Big Dance 2022 - Let's Go!

[PaulNewman]

NCAA Tourney Trivia Texas Style........Last time Trinity (TX) didn't make the tournament?

2001.  Quite a streak.  Messiah missed one year in the last decade.  OWU missed only one year in the last decade.

[SierraFD3soccer]

[/quote]

Haha this is true, I don't think I've ever considered the possibility of having a remote field being a game changer for recruiting but might be the case.
Nothing like the fresh smell of the dump at 5:45am in august as you were stretching for the first fitness test of preseason....
[/quote]

Definitely a game changer for our son when being recruited.  He did not want to go through another 4 years of that since his HS was building a new stadium.  Just adds more to kids stress level.  Accessible field can be important.

[PaulNewman]

Flying to SLU?  Syracuse? Albany? Burlington, VT?  Montreal?  Ottawa?  Kingston, CA?

[stlawus]

Depends on where you're flying from.  Flights go into Ogdensburg and Watertown which is a lot closer.  Other than that Syracuse most likely.

[Kuiper]

NCAA Tourney Trivia Texas Style........Last time Trinity (TX) didn't make the tournament?

2001.  Quite a streak.  Messiah missed one year in the last decade.  OWU missed only one year in the last decade.

To some extent, that is healthy (with apologies to the Trinity faithful).  It's an indication Region X (which I think is the largest geographically in DIII, but likely the smallest or one of the smallest in terms of men's DIII soccer programs) is growing ever so slightly and becoming a little bit stronger in DIII men's soccer.  St. Thomas' move from NAIA to DIII has made the SCAC tougher for teams like Trinity to get the automatic bid and forced all schools in that conference to raise their game.  Also, there are now a few more teams in the west that have credible programs, such as Willamette, which was a bottom feeder a decade or so ago, lucky to win 1-2 games a year.  In a region where one or zero Pool C bids are common, all it takes is a bit more difficult conference and other contenders for the (perhaps) one Pool C bid in the region to disrupt dominant programs like Trinity or Redlands (which finished the SCIAC outside the top two this year for the first time since 2009).

[Coach Jeff]

A question that I was thinking about after talking with MN Dad.  Was the last season for UW Eau Claire going to be their first or was it the COVID season?  If you look at their roster they have mostly first and second year players with some junior through out.  Were these juniors transfers or were they to be the first team?  Either way it goes well for the blugolds for the next couple of years with a strong young roster!

[Flying Weasel]

A question that I was thinking about after talking with MN Dad.  Was the last season for UW Eau Claire going to be their first or was it the COVID season?  If you look at their roster they have mostly first and second year players with some junior through out.  Were these juniors transfers or were they to be the first team?  Either way it goes well for the blugolds for the next couple of years with a strong young roster!

Their first head coach was hired in March 2020 (https://blugolds.com/sports/msoc/2019-20/releases/20200309mssgst).  Given that March to August would not have been enough time to recruit an entire new team, I am assuming the target debut was always the Fall of 2021. The article about the coach's hire does not say when the team was expected to start play.

From the following article, at least one of the juniors is a transfer--in his case from St. Thomas (who was transitioning to D-I upon being kicked out of the MIAC).
https://www.leadertelegram.com/sports/mens-college-soccer-uw-eau-claire-off-to-hot-start-in-second-season/article_d9daf090-22f3-5113-8d70-ed2c64cd6632.html

[Coach Jeff]

A question that I was thinking about after talking with MN Dad.  Was the last season for UW Eau Claire going to be their first or was it the COVID season?  If you look at their roster they have mostly first and second year players with some junior through out.  Were these juniors transfers or were they to be the first team?  Either way it goes well for the blugolds for the next couple of years with a strong young roster!

Their first head coach was hired in March 2020 (https://blugolds.com/sports/msoc/2019-20/releases/20200309mssgst).  Given that March to August would not have been enough time to recruit an entire new team, I am assuming the target debut was always the Fall of 2021. The article about the coach's hire does not say when the team was expected to start play.

Thanks!  That is great that the coach was able to get some older players on the team in their first year of playing D3!  They have a fairly strong side.

[gustiefan04]

And oddly enough a couple of weeks ago I was thinking about Keene and how to my knowledge they are one of only two D3 teams named the Owls. 

Now the great thing about this board is that Sager or FW within the next half-hour will list four other D3s that are Owls lol.

Keene State
Kenyon
UMPI
Rowan
Westfield State

That's the five D3 schools nicknamed Owls.

Sorry that I didn't meet the deadline, but I just logged in.

I knew it!  Hahahahahahahahahahaha.....as my kids would say.

Rowan is the Profs. The logo is an owl, but that's not the nickname.

Yeah, you're right. Forgot about that. My bad.

That could start a whole new thread: Schools whose mascot is different than the nickname.

One of my running gags with my Hopkins friends is pretending to be confused by both Haverford and Swarthmore's mascots/nicknames.

The MIAC has got to be near the top of the list when it comes to conferences with the least creative/worst school nicknames, don't ya know.

