If you went to a D3 school, know someone who did go/will go/ is going to a D3 school, or you are a D3 fan; please post here about your favorite players, team, or nemesis. The United Soccer Coaches pre-season poll came out August 6. Showing no thought or research, the ranks are the same as the end of season ranks for 2023. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-women/ Here’s the Top 25: RankCollegeRankCollege 1 California Lutheran University14 Bowdoin College 2 Washington University (MO)15 Calvin University 3 Messiah University 16 Case Western Reserve University 4 Tufts University17 Johns Hopkins University 5 Christopher Newport University 18 Hardin-Simmons University 6 University of Rochester 19 Carnegie Mellon University 7 University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse 20 William Smith College 8 John Carroll University 21 Williams College 9 Amherst College 22 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges 10 New York University 23 University of Hartford 11 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 24 The College of New Jersey 12 Virginia Wesleyan University 25McDaniel College 13 Loras College RV Misericordia University Among the 9 schools listed as Receiving Votes, I chose to put Misericordia in the table above, because the program is known to me as consistently strong. Based on a quick reading of the NCAA Guide for Division 3 published in April 2023, the 2024-2025 academic year is the last year that the rule giving an extra year of eligibility due to Covid-19 applies. https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/compliance/d3/2022-23D3AMA_FT_EnrollmentBlanketWaiverQandA.pdf Therefore, this fall season will be the last one to commonly find 5th year seniors and grad students on team rosters. Next fall we will be back to normal, having some redshirts in their 5th year, and a few others with unusual circumstances. The fun is about to begin! -CJ
The first games this season generally are on Friday August 30. I used the August 6 USC Pre-season poll to make this post. Here are TOP 25 Games for August-September 2024. Most teams Live Stream their games for free and you can get the streams by going to the school’s Woso schedule page (or the opponent’s schedule page) and find the links. Messiah has 4 Top 25 games while William Smith and Williams both have 3: #3 Messiah vs. #19, #17, #25, #20 #20 William Smith vs. #19, #3, #6 #21 Williams vs. #4, #9, #14 Seven teams have 2 Top 25 games and ten teams have 1 Top 25 matchup. Teams with no Top 25 game in August-September: #1 Cal Lutheran, #8 John Carroll, #13 Loras, #16 Case Western, and #18 Hardin-Simmons. Travelling Teams * I see that Pacific Lutheran is making a challenging east coast trip: meeting #17 Johns Hopkins on 8/30 and #25 McDaniel on 8/31. (Returning home to meet #16 Case Western on 9/7). * #18 Hardin-Simmons is travelling to Virginia to meet Lynchburg on 9/7 and Roanoke on 9/8. * #10 NYU travels west to meet #22 Pomona Pitzer on 8/30 and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on 9/1. * Macalester College (MN), coached by former William Smith player Maddie Buckley, is making a California trip – meeting #22 Pomona-Pitzer on 9/6 and University of Redlands on 9/8. * #16 Case Western heads to Seattle, meeting Puget Sound on 9/6 and Pacific Lutheran on 9/7 Please note the three “opening day” Top 25 games on FRI 8/30 in the table. DayDateGameGame FRI8-30#19 Carnegie Mellon at #3 Messiah #5 Christopher Newport at #12 Virginia Wesleyan FRI8-30 #10 NYU at #22 Pomona Pitzer TUE 9-3#23 Hartford at #14 Bowdoin WED9-4#17 Johns Hopkins at #3 Messiah SAT9-7#4 Tufts at #21 Williams #20 William Smith at #19 Carnegie Mellon WED9-11#25 McDaniel at #3 Messiah SAT9-14#3 Messiah at #20 William Smith The Big Game: #9 Amherst at #21 Williams WED9-18 #24 TCNJ at #17 Johns Hopkins FRI9-20#7 UW-Lacrosse at #15 Calvin SAT9-21#20 William Smith at #6 University of Rochester MON9-23#2 WashU at #15 Calvin WED9-25#4 Tufts at #11 MIT FRI9-27#5 Christopher Newport at #7 UW-Lacrosse SUN9-29#21 Williams at #14 Bowdoin -CJ P.S. For those who are new here , I have been a full-blooded William Smith Herons soccer supporter since I moved nearby in 2010. You will see that in my postings. Cheers! 55
