Ohio Athletic Conference

Started by woacfan, July 22, 2011, 09:30:45 PM

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woacfan

I don't think its a big surprise, but Centre out of the SCAC is off to a roaring start.  As far as the OAC its usually hard to predict how the conference will turn out until we get into conference play, and generally ONU and Otterbein are at the top of the pack at the end of October.  I think its going to be a fun season to watch and see how everything plays out this year.
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

JCU upsets Case Western 1 to 0.  The Blue Streaks scored in the first four minutes and played 87 minutes of defense  ;) to hand the Spartans their first loss of the year! After dropping their first two games the Streaks have gone 3 and 0 and have only allowed two goals.

JCU has a brutal week.  The school's sports complex is under renovation, so they are playing two of this weeks home games off campus.  Today's game was moved to Case and this weekend's match against Carnegie is 40 minutes away.

Case plays Otterbein Saturday.  That should be an interesting game.  I think Case is a great team despite their loss tonight and Otterbein has always been resiliant.  We'll see if they can bounce back from some of their recent trials.

Ohio Northern plays Wittenberg tomorrow night. The Tigers took a beating from Messiah to open their season, but have played solidly since then.  A nice test for ONU.
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

#32
Ranking Discussion and Questions:

Comparing D3 Top 25 to NSCAA Top 25---

Why the inclusion of Cal Lutheran and exclusion of Transylvania?  Don't know much about Cal. Lutheran, but would like to hear about their program.  Transylvania seems to be playing well.  Its early but Transylvania seemed like a solid Top 25 team?  Any thoughts?

I did see that they received votes.

"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

JCU knocked off Westminster tonight.  They now have won 4 straight after dropping their first two games.
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

Otterbein's slide continues.  They lost to Denison snapping a 29 game home field undefeated streak.   ONU won and continue to look strong. 
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

A strong team that has been overlooked here is Mt. Union,  who has knocked off some quality opponents and are looking at compiling a nice record in the early going.
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

Two steps forward and one step back....JCU drops an ugly one to Carnegie-Mellon.  The first half looked fairly even, but for a weak goal conceded by the Blue Streaks. In fact, JCU had more quality chances in the first frame.  The second half was a disaster.  C-M dominated from beginning to end.  A rough end to a promising week
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

Otterbein falls again; this time to Case.  Right now, it looks very unlikely they will return to San Antonio.  I thought they would pick up their game by now.  However,  they still have their conference play and they usually do well there.

Ohio Northern wins and faces a big matchup against Denison on 9/20.  Denison is the school to beat in the Great Lakes region right now.  They look very good.  It should be a good game between these two teams.  Right now ONU looks like the OAC front runner.


"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

2xfaux

What in the world has happened to Otterbein?  Do they have injuries to key players?

woacfan

#39
I've been trying to get some reports on that.  From what little I've seen,  their scoring has left them.  They have only scored one goal since September 3rd (in the overtime loss to Transylvania).  Statistically,  they still seem dominating.  One stat that jumps out is that they have had 54 corner kicks to their opponents 14...but haven't been converting.  Their shot percentage is a measly .074, which suggests shot selection has not been good.   


**** Also, consider the opponents  Centre, Transylvania, Dennison, Case.  If they were up to form they would have won those contests, but all four are quality opponents.  Next up is OWU.  That might be a measure of how they will fare in the OAC. 
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

#40
JCU lost another one to an opponent they should have beat.  They dominated Wooster statistically, but couldn't get it done when it counted....the big lesson to be learned? They still don't know how to put away opponents; mastering that skill is the key for their season.

Ohio Northern enters the NSCAA top25 at "25" and Otterbein drops out.  No surprises there. 
One surprise in the regional rankings.  Not exactly sure how C-W deserved to be at 5 in the Great Lakes region.  No. 6 Carnegie is a much sharper team from what I've seen.

Transylvania and Centre out of Kentucky continue to look strong.

"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

#41
JCU 6, Marietta 1 - First OAC matchup of the season....
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

#42
Last night JCU won 6-1 against an outmatched Marietta squad to open their conference play.  Today it is No. 25 Ohio Northern playing Muskingum.  Look for ONU to win that one going away.  Thursday they played Denison, who still looks very strong despite a mixed record, to a tie.
Otterbein plays Earlham today.  They struggled to a tie against cross state rival Ohio Wesleyan.  They open their conference play on the first against JCU.  Mount Union, who has the best OAC non-conference record, plays Wilmington tonight at 5 p.m.

JCU's enigmatic offense showed up Friday as the Blue Streaks pummeled Wilmington.  With the Streaks up 4 to 0 at half,  the squad subbed liberally, and the healthy crowd  got to see some of the new and up-and-coming players on the team.
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

#43
The OAC jumble continues....Wilmington sent a message to the OAC by clobbering Mount Union 4 to 0.   MU had been playing well early in this season and had to be the favorite this afternoon, but Wilmington held them scoreless.   In other action,  Otterbein squeaked past Earlham on an a goal in the 89th minute.

Ohio Northern continues to roll.  The Polar Bears dominated the visiting Muskies 4 to 0.
ONU has to be the favorite to witn the OAC right now.  Mark 10/21 on your calendars-that's the day the Polar Bears head to University Heights to take on JCU.
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough

woacfan

This is a very lonely board :'(, but here are tomorrow night's OAC matchups:

Sep. 27

   4:00 PM  Capital  v.   Bluffton     
   5:00 PM  Bethany (W.V.) v.   Muskingum     
   7:00 PM  Marietta v.  Geneva     
   7:00 PM  Hiram v.  Heidelberg     
   7:00 PM  John Carroll v.  Oberlin

Otterbein is idle until this weekend.  I'm sure the break is intentional and was designed to give the Otters a rest leading into their conference schedule.  Whether it helps them will be seen this weekend!   :-\ 
"We talk about it for 20 minutes and then we decide I was right" - Brian Clough