Game of the week for D3 men's soccer

[Hopkins92]

Absolutely. Had two classmates absolutely explode their knees on the Homewood turf. We used to call it the turf monster whenever someone just, kind of stumbled for no good reason.

I don't remember what year it was replaced, but I was there during preseason and that field's lines were literally like diving/sliding across sand paper. The paint was just brutal, and as anyone that's visited knows, that is a football, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse field (men's and women). So, the lines are freaking EVERYWHERE...

Squeemish folks stop reading...

That year, I'd go to sleep having polished off a six pack of Milwaukee's Best (Beast) Ice. The raspberry/chewed up skin went from my hip down to about half way down my thigh, and kicked back in on the outside of my calves (always focus on technique!!). Every time I went to rollover, the sheets would "unstick" and peel off my wounds and it was just a nightmare.

The heat on that turf in August was so bad, I couldn't bear wearing pants, so... Just had to suck it up for those 2+ weeks. Pretty gnarly and I still have some very faint scarring from it.

[Gregory Sager]

That's the funny thing to some of us old-heads, and I mentioned it earlier this week. The fields we are complaining about (deservedly so) would've been considered pristine to some of that played on the pockmarked disasters that littered D3 back in the 80s and early 90s.

Yep. North Park had its soccer alumni day last weekend, and listening to the NPU old-heads was like hearing a litany of who twisted his ankle at which local college.

There's also an increased risk of non-contact lower extremity injuries when playing on artificial turf

That's not the case with Field Turf, which is a radically different type of surface than the old-style carpet that Hopkins92 described in gory detail in his last post.

[paclassic89]

Agreed, I think it's much closer in terms of incidence rate between field turf and grass at this point.  I think the jury's still out but it's definitely not as bad as it was on the old carpet artificial turf https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35593739/

[Ejay]

Funny thing (to me), is that we played at Muhlenberg in a playoff game (lost by a goal) on their field and I remember thinking I loved the atmosphere and my recollection is that the field was pretty darn nice.

Agreed. I loved playing at Muhlenberg. The atmosphere was great. Student body right on top of the field. Loud boisterous environment.  Great place to play.  Fast forward 30 years to 2021 and few students bother to show up and the field is trash.  Sitting the bleachers shaking my head and trying to explain to my son that this used to be great!

[camosfan]

Funny thing (to me), is that we played at Muhlenberg in a playoff game (lost by a goal) on their field and I remember thinking I loved the atmosphere and my recollection is that the field was pretty darn nice.

Agreed. I loved playing at Muhlenberg. The atmosphere was great. Student body right on top of the field. Loud boisterous environment.  Great place to play.  Fast forward 30 years to 2021 and few students bother to show up and the field is trash.  Sitting the bleachers shaking my head and trying to explain to my son that this used to be great!

That was the first place that offered my first son a spot, said he did not like the school, but I loved the location of the field, students can watch from the dorms!

[Kuiper]

Looking at the up coming week what game should we all be put on our schedules to watch.  I had a hard time picking one to watch but I did however pick a team to watch Western Connecticut.  They have 3 conference games left for a possible undefeated season.  Saturday October 22 they play Mass-Boston, A game against Pratt on Wednesday, October 26 and finish up the regular season with Southern Maine on Saturday, October 29.  I have enjoyed following the wolves this season.  They play a nice game.  Good Luck wolves.  What games do you all suggest?

If you're looking for a game in the West to check out tomorrow, you might tune into Trinity (TX) at St. Thomas (TX) 5 pm CDT.  Trinity has been surging of late, winning 6 games in a row to take a comfortable lead in the SCAC.  Other than the win against Southwestern, however, Trinity has mostly been feasting on weaker competition.  St. Thomas, therefore, is probably their first real test in awhile and a chance to establish that they are back on track and primed for a postseason run.  St. Thomas is a distant third in the SCAC right now, but if they win against Trinity, they could win out and end the season 12-1-3, which should put them in decent spot for an NCAA tournament spot even if they don't get the automatic qualifier.

St. Thomas gets the big win, 2-1 over Trinity.  They fouled a lot and got a lot of cards, but got the job done, which jumps them to second place in the SCAC behind Trinity and puts them in a position to snag first if Trinity gets tripped up by Colorado College in the last game of the season.