This will be an interesting year. There are a few teams in the top 25 that will have to overcome graduation of key players if they can match last year's results. As a parent of a player in the Liberty League, I am more familiar with teams in the Liberty League and the UAA so will limit my thoughts to Rochester and William Smith. #6 Rochester was carried last year by the outstanding season of All-American Claire Grover (19g, 4a), who alone was responsible for 42% of her team's scoring.Her loss to graduation will be felt. However, the team had 3 first year players who made contributions (two who put away 3 goals and one who had 4 goals) and who may step up to offset some of that lost offensive power. The defense for last season was outstanding only giving up 9 goals in the regular season. However, it may be diifcult to replicate that success since the defense has lost 2 starting midfielders and 3 starting defenders to graduation. Its non-conference schedule this season consists of a healthy diet of 5 Liberty League teams. As I pointed out in another post, I expect William Smith, RIT and Ithaca to have strong seasons, so Rochester may have its hands full. #20 William Smith has been a perrenial power in the Liberty League but may be taking a step back after the loss of so many key contributors. William Smith lost 4 graduate students that were impact players (Berg sisters, Dimenna & Faso) and lost at least 2 key contributors from last year's 8 seniors (Blakely-Armitage and Van der put).Those 6 players were responsible for 50% of the team's goals and assists last season. In addition, it is unclear whether Ava Ruppersberger, their top scorer from last year, will use her COVID eligibility. Perhaps CoachJon can fill us in on whether Ruppersberger is returning. If Ruppersberg doesn't return, the team will have lost 70% of their offense from last season. Either way, players will have to step up to fill the gaps created by the leaving players. Fortunately, the core of their strong defense will be returning. The 11 day stretch between Sept 14 and Sept 25 should be telling as Williams Smith faces Messiah, Geneseo (a good overall team), Rochester and RIT (their Liberty League challenger) in order.
I get most excited when the D3 season starts because I get to go to live games. Please pick a team near you and go watch them. More than 420 D3 schools in 34 states have a women’s team, so there are options. I am very lucky: six teams play within less than an hour drive for me. Out west is scarce, sadly, with fewer than 40 teams in CA, CO, NE, OR, TX, and WA. combined. That is why I was happy when Cal Lutheran won the 2023 Championship. On paper, and based on my following D3 Woso for more than 10 years, I figured they would not get past Tufts, WashU, or Messiah. Congrats to them. So, to get ready for this season, I just watched both NCAA semifinals (first 90 mins each) and the final on video from the NCAA web site. https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-women Use the dropdown to see just the D3 games. Cal Lutheran absolutely earned that championship with a super challenging post-season filled with low-scoring games, overtimes, penalty shootouts, and injuries to key players for the final two games. I felt that Messiah played the best-looking soccer of the four teams for the 90 minutes I watched, with Tufts second half vs Cal Lutheran a close second. The final was not elegant, with both teams playing a fairly direct game where the players on both sides were physically similar. Cal Lutheran definitely had the better target striker and defensive back line. Watching the games helped me re-calibrate my expectations. I watch a lot of women’s football/soccer: national team (not just USA) friendlies and tournaments, WSL (England), UEFA women’s champions league, and the NWSL. Those professionals are way more athletic and skilled and play a much more sophisticated game than D3 student-athletes play, especially in the early fall. However, I get to watch the college players live and I love them. Join me, -CJ 507
It looks like D3soccer.com is now officially dead. D3Soccer.fans now seems to be the forum for D3 Soccer. https://d3soccer.fans/
D3, man - Coach Aliceann Wilber at William Smith has added 1 graduate student (2021 All-NESCAC) and 2 first year defenders with really good looking resumes and the tallest of the three is 5'2" tall.
