Division 3 - 2018

I am even more impressed by Messiah. Against their two top ten opponents, they had 37 shots, 15 SOG.

 

CP are you sure ? Maybe that was for last season. I show #20 with 2 shots and 1 SOG this season. The entire team had taken a little over 60 Shots. Here is the link: http://athletics.amherst.edu/sports...erst?tmpl=teaminfo-network-monospace-template

 

What you posted, via the link, is for this season of 3 games so far and shows exactly what I said, in the totals at the bottom. 62 shots with 45 on goal (resulting in 13 goals). I also looked at the individual game box scores, and that's what they add up to. Sort of crazy, I know.

 

LOL. Now I get why the poster thought I was nuts. Yes, I was referencing #20 ranked Amherst as a team, not #20 the player. Now if #20 the player had 62 shots and 45 on goal and 13 goals in three games, that would be earth shattering.

 

I saw Geneseo/WS on Live Video.

• I am sure Geneseo defenders had nightmares last night about Usain McQuillen.
• Amanda Adams does a great Megan Barwick impersonation.
• I do not know what they put in the water in Donostia, but it seems to cause ice in the veins.

 

I've seen a few games and from what I can tell, as usual, early season rankings mean very little and are usually pretty inaccurate by the end of the season. For whatever reason I find this to be particularly true in D3 vs D1 soccer.

I haven't seen many games but these are some of my observations from what I have seen this year:

Williams is probably deserving of the #1 ranking at this point but I'm not sure if the Ephs will repeat as champs. They were not a big scoring team last year and relied on a stout defense. The offense was mostly "by committee" last season but the high point person (Albaneze, I believe (sp?)) was lost to graduation. There is a lot of young talent on the team and I see them as again relying on strong defense.

Chicago may be ranked a little high but will have a good team. Calamari and Spiker are big losses but McKinney is back and will be the motor of the offense. As with Williams, there is a lot of talent of this team. I don't see them getting back to the final game this season but should make a decent post-season run. Last evening the Maroons tied a good Hope team, 1-1, and I see a few games on the horizon that could be losses - the usual UAA grind, particularly Wash U, and CCIW's Wheaton. Wheaton, FWIW, is being totally overlooked in the polls.

Illinois Wesleyan is young and has a young new coach this year. (Previous coach Dave Barrett went to D1 Fairfield). The team is primarily freshmen and sophomores and it will be a growing year for them but they can be good. I saw bits and pieces of their games vs Hope and Ohio Northern. Against Hope they looked like a young team that hasn't played together much and that, indeed, is the case. They still managed a respectable result, losing only 2-1. Against ONU they looked like a totally different team and controlled the game holding possession for long stretches while winning 3-0 against a team that was a final 8 side last year. They also have tied another final 8 team from last year, UW-LaCrosse, 4-4, in this young season. Even though the ONU game came out mostly in IWU's favor, there were stretches where the defense was under barrages of pressure. The team definitely needs to hold possession better and the midfield looks to be a work in progress. Finishing needs help as well. Defense is a strong point and has kept IWU in games.

Ohio Northern will still be a good team despite losing 3-0 to IWU. They will not make a final 8 run this season but should not be discounted. A big loss for ONU this season is an All-American center back. Once the team adapts to that loss they will be decent. This year they already did take Hope, a team that tied Chicago last night, to OT before losing, 1-0. There's still a lot of talent remaining and they should win their conference.

UW-La Crosse, despite tying IWU 4-4 in 2 OT and losing to St. Thomas, 4-0, should not be counted out. There is some good talent back from last year's final 8 team and some good young talent as well. The 4-0 loss to St. Thomas came the day after the 4-4 2 OT game vs IWU and there were more than likely some tired legs. I'm not suggesting that La Crosse will again be a final 8 team, and they more than likely will not be, but they definitely have the potential to be a spoiler in the tournament provided that they get there. An upcoming game against Wheaton should be a good gauge of where the team stands.

