Messiah goals: http://scenic_routes.tripod.com/messiah/index.htm I've been meaning to mention this. Messiah College posts video clips of their goals on their website (http://www.messiah.edu/sports/msoccer/msoccer.htm). Do any other schools do this? I haven't noticed any. If more schools followed suit, it could make following D-III even more interesting. Currently, Messiah's website still has a glitch with the links to goals from past games (I let them know about it over a week ago), so you can only watch the goals from the most recent match. So I set up a web page (http://scenic_routes.tripod.com/messiah/index.htm) that provides links (that work) to all the goals from the season. (The clips are on Messiah's server, but their links just aren't working). I have ranked them, so if you don't want to wade thru all the clips you can just hit the best ones. D3Soccer Website - http://www.d3soccer.net/ D3Soccer Message Board - http://pub11.ezboard.com/fd3soccerd3soccer Messiah Video Highlights - http://scenic_routes.tripod.com/messiah/index.htm
Sept. 23 D-III Rankings NSCAA/adidas Rankings Division III Men's Soccer September 23, 2002 Rank School . W-L-T . /Prev./ 1 Messiah College (Pa.) . 6-0-0 . /1/ 2 Rowan University (N.J.) . 7-0-0 . /2/ 3 Ohio Wesleyan University . 9-0-0 . /3/ 4 Trinity University (Texas) . 7-0-0 . /4/ 5 Plattsburgh State University (N.Y.) . 7-0-0 . /7/ 6 Tufts University (Mass.) . 4-0-0 . /14/ 7 Virginia Wesleyan College . 8-0-0 . /11/ 8 St. John's University (Minn.) . 7-0-0 . /--/ 9 St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) . 3-0-1 . /10/ 10 Kean University (N.J.) . 7-1-0 . /12/ 11 Centre College (Ky.) . 7-0-0 . /13/ 12 Otterbein College (Ohio) . 6-1-0 . /9/ 13 Gettysburg College (Pa.) . 5-0-2 . /15/ 14 Bowdoin College (Maine) . 2-1-0 . /--/ 15 Luther College (Iowa) . 6-1-0 . /16/ 16 Roanoke College (Va.) . 6-2-0 . /--/ 17 Williams College (Mass.) . 3-1-0 . /6/ 18 Drew University (N.J.) . 5-1-1 . /17/ 19 Salisbury University (Md.) . 3-1-1 . /7/ 20 King's Point (N.Y.) . 7-1-0 . /--/ 21 Wheaton College (Ill.) . 6-2-0 . /--/ 21 University of Rochester (N.Y.) . 3-1-1 . /--/ 23 Ohio Northern University . 5-1-1 . /--/ 24 Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) . 5-1-0 . /--/ 25 Mary Washington College (Va.) . 5-1-1. /20/ Also receiving votes: Wheaton (Mass.), Univ. of Chicago, New York University D3Soccer Website - http://www.d3soccer.net/ D3Soccer Message Board - http://pub11.ezboard.com/fd3soccerd3soccer Messiah Video Highlights - http://scenic_routes.tripod.com/messiah/index.htm
Current Rankings For the most part it appears to be a case of "round up the usual suspects", with a few additions and deletions. The number 14 spot is rarified air for the youth at Bowdoin. But they play two teams ranked in the top ten in New England (Amherst and Middlebury) this weekend, play the national number 6 (Tufts) the next weekend and play national "also got votes" Wheaton (Mass) in mid November. If they survive that schedule I expect them to be in to top five.
