Top D3 Men's Soccer Rivalries

[Kuiper]

This site ranked the top D3 Rivalries.  I have no idea what criteria they used, but it's presumably based upon all sports and includes both men's and women's sports.

https://twitter.com/D3SportsData/status/1685335535957770240?s=20

Calvin v. Hope
Hampden-Sydney v. Randolph-Macon
Augsburg v. Watburg
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps v. Pomona-Pitzer
Ithaca v. Suny Cortland
Wittenberg v. Wooster

What would be your top D3 men's soccer rivalries?  Here's a stab at a few good ones based on different criteria.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps v. Pomona-Pitzer (the closest? - they are literally across the street, hence the Sixth Street Rivalry name)

Haverford v. Swarthmore (The oldest?  They first started playing against each other in 1919.  Also might be the friendliest rivalry - what else for two schools with Quaker - or Society of Friends - roots?  )

Amherst v. ? (the most popular rival? Amherst seems to be like the Yankees.  A lot of teams - e.g., Tufts, Bowdoin etc -- call them rivals based on a Google search, but it seems like Amherst mostly considers Williams their rivals)

Kenyon v. Ohio Wesleyan (The @PaulNewman rivalry - but long before him, my brother, a Kenyon player in the 1970s, maintained that they were the fiercest of rivals, even though OWU mostly had their number in those days)

Others?

[Gregory Sager]

North Park v. Wheaton

In the '80s and '90s, the other CCIW men's soccer programs were nothing more than a series of speed bumps that Wheaton annually drove across on its way to the D3 tournament. That began to change around the turn of the millennium after North Park had hired John Born to run its men's soccer program. By the late Teens, Wheaton students were showing up for games wearing orange shirts that said BEAT NORTH PARK on them.

There have been other solid programs in recent years in the CCIW (Carthage for quite a while, North Central nowadays), but this is the men's soccer rivalry in this neck of the woods.

[PaulNewman]

This Kuiper dude, man...high quality trolling...and of course Sager and I are here for it.  Don't even need to put any bait on to hook me in...just cast the line and I'm yours!

First of all, Kuiper, you're so presumptuous and will be embarrassed that you didn't do enough homework.  I was at Kenyon well, well before your brother.  For example I was there for the tragic Fire of 1949 when the most iconic building on campus burned to the ground and numerous students perished.  Secondly, I had a pretty decent career and was in a film or two.

http://bulletin-archive.kenyon.edu/x2974.html

Like the top programs theme, I think one must have two categories or else the nostalgia buffs will freak out.  Best and biggest rivalries historically...and best and biggest currently.  And certainly in some cases rivalries land highly on both lists.

Historically, it's hard to top Williams vs Amherst...but currently I'd put Amherst vs Tufts ahead of that one.

North Park vs Wheaton clearly is a great one, especially historically and also currently (with the caveat that Wheaton slippage in recent years should be factored in).

OWU vs Kenyon certainly qualifies historically, but I doubt even the Kenyon glory days from the late 80s thru most of the 90s matches the current intensity...which imho puts OWU-Kenyon on pretty equal footing with Amherst-Tufts.

In Great Lakes region (now Region VII) would be a major omission not to mention DePauw vs Wabash.  Basically have to include any rivalry that involves a Bell, or Jug, or marshmellows, or whatever.  Rumor has it that some of the DePauw-Wabash frat pranks (stealing the Bell in the middle of the night) rivals some Duke-UNC antics.

[Kuiper]

This Kuiper dude, man...high quality trolling...and of course Sager and I are here for it.  Don't even need to put any bait on to hook me in...just cast the line and I'm yours!

First of all, Kuiper, you're so presumptuous and will be embarrassed that you didn't do enough homework.  I was at Kenyon well, well before your brother.  For example I was there for the tragic Fire of 1949 when the most iconic building on campus burned to the ground and numerous students perished.  Secondly, I had a pretty decent career and was in a film or two.

http://bulletin-archive.kenyon.edu/x2974.html

Like the top programs theme, I think one must have two categories or else the nostalgia buffs will freak out.  Best and biggest rivalries historically...and best and biggest currently.  And certainly in some cases rivalries land highly on both lists.