The fact that Wheaton did not even get votes in the poll show me that there is not much credibility in early season polls. The CCIW champions and final 8 team from a year ago should be better than they were last season. This year Wheaton stands at 4-1 and have only given up 2 goals on the year. Additionally, they have out-shot their opponents by a 83-22 margin. Granted, Wheaton's style over the years has been to put up a lot of shots, many being low percentage, but that margin is still impressive. In Wheaton's loss this season, vs Kalamazoo, they held a 26-3 margin in shots before conceding a late goal. The team should probably be standing at 5-0, but that's soccer if chances aren't finished. Wheaton has a grinder of a schedule. Last evening they beat a good Calvin team, 2-1. Remaining on the schedule is La Crosse, Chicago. Illinois Wesleyan, Hope, Wash U, and a probable rematch vs IWU in the CCIW tournament.

Denison and Centre should not be in the top 25. As the season progresses, probably in the tournament, this will be borne out. The largest achievements of both teams this season seem to be large victories over an Otterbein team that has talent but is underachieving. Both teams are decent but are in no way among the best 25 in the country. Both play in conferences that are not particularly strong so winning their respective conferences is feasible but the tournament will be short-lived for both.

MIT is good and is probably under-ranked.

 

Yes CP sorry! My Bad! I misread your post in a fit of epic confusion on my end...

 

With respect to the Williams Ephs you mentioned that they scored "by committee". I find myself wondering if that was a key to their success...could it be that they are skilled and disciplined and move the ball around to the open player who then takes a high percentage shot ?...from what I have witnessed, many D3 teams have a hot-shot who piles up goals based upon individual efforts against weak teams in conference...but when facing the elite teams in the NCAA tournament (Williams, WashU, UChicago etc) they get consistently destroyed despite the fact- and maybe because of the fact- that they have high individual scorers and can't play as a total team...

I am new to the D3 scene so I have not watched enough games to prove my theory but I noted the dominance of Williams despite- and maybe because of- not relying blindly on a "dominant" individual scorer...

 

I agree with what you mention but I find that the "hot-shot who piles up goals" factor is not strictly limited to D3 soccer. It happens with both genders and at all divisions. It is definitely better to have a balanced attack in the instance that the "hot-shot" gets injured, has an off game, is heavily marked, etc. If, indeed, there is a scorer that a team relies heavily on it is always better to have other skilled players that can't be ignored and that take pressure off of the star.

In the case of Williams, I believe that the team had a 12 and a 10 goal scorer last year. After that were multiple 4+ goal contributors. The leading goal scorer from last year, Alison Lu, is not playing and I'm wondering if there is an injury. Sydney Jones, a sophomore, seems to be picking up the slack in the early season as she already has 5 goals to equal her total from all of last season. In the end, it looks like the team will again have a strong defense and in the game of soccer, that is often low scoring, defense will win games. Williams' GAA average last year was .33. This year they've already doubled that number but with so few games being played the number is not that meaningful.

 

Saw Chicago dominate UW-Oshkosh. Score of 4-0 was not reflective of the domination on the field. UW did not get but 2 shots all game.

That said, Chicago’s offense seemed confounded by the park the bus strategy the overmatched Titans were forced to deploy. It might not bode well for the Maroons if putting goals up is that problematic.

In a similar lopsided display, the Hopkins BlueJays played their first Centennial conf game vs lowly Bryn Mawr. They didn’t allow a single shot to be taken and finished the “match” with a school record 12-0 win. Three different players scored a brace and 9 players scored a goal.