plattsburgh just lost to suny oswego... no one is safe this year. Watch out for hamilton against st. lawrence today... Another giant is about to fall
Sept. 30 D-III Rankings NSCAA/adidas Rankings Division III Men's Soccer September 30, 2002 Rank School . W-L-T . /Prev./ 1 Messiah College (Pa.) . 8-0-0 . /1/ 2 Rowan University (N.J.) . 9-0-0 . /2/ 3 Trinity University (Texas) . 8-0-0 . /4/ 4 Virginia Wesleyan College . 10-0-0 . /7/ 5 St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) . 5-0-1 . /9/ 6 Otterbein College (Ohio) . 10-1-0 . /12/ 7 Bowdoin College (Maine) . 4-1-0 . /14/ 8 Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) . 6-1-0 . /24/ 9 Gettysburg College (Pa.) . 7-0-2 . /13/ 10 Williams College (Mass.) . 4-1-0 . /17/ 11 College of Wooster (Ohio) . 10-0-1 . /--/ 12 Luther College (Iowa) . 7-1-0 . /15/ 13 Roanoke College (Va.) . 7-2-0 . /16/ 14 University of Rochester (N.Y.) . 5-1-1 . /21/ 15 King's Point (N.Y.) . 9-1-0 . /20/ 16 University of Chicago . 6-2-0 . /--/ 17 Ohio Wesleyan University . 10-1-0 . /3/ 18 Plattsburgh State University (N.Y.) . 8-1-0 . /5/ 19 Drew University (N.J.) . 7-1-1 . /18/ 20 St. John's University (Minn.) . 7-1-0 . /8/ 20 Salisbury University (Md.) . 5-1-1 . /19/ 22 Centre College (Ky.) . 8-1-0 . /11/ 22 Wheaton College (Mass.) . 6-2-0 . /--/ 24 Richard Stockton College (N.J.) . 7-4-0 . /--/ 25 Arcadia University (Pa.) . 8-2-0 . /--/ 25 Kean University (N.J.) . 8-2-0 . /10/ Also receiving votes: Hope (Mich.), Redlands (Calif.), Wesleyan (Conn.) D3Soccer Website - http://www.d3soccer.net/ D3Soccer Message Board - http://pub11.ezboard.com/fd3soccerd3soccer Messiah Video Highlights - http://scenic_routes.tripod.com/messiah/index.htm
Remaining Undefeated D-III Teams With Ohio Wesleyan and Plattsburgh losing this week and Williams last week, the ranks of the unbeaten are shrinking. Who's next? To the best of my knowledge, these are the remaining undefeated teams in D-III. In Top 25 #1 Messiah 8-0-0 (#1 Mid-Atlantic) #2 Rowan 9-0-0 (#1 Metro) #3 Trinity (TX) 8-0-0 (#1 Central) #4 Virginia Wesleyan 10-0-0 (#1 South) #5 St. Lawrence 5-0-1 (#1 Northeast) #9 Gettysburg 7-0-2 (#2 Mid-Atlantic) #11 Wooster 10-0-1 (#2 Great Lakes) Ranked Regionally NR Western Connecticut St. 7-0-4 (#4 New England) NR Carnegie Mellon 6-0-0 (#7 Mid-Atlantic) NR Worcester Polytech 6-0-0 (#7 New England) NR Linfield 7-0-0 (#8 West) Unranked Regionally NR Central 9-0-0 (NR West) NR Pitt-Greenburg 9-0-0 (NR Mid-Atlantic) NR Piedmont 5-0-1 (NR South) How Linfield and Carnegie Mellon remain so low regionally is hard to understand since neither are unknowns (Linfield advancing to the semifinals 2 years ago, Carnegie Mellon in the NCAA's past 2 years). Are any of the other schools for real? Anyone know? I have my doubts, considering their weak conferences. Central is the only one that has me curious.
New England Region Hey all you guys up in the New England region (Easybake15, Fiero20, Rocksteady, passtheblizz, thurd), what's going on? That region is more interesting and harder to figure out than it has been in several years. Williams drops two in three games. Is Bowdoin for real? Any chance they can stay atop the region through the rest of the season? Keene St. beat Wheaton and Williams, but has 4 losses elsewhere. Go figure. Wheaton might have the least surprising results so far with six wins and two close losses to Rowan and Keene St. Despite their appearance in the Top 10, it's hard to take Tufts seriously (and it's weird how they are only 6th in the regional rankings yet ranked in the Top 25 ahead of the team ranked 4 and 5 in the region!!!)
New England Easybake has been MIA since he dissed Bowdoin's team by calling their best players "vaguely quality" two weeks before Bowdoin beat Williams. To be fair, Williams may well have the stronger team and could prove it in a return game in the NESCAC finals. Mike Russo's decision to play his two best players at striker may put irresistible pressure on clearly weaker teams and ensure a victory. But I think he's giving up possession in midfield and putting pressure on a defense that is not as strong as the last couple of years. But...can Bowdoin really get that far? They have a more talent than many others expected, and they are fairly deep (perhaps 15 spots or so in terms of reliability. However, they are young, and youth tends to make more mistakes and may have less strength when it comes to playoff games. I'll see Bowdoin play against Tufts on Saturday. I should have a better sense of the team at that point. In general the national rankings indicate that the northeat, at least in the eyes of the pollsters, is the stronger region. It is hard to know whether that is fair, correct or even logical. If Whitworth was top 25 three weeks ago, why are the teams that beat Whitworth and otherwise have done well, such as Linfield and Univ Puget Sound, ignored. UPS only lost to a good D2 side, Western Washington, 0-1.