Historically, it's hard to top Williams vs Amherst...but currently I'd put Amherst vs Tufts ahead of that one.

North Park vs Wheaton clearly is a great one, especially historically and also currently (with the caveat that Wheaton slippage in recent years should be factored in).

OWU vs Kenyon certainly qualifies historically, but I doubt even the Kenyon glory days from the late 80s thru most of the 90s matches the current intensity...which imho puts OWU-Kenyon on pretty equal footing with Amherst-Tufts.

In Great Lakes region (now Region VII) would be a major omission not to mention DePauw vs Wabash.  Basically have to include any rivalry that involves a Bell, or Jug, or marshmellows, or whatever.  Rumor has it that some of the DePauw-Wabash frat pranks (stealing the Bell in the middle of the night) rivals some Duke-UNC antics.

No trolling intended (honest!).  I was just reacting to the tweet with the poll listed.  Well, maybe I was trolling with the Kenyon - OWU reference, but it's not like I wouldn't have put those schools on the list anyway and it's not as if you wouldn't have added something about that.

It would be interesting to hear which schools actually have a bell or jug or at least a rivalry name.  If you go by attendance, you might think Lebanon Valley v. Messiah was a big rivalry, but I think that's just because Messiah brings out a lot of people regardless and the two schools are fairly close together.  If it is a rivalry, it's a one-sided one in that case.

If you're listing historic rivalries of schools that are also very close together and the rivalry wasn't one-sided historically, you probably would want to include SUNY Oneonta v. Hartwick College (which are a few minutes apart in the city).  Hartwick College was one of the top teams in the country in their day and Oneonta was right there with them and the results were fairly even over the years.  They played this past fall for the first time since 2005 (with Oneonta dominating 5-1), but even with the passage of time they still talked about it as "rekindl[ing] the feud."

Speaking of the "real" Paul Newman, my brothers and I actually all attended the same elementary school as Paul Newman and his Mom still lived nearby (we moved away after elementary, so I didn't also go to the same high school as Newman like my older brothers).  According to my Kenyon brother (who may have been pulling my leg), Paul Newman carved his name in the desk my brother was assigned one year in elementary school.

[PaulNewman]

I highly recommend you find that desk and take it to Pawn Stars...

A few I don't have a sense for...

Skidmore-RPI (artists vs engineers)...and then there's Union right there too...

VWU-CNU

Not sure who is Montclair's biggest rival in NJAC

Is Sewanee-Rhodes a thing?

Hopkins vs F&M up and coming?

Gettysburg-Dickinson?

Any pairing involving the Maine NESCACs...

Lynchburg-Roanoke?  Not sure about W&L as my gut response would be Davidson but that doesn't work...

Biggest rivalry in the UAA?

Pac NW?

Is Trinity (TX) vs Colorado Coll a thing?

Speaking of Oneonta....Oneonta vs Cortland?

[SKUD]

Cortland and Ithaca!

https://www.cortacajug.com/history

[deutschfan]

Chicago v. Wash U.

[PaulNewman]

Cortland and Ithaca!

https://www.cortacajug.com/history

Nice one...I'm sure a good number of these are more related to football...

The rivalry game between Wabash and DePauw began in 1890 and is among the oldest college football rivalries. The hit 1904 play The College Widow, and its subsequent film adaptations, were loosely based on the rivalry.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monon_Bell

[PaulNewman]

A little more color on DPU-Wabash from DPU website...

Since the schools are only 28 miles apart, the adversaries in the game are often brothers, cousins, high school classmates or good friends, adding to the rivalry's intensity. The bell has been stolen at least eight times from its temporary owners, but the most famous "thefts" may have occurred in the mid-1960s.

In 1965, a Wabash student appeared on the DePauw campus posing as a Mexican dignitary and interested in developing an exchange program with DePauw. While meeting with the University president he asked to see the bell. After learning of its whereabouts, the student returned with friends later and stole it.

