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#1
Women's soccer / Re: CCIW
September 28, 2023, 10:59:47 AM
What a difference a few years makes in the CCIW. Perennial stalwarts Wheaton & Illinois Wesleyan are 1-5-3 & 1-8-1, respectively, on the season.

I believe that prior to this season IWU was 27-0 all-time vs Millikin. Last evening Millikin beat them, 2-0. On the year IWU has only scored 5 goals while giving up 24. This is a reflection of the lack of recruiting effort from the coach that immediately followed Barrett after he went to Fairfield. It's going to take Bakirdan a few more years to restock the cabinets.

Wheaton and IWU play this weekend to stay out of the cellar. It looks like Auggie & North Central are the strongest sides this season.
#2
Women's soccer / Re: D3soccer.com is back ... sort of
September 04, 2023, 09:50:55 AM
So is D3Soccer.com now officially dead except for the discussion forums? It appears that way.

Is anyone aware of another "aggregator" website for D3 scores?

I'm looking for a website similar these fantastic websites that are done for D1 men's & women's soccer.

Mens -

http://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/2023

https://wosoindependent.com/college/2023/composite_arpi
#3
Women's soccer / Coaching Changes for 2023
December 21, 2022, 08:37:07 AM
As we close out 2022, we need a new thread for 2023.

Mark Batman, women's coach at Ohio Northern, is headed up I-75 to Toledo. Batman was at ONU for 19 seasons and posted a 253-91-40 record. Moving from D3 to D1 is never easy for a head coach but he looks like a good hire for the Rockets.

https://www.onusports.com/sports/wsoc/2022-23/releases/20221219hkawrx

The ONU opening should attract a lot of interest. It's a good school with good facilities and there is a good base of talent throughout Ohio, Michigan, and around the Midwest. Ada, Ohio is a pretty small town that is seemingly in the middle of nowhere but there is easy access to nearby areas.
#4
Women's soccer / Re: 2024 Recruit Help
December 14, 2022, 03:05:44 PM
SoccerMom, I don't know if your daughter still needs any information. Below is a website that I came across a bit ago and just remembered. The link below has a lot of the types of kids your kid is looking at. All of the ones listed are decent academic institutions. There is a lot of good info on the website.

https://recruiting.studentathleteworld.com/recruiting-101-blog/entry/best-academic-d3-schools
#5
Women's soccer / Re: Grad Students
November 09, 2022, 09:52:54 PM
Good read about Cesarone's decision to play at WashU out of high school and her decision to play at Minnesota as a post-grad.

https://mndaily.com/274247/sports/gabbie-cesarones-long-journey-shaped-her-into-gophers-soccer-leader/
#6
Women's soccer / Re: Grad Students
November 09, 2022, 10:17:14 AM
Quote from: Stryker on November 08, 2022, 05:17:14 PM
From my perspective, there is a significant difference between a home-grown 5 yr senior/grad student and a 5th year transfer from a D-1 school. While there are clearly many D-3 players that have the skills to play D-1 and may have chosen not to for reasons unique to them,  many (not all) D-1 players have size and skill advantages over the usual D-3 player. 

The other factor is that while there are many D3 players that have the skills to play at the D1 level, and may be comparable to many players that went the D1 route, those players at the D1 level will generally develop more simply due to playing against and training with, better players. It's really simple. Training with better players and playing against better players will make better players.

There are some exceptions, though. Some of the mid-major D1 conferences are probably comparable overall to some of the top D3 conferences such as the UAA. Many teams that play in the UAA, NESCAC, or any of the top D3 teams, really, could hold their own against many of the mid-majors. Even St Thomas, which transitioned to D1 from D3, has had some moderate success and there are plenty of D3 schools that were better than the Tommies when they made the move. It is true that the Tommies were 6-8-3 overall and 2-6-1 in the Summit conference but they have been in some close games vs some tough opponents and this is only their 2nd full year in D1. It was to be expected. 


A team like John Hopkins with 9 graduate students has stacked the deck in their favor. 2 of the grad students (1 fwd and 1 defender) are home-grown, having played their entire career at Hopkins with the forward contributing 10 goals and 2 assists. The starting goalie and the backup goalies are both 5th year transfers from D -1 schools. The remaining 5 grad students are all 5th yr transfers from D-1 schools that play significant time and contributed 37 goals and 24 assists.  But most D-3 schools have not followed the path of John Hopkins.

A national championship from JHU would not surprise me at all.

