Division 3 2022

Thanks CoachJon. I wish I could be in Rochester today. Did you see the highlight film for Julia Bragg from Ridgefield CT. She seems to have afterburners and a hammer of a shot. I can image her getting significant playing time at left wing this season. There will be real opportunities for newcomers this season.

 

I notice that JHU lists 7 graduate students coming from D1 programs on their roster.

 

Not sure how you can tell where they are from unless you did the research on each kid but I see 9 "GR"s on the JHU Roster. Nearly a full lineup.

I don't hold it against Dan. He's not breaking any rules and those kids, especially the Ivy ones, are likely going to great grad schools somewhere. So, why not Hopkins? But there's no question, there are some conference coaches who are not happy since many of their schools do not happen to have a world class graduate school.

This was a foreseeable almost 'glich' in the system when nearly every player at a US college got a freebee on the 20-21 covid year. Also since the Ivy League decided not to honor that 5th year, all those Ivy grads can shop around - and it will still be that way through the 20-21 freshmen - so Fall 24 will still have 5th year covid kids.

The only fix would be some limitation or restriction on kids maybe changing divisions to use that covid year? I don't know the answer but smart coaches at schools with nationally known graduate and professional schools, are really benefiting.

BTW- this has been a massive issue in lacrosse as well. Look at the current roster for the UMD men, the D1 Champs, who some say assembled the best team ever maybe in college mens lacrosse with 11 5th Year or Grad School players.

Hopkins is kinda doing this at the D3 level and so is that fair?? I've heard various takes on this...

 

It's pretty amazing what effects covid has had on the landscape of collegiate sports. It is happening in all sports. Athletes that have redshirted a season, plus with the NCAA rule changes dues to covid, some athletes are having pretty long collegiate careers. We are soon going to see the "covid effect" start to wane.

A D3 school such as Johns Hopkins, and those schools that are major research institutions, really benefit due to having graduate programs. Most D3 schools do not have graduate programs.

 

Come on. The Centennial conference opponents! Their NCAA regional opponents. I'm not going to name names but several coaches are not happy at all that JHU, already a dominant program, now has access to D1 transfers, with experience, as they have a world-class graduate school. Look at the other small liberal arts privates in that conference. A few barely have any graduate school programs.

There are 9 Graduate school players shown on that JHU roster. A few were real good D1 players. A few look pretty average frankly, a few are Hopkins players just staying over, and no question its a bit of a management problem. They also have 9 freshmen and 35 total players shown. But I think I'd rather "integrate" an experienced D1 player to my roster than a D3 freshman.

Agree that no rules are broken and I don't hold it against the kids at all. They get to play a 5th year, or 4th or 4 and a half, depending on their covid year, but there is no question it gives JHU and lots of other schools with great graduate schools, another advantage to bring players to their roster.

Imagine if the rule was that everyone gets a 5th year now - go play as a grad student wherever you want. Clearly, schools with good graduate schools, that are well funded (with GAs and TAs) would have a huge advantage. There's a reason the D3 rule had been that you only get that 5th year at your undergraduate college. So this thing at Hopkins doesn't happen in d3.

Well - this is what's happening at many schools across all 3 divisions and it will last through the Fall 2024 season. Fair or not fair, going to be fun watching 22 and 23 year olds play a lot of college ball.

 

Ummm...not sure this is anywhere close to being accurate.

 

Indeed, it's wildly inaccurate. Just as a sample, I looked at the UAA, University Athletic Association. Every program in the conference offers graduate degrees, and most offer PhDs. That's U of Chicago, Rochester, Case Western, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Brandeis, and NYU.

Closer to home, two D3s I sometimes watch play live, Meredith College and Methodist College, both offer graduate programs.

 

Last season, I believe that JHU was the only D3 team that included graduate students from D1 programs on their roster. However, this year CWR also lists two on theirs.

 

Ummm...perhaps I should have qualified my statement a bit better.

I was following the discussion and points that Eddie K made earlier in the thread and in particular I was referencing the schools in the Centennial Conference, of which Johns Hopkins is a member of and that was the discussion - the large number of graduate students that JHU has.

It would have been more accurate for me to have stated that "many D3 schools do not have graduate programs and of those that do, outside of the major research universities, the number of graduate offerings is quite limited."

This was a portion of Eddie K's post:

JHU is a major research institution. The other schools in the Centennial? Not so much. JHU has over 40 graduate level programs. Of the other schools in the conference, four of the nine schools have graduate programs and of those that do, the number of programs is limited. Bryn Mawr may have the most grad programs after JHU with 20 different areas of study. Muhlenberg has 3 programs. Dickinson? 1 program.

So while D3 schools do have graduate programs, in general it is only the large research institutions that have large numbers of graduate programs. Smaller schools that do have graduate programs are quite limited in the number of programs that they offer.

It's not "wildly inaccurate." Reference what I wrote above about the Centennial Conference schools.

