We are expecting 8-12 inches by morning here in William Smith country. Things will clear up by mid morning and nothing more until Saturday. So Friday shouldn't be a bad travel day for busses. However Saturday is expected to have rain and snow and wind and cold - it will basically suck for the games.
GAMES TONGHT! 5 pm ET Messiah vs. Lynchburg 7:30 pm ET Christopher Newport vs. Hope https://www.cnusports.com/watch/?Live=104&type=Live 6 pm ET WashU vs. WI Lacrosse 8:30 pm ET Wheaton vs. Centre https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wustl/ Enjoy! 11,121
I watched parts of the four games last night via live stream. Big contrast in field conditions - WashU on football turf after having to clear 6 inches of snow the previous day and Christopher Newport on a wet grass field. The CN field held up very well during the first game - I was surprised at how well lthe players ran and the ball moved. By the middle of the second half of the second game, the field was pretty chopped up, which affected play. Except for the WashU game, the teams were evenly matched and the games played that way. The player that stood out for me was Lynchburg's outside right midfielder Kennedy Jakubek (Sr. Leesburg, VA). She fully controlled her side of the field and was particularly fast and effective in the attack. I was also impressed by Messiah's 86th minute equalizer; mostly due to their team play in the second half. Messiah went down a goal in the 36th minute. They played their game in the seond half where typically the attacking 5 or 6 spread the field touch line to touch line, with 2 or 3 located behind the 18 yard line I if possible, and 2 or 3 staggered about 5-8 yards back, in front of he 18. They did not break form, eveen as time ran down. Also Coach Frey kept to his regular sub pattern when he is behind in the seond half: he rests players in he middle/latter part of the half and then subs in all of the most effective attaacking players with about 10 minutes to go for a big push. Unfortunately, Messiah's NCAA streak continues. This is the fifth straight NCAA tournament the Falcons were ousted by way of a shootout. 11,176
Monday Morning thoughts - -WashU is a juggernaut and still the favorite -Middlebury - came out of the most even weekend group. West teams always stumble at this point (in the cold) and should have expected that. -Williams - Not a surprise really. WS coach gambled in the shootout. She picked a cold first-year keeper to defend the PKs and she saved 2. BUT, she also picked a cold field player (a Jr) to take one and she missed to end the game...and in a snow storm, I do mean cold. Gamble lost. -CNU - the big surprise with Messiah in this group, and Lynchburg, so CNU emerges from a group with 2 teams that have won the title. Lynchburg took Messiah out in PKs but maybe took themselves out and didn't have enough in the tank for the 2nd game. Back to back games is really tough to ask- only d3 still does this in college soccer I think. Messiah should be better in PKs - 2 kids missed over the goal. Lynchburg coach almost outcoached himself too by having a freshman backup GK take one and she missed. That's a bit crazy. Willing to risk your season with a backup first year goalkeeper. She went 2nd and when she missed I thought Messiah had it but their players missed the goal. Still picking WashU to win. Easy pick I guess. They smartly take Thanksgiving off in D3, maybe the smartest thing they do for the kids and staff. But I will be watching the D1 games this weekend!
Sunday’s shootout conditions for Williams vs. William Smith: When I started to write about the weekend games I watched at William Smith,there was too much to write about. So condensing my thoughts- Sat Williams vs. TCNJ: TCNJ seemed to have the bigger, faster athletes, but Williams played a better brand of soccer. I thought TCNJ So. midfielder Faith Eichenour was their best player, and for Williams, it was Jr. defender Liz Webber. Sat William Smith vs. Amherst: this was an evenly matched game. Amherst equalized 1-1 in the 51st minute. The winning 89th minute goal reflected the maturation of the WS sophomores. So. Julia Keogh made an “It’s-up-to-me-to-score” run at the Amherst defense, as described in the WS write-up: A Heron defender headed a Mammoth throw in to the feet of sophomore Merilyn Hinrichs, who took one touch and then sent a 20-yard pass to Keogh at midfield. Keogh used a burst of speed to beat one Amherst defender near midfield and dribbled up the right side. As she turned into the penalty area, her defender continued to backpedal, giving her a one-on-one with Mammoth goalkeeper Antonia Tammaro. Keogh feinted to her left and cut the ball back to her right foot and unleashed a shot that beat Tammaro to her right. Sunday Williams vs. Wililam Smith: Tthe temperature was 34 and it snowed lightly but steadily for the entire game, including warm-ups and shootout. Up until 10 minutes remaining in regulation, the ground and humans were warm enough to melt the flakes on contact, which made it very wet. After the snow began to accumulate, the play and