The other advantage that JHU has, and I do not fault the school or team for this at all, is that it has extensive and top-echelon graduate programs. Many D3 schools don't even have graduate programs or, if they do, the offerings are quite limited. I had this discussion with someone else and they argued that many D3 schools have graduate schools. That just is not true unless, as I stated, the offerings are limited. Major research institutions like JHU, Chicago, MIT, WashU, etc, will have more top-level graduate programs than the typical D3 liberal arts school. 

I am curious about other sports and if there were appreciable numbers of transfers from D1 programs. I am aware of a few in cross country that went from D1 to a D2 or D3 as graduate students but am unsure of other sports.


I have comments in bold, above, as well.

The reverse of going from D1 to D3 is the athlete that goes from D3 to D1. This does not happen often but it does happen.

Gabbie Cesarone is a great example of this. She is an outstanding center back and coming out of St Charles HS in Chicagoland, she could have gone to many D1 schools and started as a freshman. Gabbie went WashU and had an outstanding career. In her sophomore year she was both a D3soccer.com 1st team All-American and a United Soccer Coaches 1st team All-American. In Gabbie's senior year at WashU she won just about every possible accolade you can imagine. WashU, like many D3 schools, had very limited competition in her junior year due to covid, unfortunately. She then went on to Minnesota to study public health as a grad student. For Minnesota, she started 19 of 19 games, led the team in minutes played, had 6 goals and 2 assists with 4 game-winners.

In another sport, cross country and track, Ella Baran is now at Colorado as a graduate student after competiting at Johns Hopkins. Baran is one of the top runners on one of the top women's cross country teams in the country. She took 7th place at the PAC-12 cross country championships and was Colorado's 3rd runner. Colorado won the team championship. This weekend she will be in the regional meet and will more than likely be competing in the NCAA championship after that.

Esther Seeland is another great example of an athlete that made the jump from D3 to D1. Seeland played soccer and ran track at Messiah. She started most games games throughout her soccer career at Messiah and won multiple National Championships in track. She also qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 800 meters. Seeland is now at Virginia and competed in cross country this fall and was fairly successful despite being more of a mid-distance runner. This upcoming winter & spring she should score a lot of points for the indoor & outdoor track teams.

I know that I am getting off topic and this is not the focus of the thread but I like hearing about D3 athletes that have found success at the D1 level.

#7
Women's soccer / Re: CCIW
October 06, 2022, 12:39:17 PM
I am beginning to think that Illinois Wesleyan will win the league this season. North Central was supposed to have been the top dog but their 0-0 draw with a Wheaton side that is down this year shows that they are susceptible. The winner of the IWU vs NC match should be considered to be the top dog in the CCIW. IWU had a rough game eary in the year against a very strong Wartburg teambut since beating a strong UW-La Crosse team 2-1, have been very good and now stand at 6-1-2 and 4-0 in the CCIW. I would not be surprised to see them appear in the top 25 soon. The Titans' two biggest games remaining on the schedule are at the end of the month at North Central and at Wash U. They also have a game against a UW-Whitewater side that always seems to have a lot of fight in them year-to-year.

Contrasting the games that IWU and NC played against Wheaton is interesting. IWU beat Wheaton 5-0 and had 19 shots with 13 on frame. Wheaton, meanwhile, had 7 shots with 4 on frame. NC and Wheaton drew, 0-0. NC had 17 shots with 4 on frame while Wheaton had 13 shots with 4 on frame. 

It seems like IWU's new coach, Oz Bakirdan, is getting the program back on track after there was some coaching instability when Dave Barrett went to Fairfield. They had a bad hire followed by an excellent hire in Keri Sanchez but she was short-lived, coaching only one season and leaving for D1 Colorado College. Bakirdan seems to be a good fit and someone that will be at IWu for a bit.

#8
Women's soccer / Re: 2024 Recruit Help
September 29, 2022, 04:29:25 PM
A lot of the schools she is looking at are what would be considered "tier 1 colleges." In the simplest of terms, tier 1 colleges are those schools that have solid academics and a selective admissions process. Ivies, NESCAC schools, UAA schools, etc.

There is a guy that ran a website a while back and he gave a lot of advice to athletes looking at tier 1 schools. I think that he had some health issues or family matters come up and he has not updated it in some time but it might still be worth looking at. Some of the advice may be outdated but much still applies. There is also a blog section and there may be some helpful advice in some of the entries if you comb through it.

