Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Trinity beat C-M-S 2-0 yesterday.  I couldn't watch the game, but the fact that C-M-S had 2 shots, 1 on goal, and Trinity had 20 shots with 11 on goal (C-M-S's GK was credited with 9 saves), does suggest that the score was, if anything, a bit flattering for C-M-S.  Both Trinity goals came in the second half.

After that, it was all ties, which is going to make it even harder for teams to build their cases for NCAA invites.

(in a note that is both WEST and NORTH), Cal Lutheran tied Saint John's (MN) 1-1 in the UC Santa Cruz tournament.  They play Macalester on Monday in the tourney.

In the same event, UC Santa Cruz tied Macalester, also 1-1.  It was interesting to me that both teams only used 5 subs, especially considering it was a high of 92 there and this was a midday game. 

As an aside, lots of games are being adjusted because of excessive heat advisories in this area.  Oxy's game v. Berry tomorrow has been moved from 11 am to 8 am, because it will be 70s instead of 90s.  Farther inland in the San Bernardino/Riverside area, temperatures have been consistently over 100.

LaVerne tied Berry (GA) 0-0.  That's a big improvement after losing to St. Katherine's in the opener.

Chapman tied NAIA side Vanguard 0-0.  That's a pretty good result.  Vanguard was 14-5-1 last year, won their conference tournament, and qualified for the NAIA national tournament.

[PaulNewman]

Thanks @Kuiper.....it is very helpful to have additional posters willing to provide some color including outside of their own teams and conferences.

[Kuiper]

Occidental lost to Berry 2-1 in an 8 am game moved because of the excessive heat warnings, which may have helped the visitors more than the home side if Berry is still operating off of eastern time.  Berry got on the board first in the 9th minute and Oxy was chasing the game for the rest of the way out, going down 2-0 at halftime before getting one back in the 78th minute.  The stats are the kind you tend to see when one team gets out front and then sits back, with Oxy getting 20 SOG, 14 in the second half, compared with Berry's 8, only 2 of which were in the second half.  Berry's GK made 9 saves to preserve the win.

In a game played at Trinity's stadium this morning, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps tied Southwestern 0-0.  C-M-S largely controlled play (and they have a very nice style of play that seeks to possess and bring the ball up the sides -- usually the left in this game), but couldn't find the back of the net.   C-M-S outshot Southwestern 25-5 and forced the Southwestern keeper, Jack Viles, to make 9 saves (which may be a career high for the USC First Team All-American in 2021), including a nice double save before half time.  None of Southwestern's 5 shots were on frame.  C-M-S also had a 16-1 edge on corner kicks.  Plus, C-M-S had some chances cleared off the line by the defense, including a great header off a corner in the first few minutes of the game.  C-M-S has some good additions this year, including midfielder Patrick Watkins, who is a D1 grad transfer from DePaul and Shaan Malik on the left, who is a pacey freshman coming from Barca Residency Academy's MLS Next squad in AZ.  Viles was the difference in this game, although Southwestern's defense as a whole did a good job of desperation defending and just crowding the box and making things difficult for C-M-S.

Park University (Gilbert), an NAIA side from AZ, beat Cal Tech 3-0.

Cal Lutheran beat Macalester 1-0 in Santa Cruz, scoring on a free kick in a game that appears to have been pretty even.

[Kuiper]

Just to give some time to the Pacific Northwest, I wanted to note that Pacific Lutheran, the 5x winner of the Northwest Conference and the team that upset Trinity in the first round of the NCAA's last year (hosted by Pac Lutheran), has started the season 3-0 after beating Colorado College 3-1 today.  They return players who scored 49 of the 57 goals scored last year and most of their defensive starters.  They also added a JC transfer in defense who started against Colorado College, so they haven't lost a beat in terms of experience.

A big regional test will come next weekend as Pac Lutheran hosts Cal Lutheran on Friday, 9/9 and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Sunday 9/11.

The other regional news of note is that Lewis & Clark has started a new men's soccer team from scratch that is playing this year.  It's not that often that a new D3 program pops up in the West and Lewis & Clark is a really interesting one because it has a beautiful campus in Portland, a city that is considered attractive to a lot of students, it has good academics, and it already has decent soccer facilities because of their women's team.  Plus, they've started by having the women's staff coach both teams, which means longtime University of Portland Men's Coach, Bill Irwin, is on staff for Lewis & Clark's men's team this year.  Their first roster is all freshmen and sophomores (who were on the L&C club team last year) and I'm sure it will be a bit rough at first, but with the right coaching I imagine they will be able to recruit reasonably well.  The first roster has more players from California (7), than from Oregon (2) and Washington (4) combined.

[Kuiper]

Willamette and C-M-S tied 0-0 in a frenetic end-to-end affair.  C-M-S brought the ball up with a bit more flair and passing/movement than Williamette, but ultimately they didn't have anyone who could hammer it home.  They had one great shot from a tough angle that hit the cross bar, but otherwise their attacks seemed to fizzle in the final third.

Pac Lutheran beat Cal Lutheran 2-1.

Cal Tech beat San Diego Christian 3-0

[Kuiper]

Redlands and Montclair St tied 1-1.  Redlands went up 1-0 early, but a double yellow about 5 min before halftime changed the game and Montclair was able to equalize midway through the second half.  Credit to Redlands for holding on for the tie amidst Montclair’s pressure being down a man, but that was the best they could do under the circumstances.  All in all, Redlands and C-M-S have had disappointing non conference schedules.  The Pacific Lutheran - C-M-S game tomorrow takes on added significance.

