I watched most of the match on Live Video. Evenly matched squads? JHU was certainly big and physical. However, if you asked me which defense I would rather have, I would say TCNJ's. And if you asked me which offense I would rather have, I would say TCNJ's. Give JHU credit for finding a way against a TCNJ team that I believe was better.
Stevens continued its winning streak giving Western Connecticut its first loss of the season. Stevens had the better of play and had a potential goal called off as the debate was whether an indirect kick touched a Western Conn player. Refs decided not. Final score 1-0.
So the NCAA Regional "Rankings" are not really rankings at all. The top teams in each region are listed in alpha order. The regions were reorganized and labeled, records are still shown, but not in any order. There are some weaker regions for sure with a few teams with .500 records or close to that. You can still click on the data pdf at the bottom. If you want to consider head-to-head and common opponents, you'd have to look at each schedule of course but those are also factors. I can tell you all the data/schedules are presented in a nice dashboard for the committee members. The public pdf data can be converted/used by the public as they wish of course. There should be a "record vs ranked" teams shown here going forward now that there are ranked teams. Note - I made a comment about CNU not being a national top-5 team perhaps. I did look and there are 6 teams just in their region with a better SOS. Some committee members really value schedule strength much more than others. Some realize you can't control if a conference team is suddenly down and so hurting your SOS. CNU does have to play 2 teams twice in their shrunken conference that have losing records this year. That will likely cost them home field in the NCAA tournament, definitely the 2nd weekend and maybe the first. https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/soccer-women/d3/regional-rankings
Hmmm. Yeah evenly matched. Oh and your “big and physical” slight…turns out that was the one uneven part with TCNJ getting nearly double the fouls and the games only yellow card. SHOTS TCNJ. 23 (13) JHU. 25 (12) CORNERs TCNJ. 3 JHU. 9 FOULS TCNJ. 13 JHU. 7
TCNJ at JHU Wednesday. I tuned in with about 17 minutes left in the first half and watched the rest of the game. My general reaction was that in attack TCNJ had more options and played with better ideas than JHU. Because JHU got one goal from an off-the-bar rebound and TCNJ hit the woodwork at least twice, I’d say JHU had better luck on the day. I was impressed by TCNJ defender Jess Hall (Sr, Chester, NJ), who was NJAC defender of the week twice prior to Wednesday’s game. Base on one game viewing, I think she is All-American caliber. In this forum, we have discussed JHU’s academic prominence and its impact on recruiting women soccer players. This season, the JHU graduate school admitted Harvard grad Sammy Murrell (D, Invercargill, New Zealand) and Dartmouth grad Bonnie Shea (D, Atlanta, GA), both of whom are key players for Coach Weiler. 8570
I checked the records of the new coaches mentioned previously in post #12 of this thread. Records are as of 10/22/21. Kudos to Jamie Gunderson at Christopher Newport, Dan Weiler at Johns Hopkins, and Stephanie Gabbert at WashU ( the most recently hired). Brandeis: 7-4-2; USC National Rank #RV UAA Conf: 1-3-0, 7th place New Coach (June 2020): Mary Shimko Christopher Newport: 12-0-0; USC National Rank #4 Coast to Coast Conf: 1-0-0, tied for 1st New (April 2020): Jamie Gunderson Illinois Wesleyan: 6-7-1 CCIW Conf: 4-1-0, tied for 2nd place New (May 2021): Keri Sanchez Johns Hopkins: 11-0-2; USC National Rank #2 Centennial Conf: 7-0-0, 1st place New (Feb 2020): Dan Weiler University of Rochester: 5-3-4 UAA Conf: 0-1-3, 6th place New Interim (June 2021): Gabe Kleinert WashU: 12-0-1; USC National Rank #3 UAA Conf: 4-0-0, 1st place New Interim (August 2021): Stephanie Gabbert Wheaton: 7-6-2 CCIW Conf: 5-0-0, 1st place New Interim (June 2021): Cesar Gomez Williams: 5-7-1 NESCAC Conf: 1-6-1, 9th place New (Feb 2020): Sarah Raymond 8571
Per new coaches: Ohio Wesleyan has a new coach - Pat Ferguson....not a great schedule but they are 8-3-4