I wouldn't read too much into Ohio Wesleyan's loss. They have already played 11 games. Many teams in the top ten have only played 5 or 6. I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the season, they'll be back in the top 3. Denison is also a long time rival, but I am still surprised they lost.
#9 Gettysburg tops #1 Messiah, 1-0 #9 GETTYSBURG TRIPS #1 MESSIAH, 1-0 Mike Bevilacqua scores the game's lone goal in the 88th minute ending Messiah’s shoutout string and perfect season. In a game where Messiah had more ball possession and created more goal-scoring opportunities, they come away with a loss. Hats off to Gettysburg for going toe-to-toe with Messiah and emerging victorious. But they didn’t earn my respect because shirt-pulling, arms in the back, late cheap shots, and elbows seemed to be an integral part of their game, especially for their star player and leading scorer, #8 Mike Bevilacqua. It’s always disappointing when a supposedly talented and quality team chooses NOT to play a clean game. As fully expected, Gettysburg was the best team Messiah has faced this year and the first team to be able to possess the ball some and make Messiah play defense. Gettysburg played good positional defense, cutting off the passing lanes smartly. Gettysburg mixed up their attack between a slower ball control build-up and quicker long-ball service up to their strikers. Gettysburg played a very physical game and early on their top striker almost got himself sent off for making late contact with Messiah’s keeper on two occasions, but escaped with only a yellow. The referee let more and more of the physical play go as the game wore on which played more to Gettysburg’s favor, but in fairness, both teams committed fouls that went uncalled. Gettysburg held a size advantage, as Messiah is a pretty small team outside a few players. Despite Gettysburg’s ability to win and control the ball, possession still favored Messiah somewhat in the first half and become more lopsided in the second half as Gettysburg began to put more men behind the ball and then rely almost solely on the counter attack to try to get a goal. Messiah’s defense neutralized most all of Gettysburg’s advances without surrendering a good look at goal much less a shot. But Gettysburg did create some problems and Messiah’s keeper was forced to work almost as much in this game as in the preceeding 9 shutouts combined. Messiah’s offense played well and created enough chances to have put the game away, but that critical first goal never came. Outside a few impatient moments, they stuck to their game plan always keeping the ball moving, taking the easy pass until a seam opens up or a player gets behind his defender and then pouncing on it without hesitation. They looked the part of a top ranked team in advancing the ball up field, Gettysburg just did a good job of crowding the box, making it hard for Messiah to find space to operate in close. Gettysburg defenders usually did just enough to disrupt Messiah's shots, while toeing the line between fair and foul. I believe if Messiah had gotten the first goal, things would have gotten easier for them as Gettysburg would have been forced to open up more to look for an equalizer. But Messiah's finishing wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be when they did got their chances. Credit to Gettysburg for making Messiah’s job difficult. In the late going, with Gettysburg bunkering to an extent and solely looking to counterattack, Gettysburg’s box was under sustained attack and the corner kicks started adding up for Messiah. But despite some close calls, nothing found the back of the net at that end of the field, and with just under two minutes remaining, after Messiah lost the ball on what seemed to be a trip from behind at midfield, Gettysburg quickly feed the ball up to Bevilacqua who slipped the ball past his defender and out-muscled him to the ball and got the shot off past the on-rushing keeper. 1-0 Gettysburg. Bragging rights to Bullets. Messiah has no reason to be troubled by the result. Playing the way they did tonight will more often than not result in a win against even top-shelf opponents. And I still think Messiah has more of what it takes to make a run for the National Championship than Gettysburg. Gettysburg is a Top 25 team who has enough skill and a stingy enough defense to give themself a chance against any team in the nation, but I don’t see them as a Top 10 team. Messiah has more skill on the ball throughout their lineup and a more balanced team and attack. But the name of the game is wins, and Gettysburg with their size and physical play, stay-at-home defense, and more conservative approach might be nearly as effective in getting results as Messiah if not nearly as beautiful. Looking on the positive side for Messiah, this loss can take away any potential pressure, distraction, or overconfidence that a #1 ranking, winning streak, and shutout streak might bring. The focus is squarely on improving and winning games.