Reports for two games Friday in Geneva, NY: William Smith 8 – Plattsburgh State 0 and TCNJ 1 – Washington & Lee 0. Temperatures were in the mid to high 70’s, with humidity and heat increasing throughout the day. Overcast with a healthy breeze blowing from the spectator’s right-hand goal to the left-hand goal. The grass at Cozzens field was in great shape. This invitational weekend theme used to be ‘Stand on Their Shoulders,” to remember and honor the women of history and the women in this sport that blazed the trails now followed by today’s young women athletes. This year the theme is “We Are The Future,” which is apparently more appealing to Gen Z young people. WS vs. Plattsburgh. For me the highlights included: SR Marjorie “Mojo” Plants ( Jamaica, VT) and SR Ireland Krawczyk (Elmira, NY are both healthy and back starting at left fullback and right fullback respectively. Plants scored the first and third goals of the day. Great performances by first years Grace Metzler (F, Alexandria, VA) and Nell Dwyer (LCB, Amherst, MA). Metzler had a goal and an assist and Dwyer showed skill and composure, as well as a strong, accurate left foot. It was an unfortunate beginning for Plattsburgh State and their coach Whitney Frary, who had played for WS 2009-2012; her teams paved the way for William Smith’s 2013 national championship. TCNJ vs. W&L. This game was more evenly matched than I expected. I don’t know if time of possession stats are kept, but my impression was W&L was clearly ahead. OTOH, TCNJ did an outstanding job controlling the ball during the last 12 minutes of the match. I must credit the TCNJ back line for keeping the clean sheet: LFB Rachel Robichaud (SR, Woolwich Twp, NJ), LCB Rachel Burkhard (SR, Clark, NJ), RCB Caroline Rebele (SR, Holmdel, NJ), and RFB Ava Curtis (SR, Hillsborough, NJ). Curtis scored the winning goal on a free kick from about 25 yards out in the 8th minute of the first half. The defensive right side in particular kept W&L’s dangerous FY Megan Zimmerman (M, Cincinnati, OH) and her sister JR Sarah Zimmerman (F/M) at bay. Both Sisters are very good players; I believe Megan Z. was the strongest soccer player on the field. My friend was rooting for W&L, and I was very impressed by their overall play. W&L’s passing was excellent and it was clear the players with the ball knew where their teammates were and/or were supposed to be. I just checked the stats: W&L had 14 shots (9 SOG) and TCNJ had 10 shots (4 SOG), which supports my belief that the game flowed more in favor of W&L. William Smith will have a very tough game against W&L this afternoon. I am not going because thunderstorms are predicted starting at about game time and lasting the rest of the afternoon. Lightning delays always screw up games, sitting in the rain never works, and right now I choose not to stand up in the rain for long periods of time. -CJ 1002
The Top 25 matchups this weekend mostly showed that defenses are ahead of offenses early in the season- #19 Carnegie Mellon at #3 Messiah: 0-0 Draw #5 Christopher Newport at #12 Virginia Wesleyan : 0-0 Draw #10 NYU at #22 Pomona Pitzer: 0-0 Draw NYU also had a 0-0 Draw at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, while CNU managed a 1-0 win vs. Shenandoah. Carnegie Mellon, Messiah, and Virginia Wesleyan had only one game. This week: Tue: #23 Hartford at #14 Bowdoin Wed: #17 Johns Hopkins at #3 Messiah Sat: #4 Tufts at #21 Williams ......keep an eye on Washington & Lee...... 1,164
2024 rule changes I just found out about some rule changes for 2024-2025. https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/ch...ccer/rules/2024-25PRXSO_MajorRulesChanges.pdf Two of the rule modifications affect D3 spectators (and players, to be fair): clock stopping for subs late in the game and re-instating the golden goal for overtime matches. A. Clock To require the clock to be stopped on substitutions made by the leading team or if the game is tied in the final 15 minutes of regulation play and all of overtime. Rationale: Currently, the clock stops during the final five minutes of the second period (or second overtime period) when the leading team makes a substitution. Surveys consistently pointed out that coaches felt the clock was being unfairly manipulated by teams in order to earn a win or a tie. Expanding the window during which the clock will stop for substitutions will preserve playing time and reduce opportunities to manipulate