[Coach Jeff]

What are the picks for the GOTW:

Franklin and Marshall v Johns Hopkins Saturday at noon

in another game of interest that day Messiah v Widener at 4 pm

[Kuiper]

This isn't really a game of the week candidate, but with so few games on tap in DIII today, those curious about the DIII v. DI games like the Endicott at BC game last week might want to check out Trine at Indiana University (D1) today at 6:30 pm local time.  They played last year as well and IU beat Trine 9-0.  That game, however, was midseason, while this game is two days before Trine's game against Olivet in the first round of the MIAA tournament. 

[SierraFD3soccer]

Absolutely. Had two classmates absolutely explode their knees on the Homewood turf. We used to call it the turf monster whenever someone just, kind of stumbled for no good reason.

I don't remember what year it was replaced, but I was there during preseason and that field's lines were literally like diving/sliding across sand paper. The paint was just brutal, and as anyone that's visited knows, that is a football, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse field (men's and women). So, the lines are freaking EVERYWHERE...

Squeemish folks stop reading...

That year, I'd go to sleep having polished off a six pack of Milwaukee's Best (Beast) Ice. The raspberry/chewed up skin went from my hip down to about half way down my thigh, and kicked back in on the outside of my calves (always focus on technique!!). Every time I went to rollover, the sheets would "unstick" and peel off my wounds and it was just a nightmare.

The heat on that turf in August was so bad, I couldn't bear wearing pants, so... Just had to suck it up for those 2+ weeks. Pretty gnarly and I still have some very faint scarring from it.

That's a great story.  Must have been one of the first generation of turf. FYI and you probably know this, JHU's turf has definitely gotten really ragged and really needs to be replaced.

[Hopkins92]

Yeah, I actually played at an alumni tournament a few years back and noticed it was getting pretty funky. Was back there for homecoming in the spring and... Here's the thing...

It's fine for lacrosse and field hockey and probably ok for football. But especially when it comes to the bottom line, someone from the B1G needs to complain for their to be any movement on that field. $$$

[Kuiper]

This isn't really a game of the week candidate, but with so few games on tap in DIII today, those curious about the DIII v. DI games like the Endicott at BC game last week might want to check out Trine at Indiana University (D1) today at 6:30 pm local time.  They played last year as well and IU beat Trine 9-0.  That game, however, was midseason, while this game is two days before Trine's game against Olivet in the first round of the MIAA tournament.

Congrats to Trine for holding Indiana off the board for 20 minutes.  It's now 1-0 IU and if IU isn't playing a first choice lineup, it definitely consists of players who start a lot of games and play a lot of minutes. 

[Coach Jeff]

Don't forget Games to watch today.


Franklin and Marshall v Johns Hopkins Saturday at noon

Messiah v Widener at 4 pm

[Hopkins Walk-On]

Absolutely. Had two classmates absolutely explode their knees on the Homewood turf. We used to call it the turf monster whenever someone just, kind of stumbled for no good reason.

I don't remember what year it was replaced, but I was there during preseason and that field's lines were literally like diving/sliding across sand paper. The paint was just brutal, and as anyone that's visited knows, that is a football, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse field (men's and women). So, the lines are freaking EVERYWHERE...

Squeemish folks stop reading...

That year, I'd go to sleep having polished off a six pack of Milwaukee's Best (Beast) Ice. The raspberry/chewed up skin went from my hip down to about half way down my thigh, and kicked back in on the outside of my calves (always focus on technique!!). Every time I went to rollover, the sheets would "unstick" and peel off my wounds and it was just a nightmare.

The heat on that turf in August was so bad, I couldn't bear wearing pants, so... Just had to suck it up for those 2+ weeks. Pretty gnarly and I still have some very faint scarring from it.

The upside was that Hopkins was almost unbeatable on that turf. No one else in our conference (MAC South at the time, before the formation of the Centennial) had turf and, unlike today, you couldn't wear cleats on what was basically green concrete. We typically wore indoor shoes/flats, unless it was wet, when we would wear turf shoes. None of our opponents had the right footwear and they couldn't judge the bounces. We didn't lose a single conference home game in the three years I played.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

Some games to watch today...

Dickinson @ Hopkins
Camden @ Montclair
Albion @ Calvin
Rowan @ Ramapo
RIT @ RPI
Hobart @ Skidmore
Muhles @ Gettysburg
Stevenson @ York

[Coach Jeff]

Game to Watch today...

Wabash v Kenyon 2pm