The UAA schools that you referenced above (add WashU to the list), are akin to JHU in that they're major research institutions. I had a kid at Chicago and WashU and a brother at Emory, so I am quite familiar with the UAA. Of course, those schools have many graduate programs but that said, they are atypical of most D3 schools.

I'm in Chicago so I looked at 3 other conferences around the Midwest to see what member schools offered in terms of graduate programs.

The CCIW (Illinois & Wisconsin) is the largest D3 conference in Illinois. A few of the schools offer some graduate programs but are quite limited in what they offer. Some of the schools offer no graduate programs.

Of the NCAC schools (mostly Ohio but DePauw in Indiana and Allegheny in Pennsylvania are also members) Oberlin may have a master’s level program in the conservatory of music and Wittenberg has 3 programs, Hiram has 1 program, and the six other schools have no graduate studies.

The last conference I looked at was the MIAA (all Michigan schools and Trine in northern Indiana). Calvin has the most graduate programs with 11. Adrian has 10. Alma has a few. Hope has some that are all in theology. Trine has about 9 programs. Olivet has a few.

If I had to bet, the schools that you referenced, Meredith and Methodist, have a very limited number of graduate programs.

So, while the coaches in the Centennial may not be happy with JHU's ability to draw many graduate students, there is nothing nefarious about it given the current NCAA rules regarding eligibility that resulted in "extra eligibility" primarily due to covid. It just is what it is. The average D3 school just does not have the funding or endowments to compete with the large research institutions like JHU, MIT, the schools in the UAA, etc, in terms of what they can offer for graduate studies.

 

Well, you moved the goal posts and added qualifiers like 'limited graduate programs' etc. I agree you should have qualified your statement better. It's not a big deal in general. You are right that JH and other schools like it have certain academic advantages.

 

I have compiled a list of returning All-Americans.

All-American	Team	USC	D3
Anika Washburn	CWR	1	1
Kaylee Sturans	Misericordia	1	1
Gianna Coppola	TCNJ	1	2
Jules Dotterweich	McDaniel	2	1
Michaela Fasolino	Misericordia	2	1
Payton McDonnell	Loras	2	1
Kayla Herr	Messiah	1	3
Grace Devanny	Wesleyan	1	3
Katie Sullivan	JHU	1
Ella Merte	Pac Lutheran	1
Bailey Meyer	Trinity Texas	2	2
Emma Sweitzer	Misericordia	2	3
Meagan O’Callahan	F&M	2
Emily Tomz	Pomona P	2
Alex Adams	CMU	2
Karenna Groff	MIT	2
Megan Sidaway	Centre		2
Jill McDonald	Christopher Newport		2
Teresa Hegarty	Scranton	3	3
Lauren Ketchum	Wheaton	3
Josie Dattilo	Hanover	3
Kate Luers	Wartburg	3
Juliette Carreiro	Brandeis	3
Amanda Elton	St Catherine	3
Maria Rico	Mary Hardin-Baylor	3
Joy Smith	Wartburg	3
Sarah Smith	Christopher Newport	3
Caelyn Steffens	Illinois Wesleyan		3

A few teams have not yet posted their 2022 rosters. I assume the following All-Americans will return this season. I will update the list when all teams have posted their rosters.

All-American	Class	Team	USC	D3
Mika Fisher	Jr	Amherst	1	3
Rylie Mutton	Sr	Hamilton	2
Annie Mitchell	Sr	Chicago	2	3

 

There is a varying range of advantages and disadvantages within D3 schools. It would appear that JHU has a small pool that it can recruit from, (low end SAT 1520 & ACT 34)!!! Swarthmore can dip a little lower (low end SAT 1430 & ACT 33, with Education masters). Haverford (low end SAT 1360 & ACT 32). Then you get a huge drop to Bryn Mawr, Gettysburg, Dickinson and Franklin & Marshall (low end SAT 1200's & ACT 26-28). Next up Muhlenberg & Ursinus (low end SAT mid 1100's & ACT 23-25). Washington College (low end SAT 1040 & ACT 23). McDaniel (low end SAT 980 & ACT 18).
The majority of Centennial coaches can recruit players with 1200's SAT and above or 25/26 ACT and above. That is a lot of players. McDaniel, which is a good program, can recruit just about anyone. That is a particular advantage and they are making it work.
There can't be that many girls that are in the 1500's that are left after the IVY's, Stanfords, Dukes, and etc. get their pick.

 

About Hopkins - they won 11-0 and 6-1 this weekend vs Roanoke and CUA, so not ranked teams but certainly teams that don't allow 5+ goals very much.

They started 7 Graduate students, 1 Jr, 2 Sophs, and 1 First Year.

Could this be the oldest college women's soccer team fielded in D3 history? in NCAA history? Red shirting is not really a thing in d3. It certainly has not been common that any players play a 5th year in d3 other than a random medical waiver.

