2024 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[SierraFD3soccer]

It's all good. I can appreciate the competitiveness of two great teams battling, and respect your personal interest in the outcome. But as a neutral, this is not a matchup that I would enjoy watching regardless of the winning percentages of each team.

True, but imo 90% of D3 soccer is not pretty. I have often thought that my son's club team could beat 80% of D3 teams and his team played possession (he only punted maybe 5 or 6 times a season). You play with what you have or able to. What generally I do not like is the constant substitution, though makes perfect sense in a game which allows this and such short compact seasons.

Also not sure as to Amherst, when possessing, F&M plays very nice possession unless the coach decides that it is not in its best interest (shoot if forward often and win 50/50 balls) which he has employed depending on the competition. F&M is not as successful as Amherst, but its results pretty much speaks for itself. If anything, F&M seems to only play high pace/pressure especially when it is off the ball. Some have said "swarm" especially in the midfield, but why wouldn't you play that way in D3?

[SKUD]

^ can we put an APB out in the Lancaster area for the aforementioned team being described. I think they are missing

[Ejay]

It's all good. I can appreciate the competitiveness of two great teams battling, and respect your personal interest in the outcome. But as a neutral, this is not a matchup that I would enjoy watching regardless of the winning percentages of each team.

True, but imo 90% of D3 soccer is not pretty. I have often thought that my son's club team could beat 80% of D3 teams and his team played possession (he only punted maybe 5 or 6 times a season). You play with what you have or able to. What generally I do not like is the constant substitution, though makes perfect sense in a game which allows this and such short compact seasons.

Also not sure as to Amherst, when possessing, F&M plays very nice possession unless the coach decides that it is not in its best interest (shoot if forward often and win 50/50 balls) which he has employed depending on the competition. F&M is not as successful as Amherst, but its results pretty much speaks for itself. If anything, F&M seems to only play high pace/pressure especially when it is off the ball. Some have said "swarm" especially in the midfield, but why wouldn't you play that way in D3?

I agree that most of D3 soccer isn't played beautifully, but you can still have an entertaining and enjoyable game without resorting to the styles that F&M and Amherst play.

And I'm not denying their success, I'm simply saying those two teams would be near the bottom of the list of teams I want to watch given style of play, propensity of fouls, and sideline antics.

[Another Mom]

Dropping in to say W&L beat Christopher Newport last night 3-0. This year's team kind of feels a bit like last year's team . . .

[jknezek]

Dropping in to say W&L beat Christopher Newport last night 3-0. This year's team kind of feels a bit like last year's team . . .

it's a nice win but it looks like the opposite of the Averett tie. Averett got 2 goals on their first 3 shots, but were otherwise outplayed. That result happens in soccer, but Averett is not a good team and that's a poor result. W&L got 3 goals on 5 shots on goal against a CNU team that had more shots, more shots on goal, more corners. I mean, it's not huge in terms of discrepancies but it looks like a one goal game, not the much more impressive 3 goal margin.

Still, it's the type of game earlier this year I suspect W&L loses, so kudos to them.

With Roanoke, Lynchburg and Va Wes 3 of their last 4 ODAC games, and all in a 7 day span, the season is still all to play for. Slip ups against Ferrum, Shenandoah, and R-MC will complicate things if they don't get a sweep during the brutal 10/19 to 10/26 gauntlet.

I've said I thought this team would grow into itself and the new staff as the season went along and that they had more than enough talent to be at the top of the ODAC. Beating the Captains at least gives them a second decent OOC win to go with Oglethorpe.

[Another Mom]

Christopher Newport were the better team in the 1st half, and W&L was the better team in the second half. When I said this team felt like last year's, I meant that they feel shambolic at times, but (sometimes) manage to pull out the win. Which is how it felt watching the game yesterday.

Btw, the Averett scoreline really should have been 3-2 in the Generals' favor as their last goal was decreed to be offside, but the replay showed otherwise. Not complaining, just setting the record straight.

[SierraFD3soccer]

So SC, going to drop F&M this week??  Hahaha. F&M just beat a team 4-2 which had JHU tied 0-0 and beaten Dickinson.

JHU had a rough time at Gettysburg. Just not generating enough offense. The Gettysburg goal in the first time was a good one.

