2024 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Ejay]

What a game what a win
Amherst has competition in the dark arts with Rowan

Rowan 12 fouls.  Those are rookie numbers.  Amherst can do that in 1 half

Mary Washington 14 fouls.

[jknezek]

Sitting here at my local USL Championship team and realizing once again why college soccer is useless at best and harmful at worst if you want to play pro soccer.

The organization is so different since the focus isn't solely on athleticism. It's not all press. The teams are compact, lines shift in unison. Forward and back, side to side. This is far below MLS, even though it's only 1 step on the pyramid, but it's a completely different game from college.

Without the practice limits, necessary for college of course, and the rampant substitutions, annoying for college in my opinion, it is the beautiful game.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Definitely a much different game. College soccer like all college sports just follows college football model.

We are the only country that has sports associated with college. Pretty stupid in my mind.

However without sports in college, the male-female ratio would be worse than 40-60.

[SKUD]

USL Championship; 3 levels above bar league soccer.

Keep college sports particularly D3 about what happens off the field and in the classroom and don't try to compare it to the semi pro stuff you enjoy.

[Gregory Sager]

USL Championship; 3 levels above bar league soccer.

Keep college sports particularly D3 about what happens off the field and in the classroom and don't try to compare it to the semi pro stuff you enjoy.

I'm 100% behind you on that. This is D3, and D3 is all about the student experience. We fans sometimes forget that, so we need to check ourselves and realize that this is not supposed to be soccer played to cater to our own personal set of soccer aesthetics. Fans are merely incidental here.

[eaglesoccerdad]

What a game what a win
Amherst has competition in the dark arts with Rowan

Rowan 12 fouls.  Those are rookie numbers.  Amherst can do that in 1 half

Mary Washington 14 fouls.

Rowan had 12 fouls through 60 minutes on the official stats but somehow went the rest of the game without a foul despite getting 2 YCs. By my count an additional 7-8 fouls not tallied in the final 30 minutes.

[EnmoreCat]

USL Championship; 3 levels above bar league soccer.

Keep college sports particularly D3 about what happens off the field and in the classroom and don't try to compare it to the semi pro stuff you enjoy.

I'm 100% behind you on that. This is D3, and D3 is all about the student experience. We fans sometimes forget that, so we need to check ourselves and realize that this is not supposed to be soccer played to cater to our own personal set of soccer aesthetics. Fans are merely incidental here.

I will say that whilst I haven't seen many players likely to experience elongated periods at elevated levels on the professional side, that doesn't mean I haven't gotten to watch many very good D3 games involving players of high calibre.  What I do know is that I have gotten to watch lots and lots of players who are going to enjoy considerable success as doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, politicians/elite public sector and cough, cough, bankers.

[Hopkins92]

USL Championship; 3 levels above bar league soccer.

Keep college sports particularly D3 about what happens off the field and in the classroom and don't try to compare it to the semi pro stuff you enjoy.

Not to be too nitpicky, but this characterization of the USL Championship (3 levels above a bar league) is a little misleading. The league is sanctioned as Division II by the USSF and the play is a very high caliber. They have a regular spot on CBS Sports and I watched a good chunk of the Detroit vs. Louisville game on Sunday and came away pretty impressed with the skill and tactics employed. (Edit to add: And just to be a little pedantic, This makes the USL Championship one rung below MLS.)

And while I know this board is (obviously) focused on D3, what jknezek is talking about is players that want to play professionally choosing to play D1, instead of trying to latch onto an actual professional outfit in the USL structure. I don't want to speak for him, but I'm pretty sure he's not talking about D3 vs. professional, as that's not a discussion rooted in reality. 