Messiah-Gettysburg Thanks Weasal. Interesting matchup, physical play versus skill. When Steve Allison came to GC several years back he made the transition from physical/direct play to a more attractive, skill game. But he always made the point that at this level it is a man's game and players must be prepared for mental and physical challenegs. My bet is that this game will go a long way in helping Messiah prepare for their end of the year run. FYI, GC is settling in after early season rash of injuries. Coach is finding rotation of players he wants, and finally, we are beginning to see the play this team is capable of. Stiil a ways to go, but definitely headed in the right direction.
Oct. 7 Div. III Rankings NSCAA/adidas Rankings Division III Men's Soccer October 7, 2002 Rank School . W-L-T . /Prev./ 1 Rowan University (N.J.) . 10-0-1 . /2/ 2 Virginia Wesleyan College . 12-0-0 . /4/ 3 Trinity University (Texas) . 8-0-1 . /3/ 4 St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) . 6-0-1 . /5/ 5 Otterbein College (Ohio) . 10-1-0 . /6/ 6 Gettysburg College (Pa.) . 9-0-2 . /9/ 7 Bowdoin College (Maine) . 6-1-0 . /7/ 8 Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) . 8-1-0 . /8/ 9 Messiah College (Pa.) . 10-1-0 . /1/ 10 College of Wooster (Ohio) . 11-0-2 . /11/ 11 Salisbury University (Md.) . 7-1-1 . /20/ 12 Plattsburgh State University (N.Y.) . 10-1-0 . /18/ 13 Centre College (Ky.) . 10-1-0 . /22/ 14 Wheaton College (Mass.) . 8-2-0 . /22/ 15 University of Redlands (Calif.) . 8-1-1 . /--/ 16 Richard Stockton College (N.J.) . 8-4-0 . /24/ 17 Ohio Wesleyan University . 11-1-1 . /17/ 18 Drew University (N.J.) . 9-1-1 . /19/ 19 Luther College (Iowa) . 8-1-0 . /12/ 20 Roanoke College (Va.) . 9-3-0 . /13/ 21 University of Wisconsin, Whitewater . 10-1-0 . /--/ 22 Wesleyan University (Conn.) . 7-1-0 . /--/ 23 King's Point (N.Y.) . 10-2-0 . /15/ 24 Hamilton College (N.Y.) . 5-1-1 . /--/ 25 Arcadia University (Pa.) . 11-2-0 . /25/ Also receiving votes: Williams (Mass.), Mary Washington (Va.) D3Soccer Website - http://www.d3soccer.net/ D3Soccer Message Board - http://pub11.ezboard.com/fd3soccerd3soccer Messiah Video Highlights - http://scenic_routes.tripod.com/messiah/index.htm
What is a joke? Messiah ONLY falling to #9. -or- Messiah falling ALL THE WAY to #9. It seems just right to me considering the highly imperfect ranking system. Unbeaten Gettysburg, the #2 team in the Mid-Atlantic beats unbeaten Messiah the #1 team in the Mid-Atlantic with an 88th minute goal, 1-0. Naturally, Gettysburg becomes #1 team in region and passes Messiah in the national rankings. Even someone not seeing the match would probably infer that there's not much to pick between the two, and so Messiah stays a close 2nd in the region and the highest ranked regional #2 in the nation. All makes sense to me. Now I would also say that I would put my money on Messiah before a couple teams ranked ahead of them, including Gettysburg btw. Messiah clearly can play with anyone in the nation. But the Top 25 rankings typically follow the following pattern. Spots 1 thru 8 - the eight regional #1's. Spots 9 thru 16 - the eight regional #2's. Spots 17 thru 24 - the eight regional #3's. And one (or two in case of a tie) region(s) get a fourth team at 25. As I said, an imperfect ranking system, as it doesn't have a pulse on what regions are stronger/deeper that particular year. The thing is the rankings often matter very little in the end. A majority of the spots in the NCAA's are automatic bids to conference champions. So barring a major collapse, Messiah will likely make the NCAA's . . . even if they don't win their conference. The scenario which could hurt them is if both Messiah and Gettysburg stay on top until the conference playoffs, but loss and don't get the automatic bid. Then you'd have two teams from the same area in the mix for the 5 meager national at-large bids available to teams from conferences getting an automatic berth. But there's a lot of soccer to play yet which will likely keep this scenario from occuring.