the clock. B. Golden Goal To reinstate sudden-victory (golden goal) during postseason overtime. Rationale: In previous seasons, there were very few instances of the team being scored on first in overtime coming back to win the game. Therefore, requiring teams to play more minutes with few instances of a different result, especially with the potential for the advancing team to play another game the following day, is not in the best interest of the student-athlete. …My gut reaction to going back to golden goal was: “If they are not going to play the full OT just because it is rare for a team to come back in OT after the first goal, they might as well not allow Olymipco goals to be scored directly from a corner kick because they are so rare.” Then considering the NCAA rationale and that it is post-season only (many games in a small number of days) I was leaning toward saying okay. THEN, I thought about a fluke goal being scored against MY team in the first minute of the first 10 minutes of overtime and I passionately want my team to get 19 minutes more to equalize. So, I still favor playing out both 10-minute OT periods in their entirety. To hell with the health and welfare of the athletes! [joke] Seriously, I’ve watched those cold rainy and snowy mud games in late November and early December and no one wants to be out there playing or watching any longer than they have to. Golden goal, it is. 1,403
The top 25 matchup draws persisted this week: TUE #23 Hartford at #14 Bowdoin: 0-0 draw, continuing the clean sheets WED #17 Johns Hopkins at #3 Messiah: 3-3 draw, breaking the scoring drought This coming weekend we have two top 25 matchups: SAT #4 Tufts at #21 Williams* and #20 William Smith at #19 Carnegie Mellon I watched the first half of Hartford-Bowdoin. The announcer said that Hartford still had some residual scholarship players from when they were D1, so the transition to D3 is not complete this season. The teams looked evenly matched and it was a 0-0 draw at half, so I turned it off. I watched most of JHU at Messiah – a very exciting game. Hopkins started 3 graduate students, while Messiah started 2 (both on defense). IMO, standouts for Messiah were forward Hannah Adair (Jr, Manheim, PA) and midfielder Kristina Akselsen ( Sr, Howell, NJ). I saw their quality when I watched the semi-final from last year. Akselsen was USC D3 Player of the Year for 2023. Messiah played disciplined ball, while JHU looked like it was in the business of creating chaos by putting as many balls into the box as possible. Both schemes worked; however, I was surprised Messiah gave up 3 goals. USC will probably have a new poll out this coming Tuesday; there will be a lot of changes to the pre-season poll that is out now. * I found out that the Northeast Sports Network, NSN, is a channel available on Roku and it carries pretty much all the NESCAC games. You can also get to the games from the schedule pages on team websites. 1577
Three things: USC poll, road trip results, and game report. As expected, the Sept 10 USC poll was way different from the August pre-season poll. Three receiving-votes teams came into the top 10, while five teams not having votes came into the slots between #15 and #25. A new poll is due out today. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-women/ Road trip results for the weekends of 8/30 and 9/6: Pacific Lutheran had a 3-2 win over JHU and a 0-2 loss to McDaniel in Baltimore, MD. Hardin Simmons had a 3-2 win over Lynchburg and a 2-0 win over Roanoke in Roanoke, VA. NYU had 0-0 ties against Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Claremont, CA. Macalester lost 1-3 at Pomona-Pitzer and 0-2 at Redlands in California. Case Western had a 3-1 win over Puget Sound and tied Pacific Lutheran 1-1 in Seattle, WA. Game Report – Messiah at William Smith, Saturday 9/14: 1-0 win for WS. The day was sunny in the low 80’s, with no breeze, and the grass field was in good shape and mowed in concentric circles, as the grounds crew does from time to time. Given William Smith’s poor performances in Pittsburgh vs. Carnegie Mellon & Denison, along with Messiah’s quality, especially the performances of 2023 team leader in scoring Junior Hannah Adair (F, Manheim, PA) and 2023 USC D3 player of the year Senior Kristina Akselsen (M, Howell, NJ), I fully expected an easy win for the visiting Falcons. Adair played and scored a goal vs. McDaniel on Wednesday, but did not