2023 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[SimpleCoach]

I have nearly completed the formal paperwork to transfer my allegiance to Bowdoin.

Say what you will...but that was a convincing win by the Polar Bears on Cole Field in the beautiful Purple Valley of Western Mass.

Very... Very... Convincing....

SC.

[PaulNewman]

I have nearly completed the formal paperwork to transfer my allegiance to Bowdoin.

Say what you will...but that was a convincing win by the Polar Bears on Cole Field in the beautiful Purple Valley of Western Mass.

Not sure what "say what you will" means, but yes, Bowdoin overall had a great weekend, grabbing 4 points on the road against fellow heavyweights, and esp after being down 2-0 to Midd within 15 minutes and from there putting in 4 while holding Midd without another goal and blanking Williams.  I think just a couple of days ago I said Bowdoin and Colby are my favorite NESCACs.  Bowdoin was the first school where we did a real tour kind of incidentially when we already were on vacation on the Maine coast.  Loved the school.  Also have maintained some fondness for Midd as my in-laws were 30 minutes away and son went to hockey camp there which, at least at the time in the early to mid 2000s, surely had the finest hockey rink in D3.

On a more pessimistic note, this place may not just be dying, but already dead.  Very minimal activity, during two big days of soccer, now 3-4 weeks into the season.  Maybe a few of us keep frantically trying to defibrillate the patient well past any meaningful chance of a revival.  There has been the suggestion that traffic and interest would increase if some of the more active posters like myself took up less space and grabbed some pine.  I don't think that is it, but certainly anything is worth trying at this juncture.  The medium in part may be just too anachronistic, but I don't know of other options where posters can react and respond and a whole community of lurkers and posters can see the content and jump in or not. 

3-4 weeks in and we haven't heard a single word about D3soccer.com.  We knew last year was the last year for incumbent owners, but we literally have not seen anything about the status of ownership, why there hasn't been a transfer, and why a site can't be created with D3soccer.com or something very similar updated to the 2020s that includes a good message board platform.

[Kuiper]

Mundane question, but does it still take forever for a new poster to get approved? My recollection is that the moderator (Jim Matson?) isn't around anymore, so I don't know who does that.  Seems like a time lag is enough of a barrier to entry for someone to just forget about it if they are lurking and thinking of adding something at that moment.

[D3Navy]

Calvin defeats JCU 5-3. Was not able to attend or watch, so don't have many details. I know JCU has a lot of weapons on offense, so their 3 goals doesn't surprise me, although 1 was an own goal. Nice to see Calvin's offense wake up a bit.

I believe the video is still available on their You Tube channel. Watched the whole thing - pretty entertaining game - all 5 Calvin goals are worth seeing - I don't think the JCU keeper could have done a thing differently to stop them. Maybe his defenders stepping to the ball quicker - but those bangers from outside the 18 were golasos.

Calvin may have squeaked out a victory in the score, but JCU had an absolute blowout in sportswriting following the game. The vividness! The pathos! The absurd metaphors! Do yourself a favor and give it a read.

https://jcusports.com/news/2023/9/23/mens-soccer-falls-at-11-calvin-in-goal-filled-match.aspx

That's terrific!  Thanks for sharing it.

[SierraFD3soccer]

This doesn't seem like a Facebook gang for a lot of great reasons. Buttt

How about a Facebook group?? I'm in several for also very extraneous topics. I generally like it a lot.  Just an idea. This quoting stuff is crazy plus you get to say like, love, sad etc with one click.

[Freddyfud]

Mundane question, but does it still take forever for a new poster to get approved? My recollection is that the moderator (Jim Matson?) isn't around anymore, so I don't know who does that.  Seems like a time lag is enough of a barrier to entry for someone to just forget about it if they are lurking and thinking of adding something at that moment.

Someone named Pat Coleman approved my request.  Nice enough to respond when I followed up.  Took me several weeks but I didn't mind--it's a volunteer after all.

[PaulNewman]

Mundane question, but does it still take forever for a new poster to get approved? My recollection is that the moderator (Jim Matson?) isn't around anymore, so I don't know who does that.  Seems like a time lag is enough of a barrier to entry for someone to just forget about it if they are lurking and thinking of adding something at that moment.

Someone named Pat Coleman approved my request.  Nice enough to respond when I followed up.  Took me several weeks but I didn't mind--it's a volunteer after all.

Same here, 11+ years ago.  Actually had to re-do my essay (twice)....Explain in 500 words or less "Why allowing me to become a member with posting privileges will contribute to the common good?"

I'm sorry, but how is this not absurd?

