Division 3 - 2016

I appreciate the discussion of the Brandeis Sectional and would like to add that there are some great matchups on Saturday.

Williams vs. Johns Hopkins - both are finesse teams; I believe Meg Van de Loo is more of a game changer than Audrey Thomas, Krite Kirshe, or Kristina Alvarado. HOWEVER Williams is defending national champion and knows what it takes to win this time of year and is hosting, to boot. I think the Ephs get to play on Sunday
Messiah vs. Middlebury - Middlebury beat a very good Stevens team by playing team defense and countering effectively; I think Messiah is just too good to not win this one.
Thomas More vs. Chicago - Thomas More is at the top nationally both offensively and defensively - I don't know them, but my thinking is they will overcome an excellent Chicago team in Wisconsin.
UW Whitewater vs. Pomona Pitzer. UWW is home and P-P is coming east from SoCal; both teams operate outside the strongest leagues and the cast of usual suspects. I don't know them, but I guess either one could take this game; "home cooking" will probably be the difference.
PSU-Berks vs. Trinity (TX). A clash of irresistible forces with no immovable objects in the way. Trinity is home. This one could be a 6-4 game. It is hard to beat a Texan in Texas.
WashU vs. Hardin Simmons. Two quality teams from two strong programs. Even though he game is in Texas, I'm guessing WashU's Katie Chandler will be the difference maker in this one, backed up by GK Lizzy Crist.
Amherst vs. William Smith. I really really liked Hayley Roy of Amherst, but I think William Smith is a deeper team, spreads scoring around nicely and applies intense pressure from front to back. Please watch WS's Kara Shue; she is coming off a mediocre game vs. Trinity (CT), and it won't happen twice in a row. She is not a power player like Meg Van de Loo, Destinie Graves, Raba Nassif, or even Marisa Weaver, but she plays a damn good game of soccer.
Brandeis vs. McDaniel at Brandeis. Brandeis plays in the UAA , has a strong opponent almost every week, and is home. McDaniel is in a strong Centennial Conference and regularly faces strong non-conference foes like Messiah. I'm sure it will be a battle and I favor Brandeis to emerge on top.

6181

 

WashU's Lizzy Crist (Sr., Wayzata, MN) does it again! 3 saves in KFTPM! WashU advances 2-1 on Kicks after a 0-0, 2OT game.

 

Pomona Pitzer 3-0 over Wisconsin Whitewater.

"It was a freezing overcast 34 degree day with steady 20 mph wind gusting up to 35 mph on Saturday in Wisconsin." (From the Thomas More game report).

So the Pomona Pitzer team from Southern California trounced the home town Wisconsinites! Who woulda guessed?
@SoccerSwattie would have.

PP Goals in the 57th, 67th, and 80th minutes.

Shots
PP: 6 + 15 =21 (13)
UWW: 2 +4 = 6 (3)
Corner Kicks
PP: 0 + 5 = 5
UWW: 2 + 3 = 5
​

6755

 

Tomorrow's Games (from D3Soccer.com)

Times are Eastern, Ranks are NSCAA Nov. 8
For links to video streams go to home team web site.​

Away………………………..…..Home…………………….….. Time ………Place
No. 1 William Smith………No. 23 Brandeis……….... 1:00 PM – at Brandeis
No. 8 Washington U………No. 2 Trinity (Texas)….. 2:00 PM - at Trinity (TX)
No. 6 Messiah……………….No. 3 Williams………….…1:00 PM – at Williams
No. 18 Pomona-Pitzer…...No. 11 Chicago…………..…2:00 PM - at Wisconsin Whitewater

In Whitewater, WI, the overnight low is expected to be 23 F with a chance of snow; and Sunday is expected to be overcast with a high of 38 F.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

- Gordon Lightfoot.
​

6755

 

Game Reports from Saturday's Sweet 16

http://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/wsoc/2016-17/releases/20161119oc3tbe

(Hopkins' defense let them down)​

http://bearsports.wustl.edu/sports/wsoc/2016-17/releases/20161119uqyp84

(Lizzy Crist channels 2015, when she made 3 saves in KFTPM to lift WashU past Messiah into the final game)​

http://gomessiah.com/news/2016/11/1...ough-in-second-half-to-get-past-panthers.aspx

(3 second half goals, to win 3-0, à la Pomona Pitzer, one by Marisa Weaver.)​

http://www.hwsathletics.com/news/20...-battle-back-for-4-2-win-over-13-amherst.aspx

(WS’ Kara Shue does Kara Shue things, getting two assists)​

http://www.trinitytigers.com/sports/wsoc/2016-17/releases/161119_wsoc_psub

(The Barn Burner didn’t happen – 0-0 at half; 2-0 final)​

http://www.brandeisjudges.com/sports/wsoc/2016-17/releases/20161119kfgjt0

(Brandeis will face William Smith on Sunday. Last year in the sweet 16, Brandies lost at WS 1-0 in 1 OT)​

http://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/wsoc/2016-17/releases/20161119wsdfac

(The Windy City team triumphs in the cold and wind)​

http://www.sagehens.com/sports/wsoc/2016-17/releases/20161119rjwxv6

(17-1-3 Pomona Pitzer’s 3 draws were 0-0,1-1, and 0-0 all in 2OT. They won one 20T game 1-0 and just shut out WI-WW. Sagehens Play Defense.)​

 

WS-Brandeis 24:00 left in first half. I'm going on record. The Brandeis surface is too damn hard.

What I get for posting angry? - I almost missed WS's first goal.

 

A few comments on games I saw some or part of.