[PaulNewman]

Given my glowing (maybe a touch premature) review of Hopkins 2-3 weeks ago, I'd like to offer a few impressions of Hopkins vs Mary Washington tonight.  First, kudos to both teams for a very hard fought, highly competitive match.  Despite the end result in a draw, I see why Mary Wash is so highly rated.  I was especially impressed knowing that JHU has an extremely veteran group with multiple grad students/D1 transfers.  Perhaps the two teams are very similar in regard to being older and more mature than most.  Kudos to JHU for hanging in and equalizing in a match that for them seemed more like holding on and survival.  JHU benefitted from the Mary Wash GK reciprocating on an apparent gaffe, while noting Sierra's point about weather conditions.  I offer the above with the caveat that I only saw 20-25 minutes of the 1st half and maybe 30 minutes of the second.  All that said, my overriding impression is that Mary Wash is very, very good and very deserving of the #1 slot.  I haven't watched nearly as many as games as in the past, but I certainly haven't seen a better team.  They ended drawing tonight, and Rowan had them down 2-1, so surely there are a handful or more of teams that could knock off MW in the tournament....BUT...what a relentless offensive machine.  Seemed like they peppered JHU from start to finish.  They create a high number of excellent chances and are willing to fire shots with pace from some distance, in addition to trying to work clever passes and runs just outside and inside the 18. As offensively lethal as any squad in my recent memory.

A bit of added pressure for MW...take advantage of the opportunity when you have it.  I remember exactly when MW burst on to the top-tier scene for me...two years ago beat OWU in the round of 32, and then traveled to Amherst and knocked out two NESCAC powerhouses back to back to reach the Final Four...where they lost to another NESCAC in a national semi courtesy of 81st minute magic from homewrecker (for three straight tourney weekends), Nick Boardman.  Anyway, I doubt very few (including the MW faithful) saw that weekend in Amherst coming.

Would be interested in any insider's assessment about Mary Wash's rise to the top of D3.  How did they go from a solid/good program to one of the best?  The coach?  A particular recruiting class or couple of them?  I know at least a few in the W&L world may have some insight about the emergence of the MW juggernaut.

[stlawus]

Coaching probably has a lot to do with it but they might also be capitalizing on the current landscape of higher ed.  To me they seem to be following the same trajectory as schools I"m more familiar with in Cortland and Oneonta.  Public state schools that are hitting on in state/nearby talent and selling them on the idea of a likely lower cost of education.  CNU was always ahead of the game in this regard but I think UMW might be catching up, at least in soccer. 

[eaglesoccerdad]

I would say that UMW has been a solid program over the last 10-15 years. Won plenty of conference championships.
But they took the next step up with two really good recruiting classes.

The final four run also attracted a few quality transfers.

Obviously there will be a drop off next year but the are some real strong players in the wings.

[Freddyfud]

I was especially impressed knowing that JHU has an extremely veteran group with multiple grad students/D1 transfers.  Perhaps the two teams are very similar in regard to being older and more mature than most.

JHU has 6 grad students on its roster.  MWU has 9.

[d3soccerfan123]

I was especially impressed knowing that JHU has an extremely veteran group with multiple grad students/D1 transfers.  Perhaps the two teams are very similar in regard to being older and more mature than most.

JHU has 6 grad students on its roster.  MWU has 9.

How many of those grad students have actually attended the school for undergrad? Almost all of the ones at UMW were four year student athletes not just one and dones.

[SierraFD3soccer]

As to UMW rise, while it was a solid program before.  You are right 2022 was their year to go better than just decent.  They only had about 10 wins with 4 loses at the end of that season. They really came on in the NCAAs.

One factor in 2022 was their keeper, Griffin Hemmendinger, who was a senior, but had not played much before that season. He had a great NCAAs. My son knows him pretty well and was impressed with him.

Success breeds success and so it just made UMW get its reputation to the next level. Price also plays a big attraction for some players and their families.

[Freddyfud]

I was especially impressed knowing that JHU has an extremely veteran group with multiple grad students/D1 transfers.  Perhaps the two teams are very similar in regard to being older and more mature than most.

JHU has 6 grad students on its roster.  MWU has 9.

How many of those grad students have actually attended the school for undergrad? Almost all of the ones at UMW were four year student athletes not just one and dones.

HTF should I know?  Better yet what difference does it make?  The question was about the maturity of the teams.  Do the Hopkins grad students have an advantage over others when it comes to maturity?  And please don't invoke privilege in the event they may have come from an undergrad program labeled as D1. These days that is a debate worthy of its own thread.