USC and D3Soccer.com released new polls on October 26 based on games through the weekend: RUSCLWD3SoccerLW 1TCNJ1TCNJ1 2JHU2JHU2 3WashU3C Newport3 4C Newport4WashU5 5W Smith6W Smith6 6Misericordia7Misericordia7 7McDaniel8McDaniel8 8MIT5Messiah9 9Loras9MIT4 10Messiah10Chicago11 11CWR12Amherst12 12Chicago13Centre10 13Wesleyan17Loras13 14Centre14Emory15 15Amherst15Wesleyan17 16CMU18Scranton18 17Scranton19Trinity Tex14 18Emory20CWR20 19Hamilton11CMU21 20Puget S21Hamilton16 21Southwestern22Pom-Pitz23 22Trinity Tex23Puget S19 23BrandeisNRMiddleburyNR 24W. Connecticut24Wartburg22 25St. CatherineNRSouthwestern24 USC receiving votes: Bridgewater College, Otterbein University, Rochester Institute Of Technology, SUNY Geneseo, Montclair State University, Franklin & Marshall College, University of Lynchburg D3Soccer Receiving Votes: Otterbein 34, Brandeis 32, Connecticut College 23, Cal Lutheran 15, Geneseo State 13, UW-Oshkosh 13, Calvin 11, Pacific Lutheran 8, Hanover 8, Lynchburg 6, Franklin and Marshall 4, Hardin-Simmons 4, St. Catherine 2, Gettysburg 2, RIT 2
Jen Simonetti is continuing to do a great job of getting CWRU back to respectability. Yesterday CWRU beat WashU, 1-0. WashU already clinched the AQ for the UAA but the win for CWRU strengthened their resume. CWRU plays Carnegie Mellon next Sunday but will make the NCAA tournament regardless of the outcome of that game. CMU put up a surprising result yesterday vs Chicago, beating them 4-0. Yon Struble has done a great job at CMU this year and has the Tartans looking good. As I thought would happen, the UAA teams beat each other up in conference play this season. WashU is getting the AQ, CMU, Chicago, and CWRU, will be pool C teams. Emory hurt themselves a bit by losing to Brandeis, 1-0, and drawing with NYU, 0-0. Emory will really need to beat Rochester net weekend to help their pool C chances. The updated rankings are a little clearer. They will be updated again this Wednesday. Here is a link to the rankings at D3soccer: https://d3soccer.com/rankings/2021/Women/regional-rankings-2 The rankings coming out on Wednesday will give a little more clarity on how the tournament field is shaping up and who has a little more work to do in the limited time that there is to do it. Here is a helpful column explaining the AQs, pool B, and pool C. Shirk usually writes this at D3soccer and it is worth reading if you're confused about it all. AQ's, Pool B and Pool C? What does it all mean? https://d3soccer.com/columns/christan-shirk/2021/AQs-PoolB-PoolC-explained
I think one thing to note about your observations, CoachJon, is where the above programs were when the new coaches took the job. I'm sure that you know this and am merely commenting on it. It takes a new coach a few years to make their impact known. How a new coach does in the first few years is often more of a reflection of the previous coach. Johns Hopkins, Wheaton, WashU, and Christopher Newport were all in a strong position. I'm most confused about Williams' performance this season. Pinard was the coach of the Ephs for many years and had them in a good place when she left. Rochester may actually be improved a bit this season. This is not a knock on Sike. He was a good coach and his work before leaving more than likely left the Yellowjackets in a good place and Gabe Kleinert is continuing it. Brandeis is also solid and since your post, has improved to 10-4-2 overall and 3-3 in the UAA. Sanchez at Illinois Wesleyan deserves some recognition and she should do well if she stays there awhile. The Titans had a rough beginning to the season but have improved to 9-7-1 and 7-1 in the CCIW. Sanchez inherited a mess at IWU. The previous coach had a very strong record and some strong players but that was the result of the coach that proceeded him, Dave Barrett. He did not coach well when he was there, was lazy with recruiting, and was not well-liked by his players. The Titans lost a lot of players to graduation last year and will lose a lot this year so Sanchez may have a rough few seasons but she should turn things around. IWU will most likely need to win the CCIW to make the post-season. Wheaton might make it as an at-large if they don't win the CCIW tournament. Overall it was a down year for the league.