[SimpleCoach]

So SC, going to drop F&M this week??  Hahaha. F&M just beat a team 4-2 which had JHU tied 0-0 and beaten Dickinson.

JHU had a rough time at Gettysburg. Just not generating enough offense. The Gettysburg goal in the first time was a good one.

Think I explained myself on this already.  But yes, thinking of dropping F&M one spot for every time they basically blindly booted the ball out of the back against Muhlenberg.

SC.

[Gregory Sager]

The dwindling list of unbeatens was reduced by one last night, as once-beaten North Park knocked off previously-undefeated Illinois Wesleyan, 2-0.

[College Soccer Observer]

Middlebury 3 Babson 1.  A game where Midd came out flying and could have been up multiple goals by halftime.  Only a great save on a pk by Babson GK Walker White and several other spectacular saves kept the visitors in the game.  Midd paid the price for not putting the game away in the first half when Babson equalized early in the second half.  The Panthers immediately applied pressure and White made an unbelievable save, reaching behind his body to scoop a Shane Farrell header off the goal line.  Midd finally broke through on a deflected shot in the 88th minute by Ari Klayman.  First year Keegan Harder finished off a 2 v 1 a minute later for the final margin.  Overall, Midd had a 28-10 advantage in shots and that felt like a fair reflection of the play on a drizzly Vermont fall afternoon.  Impressive win for the Panthers to knock off a fellow unbeaten foe as they move to 10-0-2, while Babson is now 7-1-6.  The Panthers played without star forward Gavin Randolph, who was on the receiving end of a crunching challenge from the Colby goalkeeper in yesterday's match.  Final thought:  Walker White is a very impressive goalkeeper who singlehandedly kept his team in the match.

[Kuiper]

In the meaningless Di v. DIII weekday games department . . .

Boston College 5 - Suffolk 1

The game was actually tied 1-1 until the 37th minute as Suffolk scored an equalizer in the 19th minute.  Boston College went to work after that though

LaSalle 5 - Neumann 0

Not quite over, but it's basically over in the 78th minute

[flyingdutchman]

Battle of the heavyweights today with Tufts making the trip to Amherst. I believe it will be a close contest where the presumed outcome is a draw. However, I'm going to have to take the Jumbos in this contest after losing the last two games to Amherst. Predicting a 2-1 victory for Tufts.

[PaulNewman]

Buffalo State....that's the tweet.

I'm also old enough to remember when North Park @ Chicago on a Wednesday night would be a big deal...like a F4 type of matchup.

[Gregory Sager]

Buffalo State....that's the tweet.

I'm also old enough to remember when North Park @ Chicago on a Wednesday night would be a big deal...like a F4 type of matchup.

Weakest Chicago team I've seen in a decade and a half. I can't believe I'm using the verb coasted to describe somebody beating the Maroons, but that's exactly what NPU did tonight on the South Side. After going up 3-0 in the 48th minute, the Vikings basically coasted to the 3-1 win.

I can't remember the last time that the two westernmost UAA schools were both mediocre in the same season, but that's definitely the case in 2024. Then again, it looks like the entire UAA is down quite a bit this season.

[PaulNewman]

Where's the Sager nuance we've all come to cherish?

No question Chicago is struggling compared to their very recent tippy-top success...multiple F4s, national title 2 years ago, and an Elite 8 finish just last season when they were knocked out by eventual champ St Olaf 2-1 largely due to heroics from Gaulmin and Morgan. And while I haven't watched them much this year, the Maroons no doubt do not have the talent they had in their title run with their two first team AA CBs.

That said, there still are at least a handful of players from the national title squad. Chicago's campaign thus far certainly has been uneven but they do have some good results...wins over St Olaf, N Central, Wheaton!, NYU, etc and a draw versus UR. Also multiple tight 1 goal losses to the likes of GAC, Hope, and Calvin.  A quick scan of their box scores suggests only UWEC had a substantial edge stats-wise, until last night's affair.

Maybe North Park is just really, really good 😉.

This may be trauma symptoms talking, but I wouldn't be thrilled to draw Chicago, Messiah, or Calvin in the tournament (and I wouldn't bet against any of them making the tournament).