play on Saturday. WS set up in a rare-for-them 5-3-2, with right side fullback/wingback grad student Lexi Hasbrouck (D, Hopkinton, MA) assigned to shadow Akselson wherever she went, even when WS had possession. That made the WS offense look odd sometimes because Hasbrouck was not providing width in the attack. I could see this in action during the second half, because she was on my side of the field. I asked her Dad about it and he said, oh, yes, she knew days ahead of time her job was to nullify Akselsen. IMO she did so with much success. I have seen Coach Wilber use this strategy often against powerful forwards, although I haven’t seen it against a midfielder. I remember in the Liberty League 2021 Championship game vs. Ithaca, left fullback Ireland Krawczyk (Sr, Elmira, NY), as a first-yar, was assigned to shadow 2-time All American and leading scorer Alex Epifani (F, Dewitt, NY) and did so for 106 minutes, helping WS to a 3-2 2OT win. I imagine Krawczyk was able to coach-up Hasbrouck on shadowing an opponent. Bottom line, this was William Smith’s best played game of the season and the goal in the 61st minute by senior Lindsey Ringbloom (F, Downers Grove, IL) was an excellent whole-team goal. If you have read this far, thank you; you can stop now. -CJ 1959
List of returning All-Americans: PlayerPosYr.Team 1st Team All-American Piper DeanDSr.Carleton Reanna SlaterDSr.Christopher Newport Kristina Akselsen*MSr.Messiah Ellie Arndt*MSr.Wisconsin-La Crosse Ella EndoMSr.Pomona-Pitzer Claire GroverFGr.Rochester Savannah JohnsonFGr.Loras Patience Kum*FSr.Amherst Katie Sullivan**FSr.Johns Hopkins Elle SutterFGr.North Central 2nd Team All-American Bre AtwoodKGr.Southern Maine Spencer DeutzDSr.Pomona-Pitzer Ally HackettDGr.WASHU Charlotte HuangDSr.Amherst Alexis McMahon*DSr.Wisconsin-La Crosse Victoria D’ImperioMSr.TCNJ Niamh HealyMGr.Scranton Ava RuppersbergerMGr.William Smith Sarah AndreyFGr.North Central Ari GreenFGr.St. Catherine Kelli KeadyFGr.NYU Meagan RowlettFGr.MIT Emma SweitzerFGr.Misericordia 3rd Team All-American Morgan MurphyKJr.Westminster(Pa.) Julia BeckDSr.Misericordia Lindsay CarrDSr.Centre College Ava CurtisDSr.TCNJ Emily DeRoehnDSr.Johnson & Wales(R.I.) Annie Isphording*DJr.Johns Hopkins Jenna Skurcenski*DGr.Messiah Jessie GomezMGr.RIT Jessica WeinoldtMGr.McDaniel Kelsey WhiteMGr.Mary Hardin-Baylor Elsi AiresFJr.Tufts Aileen Cahill*FGr.Montclair State Beth CookFSr.Hanover Brianna FeeFSr.Sewanee Emma HerrmannFSr.Grove City
My DIII NCAA Bracket Analysis. Games start tomorrow. I calculated: Rank Index Points (RIP) = (UCS Rank + Massey Rank) divided by 2. UCS is a poll while Massey is numerical based on stats. D3Soccer.com used to have a poll, but no longer does. 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 fairly well balanced with regard to all the teams in the brackets. 2024: 60, 50, 56, 63 2023: 71, 52, 41, 84 2022: 78, 52, 55, 62 2021: 100, 31, 94, 41 B. Seeding. The brackets are not balanced considering where the strongest teams landed. I made “RIP Seeds” by listing the teams in order of RIP low (strong team) to high (not as strong). Two teams tied for #4 RIP Seed and two teams tied for #7 RIP Seed. This year, the upper left bracket has the #1, #4, and #7 RIP Seeds. The upper right bracket has the #2 and #3 RIP Seeds. The lower left bracket has the #4, #6, and #7 RIP Seeds, while the lower right bracket has the #5 and #8 RIP Seeds. In other words, the strongest four teams are divided between the upper right and upper left brackets, while the next four strongest teams are divided between the lower left and lower right brackets. C. Hosts with a stronger team in their group (these are not first game matchups): William Smith (RIP 15.5) hosts Tufts (RIP 4.5) Scranton (RIP 17.5) hosts Wesleyan (CT) (RIP 4.0) D. Travel I noted: Pomona Pitzer hosts 2 California teams plus Trinity [TX to CA] Claremont Mudd Scripps travels to MIT [CA to MA] Hardin-Simons travels to NYU [TX to NY] Pacific Lutheran travels to Emory [WA to GA] Rank Index Points for Top Five Teams in Each Bracket UPPER LEFT60UPPER RIGHT50 WashU1Washington & Lee11 MIT5William Smith16 Messiah8Tufts5 Calvin14 Pomona Pitzer14 Chicago32 Wesleyan (CT)4 LOWER LEFT56LOWER RIGHT63 Christopher Newport5Loras10 Misericordia8Pacific Lutheran22 TCNJ7Carnegie Mellon6 Johns Hopkins18Rochester14 NYU18Amherst11 I am going to William Smith vs Penn State - Harrisburg tomorrow morning, but unfortunately, I cannot stay for Tufts vs Rowan. Have fun watching your favorite games! 3398