USC and D3Soccer.com released new polls on November 2 based on games through the weekend: RUSCLWD3SoccerLW 1TCNJ1TCNJ1 2JHU2JHU2 3W Smith5Misericordia6 4Misericordia6W Smith5 5C Newport4C Newport3 6WashU3McDaniel7 7McDaniel7WashU4 8MIT8Messiah8 9Loras9MIT9 10CWR11Amherst11 11Messiah10Centre12 12Amherst15Loras13 13Centre14CWR18 14Wesleyan13Wesleyan15 15CMU16Scranton16 16Chicago12Chicago10 17Hamilton19Trinity Tex17 18Scranton17CMU19 19Puget S20Hamilton20 20Brandeis23Emory14 21Emory18Pom-Pitz21 22Southwestern21Middlebury23 23W Conn24Puget S22 24Trinity Tex22BrandeisNR 25St Catherine25Wartburg24 USC receiving votes: Ithaca College, Middlebury College D3Soccer Receiving Votes: Southwestern 55, Calvin 36, Geneseo State 16, Hanover 15, St. Catherine 9, Pacific Lutheran 7, UW-La Crosse 7, UW-Oshkosh 7, Gettysburg 4, Washington and Lee 2, New York University 2, Ithaca 2
Sorry, I slightly messed up the D3Soccer rankings by switching W Smith and C Newport. The corrected rankings are listed below: USC and D3Soccer.com released new polls on November 2 based on games through the weekend: RUSCLWD3SoccerLW 1TCNJ1TCNJ1 2JHU2JHU2 3W Smith5Misericordia6 4Misericordia6C Newport3 5C Newport4W Smith5 6WashU3McDaniel7 7McDaniel7WashU4 8MIT8Messiah8 9Loras9MIT9 10CWR11Amherst11 11Messiah10Centre12 12Amherst15Loras13 13Centre14CWR18 14Wesleyan13Wesleyan15 15CMU16Scranton16 16Chicago12Chicago10 17Hamilton19Trinity Tex17 18Scranton17CMU19 19Puget S20Hamilton20 20Brandeis23Emory14 21Emory18Pom-Pitz21 22Southwestern21Middlebury23 23W Conn24Puget S22 24Trinity Tex22BrandeisNR 25St Catherine25Wartburg24 USC receiving votes: Ithaca College, Middlebury College D3Soccer Receiving Votes: Southwestern 55, Calvin 36, Geneseo State 16, Hanover 15, St. Catherine 9, Pacific Lutheran 7, UW-La Crosse 7, UW-Oshkosh 7, Gettysburg 4, Washington and Lee 2, New York University 2, Ithaca 2
Well Jon, William Smith goes up against RIT this weekend in the semi-finals. As much as I would love to say otherwise, the odds of an upset have gotten worse as the last 2 weeks have progressed. While RIT has largely dominated those games with possession, their offense is out of sync and for some reason cannot get their most dangerous player in a position to score. Since October 15, RIT has played 6 games and has averaged 16 shots per game. Yet the team only has only scored 10 goals on 52 SOG, for a 19% goal effectiveness rate. More significantly, Cataldo-Smith who leads the team in offense only has an average of 2 shots per game during that period. Too often the midfielders seem to kick it long with hopes that Cataldo-Smith can run it down and create a chance to score on her own and they overlook numerous opportunities to feed the ball to her on runs behind the defensive line. In their last 2 matches against Skidmore (10/16 and in Tuesday's first round match), Cataldo-Smith didn't even have a shot in either game. In contrast, William Smith scored 18 goals on 48 SOG, for a 38.5% goal effectiveness rate during the same period. Their most dangerous player, Julia Keogh, has averaged 6 shots per game. It is difficult to score if you aren't getting the ball. While the RIT defense has been playing well, they will have their hands full since William Smith can score from so many differenet players. IMO, RIT needs to get at least 2 goals on the board to even have a chance of an upset. Unless RIT can get their offense unstuck and get their main forward into the game, I fear the RIT season will be over on Saturday. Good luck and perhaps I'll see you in the stands.