Here is the website: https://www.tier1athletics.org/ On the opening page he has the disclaimer, "This site is no longer being actively maintained. Some of the information may still be relevant, some may not."

As for ID camps and all of that, some are better than others. Some are definitely money grabs. If your kid does decide to attend one, make sure the coach knows her beforehand and that she is going to be coming. She should also introduce herself when arriving.

I'm in Chicago and Amy Reifert of the U of Chicago always has summer camps. She used to just have a 1 day camp with the option to go 2 days in a row. I think now the camps are all 2 days. I know of someone that attended the camp in the summer between junior and senior years. She impressed Reifert and got on her radar. The next year at an ECNL event, Reifert or an assistant came to all of her games. She ended up as Maroon, playing all four years. Without the camp, she may not have been noticed.

Before paying a lot of money for a lot of different camps, do some homework in advance. Don't take the shotgun approach and attend a lot of camps hoping that something pans out. Have your kid be proactive, do her homework, talk to her club coaches, etc.
#9
Women's soccer / Re: CCIW
August 22, 2022, 10:11:54 AM
Quote from: Gotberg on August 21, 2022, 06:08:31 PM
NPU roster posted.  Lots of newcomers

https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/womens-soccer/roster

There isn't any information on the newcomers listed but in reading through and looking at the surnames I would assume that NP is still getting a lot of Scandinavian athletes.

#10
Women's soccer / Is D3soccer.com dead?
May 16, 2022, 10:56:10 AM
I realize that D3Soccer.com is maintained by volunteers and there is even a plea for volunteers currently on the front page of the website. There is no doubt that those types of sites take some work and not many have the time or desire to do it. That said, is the site still viable? Normally by now, there have been listings of coaching changes, incoming classes, etc. Even the post-season coverage last fall seemed a bit less than normal. I would hate to see the website go away. It has been a good source of information over the years.
#11
Men's soccer / Re: Coaching Carousel
April 21, 2022, 08:48:08 AM
Quote from: Kuiper on April 20, 2022, 04:07:20 PM

Other than perhaps not having the same pipeline to youth coaches on the boys side as she might have on the girls side, I can't see what's not to like.  A pro coach in a Tier I pro league who has domestic and international pro experience as a player, youth national team experience, experience coaching at both D1 and DIII, longstanding local connections, AND who has experience serving as a recruiting coordinator on the coaching staff on the women's team at the same university, which is hugely important in understanding the uniquely intellectual school and its fearsome admissions standards, is pretty much a home run.

I only mentioned that some may not like it because there are, believe it or not, some that think women should not be coaching men. Most of those don't have an issue with men coaching women but don't like it the other way around. That is a topic for another discussion, though.

Everything that you mentioned about Sitch demonstrates why she will be an excellent coach and, as I mentioned, she was a great hire for Chicago. Her recruiting pipeline might not be the same but she is good and will have no problems forging the relationships and connctions that she needs to.
#12
Men's soccer / Re: Coaching Carousel
April 20, 2022, 02:12:48 PM
Julianne Sitch Named UChicago Head Men's Soccer Coach

https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/msoc/2021-22/releases/20220420iqfa4p

Some may not like it but she's a great hire and has a lot of familiarity with how things are in Hyde Park. She did a great job as an AC for with women Maroons and is a great recruiter. When Chicago plays NYU during league play there will be two women HCs facing each other. I'll bet that hasn't happened before.
#13
Quote from: VAFury on April 12, 2022, 09:24:45 AM
D3 team handling a D1 team...

It happens more than you think during spring scrimmages.

You might be surprised but many of the top D3 schools from the UAA, NESCAC, and schools like Christopher Newport, TCNJ, MIT, Wesleyan, Wiliam Smith, etc, would be able to beat a good number of D1 mid-major schools if they played in the regular season.
#15
Women's soccer / Re: Coaching changes for 2022
April 06, 2022, 01:14:33 PM
This is not a D3 coaching change but it is still of interest. Jim Conlon, who served as WashU's coach for 12 successful seasons, is stepping down as Grand Valley State's HC after one season. In Conlon's one and only season at GVSU, the team went 24-1-2 and won the D2 NCAA championship. The press release on the GVSU website seems somewhat concerning. I hope all is well with Conlon and his family. He's a good guy.

https://gvsulakers.com/news/2022/4/1/womens-soccer-jim-conlon-resigns-as-head-womens-soccer-coach.aspx