 

Latest USC Poll...
# School Prev Record
1 Williams 1 4-0-0
2 Washington (Mo.) 6 7-0-0
3 Chicago 3 4-0-1
4 Messiah 5 5-1-0
5 William Smith 2 4-1-0
6 Middlebury 9 5-0-0
7 New Jersey 4 3-1-0
8 Johns Hopkins 8 6-1-0
9 Hardin-Simmons 7 3-1-0
10 C Mellon 10 4-1-1
11 Brandeis 13 5-0-0
12 Ch Newport 11 3-1-0
13 Hope 15 4-0-1
14 Arcadia NR 5-0-0
15 Rochester IT 22 4-1-0
16 MIT 23 5-1-1
17 Centre 18 5-0-0
18 Wheaton (Ill.) NR 5-1-0
19 St. Thomas 16 5-1-0
20 Swarthmore 12 4-0-1
21 Amherst 20 3-1-0
22 Trinity (Texas) RV 3-1-1
23 Rochester NR 3-1-1
24 Misericordia 19 4-1-1
25 Dubuque NR 4-1-0

 

D3 soccer's rankings are similar to USC rankings...both have the same top 5...with respect to the UAA both included 5 UAA teams in the top 25 but while D3soccer included Emory from UAA they excluded Rochester. In addition to including Emory in the top 25 D3soccer also included Lynchburg at # 11, Tufts at # 21 and Rowan at # 25.


September 18, 2018
D3soccer.com Women's Top 25, Week 3

Through games of Sunday, September 16, 2018

# School (1st Pl. Votes) Record Pts. Prev.
1 Williams (11) 5-0-0 978 1
2 Washington U. (3) 7-0-0 943 4
3 Chicago 5-0-1 915 2
4 Messiah (2) 5-1-0 885 5
5 William Smith 4-1-0 840 3
6 Hope 4-0-1 763 11
7 Hardin-Simmons 3-1-0 745 7
8 TCNJ 3-1-0 655 6
9 Johns Hopkins 5-1-0 645 9
10 Chris. Newport 3-0-0 603 10
11 Lynchburg 5-1-0 535 13
12 Carnegie Mellon 4-1-1 524 8
13 Swarthmore 5-0-1 520 12
14 Brandeis 5-0-0 474 14
15 Wheaton (Ill.) 5-1-0 473 15
16 Middlebury 5-0-0 472 16
17 St. Thomas 5-1-0 327 17
18 Trinity (Texas) 4-1-1 287 22
19 Ill. Wesleyan 4-1-1 281 23
20 Centre 6-0-0 265 25
21 Tufts 5-0-0 247 24
22 Arcadia 5-0-1 234 —
23 MIT 5-1-1 130 —
24 Emory 4-2-0 113 20
25 Rowan 5-1-0 97 —

 

Interesting I noticed that so far this season the Ephs do have a dominant scorer in #18. She has put more balls in the net than the rest of the entire team and she does not start...impressive!

 

Week 4 USC POLL
RANK. TEAM. PREVIOUS. RECORD.
1 Washington (Mo.). 2 8-0-0
2 Williams 1 6-0-1
3 Chicago 3 7-0-1
4 Messiah 4 7-0-1
5 Middlebury 6 7-0-0
6 Johns Hopkins 8 7-1-0
7 New Jersey 7 5-1-0
8 William Smith 5 5-2-0
9 Hardin-Simmons 9 5-1-0
10 Carnegie Mellon 10 5-1-1
11 Chris Newport 12 5-0-0
12 Brandeis 11 6-0-0
13 Hope 13 6-0-1
14 MIT 16 7-1-1
15 Centre 17 9-0-0
16 Misericordia 24 5-2-1
17 St. Thomas 19 6-1-0
18 Rochester 23 5-1-1
19 Amherst 21 5-1-1
20 Swarthmore 20 7-0-1

 

Wow, I see my Amherst mammoths tied Williams 0-0. And, looking at the box score, the tie wasn't a fluke. That's always a tremendous rivalry game.

 

I watched most of that game. Williams certainly had more chances, but Amherst was NOT simply parking the bus, they had many good chances. They certainly deserved more of a bump up the rankings for that performance. Either that or Williams deserved a bigger drop.

 

I watched the game also. Amherst looked like they have improved significantly since last season. Also, I was impressed with the size of the crowd for a D3 game! It made for a spirited atmosphere.

 

CP13 you cut off the list at #20....Allow me to note that Vassar is ranked #24 which marks the first time in history that the Brewers have achieved a Top 25 national ranking in Womens' Soccer!

 

No slight intended. Just laziness.