[Gregory Sager]

Mundane question, but does it still take forever for a new poster to get approved? My recollection is that the moderator (Jim Matson?) isn't around anymore, so I don't know who does that.  Seems like a time lag is enough of a barrier to entry for someone to just forget about it if they are lurking and thinking of adding something at that moment.

Someone named Pat Coleman approved my request.  Nice enough to respond when I followed up.  Took me several weeks but I didn't mind--it's a volunteer after all.

He's not a volunteer. He owns this site. And he's a good guy. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has done more for the fanbase of NCAA Division III sports over the past quarter-century than has Pat Coleman.

[jknezek]

On a more pessimistic note, this place may not just be dying, but already dead.  Very minimal activity, during two big days of soccer, now 3-4 weeks into the season.  Maybe a few of us keep frantically trying to defibrillate the patient well past any meaningful chance of a revival.  There has been the suggestion that traffic and interest would increase if some of the more active posters like myself took up less space and grabbed some pine.  I don't think that is it, but certainly anything is worth trying at this juncture.  The medium in part may be just too anachronistic, but I don't know of other options where posters can react and respond and a whole community of lurkers and posters can see the content and jump in or not. 

3-4 weeks in and we haven't heard a single word about D3soccer.com.  We knew last year was the last year for incumbent owners, but we literally have not seen anything about the status of ownership, why there hasn't been a transfer, and why a site can't be created with D3soccer.com or something very similar updated to the 2020s that includes a good message board platform.

You may have neard crickets because there is no transfer. Who wants to take this on? I can't imagine the site traffic and advertising covered the costs.

[Kuiper]

Mundane question, but does it still take forever for a new poster to get approved? My recollection is that the moderator (Jim Matson?) isn't around anymore, so I don't know who does that.  Seems like a time lag is enough of a barrier to entry for someone to just forget about it if they are lurking and thinking of adding something at that moment.

Someone named Pat Coleman approved my request.  Nice enough to respond when I followed up.  Took me several weeks but I didn't mind--it's a volunteer after all.

Same here, 11+ years ago.  Actually had to re-do my essay (twice)....Explain in 500 words or less "Why allowing me to become a member with posting privileges will contribute to the common good?"

I'm sorry, but how is this not absurd?

I get the point of approval to make sure you're a real person and interested in being a participant.  Trolls can kill a site like this beyond all recognition.  Traffic may be a bit lower here, but it's not bad and the conversation and information is generally pretty good. I was just referring to the time lag, which I figured might have been a result of the moderator no longer being an active participant.

Incidentally, it's not like the declining traffic is unique to this discussion board.  BigSoccer has a college board that pretty much restricts itself to D1 talk in a snooty way, policed by its posters (although you could probably set up a D3 thread and they probably wouldn't bother you).  It has much less traffic than this site and maybe 1-2 active individual college threads (e.g., for the Akron Zips). 

Now, if you really want to supercharge participation in this discussion board, create a pinned D3 college soccer recruiting thread on the main page or even a separate section of the D3 boards for college recruiting and then have threads for each sport.  Parents are very active on college boards and they are all looking for information on getting an edge in the massively competitive college admissions process, especially for the uber competitive, and somewhat mysterious, elite academic schools that are in D3 (if you open it up to Ivy recruiting too, you will get parents-to-be asking questions about what type of ball or other athletic implement to drop in the crib when the baby arrives).  Once they are registered and graduate from prospective D3 parent to actual D3 parent, many of them may stick around to talk once their kids start playing.

[Yankeesoccerdad]

I have nearly completed the formal paperwork to transfer my allegiance to Bowdoin.

Would love to have you join the Bowdoin fan base, even it it complicates our "under the radar" strategy!

[PaulNewman]

On a more pessimistic note, this place may not just be dying, but already dead.  Very minimal activity, during two big days of soccer, now 3-4 weeks into the season.  Maybe a few of us keep frantically trying to defibrillate the patient well past any meaningful chance of a revival.  There has been the suggestion that traffic and interest would increase if some of the more active posters like myself took up less space and grabbed some pine.  I don't think that is it, but certainly anything is worth trying at this juncture.  The medium in part may be just too anachronistic, but I don't know of other options where posters can react and respond and a whole community of lurkers and posters can see the content and jump in or not. 

3-4 weeks in and we haven't heard a single word about D3soccer.com.  We knew last year was the last year for incumbent owners, but we literally have not seen anything about the status of ownership, why there hasn't been a transfer, and why a site can't be created with D3soccer.com or something very similar updated to the 2020s that includes a good message board platform.