Game reports from Cozzens field, Geneva, NY. Sat. 11/16. William Smith 2 – Penn State Harrisburg 1. Temps around 45 all day with a stiff wind blowing from the north goal to the south goal; Sunny. Grass field was dry and looked in good shape. William Smith has settled into a 4-1-4-1 set up, with left fullback Marjorie Plants (Sr, Jamaica, VT) playing an attacking role [5G-1A] and right fullback Lexi Hasbrouck (Gr, Hopkinton, MA) playing a more defensive role. William Smith scored first as a result of the most pleasing team play that I have seen all season, ending with a backheel from a forward to a running midfielder who buried the shot to the far post . I thought PS-H forward Julia Hughes (So, Middletown, PA) had an excellent game and was particularly dangerous when pressing WS defenders while they were trying to play the ball out, which is what she did to score the 1-1 equalizer in the 65th minute. I did not stay to watch Tufts beat Rowan 1-0. Sun. 11/17. William Smith 2 – Tufts 1. Temps the same, but cloudy and less wind; field held up after two games the previous day. The most entertaining aspect of the game, from the William Smith’s fans’ point of view, was the battle between Tufts 6-ft 0-in right outside forward Nicola Summers (Gr, Branford, CT) and WS 5-ft 1-in left fullback Lexi Hasbrouck (Gr, Hopkinton, MA). Hasbrouck normally plays the right side, but was switched intentionally to create this matchup. Hasbrouck has played MVP defense all season for WS, having arrived this fall via the transfer portal after four years at Trinity (CT). While at Trinity, she faced off against Tufts in 2021, 22, and 23, with Summers on the opposite side each time. Trinity won two of those three games. On Sunday, Hasbrouck frequently was able to nick the ball from Summers and often would insert herself between Summers and the ball – getting her hips low to shield the ball, making it impossible for Summers to keep her balance while looming over the smaller player. WS scored in the 25th and 68th minutes, and had to survive massive pressure from Tufts in the second half. Tufts out-shot WS 15-4 and had a 3- 0 corner kick advantage in the second half, scoring their goal in the 75th minute, making for a tense final fifteen minutes of the game. This this the 3rd time WS has hosted and ended Tufts NCAA tournament (2018, 2022, 2024). On to the Sweet Sixteen! 3660
My William Smith Herons are making a 5th trip to the NCAA D3 women’s soccer final four since I started following the team in 2010; much to my surprise, and happiness. All games are in Las Vegas, NV. Semifinals are Friday 12/6 and the Final is Sunday 12/8. The D3 student-athletes get a day of rest between the semi and final, which their D1 athlete-student sisters have enjoyed for years, but first was adopted in D3 for the 2022 championship. Prior to that, the semi and final were on back-to-back days. Semifinals WashU vs. Christopher Newport | 5:30 p.m. ET (Las Vegas is in the Pacific Time Zone) William Smith vs. Emory | 9:00 p.m. ET Final Teams TBD | 3:00 p.m. ET The games will be at Peter Johann Field at the D1 University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). The field has grass, lights, and the stadium seats about 2500. Christopher Newport, Emory, and William Smith play on grass at home, while WashU plays on turf. The Semifinals and Finals are streamed live on NCAA.com. Full Replays are usually available 2- 3 hours after the end of the games. They usually post a combined highlight video for the Semifinals. Live: https://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2024/12/06 Replays and Highlights: https://www.ncaa.com/video/soccer-women Find the dropdown menu to get to the DIII videos Here are big picture comparisons of the four teams: TeamRecordGPGGAAMassey Rank* WashU21-0-23.350.301 Christopher Newport19-1-23.090.0932 William Smith16-3-41.910.619 Emory14-3-42.480.5220 * https://masseyratings.com/csocw2024/ncaa-d3/ratings Of the four teams, besides William Smith, I have only watched Emory (just the second half vs. Amherst). I’ve noticed both WashU and CNU pile up W’s throughout the year at a prodigious rate. I think the WashU vs CNU game will determine the national champion. 4018
Congrats. I've been following them a bit, as a I've known a couple of the players since they were small in our local club. Refereed them many times.