Following up on the other semi-final match in Liberty League championship, Ithaca (#2 seed) plays Union (#3 seed). Since October 15, Ithaca has scored 10 goals on 47 SOG for a goal conversion rate of 21%. Union has a less potent offense overall and since October 15 has scored 8 goals (1 was an own goal by RIT) on 21 SOG for a goal conversion rate of 38%. Ithaca won 3-2 in 2OT against Union during the regular season. Should be interesting to watch but I expect Ithaca to advance.
Masterson needs to have Cataldo-Smith move from right to center to left and mix it up during games, to keep defenses off balance. Cataldo- Smith surely misses having Mia White up top as a target forward to attract defensive attention. I have seen William Smith literally drape a defender over a high-scoring opponent player to take them out of a game. With only Cataldo-Smith as a potent scoring threat, RIT will have a hard time getting a result. On a side note, RIT should be starting Darcie Jones in goal, she is leading Liberty League with a 0.318 GAA and a 0.906 save percentage.
I went to the Liberty League semi-finals RIT vs. William Smith and Ithaca vs. Union at William Smith yesterday. Sunny with a breeze and about 45 – quite chilly in the shade. Two 3-0 shutouts. WS Coach Wilber with 600+ wins faces Ithaca Coach Quigg with 350+ wins in the final this afternoon. Quigg was Wilber’s goalkeeper on the 1988 National Championship team. In the 11:00 am game, the field was quite wet from heavy dew. WS looked very sharp in the first half and fifth year senior Julia Keogh (Toronto, ON) scored twice from slashing runs onto superb ground passes that were served when Keough was lurking two-three yards in front of the RIT backs, not on one of their shoulders. Keogh later (and IMO unnecessarily) ran into RIT goalkeeper Darcie Jones and put her out of the game. Regardless of the injury, I felt a yellow card should have been issued. Coach Wilber emptied the bench with about 25 minutes left in the game, probably in anticipation of Sunday’s game. In the 1:30 game, I enjoyed watching Ithaca forward Alex Epifani (Dewitt, NY) who leads the team in assists and is second in goals after midfielder Kelsey Espenhorst (Hamilton, NJ) scored a hat trick on Saturday. Epifani is quick, light on her feet, and likes to make the ball dance to her tune, to the dismay of many a defender. I thought the officials made a wrong call to take a goal back from Ithaca. Ithaca served the ball to a player in an offside position, however an intervening defender played the ball with her head, the ball skipped onward to the offside player, who headed it home. I believe the current interpretation is that if a defender plays the ball, that should re-set offside. Ithaca’s defenders looked a little banged up – legs wrapped and visible limps and facial cringing. Based on that and WS’s good showing in their first half, I believe WS should be favored in today’s game. 10712
