Not many cupcakes. That's good. The boys return most starters and will (we hope) heal up over the summer. They finished the tournament last fall without their indisputably best player (Luke Groothoff, who is returning for a final season) and several other starters were either out or playing with more than trivial injuries.

Other MAC-Commonwealth schedules up:

Eastern-PA: https://goeasterneagles.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule
Stevens: https://www.gomustangsports.com/sports/msoc/2022-23/schedule

Other UAA:

Carnegie-Mellon: https://athletics.cmu.edu/sports/msoc/2022-23/schedule
CWRU: https://athletics.case.edu/sports/msoc/2022-23/schedule
Emory: https://www.emoryathletics.com/sports/msoc/2022-23/schedule
Rochester: https://uofrathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2022

I'm sure Simple Coach is gearing up for that early season Mount Union road trip to play Rochester. They tend to play at least one UAA opponent a year, but it's usually Case Western and/or Carnegie Mellon.

blue_jays · June 09, 2022, 01:44:10 PM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on June 09, 2022, 02:06:12 AM
Quote from: Kuiper on June 08, 2022, 11:23:54 PM
Two of the Final Four participants - Chicago and Amherst - have also posted their schedules. Chicago's is not surprisingly harder as the Nescac schools get beaten up enough in conference and the UAA schools have fewer conference games due to the travel

https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/msoc/2022-23/schedule

Three of the four teams that played in the Chicago sectional last November -- Chicago, North Park, and St. Olaf -- will be engaging in an informal round-robin, as the Oles will play at NPU on Friday, Sept. 11 and then travel down to da Sout' Side to take on the U of C two days later. The Maroons and Vikings will then have their annual regular-season crosstown battle on Sept. 28 at Stagg Field.

Chicago will also travel to Grand Rapids to take on the fourth team from that sectional, Calvin, on Sept. 21.

The Maroons are taking on a ridiculously difficult schedule in '22.

A tradition started under Mike Babst continues. It seems every fall, the UChicago coaching staff tries to top the previous year's difficulty. The Maroons would rather test themselves all season and take a couple lumps along the way in the name of being ready for a postseason run. That philosophy has served them well for the last 8 years or so.

Gregory Sager · June 09, 2022, 02:10:33 PM

Well, Chicago is fortunate to be located in the heart of CCIW country, since the three long-standing powers of that league (North Park, Wheaton, and Carthage) are always keen on playing the Maroons. And Kalamazoo, which is the non-UAA and non-CCIW school besides Lake Forest that the Maroons annually seem to play in every sport whenever possible, is no competitive detriment, either; the Hornets have been a Massey Top 100 team for the past three seasons and are thus a scheduling asset. So right there the Chicago coaching staff starts off knowing that it's going to have four good non-conference opponents already on the docket.

It's the variables that impress me, in particular the five-game stretch that the Maroons will play over the space of a fortnight in September: St. Olaf, Hope, @ Luther, @ Calvin, @ John Carroll. That's a scheduling coup in terms of SOS.

Kuiper · June 09, 2022, 03:34:39 PM

Quote from: Gregory Sager on June 09, 2022, 02:10:33 PM
Well, Chicago is fortunate to be located in the heart of CCIW country, since the three long-standing powers of that league (North Park, Wheaton, and Carthage) are always keen on playing the Maroons. And Kalamazoo, which is the non-UAA and non-CCIW school besides Lake Forest that the Maroons annually seem to play in every sport whenever possible, is no competitive detriment, either; the Hornets have been a Massey Top 100 team for the past three seasons and are thus a scheduling asset. So right there the Chicago coaching staff starts off knowing that it's going to have four good non-conference opponents already on the docket.

It's the variables that impress me, in particular the five-game stretch that the Maroons will play over the space of a fortnight in September: St. Olaf, Hope, @ Luther, @ Calvin, @ John Carroll. That's a scheduling coup in terms of SOS.

I wonder whether Chicago's new coach, Julianne Sitch, had any input on this schedule at all. Her hire was announced on April 20 and she's probably had to hit the ground running on recruiting and a bunch of other things. Plus, as you mentioned, many of these schools are regulars on Chicago's schedule. Last year, they played at St. Olaf, at Wheaton, and at North Park, and hosted Kalamazoo, Luther, Carthage, Calvin, and John Carroll. This year, they play all those teams again and just have flipped the location. Only Hope is new among the ones you mentioned. So, many of those games feel like home and away series put in place by the prior coach or the AD. Kind of a rough way to start her tenure at U of C, but the bar is set high at U of C and she does have a lot of strong players returning.

WLCALUM83 · June 10, 2022, 10:24:35 AM

WLCALUM83 · June 10, 2022, 11:37:05 AM

SimpleCoach · June 10, 2022, 12:16:03 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on June 09, 2022, 01:43:19 PM
Quote

I'm sure Simple Coach is gearing up for that early season Mount Union road trip to play Rochester. They tend to play at least one UAA opponent a year, but it's usually Case Western and/or Carnegie Mellon.

MMMmmmm .... I just may .... I just may ....

Gregory Sager · June 10, 2022, 12:21:47 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on June 09, 2022, 03:34:39 PM
Quote from: Gregory Sager on June 09, 2022, 02:10:33 PM
Well, Chicago is fortunate to be located in the heart of CCIW country, since the three long-standing powers of that league (North Park, Wheaton, and Carthage) are always keen on playing the Maroons. And Kalamazoo, which is the non-UAA and non-CCIW school besides Lake Forest that the Maroons annually seem to play in every sport whenever possible, is no competitive detriment, either; the Hornets have been a Massey Top 100 team for the past three seasons and are thus a scheduling asset. So right there the Chicago coaching staff starts off knowing that it's going to have four good non-conference opponents already on the docket.

It's the variables that impress me, in particular the five-game stretch that the Maroons will play over the space of a fortnight in September: St. Olaf, Hope, @ Luther, @ Calvin, @ John Carroll. That's a scheduling coup in terms of SOS.

I wonder whether Chicago's new coach, Julianne Sitch, had any input on this schedule at all. Her hire was announced on April 20 and she's probably had to hit the ground running on recruiting and a bunch of other things. Plus, as you mentioned, many of these schools are regulars on Chicago's schedule. Last year, they played at St. Olaf, at Wheaton, and at North Park, and hosted Kalamazoo, Luther, Carthage, Calvin, and John Carroll. This year, they play all those teams again and just have flipped the location. Only Hope is new among the ones you mentioned.

Yes, but the reason why I called it a "scheduling coup" is that the four variable teams on the back end of one-off two-game contracts with Chicago (as opposed to teams such as North Park and Wheaton that re-up two-game contracts with Chicago like clockwork every other year) lined up in a row for September alongside a Hope program that, although it just missed making the tourney last year, turned back into a serious regional power under Dave Brandt in recent seasons.

The overall strength of Chicago's schedule had already been discussed. It's the sequencing of that particular stretch of the U of C's schedule -- which consists of five teams that aren't regularly a feature of the Maroons' annual slate, but which nevertheless is unusually strong and holds no chance for the Maroons to catch their breaths -- to which I was referring.

WLCALUM83 · June 10, 2022, 12:38:53 PM