I think a team's won/lost record does not tell the whole story of their season. Below, I try to pick out the significant games in each final four team's season so far. WashU Losses: none Ties: Sept 23 @ Calvin (16/22) 0-0 Nov 9 @ Chicago (rv/15) 1-1 Wins against ranked teams: Oct 5 @ Emory (23/20) 2-1 Oct 19 NYU (18/21) 3-0 Oct 25 CMU (7/5) 3-0 Oct 27 CWR (rv/27) 3-1 Nov 3 @ Rochester (15/14) 2-0 Nov 23 Colby (nr/12) 1-0 Nov 24 Chicago (rv/15) 1-0 CNU Loses: Nov 10 @ Santa Cruz (nr/36) 2-0 Ties: Aug 30 @ Va Wesleyan (nr/68) 0-0 Oct 20 Washington & Lee (9/17) 0-0 Wins against ranked teams: Sept 14 Emory (23/20) 1-0 Nov 17 Vassar (rv/39) 4-0 Nov 23 Misericordia (6/10) 1-0 Nov 24 JHU (18/6) 3-2 Emory Loses: Sept 14 CNU (2/2) 1-0 Oct 5 Washu (1/1) 2-1 Oct 19 @ CMU (7/5) 1-0 Ties: Oct 1 Sewanee (rv/56) 1-1 Oct 27 @ NYU (18/21) 0-0 Nov 9 Rochester (15/14) 1-1 Nov 23 Loras (11/11) 1-1 Wins against ranked teams: Oct 13 CWR (rv/27) 2-0 Nov 2 Chicago (rv/15) 3-2 Nov 17 Pac Lutheran (17/34) 1-0 Nov 24 Amherst (18/3) 1-0 William Smith Loses: Aug 31 Washington & Lee (9/17) 2-0 Sept 7 @ CMU (7/5) 4-1 Oct 2 @ Ithaca (rv/29) 1-0 Ties: Sept 8 Denison (nv/78) 1-1 Sept 28 Skidmore (rv/42) 0-0 Oct 12 Vassar (rv/39) 0-0 Nov 10 Ithaca (rv/29) 0-0 Wins against ranked teams: Sept 14 Messiah (5/7) 1-0 Sept 21 Rochester (15/14) 3-1 Nov 8 Vassar (rv/39) 2-0 Nov 17 Tufts (7/4) 2-1 Nov 23 Washington & Lee (9/17) 2-0 Common Opponents WashU/CNU Emory (23/20): Oct 5 @ Emory 2-1 Emory-Washu Oct 5, 1-2 Emory-CNU Sept 14, 0-1 Common Opponents William Smith/Emory Rochester (15/14) Sept 21 WS-Rochester, 3-1 Nov 9 Emory-Rochester, 1-1 CMU (7/5) Sept 7 CMU-WS, 4-1 Oct 19 CMU-Emory, 1-0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WashU has to be the favorites based on their SOS and consistency. CNU seems to lack the regular season SOS, but has impressive wins on the sectional weekend against Misericordia and JHU. Emory seems like a solid UAA-tested team. Their loses were by 1 goal against top 5 opponents. William Smith seems to have had a rocky start of the season but have found their form in the tournament. It should be interesting.
I have to tip my hat to Coach Aliceann Wilber of William Smith. Having followed the Liberty League closely these past six years, I fully expected William Smith to take a step back due to the loss of over 70% of their offensive scoring from last year and to the improvement of their League opponents, Ithaca and RIT. That prediction seemed to play out as William Smith struggled this season and Ithaca took home the Liberty League regular season and tournament titles. Yet Coach Wilber seems to have brought out the best of her players in this NCAA playoff run. Congrats to your team, CoachJon. May they continue to exceed expectations.