 

Big upset last night as home team Wheaton toppled Chicago 2-1. The visitor looked dominant early and had thoughts of taking a 1 goal lead into halftime, but a sweet little chip shot from a difficult angle tied it up just before the buzzer. Wheaton came out very fast in the second, and Chicago weathered it early and reasserted its dominance. But a mad scramble in the box that saw at least 4 opportunities in a few secs resulted in the winning goal at the 75th min.

This will definitely impact Chicago’s seeding come tourney time, not to mention giving its UAA competition some hope that the conf title is up for grabs.

 

Last night:

Wheaton 2
Chicago 1

I casted the game from my phone while I was working in the background and was able to peripherally catch bits and pieces. Wheaton does a great job with the production and broadcasting of events. The camera work and production quality are very good. The announcers, that I assume are Wheaton students, are neutral and unbiased. The production really is excellent.

My take away is that both teams are excellent and have potential to make deep runs in the post season. Chicago had the run of play in most of the first half but things evened up as the game progressed. Chicago scored first, at around 15 minutes, but that score served as a wake up to Wheaton. Overall stats were remarkably close for both teams - 15 shots with 7 on frame for UC & 13/7 for Wheaton. Corners were 6 & 5. As I mentioned, UC probably had more possession early on but that evened out. Both teams would still have moments of keeping more possession, though. Wheaton plays a more direct style and relies more on linking up with their strong forwards. Not a surprise, UC does play more through the midfield. I also noted in another post that Wheaton's normal style is to put up a lot of shots with many of those being low percentage shots. I did not notice as much of that last night and the forwards seemed to be working to get higher quality chances. The Wheaton coach was interviewed after the game and he mentioned that there were changes made this season and that they are now beginning to adjust to those changes. I'm not sure what changes he is referring to but perhaps the changes accounted for the early season hiccoughs.

Early on in this thread I noted that the early pools, those prior to the midpoint of the season, really don't mean a lot. Wheaton was totally overlooked. Wheaton had an early loss to Kalamazoo and were beaten up in the polls for it. They also had a close game. score-wise anyway, against a very bad Thomas More side but did dominate possession and shots in that game. The loss to LaCrosse last week caused them to slide a bit this week. Wheaton is a very good team and has some good young players. The scorers last night, Aeva Graber & Isabelle Oliver, are a frosh and sophomore respectively. Both are very solid and it's hard to believe that Oliver comes off of the bench. I believe that she was the CCIW Newcomer of the Year last year and she's is a handful for opposing defenses. Another frosh, Sara Bakke, also plays a key role in the offense. She assisted Oliver in her goal last night. Oliver ended with a goal and an assist.

Chicago is not the same team that they were last year but still have some really good players and have the potential to make it to the final 8. Jenna McKinney, the All-American from last year, is still very solid and is a difference maker. There is a supporting cast of strong players around McKinney. To Chicago's advantage is that having many solid players will make them less susceptible if injuries do arise and/or some have off games. There are good players that are fully capable of stepping up.

As previously stated, both Wheaton and UC have the potential to make deep runs in the post-season. Both teams have brutal schedules that will prepare them well. Wheaton has lost to Kalamazoo and LaCrosse, have already faced Calvin, and have remaining games against Illinois Wesleyan, Hope, Wash U, and an improved Augustana side. Chicago has already faced Hope, Kalamazoo, and Wheaton and now will embark on the usual UAA grind.

You were posting at the same time that I was. I agree that it was an upset but disagree that it was a "big upset." Wheaton is overlooked. Wheaton's next two games, against Illinois Wesleyan & Hope, will be good tests also. IWU is VERY young with freshmen and sophomores that get most of the minutes. They've also got a first year coach that seems to be still figuring things out. From what I have heard the team is also dinged up. Hope has already played IWU and beat them early on before IWU came back and beat Ohio Northern solidly. Hope is another team with final 8 potential. It is possible that Wheaton could lose one or both of those games and still make a deep run in the tournament. Wheaton has some young players that are only going to get better.