Maroons advance over Pomona Pitzer 5-4 in six rounds of KFTPM. Block letters go up in the windows of William Rainey Harper Memorial Library on the Chicago campus: U.A.A.--S.O.C.C.E.R--R.U.L.E.S. (…. and I was getting ready to jump on the Sagehen bandwagon….) Chicago Jr. Mia Calamari ( M/F, Barrington, IL) was the best player on the field.

Except for part of the second half of the first half, Brandeis out-hustled William Smith. William Smith’s defense and goalkeeping, particularly in the box on free kicks, let the team down. William Smith's heart did not fail - scoring the equalizer with 3 seconds left in regular time to push the game to OT.

New coach at Trinity (TX), same disappointing end to the season. For the 4th year in a row high scoring Trinity leaves the tournament by being shut out. This game was played on grass in the sunshine. In the small bits I did see, WashU looked very very good.

So now it will be Messiah against the UAA in the final four. This is somewhat weird because the UAA does not normally have a post-season league tournament.

 

SEMI-FINALS

[streamed by NCAA http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2016/12/02 ]

12/2/16 5:00 pm ET – #23 Brandeis vs. #8 WashU
12/2/16 7:30 pm ET – #6 Messiah vs. #11 Chicago​

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS

UAA teams play each other once.

• Brandeis played Chicago and WashU on the road back-to-back and lost both.

• At home, WashU beat both Brandeis and Chicago.

• Chicago beat Brandeis and lost to WashU.

10/14/16 at Chicago.......Chicago 2 - Brandeis 1
10/16/16 at WashU........WashU 2 - Brandeis 0
11/5/16 at WashU...........WashU 1 – Chicago 0, OT​

Messiah did not play any UAA teams; they had 2 opponents in common with Brandeis.
Messiah did not have common opponents with either Chicago or WashU.

• Brandeis beat both McDaniel and William Smith.

• Messiah beat McDaniel and lost to William Smith.

9-10-16 at Messiah.........Messiah 0 - William Smith 2
10-8-16 at McDaniel.......Messiah 1 – McDaniel 0; 2OT
11-19-16 at Brandeis.......Brandeis 1 – McDaniel 0
11-20-16 at Brandeis......Brandeis 4 – William Smith 3; 1OT
​

Messiah has the best differential in Goals per Game and Goals Against Average

• Messiah......3.30 gpg - 0.35 gaa
• Chicago.......2.82 gpg - 0.40 gaa
• WashU........2.55 gpg - 0.26 gaa
• Brandeis......2.13 gpg - 0.58 gaa

7649

 

Good Research. One of my professors once told me. "They don't know anything more at Stanford than they do at Washington State."
OTOH, with respect to high costs of D3 schools, a lot of D3 schools are outstanding: On the Forbes List of Best Colleges 2016: 5 of the Top 10 and 10 of the Top 25 are D3 schools.
http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/#5cddcda84f28

Chicago #20
Washington #60
Brandeis #74
Messiah #372

8065

 

My Final Four Preview

Messiah is the strongest team in the final four and probably will win the championship. Messiah has won 19 straight since the September 10 game they lost when William Smith crushed the Falcon offense, allowing only two shots all game. They will want to get revenge for last year’s semifinal elimination.

I will be pulling for WashU to win it all. They have a strong chance: after all, they know Messiah from last year’s semifinal and got past them to the championship game; and this year the Bears have the most clutch goalkeeper, best GAA, and second best GPG in the final four; and they have sisters in the starting 11 (Lizzy and Maggie Crist).

My Comments on final four Goalkeeping, Scoring Threats, Experience, and Players:

GOALKEEPING

School	Keeper	Class	Hometown	2016 Games	Career Minutes
Brandeis	Alexis Grossman	SR	Syosset, NY	23	4768
WashU	Lizzy Crist	SR	Wayzata, Mn	21	5156
Chicago	Katie Donovan	FY	New Canaan, CT	22	1895
Messiah	Sara Yunez	JR	Dillsburg, PA	23	2375

Crist is the most experienced, and saved WashU’s tournament by stopping four KFTPM in the 2015 semifinal and three KFTPM in the 2016 sweet sixteen. Messiah JR Yunez started her first game in 2016 because from 2012-2015, Audra Larson started all 97 of Messiah’s games. Chicago FY Donovan beat out last year’s full time starter Piper Mik to start the season between the pipes.

SCORING THREATS

Team	Top Scorer	Points	Percent of Team Points	No. Players 10 Pts or more	Team GPG
Brandeis	Lea McDaniel, SR	27	20.0%	6	2.13
WashU	Katie Chandler, SR	24	15.3%	7	2.55
Chicago	Jenna McKinney, SO	36	20.3%	6	2.82
Messiah	Marisa Weaver, SR	57	26.1%	8	3.30

Messiah has the single greatest scoring threat AND the largest number of other scorers. Messiah has the best goals per game.


EXPERIENCE

Messiah and WashU were in last year’s semifinal, and their seniors have all been in the NCAA tournament 4 times. Going this far in the tournament, both Chicago and Brandeis are in uncharted territory.


PLAYERS

These players are 2016 NSCAA All-American Players
http://www.nscaa.com/web/web/News/Articles/December_2016/NSCAA_Reveal.aspx

Brandeis
Michaela Friedman, SR, Port Jefferson, NY....... 3rd team-D

Chicago
Jenna McKinney, SO, Tampa, FL.........................1st team-M
Mia Calamari, JR, Barrington, IL.........................3rd team-M

WashU
Lizzy Crist, SR, Wayzata, MN................................1st team-GK
Maggie Crist, SO, Wayzata, MN............................1st team-M
Katie Chandler, SR, Fall City, WA.........................3rd team-F

Messiah
Marisa Weaver, SR, Carlisle, PA.............................1st team-F
Kayla Deckert, SR, West Simsbury, CT..................1st team- D

8103