[PaulNewman]

Stunning result from St Peter, MN...not necessarily the outcome but the way it happened.  Loras was up 1-0 on GAC and it seemed that the game was over...like the stream stopped.  GAC scored three times in less than 2 minutes from the 83rd to 85th minute.  Big win for GAC that may be extremely valuable in November.

Elsewhere, Trinity (TX) falls to TX-Dallas 2-1, dropping to a a very unfamiliar 1-1-2.

[Kuiper]

Cal Lutheran - Williamette took a sharp turn in the second half.  Cal Lut was up 3-1 in the 65th minute and then was whistled for a penalty in the 66th minute, leading Williamette to bring the score to 3-2.  In the 72d minute, Williamette got a third to tie the game at 3-3, which is where it finished.  Given all of these ties among and between the SoCal and PNW schools, it’s going to make it hard for anyone to make a case for a tourney bid.

Colorado College go 2-0 on their Texas road trip with a 4-0 victory over Univ of Dallas after beating Austin College 3-1 on Friday.

Puget Sound tied NAIA side College of Idaho 1-1.

Lewis & Clark, in their first official varsity men’s soccer game since 1991, lost to College of Idaho 6-0 on Friday.

La Verne beat Linfield 5-2

NAIA side Westmont [corrected from Westminster] beat Pomona-Pitzer 2-0

Occidental beat Hope Int’l 2-0 to finish their non-conference schedule 3-1.  Only Chapman is ahead of them entering SCIAC play with a 2-0-1 record.

In the big game, Pacific Lutheran, which is undefeated going into Northwest Conference play, beat Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 2-1.  The teams were tied 1-1 in the second half before Pac Lut scored the winning goal on a header off a corner in the 78th minute.  C-M-S will limp into SCIAC play with 3 ties and 2 losses (albeit to its two strongest opponents - Trinity and Pac Lutheran), while Pac Lutheran is on a 5 game winning streak.

[BigSoccerFan]

I think westminister is going D2 next year

[Kuiper]

I think westminister is going D2 next year

Sorry. I typed Westminster, but meant Westmont.

[Kuiper]

Here are the first USC  Region X rankings for the season.  It may be the first time in recent memory that not a single California team makes the top ten

https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-men-x/

Region X - Poll 1 - September 13, 2022
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Pacific Lutheran University    NR    4-0-0
2    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    NR    4-0-0
3    University of Texas-Dallas    NR    3-0-1
4    Concordia University (Texas)    NR    4-1-0
5    University of Puget Sound    NR    3-0-1
6    Willamette University    NR    1-0-2
7    Trinity University (Texas)    NR    1-1-1
8    Colorado College    NR    2-2-1

[Kuiper]

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps v. Redlands, which would normally be considered the big game in SCIAC, kind of matched the two teams' performance in non-conference games with the teams tying 0-0.  C-M-S had a little more offense and forced the Redlands GK to do a little more, but neither team was able to generate any goals and both teams remain winless.  It's possible, even likely, that one of them will win the conference since none of the other teams in the conference really have a win against a strong opponent either, but we'll see.

Chapman and Occidental tied 2-2, with Oxy pulling even on a goal from freshman Tyler Na-Nakompanom in the 87th minute (his second of the night).  This is Tyler's second brace of the season and he's proven to be a handful for defenders.  Incidentally, I didn't go to this game, but the reported attendance was 835.  I believe it.  The lowest Oxy has drawn this season thus far is 638 and the highest is 1209 (on Labor Day).  Oxy has a great stadium and gets pretty good community support.  Since the school ended football, soccer has been the main draw (at Jack Kemp Stadium for those who remember him as a football player).  It's a fun atmosphere and I'm sure that helped the team.  For comparison's sake, the CMS-Redlands game, played at Redlands at the same time as the Oxy-Chapman game, had a reported attendance of 91.

If someone other than CMS or Redlands wins SCIAC this year, it could be Cal Lutheran.  They opened with a 4-1 victory over Cal Tech and played Pac Lutheran close (losing 2-1) and tied Williamette 3-3 on their trip up to Oregon.

[Kuiper]

Occidental beat Pomona-Pitzer 1-0 on a late goal in the 80th minute.  It feels like these are two mid-table teams, but at this point Oxy is sitting on a 4-1-1 record at the top of the SCIAC when non-conference schedule is included.

Redlands took out their frustration on Cal Tech, winning 5-0 for their first victory of the season.  Any team that was doubting Redlands without looking at the degree of difficulty of their non-conference schedule did so at their own peril.   

Colorado College's defeat of Trinity is a really big win for them.  It comes on the heels of a sweep of Austin College and University of Dallas in a Texas road trip.  This is also Colorado College's first home game of the season.  Last year, their only home loss was to Trinity, so they could go undefeated at home this year given their quality and the difficulty for other teams playing them at altitude.

[Kuiper]

C-M-S beats La Verne 2-1, but it wasn't easy and took a late goal for C-M-S to pull ahead.  Things still aren't right in Claremont, although, like Redlands, they at least find their first win of the season.

Chapman beat Whittier 1-0.

[camosfan]

Occidental beat Pomona-Pitzer 1-0 on a late goal in the 80th minute.  It feels like these are two mid-table teams, but at this point Oxy is sitting on a 4-1-1 record at the top of the SCIAC when non-conference schedule is included.

Redlands took out their frustration on Cal Tech, winning 5-0 for their first victory of the season.  Any team that was doubting Redlands without looking at the degree of difficulty of their non-conference schedule did so at their own peril.   

Colorado College's defeat of Trinity is a really big win for them.  It comes on the heels of a sweep of Austin College and University of Dallas in a Texas road trip.  This is also Colorado College's first home game of the season.  Last year, their only home loss was to Trinity, so they could go undefeated at home this year given their quality and the difficulty for other teams playing them at altitude.

Is this the Astec of D3?