players were significantly impacted. At that point, I was hoping that the game would not be decided on a snow-impacted goal. I actually was thinking that a shootout would be a (gasp) fairer way to settle the outcome. The snow-goal almost happened, as reported on the Williams website: In the 108th minute, after a William-Smith defender slipped on the snow, Sarah Hollinger '19 got the breakaway and was one-on-one with William-Smith goalkeeper Veronica Romines. Hollinger took the shot at edge of penalty area, but Romines made a fantastic save, sending the game to PK's. I thought Williams’ best players were Jr. defender Liz Webber and Sr. goalkeeper Olivia Barnhill. On the William Smith side I give the nod to Sr. goalkeeper Veronica Romines , Jr. defender Elizabeth Moore (who surprised me by starting vs. Amherst and Williams after sitting out the previous weekend’s games) and So. midfielder Merylin Hinrichs. WS had opportunities to win the game: WS outshot Williams 22(8) to 15(5) and had 10 corner kicks to Williams' 4. 11,706
A) USC announced the All American teams: https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/web...eals_NCAA_Division_III_All-America_Teams.aspx WashU had 3 first-teamers; CNU, Messiah, and Trinity had 2. Three-time All Americans: WashU’s Maggie Crist, Swarthmore’s Marin McCoy. and Chicago’s Jenna McKinney. B) Highlights: Semis and final [NCAA.com playbacks work better in Safari than Firefox for me.]https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-women/2018-12-01/diii-womens-soccer-2018-championship-recap https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-women/2018-11-30/diii-womens-soccer-2018-semifinal-recapC) Replays: Semis and Final https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-w...18-championship-williams-middlebury-full-game https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-w...r-2018-semifinal-williams-christopher-newport https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-w...semifinal-washington-st-louis-middlebury-full I watched this weekend’s three games. I thought Williams earned the trophy – that team plays an awesome passing-oriented, teamwork-based style of soccer. One that brings success when playing conditions are poor to terrible and when the team lacks a true blockbuster player. Based on the games I watched this year, it seems to me the top D3 teams as a whole lacked that one go-to attacker: no snipers like Messiah’s Nikki Elsaesser, wrecking balls like WashU’s Katie Chandler, or inspired finishers like Johns Hopkins’ Meg Van de Loo. My Annual Complaint: D3 student-athletes do not get a day to rest between the semis and final, but the D1 athlete-students do. 12,414
NWSL released its updated list of 126 players registered for the 2018 draft (17 fewer than last year). http://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/#upd...-players-eligible-for-2019-nwsl-college-draft In the past, only a small handful of non-D1 players have made it past tryouts and into preseason "camp". None have been drafted and none have made the season opening roster. Nonetheless, I still find it interesting to see which non-D1 players throw their hats into the ring. I spotted 9 non-D1 players: 2 D3 and 7 NAIA (no D2). D3 Alexandra Farmer, 5’8”, GK, Heidelberg University From Dayton, OH 2x Conference 2nd Team and 2x Conference Hon. Mention Career: 72 games, 108 GA, 1.49 GAA, 491 saves, 26 shutouts Kristen Ritter, 5’7”, Defense, Misericordia University From Hauppage, NY 3x Conference Defensive Player of the Year USC 2nd Team All American 2018 and 2014 ; did not play in 2017due to injury. Career: 82 games, 3 G – 5 A, 49 shutouts NAIA Bethany Balcer, 5’9”, Forward-Midfield, Spring Arbor University From Hudsonville, MI 3x NAIA National Player of the Year Career: 98 games, 129 G – 45 A, 1.3 goals per game Jessica Bianchi, 5’3”, Forward-Midfield, Trinity Christian College From Elmhurst, IL 2018 NCCAA** National Champion and Player of the Year, 3x USC - NCCAA 1st Team All American and 3x NAIA Hon. Mention All American Career: 89 games, 100 G – 39 A, 1.1 goals per game Milene Cabral, 5’4”, Forward-Midfield, Martin Methodist College From Porto Alegre, Brazil NAIA All American 1st Team (2x), 2nd Team (1x), Hon. Mention (1x) Career: 78 games, 129 G – 45 A, 1.7 goals per game Rebecca Holloway, 5’6”, Midfield-Defense, Cumberland University From Bristol, England NAIA All American Hon. Mention (3x) Career: 77 games, 40 G – 36 A, 38 shutouts April Stewart, Defense, William Carey University From Pascagoula, MS 2018 NAIA National Champion and 1st Team All American NAIA 3rd Team All American 1x Career: 77 games, 16 G – 12 A, 50 shutouts Jennifer Phillips, Forward-Midfield, Grace College From Cary IL 2018 USC –NCCAA** 1st Team All American 2018: 23 games, 8 G – 11 A Hannah Massagli, 5’2”, Defense, William Jessup University From Loomis, CA Played 22 games over 2 seasons. Was previously at D2 Notre Dame de Namur University **NCCAA: National Christian College Athletic Association. United Soccer Coaches (formerly the NSCAA) announces the NCCAA All-America teams. 13,127