I watched William Smith overcome Ithaca 3-2 in 2OT on Sunday. Weather was high 50’s and sunny. The result was a stunner for Ithaca fans and a relief for the WS fans. Ithaca started three 5th year players, 2 sophomores and 1 first year while WS started three 5th year players, 2 sophomores, and 2 first years. The 3-line synopsis for the game is: Trailed 1-0 until the 80th minute. Trailed 2-1 with 1:47 left in regulation. Won it double overtime! Merilyn Hinrichs’s winning goal, with 3:25 left in the 2nd OT is shown in the following tweet: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆Trailed 1-0 until the 80th minute.Trailed 2-1 with 1:47 left in regulation.WON IT DOUBLE OVERTIME!MERILYN HINRICHS with the golden goal to give @HeronSoccer its 14TH consecutive @LLAthletics Championship!#HeronPride | #d3soccer | #DownNeverOut pic.twitter.com/keL3GkjWck— HWS Athletics (@HWSAthletics) November 7, 2021 I found a spot in the sunshine to watch, which was at the Heron attacking end in the second half and 2nd OT period. Aside from the way in which WS won the game, the highlight for me was the battle between first year WS outside back Ireland Krawczyk (Elmira, NY) and Ithaca 5th year forward Alex Epifani (DeWitt, NY). Previously I mentioned that WS would “drape” a defender on an opponent’s most dangerous attacker. At 5’0”, Krawczyk couldn’t drape herself onto Epifani, however Epifani had a second shadow on this sunny day for 106 minutes. Krawczyk normally plays left fullback, but yesterday Epifani started on the WS right side, so that is where Krawczyk was. IMO Krawczyk was player of the match. Epifani’s goal in the 89th minute was a lob from well outside the penalty area that looked like an easy save; however, the ball was muffed by the WS keeper and fell into the goal. After the game, as I walked past them, I noticed Krawcyk’s Mom introducing herself to Epifani’s Mom and offering positive words. Speaking of Moms, due to my location, the WS Moms came over to my end for the second half, went the other way for the first OT and came back for the second OT. Julia Keogh (Toronto, ON) scored the first equalizer in the 80th minute, a few seconds after the moms started a “Let’s Go Her-ons!” cheer, as much to relieve their own anxiety as to cheer the players on. Needless to say, the regulation time ending with an Ithaca go-ahead goal at 88:13 and a WS equalizer at 88:52 was a roller coaster. As Jim McKay said: “The Thrill of victory and the Agony of defeat…..” 11059
I just noticed, at the beginning of the goal clip you can see #5 Epifani being marked by #4 Krawczyk in the lower right of the screen. All day long.
Info on the teams in the field → https://d3soccer.com/ncaatournament/2021/women/2021-womens-participants The team names are hyperlinks that will bring up more information. Bracket → https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/soccer-women/d3/2021
Realizing it's never going to be perfect, Hopkins looks a bit hard done. Not only not hosting but has to drive 350 miles past 3 other first round sites up to Amherst, not to mention McDaniel from their conference, 25 miles away. Messiah also not hosting and has to go to TCNJ turf field. Going to be interesting.