You may have neard crickets because there is no transfer. Who wants to take this on? I can't imagine the site traffic and advertising covered the costs.

I'm sorry...I was feeling frustrated about the combination of what seemed likely even lower than usual participation (during a week that had some thrilling battles and indications of increasing parity), and then the @Freddyfud post came in about waiting weeks to get on, and I as sometimes do, I ended up conflating my irritation about posting participation with the registration process which I had forgotten about.  I have no misunderstanding about the contributions of the owners/developers of either D3soccer.com or the D3 boards.  Great people and no doubt already have done more than any of us will ever do. 

Specifically wrt the owners/caretakers/managers of D3soccer.com, I have extremely high regard for them and no confusion about their dedication, hours upon hours over many years of mostly thankless labor, and love for the game and the site.  They still frequent the boards and see the questions about where things stand.  And if things stand as is, like...we've had no takers or no takers whose needs we could meet, and we are (or are not) still open to suitors, then why not say that explicitly?  I know they care deeply about the site, and why wouldn't they after 20 or more years devoted to it.

Maybe it's true that no one or no set of persons is willing or has the resources to take the reins.  But maybe there are scenarios that would be viable.  For instance, I don't want responsibility for running it, but I might be interested in being one of 10 or 15 or whatever who could be minority owners together.  Maybe there is something going on behind scenes as we speak, but otherwise I have difficulty seeing how silence and ongoing limbo are helpful.

[Kuiper]

Any updates on Mary Wash vs Messiah?

Are most D3 regions getting the same weather or just Northeastern seaboard?

No rain issues in Region X as far as I know, but Texas has excessive heat warnings with temperatures around 98 in San Antonio right now, and similar temperatures in Dallas and Houston.  Tomorrow, it will be about 95 degrees at kickoff when Hardin-Simmons plays at St. Thomas in Houston at 2:30 pm tomorrow and it will be about 100 degrees when Trinity plays at Concordia in Austin at 5:00 pm.  Texas boys are generally used to that kind of heat, but it can still take a toll on your fitness.  I wouldn't be shocked if they move some of those TX games later in the evening if possible.

I spoke way too soon about rain issues.  Apparently, there's a severe lightning storm near the Austin area and it led to the cancellation of the Southwestern game against Mary Hardin-Baylor that was supposed to take place at 7 pm central time and the cancellation in the 42nd minute of the Trinity game at Concordia (TX), which Trinity was leading 1-0.  My guess is that neither game will be made up since they are non-conference games.

[Ron Boerger]

Any updates on Mary Wash vs Messiah?

Are most D3 regions getting the same weather or just Northeastern seaboard?

No rain issues in Region X as far as I know, but Texas has excessive heat warnings with temperatures around 98 in San Antonio right now, and similar temperatures in Dallas and Houston.  Tomorrow, it will be about 95 degrees at kickoff when Hardin-Simmons plays at St. Thomas in Houston at 2:30 pm tomorrow and it will be about 100 degrees when Trinity plays at Concordia in Austin at 5:00 pm.  Texas boys are generally used to that kind of heat, but it can still take a toll on your fitness.  I wouldn't be shocked if they move some of those TX games later in the evening if possible.

I spoke way too soon about rain issues.  Apparently, there's a severe lightning storm near the Austin area and it led to the cancellation of the Southwestern game against Mary Hardin-Baylor that was supposed to take place at 7 pm central time and the cancellation in the 42nd minute of the Trinity game at Concordia (TX), which Trinity was leading 1-0.  My guess is that neither game will be made up since they are non-conference games.

So I can blame your weather forecast for the hail that wreaked havoc along I-35 while we were returning to Austin?   

I wanted to revisit Kuiper's great observations on the struggles Region X teams have progressing in the playoffs.  In addition to everything stated, the NCAA's rules for determining pod hosting make it virtually impossible for a Region X team to host after the first couple of rounds since air travel is discouraged at all costs.  There are many times (in many sports, not just soccer) that the team with the best hosting credentials has been forced to fly back east because the other three teams are located within bus distance (<=500 miles).   Teams in other regions are occasionally impacted, but not as consistently as those in Region X.   There are certainly many other times that the Region X team did not earn hosting rights and should travel. 

[WUPHF]

I am not saying that the Bears, having rode roughshod over Massey No. 110 Wheaton, are now worthy of the national perspective thread, but if Washington University can build on that and play a full 90 minutes without shooting themselves in the foot, I think they can hang with anyone in the league. 

6-1-2 Emory comes to town on Sunday to begin one of the more favorable schedules for the Bears with only NYU, Carnegie Mellon and Case Western Reserve on the road.