2023 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Kuiper]

Texas Lutheran 2 - Trinity 0

Huge win for Texas Lutheran, which establishes itself as the clear leader of the SCAC right now.  The turning point in the game was about a minute before halftime when a Trinity player was red carded and TLU scored on the free kick to go into half 1-0.  Trinity had most of the possession and the chances in the second half as it pressed for an equalizer despite being down a man, but couldn't break through and TLU put the game away scoring on a 1v1 breakaway on a counter attack.  Texas Lutheran is now 11-0, which I think may be the only perfect record in the country right now.

[Hat tip to @PaulNewman for the correction of TLU's record.  I had double checked TLU's site, without realizing they hadn't updated it yet]

[PaulNewman]

Full coverage courtesy of Kuiper will be coming shortly on Texas Lutheran vs Trinity...

In the meantime, let me introduce D3 soccer fans to Jack Manke...the 5'7, 150 lbs junior gets a goal and an assist for TLU and made key defensive stops down the stretch.  Don't see this often...

SCAC Offensive Player of the Week (9/18/23)
SCAC Defensive Player of the Week (9/5/23)

And is there a better name in D3 than TLU's #30?  Cole Sixkiller.

[PaulNewman]

Ah, Kuiper beat me to the keyboard.  He did short TLU a win....now 11-0.

[Kuiper]

Full coverage courtesy of Kuiper will be coming shortly on Texas Lutheran vs Trinity...

In the meantime, let me introduce D3 soccer fans to Jack Manke...the 5'7, 150 lbs junior gets a goal and an assist for TLU and made key defensive stops down the stretch.  Don't see this often...

SCAC Offensive Player of the Week (9/18/23)
SCAC Defensive Player of the Week (9/5/23)

And is there a better name in D3 than TLU's #30?  Cole Sixkiller.

Manke has indeed been huge for TLU.  The Bulldogs GK Noel gets credit with the gaudy GAA, but his defense does a lot of the work and Manke is tireless.

Sixkiller's Dad is sometimes on the TLU stream, which is hosted on YouTube and has a chat box where he cheered on the team once.  I wanted to ask him whether there was a story behind the family name, but I decided I might not want find out either!  You never know in Texas.  So, I looked it up instead.  Turns out it's a Cherokee war name.  Kid might trace his heritage back to Sam Sixkiller, a famous gunslinger and Cherokee frontier lawman in the Oklahoma territory in the 1880s.

[PaulNewman]

Full coverage courtesy of Kuiper will be coming shortly on Texas Lutheran vs Trinity...

In the meantime, let me introduce D3 soccer fans to Jack Manke...the 5'7, 150 lbs junior gets a goal and an assist for TLU and made key defensive stops down the stretch.  Don't see this often...

SCAC Offensive Player of the Week (9/18/23)
SCAC Defensive Player of the Week (9/5/23)

And is there a better name in D3 than TLU's #30?  Cole Sixkiller.

Manke has indeed been huge for TLU.  The Bulldogs GK Noel gets credit with the gaudy GAA, but his defense does a lot of the work and Manke is tireless.

Sixkiller's Dad is sometimes on the TLU stream, which is hosted on YouTube and has a chat box where he cheered on the team once.  I wanted to ask him whether there was a story behind the family name, but I decided I might not want find out either!  You never know in Texas.  So, I looked it up instead.  Turns out it's a Cherokee war name.  Kid might trace his heritage back to Sam Sixkiller, a famous gunslinger and Cherokee frontier lawman in the Oklahoma territory in the 1880s.

Sweet!

[jaysoccer]

Manke's free kick against Trinity was a banger. Fair play to him.
Lack of discipline killing Trinity right now IMO -- 2 different CBs w red cards in last 6 games.

With loss to TLU, Trinity should still have chance to make SCAC tournament. But regular season title seems to be a 3 team fight at the moment between CC, St Thomas and TLU.
Will SCAC get 3 bids to NCAA? We will see.

[Gregory Sager]

Full coverage courtesy of Kuiper will be coming shortly on Texas Lutheran vs Trinity...

In the meantime, let me introduce D3 soccer fans to Jack Manke...the 5'7, 150 lbs junior gets a goal and an assist for TLU and made key defensive stops down the stretch.  Don't see this often...

SCAC Offensive Player of the Week (9/18/23)
SCAC Defensive Player of the Week (9/5/23)

And is there a better name in D3 than TLU's #30?  Cole Sixkiller.

Manke has indeed been huge for TLU.  The Bulldogs GK Noel gets credit with the gaudy GAA, but his defense does a lot of the work and Manke is tireless.

Sixkiller's Dad is sometimes on the TLU stream, which is hosted on YouTube and has a chat box where he cheered on the team once.  I wanted to ask him whether there was a story behind the family name, but I decided I might not want find out either!  You never know in Texas.  So, I looked it up instead.  Turns out it's a Cherokee war name.  Kid might trace his heritage back to Sam Sixkiller, a famous gunslinger and Cherokee frontier lawman in the Oklahoma territory in the 1880s.