Gustavus Gusties, St Olaf Oles, St. Johns Johnnies, Augsburg Auggies.

Tough soccer conference, but half the schools really lacked any creative juice when it comes to nicknames...

[MNBob]

A question that I was thinking about after talking with MN Dad.  Was the last season for UW Eau Claire going to be their first or was it the COVID season?  If you look at their roster they have mostly first and second year players with some junior through out.  Were these juniors transfers or were they to be the first team?  Either way it goes well for the blugolds for the next couple of years with a strong young roster!

Their first head coach was hired in March 2020 (https://blugolds.com/sports/msoc/2019-20/releases/20200309mssgst).  Given that March to August would not have been enough time to recruit an entire new team, I am assuming the target debut was always the Fall of 2021. The article about the coach's hire does not say when the team was expected to start play.

Thanks!  That is great that the coach was able to get some older players on the team in their first year of playing D3!  They have a fairly strong side.

2021 was the planned first year. WIAC history talks about men's soccer but doesn't mention when/why it ended. I assume the why was schools had to drop the sport for budget reasons. UWEC celebrated a single senior on Senior Day -- Daniel Muths incorrectly listed as Soph on the roster page. He was the first recruit for Coach Holm and the team has named a team award after him for future players. Coach wants to have a very strong future SoS for this team as the big sophomore class ages and becomes upperclassmen.

[EnmoreCat]

In Australia, the biggest horse race is the Melbourne Cup, a race over two miles, typically wit around 20 horses running.  If you read the form, cases can be made for well over half the field.  This is my first D3 Tournament and whilst I appreciate the consistency with which Messiah and Chicago have been at the top of rankings, using the Enmorecat special sauce (patent pending) I came up with 11 teams where I would absolutely not be surprised if they happened to win and I am sure that my list would differ from others.  The one thing I would say is that despite that, some of that 11 will be gone after the second round.  For me, this makes it fascinating. 

I haven't seen any non-NESCAC teams this year, so really can't tell you how good the top ten that aren't NESCAC really are, but respect what they have done.  What I will say is that I reckon every NESCAC team in conference, almost plays a final every game, I can't help but think that the battle hardness counts at this time of year.

[Gregory Sager]

A question that I was thinking about after talking with MN Dad.  Was the last season for UW Eau Claire going to be their first or was it the COVID season?  If you look at their roster they have mostly first and second year players with some junior through out.  Were these juniors transfers or were they to be the first team?  Either way it goes well for the blugolds for the next couple of years with a strong young roster!

Their first head coach was hired in March 2020 (https://blugolds.com/sports/msoc/2019-20/releases/20200309mssgst).  Given that March to August would not have been enough time to recruit an entire new team, I am assuming the target debut was always the Fall of 2021. The article about the coach's hire does not say when the team was expected to start play.

Thanks!  That is great that the coach was able to get some older players on the team in their first year of playing D3!  They have a fairly strong side.

2021 was the planned first year. WIAC history talks about men's soccer but doesn't mention when/why it ended. I assume the why was schools had to drop the sport for budget reasons.

According to UW-Oshkosh, they dropped men's soccer (a sport in which they'd had some national success) due to Title IX.

[coach analytics]

In Australia, the biggest horse race is the Melbourne Cup, a race over two miles, typically wit around 20 horses running.  If you read the form, cases can be made for well over half the field.  This is my first D3 Tournament and whilst I appreciate the consistency with which Messiah and Chicago have been at the top of rankings, using the Enmorecat special sauce (patent pending) I came up with 11 teams where I would absolutely not be surprised if they happened to win and I am sure that my list would differ from others.  The one thing I would say is that despite that, some of that 11 will be gone after the second round.  For me, this makes it fascinating. 

I haven't seen any non-NESCAC teams this year, so really can't tell you how good the top ten that aren't NESCAC really are, but respect what they have done.  What I will say is that I reckon every NESCAC team in conference, almost plays a final every game, I can't help but think that the battle hardness counts at this time of year.

I hope you saw my article earlier about the NESCAC's dominance of the recent NCAA tournaments.  I think the reasons are plentiful.

Certainly great schools that can attract a lot of high level players (similar advantage for JH, Chicago and others)

Strong history (although no one matches Messiah)

Deep rosters which are especially important for three straight weekends of back to back. Shapiro, former coach at Tufts was the master at this line up usage

Experience with back to back weekends.  NESCAC schools usually have at least 2 per season.

Very hardened and deep conference.  Every game is a battle.  Even the bottom of the conference - Trinity Bates and Colby were in most games. 10 conference games.

Fairly easy to round out strong out of conference schedule with historically strong, convenient games like Babson, WPI, MIT etc.

[Hopkins92]

I'm sure most folks already know, but just in case... One stop shop for the opening weekend schedule.

https://www.ncaa.com/scoreboard/soccer-men/d3

[jdfranklin23]

Wow! Greenville defender makes a really aggressive slide tackle in the box just a few minutes in resulting in a PK for
Kenyon before they had even taken a single shot.  1-0 Kenyon.  Not how you want to start if you're Greenville