Rankings I haven't seen Messiah play, but I don't know why it is a joke for them to fall to #9. No one ranked ahead of them has a worse record and Messiah's loss was recent. As I have observed before, the rankings may be overly sensitive to who has won or lost most recently, but that is true of the collegiate football polls as well. And one must recognize that the job of the pollsters is made more difficult by the fact that there is little interregional play in D3 soccer. Thus, it is difficult to weight the wins and losses of the various programs. There also is the fact that the incoming classes at D3 programs often are not well known, and their impact cannot be predicted. And this leads to my weekend visit to watch Bowdoin. The team has very good senior leadership from its captains and a good junior goalkeeper, but the rest of the lineup tends to be (and most of the scoring comes from) sophmores and freshmen. With a senior captian not playing because of an injury, they defeated Tufts, 2-1. The overtime goal was an own goal, but justifiably resulted from Bowdoin pressure. That said, both teams could have put the game away in the second half but shot wide or high. Tufts' center midfielders showed great 1v1 flair, but couldn't connect the final pass or convert the shot. And Bowdoin was taller up and down the field.
Ok, Ok-I overreacted. As suggested the system is far less than perfect. I just keep thinking there must be some additional criteria than simply won and loss. In a game with little scoring, not infrequently the best team does not win, and one such loss should not drop a team 8 notches. But somebody has to do it somehow and I am sure that Messiah will be there in the end. John
The Drop Fair enough. My guess is that one narrow loss to a good opponent wouldn't have dropped Messiah as much if they had been somewhere else in the rankings. However, as pointed out by FW, if you are #1 nationally and lose in your region, you are likely to drop below the other regional #1s. There is plenty of time to position themselves for the playoffs.
They also need to watch out for Central, they brought in a bunch of solid freshmen, and are returning all the starters except one, and they have already beat Loras this season.
Remaining Undefeated D-III Teams The Undefeated (updated 10/8/02) 11 remain undefeated, 3 of which are undefeated and untied. In Top 25 #1 Rowan 10-0-1 (#1 Metro) #2 Virginia Wesleyan 12-0-0 (#1 South) #3 Trinity (TX) 8-0-1 (#1 Central) #4 St. Lawrence 6-0-1 (#1 Northeast) #6 Gettysburg 9-0-2 (#1 Mid-Atlantic) #10 Wooster 11-0-2 (#2 Great Lakes) Ranked Regionally NR Western Connecticut St. 9-0-5 (#5 New England) NR Carnegie Mellon 8-0-0 (#7 Mid-Atlantic) NR Linfield 8-0-1 (#8 West) NR Central 10-0-0 (#10 West) Unranked Regionally NR Piedmont 6-0-2 (NR South) D3Soccer Website - http://www.d3soccer.net/ D3Soccer Message Board - http://pub11.ezboard.com/fd3soccerd3soccer Messiah Video Highlights - http://scenic_routes.tripod.com/messiah/index.htm
Big Losses in the Top 25 #1 Rowan was whipped on the road by #3 Trinity (TX), 4-0 on Saturday after a tie the night before to Southwestern. Rowan learns you "don't mess Texas" as they suffer their first loss and drop to 10-1-2. The Prof's have been held scoreless in 3 straight games resulting in 2 draws and a loss in the past 8 days. They haven't scored a goal in their last 325 minutes of play. #4 Saint Lawrence meanwhile struggles in conference play, picking up their first loss 1-0 Friday to lowly Vassar and then follows that up with a 2OT nil-nil draw against mediocre RPI. The Saints, now at 6-1-2, haven't scored in their last 235 minutes of play. They've gone to double-overtime in 4 of 9 games so far this year, coming from behind to force OT three of those times and managing 2 draws and 2 wins. #5 Otterbein is upset by conference minnow Marietta and will surely be replaced by unbeaten Wooster atop the Greak Lakes regional rankings and in the Top 10. The Cardinals, now at 11-2-0, will probably only slide one spot regionally as . . . #17 Ohio Wesleyan is also upset by a conference doormat: 2-1 by Wittenberg. Whether The Bishops (12-2-1) fall in the regional rankings is unclear as there's now a logjam of teams with two losses in the Great Lakes region. DePauw, riding a 4 game win streak, could leap past one or both of OWU and Otterbein. The interesting thing is that OWU has beaten both Otterbein and DePauw (and tied Wooster), but has suffered two upsets. With 2 conference losses, the Bishops may have to depend on an at-large bid to make the NCAA's.
Weekend losses Bowdoin remains tied for the lead in the NESCAC, but suffered a regional loss to Wheaton, 4-3, on Sunday. Perhaps it is a youth issue, but twice this season they have given up multiple goals late in the game. I expect that it will affect their national and regional rankings.