The University of Washington had a star quarterback in the '70s named Sonny Sixkiller, who later played in the World Football League and also appeared in the prison football movie The Longest Yard, which starred Burt Reynolds. That's who comes to mind when I hear the name "Sixkiller". Sonny Sixkiller was also Cherokee.

[SKUD]

Thanks Greg-great FUN FACT of the day!

[jaysoccer]

In addition to watching the video feed of Trinity vs TLU I was able to see in person the Randolph-Macon vs Lynchburg game Saturday afternoon.

That was a great match--Lynchburg won 2 nil but R-M played well (gave up goal in last 25 seconds in first half and an unlucky handball in box). To my eyes Lynchburg is the top team in ODAC and definitely top 25 worthy.

Talk about an experienced lineup--multiple 5th year seniors and I think at least one D1 transfer.

[jknezek]

In addition to watching the video feed of Trinity vs TLU I was able to see in person the Randolph-Macon vs Lynchburg game Saturday afternoon.

That was a great match--Lynchburg won 2 nil but R-M played well (gave up goal in last 25 seconds in first half and an unlucky handball in box). To my eyes Lynchburg is the top team in ODAC and definitely top 25 worthy.

Talk about an experienced lineup--multiple 5th year seniors and I think at least one D1 transfer.

R-MC is one of those schools that has really taken advantage of the extra year. It's huge in football right now, soccer team is very experienced, and I expect the basketball team will be the same way. Probably some of the other sports as well.

[stlawus]

Ironically the best players on the RMC basketball team are not utilizing 5th years for the upcoming season.

[jdfranklin23]

I know this may not be the right place for the topic (if so, the admins will take care of it  )...

But I wanted to throw out my thoughts on the paywall trend on the college soccer scene from the national/international level

I'm assuming schools are viewing it as a way to boost revenue and also assuming they've looked at the metrics on the site traffic and how many views they got previously.  That's above my paygrade, so I'm not sure what kinda numbers we're talking.

But IMHO I see it as potentially costing colleges greatly in terms of recruiting and admissions.  If students, parents and (mainly) perspective athletes who live a significant distance from said college are blocked from seeing a game because of a paywall, that perspective athlete may be more easily swayed to look into a college without a paywall. A large part of recruiting in the D3 field falls on the shoulders of the perspective athlete/family.  Their ability to see a team play and evaluate whether they want to pursue that college may be significantly impacted by things as small as this.  I know this is small potatoes and if an athlete really wants to pursue that college, they won't be deterred by whether there is a paywall for viewing games...I just feel like it's working against those coaches and AD's (and Admissions) who already have a tough recruiting job.

Not living in these areas to get to these games, I can't speak to it...but can anyone weigh in on whether these schools are charging for admission to regular season games?  I feel as though that may have been a better place to start when trying to increase revenue.

Thoughts?

[Dark Knight]

I know this may not be the right place for the topic (if so, the admins will take care of it  )...

But I wanted to throw out my thoughts on the paywall trend on the college soccer scene from the national/international level

I'm assuming schools are viewing it as a way to boost revenue and also assuming they've looked at the metrics on the site traffic and how many views they got previously.  That's above my paygrade, so I'm not sure what kinda numbers we're talking.

But IMHO I see it as potentially costing colleges greatly in terms of recruiting and admissions.  If students, parents and (mainly) perspective athletes who live a significant distance from said college are blocked from seeing a game because of a paywall, that perspective athlete may be more easily swayed to look into a college without a paywall. A large part of recruiting in the D3 field falls on the shoulders of the perspective athlete/family.  Their ability to see a team play and evaluate whether they want to pursue that college may be significantly impacted by things as small as this.  I know this is small potatoes and if an athlete really wants to pursue that college, they won't be deterred by whether there is a paywall for viewing games...I just feel like it's working against those coaches and AD's (and Admissions) who already have a tough recruiting job.

Not living in these areas to get to these games, I can't speak to it...but can anyone weigh in on whether these schools are charging for admission to regular season games?  I feel as though that may have been a better place to start when trying to increase revenue.

Thoughts?

There is a hidden cost to offering free streaming -- fewer people attending games in person. If there are no fans at the games, excitement fizzles. Be honest -- how many times have you watched a game on the computer instead of attending in person?

If you offer streaming but charge a fee, maybe more people will attend in person and only family and friends who can't be there in person will pay for the stream.

[Another Mom]

That's a good theory, but forgive me, I just don't think very many people without a direct connection are interested in d3 soccer. Even less that would watch online but in order to save a few dollars will make the effort and time commitment to see a game in person.

[Ejay]

I honestly don't think the Rochester or Landmark paywall is that big a deal. Parents/grandparents will pay their $50 for the season. Sure, it's nickel and diming them but they're used to it. What the Landmark should do is bake that cost into the "Activities fee" they charge all students and then give away the access. Dedicated alum and casual fans will be annoyed, but they can still catch non-conference away games for free. Same for prospective students. I'm not sure many HS seniors are watching a ton of games, nor are they making their college decisions solely on games they watch. And again, they can see some games for free and may do an on campus visit which includes another game. I just don't see a situation where a kid who is interested in Catholic or Rochester is going to change his mind because they have a paywall.