DePauw got the bell back in time for the game which the Tigers won 9-7. DePauw students, hoping to keep the bell safely under wraps, stole it from their own school the week after the game and secretly buried it for 11 months in the north end zone of Blackstock Stadium. Only a handful of DePauw students knew of its location. But an unexpected problem arose prior to the big game. The ground froze that week in Greencastle, and the students were barely able to recover it in time for the Wabash team to claim it as the game ended in near darkness.

The Monon Bell game is more than just a game. The week preceding the annual contest has included shared activities between the two schools, such as concerts, debates, an intramural all-star football game, an alumni football game the morning of the varsity contest and other events.

In 1985, Jim Ibbotson, a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and a 1969 graduate of DePauw, arranged and recorded "The Ballad of the Monon Bell" which was written by 1968 DePauw graduate and football player Darel Lindquist. Nancy Ford Charles '57 wrote the original music for the ballad. A video was also produced with "The Ballad".

The media have long understood the special nature of this famous small college battle. In addition to Sports Illustrated's extensive coverage in 1973, CBS-TV's Charles Kuralt did a feature on the game during his "Sunday Morning" show in 1979, ABC-TV aired it as a regional telecast in 1977 and the Christian Science Monitor praised it in a 1981 feature. The November 13, 1987, edition of USA Today highlighted the rivalry in a feature story in its sports section and in 1988 the CBS Radio Network aired a feature on the rivalry throughout the nation. The 1998 contest was covered as a feature in the Wall Street Journal and the 1999 contest was feature on Fox Sports Net's weekly show, The Slant. The centennial game also was featured in the November 22, 1993, issue of Sports Illustrated.

The game is regularly telecast live to combined alumni meetings of the two schools in cities across the country and on networks including on ABC-TV in 1977, ESPN2 in 1994 and AXS TV (formerly HDNet) in 2003 and 2006 through 2016. The 2017, 2018 and 2019 games were televised by FOX Sports Indiana. The 2004 and 2005 games were telecast nationally on DirecTV. The 2021 and 2022 games were carried by ISC Sports Network.

[stlawus]

Less Skidmore-RPI and more RPI-Union, in football it's referred to as the Shoes game.  That's a much bigger rivalry than between those schools and Skidmore.   But in recent years that's mostly been confined to football.  For this region Oneonta-Cortland is pretty decent, but I don't know if it's true rivalry status in the sense of what I think a true rivalry is.   SLU-Cortland is probably similar to Oneonta-Cortland, they've played each other every year for the past 11 seasons. 

Back in the day SLU-Plattsburgh was a legit rivalry, some phenomenal physical and chippy games between Durocher and Waterbury.  Saint of Old can attest to that.

[PaulNewman]

Less Skidmore-RPI and more RPI-Union, in football it's referred to as the Shoes game.  That's a much bigger rivalry than between those schools and Skidmore.   But in recent years that's mostly been confined to football.  For this region Oneonta-Cortland is pretty decent, but I don't know if it's true rivalry status in the sense of what I think a true rivalry is.   SLU-Cortland is probably similar to Oneonta-Cortland, they've played each other every year for the past 11 seasons. 

Back in the day SLU-Plattsburgh was a legit rivalry, some phenomenal physical and chippy games between Durocher and Waterbury.  Saint of Old can attest to that.

Yes, I also blanked on RPI and Union both playing D1 hockey.  I know hockey is huge at RPI and I think Union recently won a national title or at least made a Frozen Four.  Also had forgotten that SLU and Clarkson are D1 hockey.

[EnmoreCat]

Mine with most of this board 

[Another Mom]

Mine with most of this board 

Lol.

Washington and Lee's rival is Lynchburg.

[northman]

NESCAC rivalries are an interesting consideration.  Williams v Amherst is obvious and has an ancient history.  There's also the Little Three of Williams, Amherst, and Wesleyan across multiple sports.  There really isn't a Maine rivalry...although the CBB (Colby, Bates, Bowdoin) is big in football.  And the Bowdoin v Colby men's ice hockey rivalry is fierce and sells both arenas out each year.  Others?

[kevdog]

SLU vs Clarkson. Rt 11 rivalry. Don't how it is today but it was a big one especially in hockey that carried over to other sports.