UAA Soccer 2022

[PaulNewman]

I don't know if they are the 2nd best conference, (only because I don't know all the other conferences) but Emory, Carnegie Mellon, Rochester, and Case all would need to be playing higher level soccer before I would say that the conference is really strong.

Eta and we can probably add in WashU and Brandeis this year. Isn't that most of the conference not playing up to its potential?

Now you're posing two different questions.  Were they down some this year and have they underperformed in the tournament?  Absolutely.  Is the gap between NESCAC and UAA maybe bigger than some of us sometimes think?  Very possible.  But even if there is a big gap between #1 and #2 that doesn't mean there isn't another big gap to #3....which honestly is probably the Centennial with a record of generally not doing much beyond the Sweet 16.

[PaulNewman]

Might be prudent to see how everything shakes out today.

[Hopkins92]

I'm absolutely not making a case for 2nd best conference, but wanted to highlight the Centennial had all 3 teams advance yesterday. It actually kind of helps make the point: You can't just take one day/round of the NCAAs to make a realistic case about the relative strength of a conference.

But when you stack up 3-5 years of results, it starts to build up a body of work. I'd love to see some of the stats on that and probably in the off season I'll do that for Centennial, ODAC, SUNYAC, LL, etc.

Can save you some time.  On that measure it's not close.  Out of the four conferences you noted, only one team has made the final 4 (W&L) in the past 3-5 years and then you have to go back several more years to Oneonta.

People make a VERY big deal out of just the general W-L of conferences in D1 basketball. Would be interesting (to me) just to have a running tab of how the "other" conferences stack up to the UAA and NESCAC.

My starting position is UAA is second best and it's not really close. We had this discussion earlier in the season and I think paclassic pulled RPI #'s... But now that I think about that was just the conferences in Region IV and V.

[deutschfan]

Have to agree with Paul Newman and Hopkins.  After NESCAC, its UAA, and everyone else is not very close.  Even though NESCAC has dominated the NCAAs over the past decade, and there hasn't been a champ from the UAA in forever, I'd make the argument that the gap between the NESCAC and UAA has actually closed during the past 10 years, and the gap from the other conferences widened.  In the first decade of this century the UAA had some perennial easy outs including Brandeis, NYU and Case.  Now, even in down years for teams such as Brandeis and Emory, there are no easy outs.  I can't imagine a Centennial League, or SUNYAC, or Liberty League team going into a game with a UAA team and thinking this is going to be a walkover, no matter which team they play.  I would even say that the NESCAC has some easier outs in the historically weak teams than the UAA.

[Maine Soccer Fan]

Not gonna argue that the Nescac is not the Champions Lge of D3 soccer. As far as who is next in line, I think we need a whole new topic thread to settle that debate. I am sure many conferences would nominate themselves...Off the top of my head, @least 2 from the Upstate NY region would fancy their chances.

So the Amherst v SLU game people have been talking about and hoping for is indeed going to occur today. Two questions:

1. Has anyone heard which field they'll be playing on?
2. I haven't seen SLU in action. Could someone give me a quick rundown on their style of play?

Thanks,

1. I’m told they are playing on the grass.  Hitchcock. 
2.  SLU plays a completely different style than Amherst.  SLU works the  ball up the field on the ground. Marvin Sibanda (10) controls the game.  Some good wingers and defenders. Weaknesses.  Set pieces for and against. Strengths.  Controlling the ball.  Toughness. Desire. Team chemistry.  If the field is in decent shape I give them a shot.

Thanks. Good luck today.

[Buck O.]

I don't know if they are the 2nd best conference, (only because I don't know all the other conferences) but Emory, Carnegie Mellon, Rochester, and Case all would need to be playing higher level soccer before I would say that the conference is really strong.

Eta and we can probably add in WashU and Brandeis this year. Isn't that most of the conference not playing up to its potential?

Now you're posing two different questions.  Were they down some this year and have they underperformed in the tournament?  Absolutely.  Is the gap between NESCAC and UAA maybe bigger than some of us sometimes think?  Very possible.  But even if there is a big gap between #1 and #2 that doesn't mean there isn't another big gap to #3....which honestly is probably the Centennial with a record of generally not doing much beyond the Sweet 16.

Agree on all counts, including the opinion that the Centennial is probably #3.  I mean, Another Mom is right that most of the UAA didn't play up to its potential... this year.  That's why it was a down year for the conference.  With that said, the league was still pretty decent.  The bottom half of the league with their Massey ratings as of this moment:  WashU (75), Rochester (80), Brandeis (103), Emory (107).  None of those really played what I would call high level soccer, but there are four Centennial teams (McDaniel, Swat, Fords, Ursinus) with Massey ratings that are worse than Emory, the worst UAA team, with the latter two well below.  Three LL teams (Ithaca, Union, Bard) have Massey ratings that are considerably worse than Emory.  So do three NEWMAC teams.  Four SCIAC teams. SEVEN NJAC teams.  Five Landmark teams.  Six SUNYAC teams.  Have I made my point yet?

[Kuiper]

Have to agree with Paul Newman and Hopkins.  After NESCAC, its UAA, and everyone else is not very close.  Even though NESCAC has dominated the NCAAs over the past decade, and there hasn't been a champ from the UAA in forever, I'd make the argument that the gap between the NESCAC and UAA has actually closed during the past 10 years, and the gap from the other conferences widened.  In the first decade of this century the UAA had some perennial easy outs including Brandeis, NYU and Case.  Now, even in down years for teams such as Brandeis and Emory, there are no easy outs.  I can't imagine a Centennial League, or SUNYAC, or Liberty League team going into a game with a UAA team and thinking this is going to be a walkover, no matter which team they play.  I would even say that the NESCAC has some easier outs in the historically weak teams than the UAA.

I happened to be looking at this thread and realized that there was a fairly substantial discussion about how this was a down year for the UAA and, as the quoted post above states, "there hasn't been a champ from the UAA in forever."  Ironic that this discussion took place in a year when Chicago from the UAA won it all.  I figured I might as well add this concluding post for posterity!

[Kuiper]

It looks like Naz Kabbani from Univ of Chicago's 2022 Championship team has re-joined Chicago House AC, who he played with last summer, in its US Open Cup run.  Nice to see him be able to extend his playing career a little (although I think this is a non-professional gig and he is probably working somewhere).

https://twitter.com/ChicagoHouse_AC/status/1636415167914479617?s=20