United Soccer Coaches published their 2024 All-American list on December 5, 2024. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/ncaa-division-iii-mens-and-womens-all-america-teams-announced/ This is the first year I can remember USC announcing a Fourth Team; all told there are 51 players on the list, including: One 4-year All-American: Katie Sullivan (F, Johns Hopkins)Four 3-year All-Americans: Ellie Arndt (M, Wisconsin – Lacrosse) Annie Isphording (D, Johns Hopkins) Kristina Akselsen (M, Messiah) Cassie Nash (F, Simpson)And sixteen 2-year All-Americans There are 12 graduate/fifth years, 27 seniors, 11 juniors, 1 sophomore, and no first-years on the four teams. WashU has 3 players on the first team, Christopher Newport has players on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th teams; eleven other schools have two All-Americans. A total of 35 different colleges and unversities are represented. Congratulations to the players and their schools! 4770
I just saw that the Amherst men won the Division III championship. You might think I would pay a lot of attention to them, since I played for Amherst back in the dark ages, but I don't. I prefer the women -- who "only" made it to the Elite 8.
December 2024 News https://www.ncaa.org/news/2024/12/1...h-aliceann-wilber-wins-pat-summitt-award.aspx William Smith soccer coach Aliceann Wilber is recognized by the NCAA. “Wilber has been named the recipient of the 2025 Pat Summitt Award, which recognizes an individual within the NCAA membership who has demonstrated devotion to the development of college athletes and made a positive impact on their lives. Named after the legendary women's basketball head coach at Tennessee who amassed a record 1,098 wins and eight NCAA championships, this award honors her contributions to sports and her commitment to student-athlete success both on and off the court. Wilber will be honored at the 2025 NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.” From the William Smith web site: "Wilber's career stats are incredible. No active coach has more career wins and only one person in the history of NCAA women's soccer (any level) has more coaching wins than Wilber, former UNC coach Anson Dorrance. Wilber sports a .790 winning percentage that includes 40 consecutive winning seasons. She has directed the Herons to a Division III women's soccer record 34 NCAA tournament bids, advancing to championship weekend 12 times, the championship match six times and capturing national championships in 1988 and 2013." Congratulations, Aliceann! -CJ #HeronPride 5572
More December 2024 News It is not too late to say Great Job! ANNOUNCING 58 TALENTED, HARD-WORKING, AND REMARKABLE WOMEN. December 11, 2024 Announcement: 2024 Academic All-America® Team, by the College Sports Communicators (CSC, formerly CoSIDA). 33 Players, led by Team Member of the Year: forward Ellie Sutter (Gr., North Central College), a Management & Marketing/ Business Management major from Peoria, IL with a 3.86 GPA. https://academicallamerica.com/news...nnounced-for-all-ncaa-and-naia-divisions.aspx December 18(?), 2024 Announcement [I can’t find the actual press release]: 2024 Scholar All-America Team by the United Soccer Coaches (USC). 38 Players, led by Scholar Player of the Year: midfielder Grace Ehlert (Jr., Washington University of St. Louis), an Economics major from Wilmette, IL with a 3.68 GPA. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/wp-...12/AWARDS-SAA-2024-NCAA-DIII-Women-121824.pdf As both an engineer and educator, it pleases me to note that more than 70% of the players’ majors are in STEM subject areas. The thirteen players that were on both the CSC team and USC team are listed below. PosNameClassSchoolMajorGPAHometown DAlexis McMahonSr.Univ. of Wisconsin-LacrosseBiology3.84San Jose, CA DKassandra SalviolaJr.North Central CollegeSociology3.68Naperville, IL DLauren DavisSr.MITBiological Engineering4.00Whitefish Bay, WI DLucy IversonJr.Calvin Univ.Graphic Design3.93Naperville, IL MChristina StoneGr.Univ. of HartfordOrganizational Psychology4.00Glasgtonbury, CT MEllie ArndtSr.Univ. of Wisconsin-LacrosseArcheology & Recreation Management3.97Appleton, WI MJulia BeckSr.Misericordia Univ.Physical Therapy3.99Langhorne, PA MNatalie BarnouwSr.MITComputational Biology3.84Los Angeles, CA MSarah ZimmermanJr.Washington & Lee Univ.Business Administration & Mathematics3.92Cincinnati, OH FHanna HeatonJr.Christopher Newport Univ.Cybersecurity3.97Hayes, VA FImani JenkinsGr.Univ. of HartfordOccupational Therapy3.89Middletown, CT FKatie SullivanSr.Johns Hopkins Univ.Economics3.67Yardley, PA FMicaela BoscoSr.Trinity Univ. (TX)Communications & Studio Art3.99Weatherford, TX Happy New Year! -CJ 5572