I can tell you if I was one of those coaches, I'd be waiting until 2025 to pay Hopkins again. You're going to hear more about this before the covid policies finally phase out in 2024.

 

It has been an inauspicious first week for the UAA teams. CWR is the only team without a blemish.

• Emory lost both matches on their Northwestern tour
• Chicago got hammered by Pomona Pitzer
• CMU lost to William Smith
• Brandeis lost to MIT
• Washu played to draws against Trinity TX and Fontbonne
• Rochester drew with Cortland
• NYU drew with Vassar

There is no shame in losing to Pomona Pitzer, William Smith or MIT. All three are legitimate top 10 contenders. And we are still in early season.

Speaking of MIT, they were drawn by Johnson & Wales (RI) yesterday. According to the box score, J&W took more shots and had a 9/1 advantage in corners. Could J&W be for real?

I watched part of the Williams/Hamilton match. Hamilton scored the only goal in the 6th minute. Thereafter, Williams dominated (16/3 shots, 14/1 corners) but couldn't score, to a large degree because Hamilton's first-year goalie Nieve Tonna. I thought the Williams midfielders and defense were definitely more skilled than their counterparts at Hamilton. However, all that dominance and skill did not matter in the end.

 

I was able to stream the game on 9/4 between 15th ranked Carnegie Mellon (CM) against the 5th ranked William Smith (WS). This game was the first test of how William Smith would respond to the loss of four 5th year players and 2 other seniors to graduation. WS had a prior game against the Univerity of St Joseph, a less skilled team, with WS winning 8-0 but without a single player having more than 1 goal. This was the first game of the season for Carnegie Mellon and it showed in the first half.

The first half seemed to be mostly mired in the midfield with neither team making any dangerous plays. However WS had the better of play, outshooting CM 6-4. WS broke through with a goal in the 27th minute off of a corner kick deflection. However, CM seemed to settle down afterwards. In the second half, CM took control, outshooting WS 11-5. CM had a number of dangerous opportunities to tie the game but were unable to finish. WS was able to tack on a second goal against the run of play and then held on by its fingernails for the win. After 4 pre-season games and a gimme first match, it is difficult to argue that the WS players are still trying to figure out their new roles. Although CoachJon may hate to hear it, WS definitely looks less dangerous offensively than in past years and the door may be more open to a new League champion than in the past. The next match for WS is against Messiah on 9/10. WS will definitely have to up its game if it intends to win that game.

I was also able to stream the RIT matches against Denison on 9/2 and Kenyon on 9/3. RIT won both matches by scores of 2-1 and 2-0 respectively. RIT showed both speed and control, significantly outpossessing its opponents in both matches. Swinging the ball back and forth across the field and then attacking through the gaps they created. This style of play seemed to wear down its opponents and allowed RIT to control the second half. In the Denison match, Denison forward Callie Davis was the offensive creator who scored the first goal in the 15th minute. Re-watching the game, Davis was offsides on the play but the refs missed it. Davis managed two shots on goal in the first 7 minutes of the match and had 4 total shots in the first 15 minutes. However, the RIT defense wore Denison down, allowing only one shot for the rest of the game. In the Kenyon match, RIT controlled most of the match, outshooting Kenyon 7-3 in the first half and 11-5 in the scond half. At no point did it feel that Kenyon was in the match.

Last night RIT went up against its first serious challenge, playing #25 Geneseo. This is always a tough match for RIT, who won last year's match 1-0 on a rebound off of a PK by Cataldo-Smith. Candidly, this was the best that I have seen RIT play over the 3 years that I have followed them. Geneseo generated only 2 shots and 3 corner kicks in the first half. RIT continued with its style of play, looking for quick attacks through the gaps and had 7 shots against them. In the second half, RIT shut down Geneseo completely, not allowing a single shot or corner kick. Meanwhile, RIT put away 2 goals in a span on one minute (67th and 68th minutes respectively), generating 12 shots and 4 corner kicks.

My pre-season question as to whether RIT added any dangerous players to supplement their offense has been answered positively. Six different players have scored the 6 RIT goals in these 3 matches. Freshman Roberta Moger has shown dangerous speed on the outside while red-shirt sophomore Sam Halligan is currently leading the team in shots and points. Senior Madison Corso has been busy in front of the net and scored her first goal off of a deflection on a Halligan shot. While their top scorer from prior years (Cataldo-Smith) has yet to score a goal, she continues to draw attention from the opponent's defense and made a beautiful chip shot over the goalie that lead to Halligan's goal in the Geneseo game. Their defense has been solid and has limited scoring opportunities throughout these matches. Sophomore Amber Flynn (who never saw the field last year) is now starting on the back line and has been an eye-opening defender. Jessica Gomez has been outstanding in the midfield, challenging for balls and getting the ball up to the forwards in dangerous spots. As you can tell, I'm a little excited about the prospects of their season and think William Smith should be a little worried. Their next match is against Otterbein on 9/10.