D3Soccer.com released their latest poll on November 9th based on games through the weekend. It looks like USC released their final poll last week. We are all eagerly awaiting actual results rather than polls. RD3SoccerLW 1Misericordia3 2TCNJ1 3C Newport4 4W Smith5 5JHU2 6WashU7 7McDaniel6 8Messiah8 9MIT9 10CWR13 11Scranton15 12Loras12 13Amherst10 14Wesleyan14 15Centre11 16Chicago16 17Trinity Tex17 18CMU18 19Middlebury22 20Pom-Pitz21 21Emory20 22Hamilton19 23Brandeis24 24F & MNR 25Geneseo StateNR D3Soccer Receiving Votes: UW-Oshkosh 20, Wartburg 15, Calvin 13, Gettysburg 11, St. Catherine 9, Pacific Lutheran 9, Hanover 7, UW-La Crosse 4, Stevens 4, Hardin-Simmons 4, Ithaca 4, Lynchburg 2, Virginia Wesleyan 2
During every year I have posted about the NCAA D3 women's soccer championship, I have complained that the players do not get a rest day between the semi final and final. This year, United Soccer Coaches has proposed to the NCAA that the rest day be given, and USC will pay the estimated $20,000 cost for the D3 men's and women's teams! https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/united-soccer-coaches-proposes-changes-to-ncaa-diii-championship/ 11435
My 2021 DIII Bracket Analysis I calculated: Rank Index Points (RIP) = (UCS Rank + Massey Rank + D3Soccer.com Rank) divided by 3. UCS and D3soccer.com are polls while Massey is numerical, based on stats. I used the RIP to indicate the relative strength of teams and brackets. I graded each bracket by summing the RIPs for the top five teams in each bracket, regardless of how they were seeded within the bracket. (20 out of the 64 teams) Disclaimer: These are imaginary numbers and no true meaning can be extracted from them. A. The four brackets are not as well balanced as they have been recently. Eight of the top ten strongest teams are on the right side of the overall bracket. Year: RIPs for each quadrant 2021: 100, 31, 94, 41 2019: 56, 63, 83, 48 2018: 54, 57, 55, 69 2017: 50, 51, 55, 80 B. For 2016 through 2018, each of the four strongest teams was in a different bracket. In 2019, two of the top 4 were in the Upper Left bracket while none were in the Lower Left. This year, 2021, the top two teams and the fourth team are in the Upper Right bracket. The #3, #5, and #6 teams are spread out among each of the other three brackets. C. For 2016 through 2019, all four brackets were set up so the two strongest teams in the bracket couldn’t meet until the Quarter Finals. This year, 2021, that is only true for WashU and Loras in the Upper Left and Christopher Newport and CWRU in the Lower Left. In the Upper Right, the two strongest teams in that bracket (William Smith and Misericordia) could meet in the round of 16 games (Sectionals). In the Lower Right, the two strongest teams in that bracket (McDaniel and MIT) could meet in the round of 16 games (Sectionals). D. The 3rd overall strongest RIP Johns Hopkins and the 9th overall strongest RIP Amherst can meet in the second round of the tournament. ------------Rank Index Points for Top Five Teams in Each Bracket UPPER LEFT--------------100------------UPPER RIGHT----------------31 WashU ------------------------------8----------------------Scranton---------------------------12 St. Catherine---------------------32---------------------TCNJ----------------------------------5 Loras--------------------------------14----------------------Misericordia-----------------------2 Centre-------------------------------20----------------------William Smith---------------------3 Emory-------------------------------20-----------------------Messiah-----------------------------9 LOWER LEFT--------------94--------------LOWER RIGHT----------------41 Christopher Newport---------7----------------------Wesleyan---------------------------11 Trinity (TX)-----------------------22----------------------Amherst------------------------------9 CWRU-------------------------------11----------------------MIT-------------------------------------9 Chicago---------------------------13-----------------------McDaniel----------------------------8 Western Connecticut-------42-----------------------Johns Hopkins-------------------4 11639
The D3 coaches group actually reached out to ask for help from D1 coaches. I actually saw a the letter Anson wrote to the NCAA about the issue. It was tremendous! It is a joke that in 2021 we are asking players to play a semi and final in consecutive days!
The RIP table looks wonky on my iPad, so here is a simplified version. UPPER LEFT: 100 WashU: 8 St. Catherine: 37 Loras: 14 Centre: 20 Emory: 20 UPPER RIGHT: 31 Scranton: 12 TCNJ: 5 Misericordia: 2 William Smith: 3 Messiah: 9 LOWER LEFT: 94 Christopher Newport: 7 Trinity (TX): 22 CWRU: 11 Chicago: 13 Western Connecticut: 42 LOWER RIGHT: 41 Wesleyan: 11 Amherst: 9 MIT: 9 McDaniel: 8 Johns Hopkins: 4