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Messages - D3Grad

#1
Men's soccer / Re: Big Dance
November 17, 2019, 06:48:18 PM
NP advances 5-4.  Weak penalty kick by the final Gustavus player.  A bit surprising considering the finishing ability he possesses. 
#2
Men's soccer / Re: Big Dance
November 17, 2019, 06:37:43 PM
North Park with a few very good chances in the 2 overtimes.  Gustavus surviving by the skin of their teeth.  Game is going to PKs. 
#3
Men's soccer / Re: Big Dance
November 17, 2019, 06:15:26 PM
North Park-Gustavus game is very chippy as Gustavus got the late equalizer.  Hard to say what happened but an NP player was down on the ground holding his head(?) as Gustavus sent a cross in.  North Park arguing everything with the referee.  Reminds me of a few years ago when North Park was the beneficiary of many whistles.  Maybe the karma whistle has made it back to North Park.
#4
Men's soccer / Re: Pool C Amateur Predictions and Prizes
November 13, 2019, 05:29:52 PM
Speaking on facilities.  Gregory is correct about the north and midwest regions having to rely on turf for their fields.  Up in Minnesota it is very difficult to maintain a quality grass pitch for the entire season.  Come mid October weather can drop low enough to start hardening the ground making playing very difficult.  North Park's turf field and similar fields were great to play on because the bounce is true and ball speed was very similar to a good grass pitch.   

Quote from: PaulNewman on November 13, 2019, 10:59:50 AM
The facilities arms race is an interesting topic especially given the competition among colleges, including at the top end and for those fighting for survival.  Among schools that do have resources, I'd be interested in what schools try to resist the facilities upgrade focus and might be more likely to build a new academic building.
Roanoke was a beautiful facility.  I was shocked it was D3.  The facilities arms race is another reason for the MIAC and St. Thomas to not get along.  I could only imaging how much worse the MIAC would react if St. Thomas had a facility like that.  My only complaint with the Roanoke pitch is the direction it is placed.  At certain times in the day the sun will be staring directly in your eyes.  Creates a goalkeeper's worst nightmare. 
#5
Men's soccer / Re: Pool C Amateur Predictions and Prizes
November 11, 2019, 02:41:36 PM
Unfortunate but ultimately self made for UST to not make the playoffs.  I am curious with even 1 win out of all those ranked matchups do they get a bid given the choices of today?  A learning lesson for UST to make sure to get a result in all games next year as it is to be the final D3 season.  Interesting the MIAC got 3 bids last year (a bit undeserved) and zero this year.  The ebb and flow of the conference makes it hard for teams to get ranked wins vs conference opponents.  Typically Macalester and Carleton receive regional rankings aiding the cause.  Good luck to Gustavus and hope they represent the conference well. 
#6
Men's soccer / Re: 2019 Pool C bid "stealers"
November 09, 2019, 04:12:19 PM
Gustavus comes back and wins 3-1.  Scoring late in the first half, mid second half and last minutes of the game as UST looked confused with each other on who was taking the ball and a Gustavus player comes sweeping in and takes it 1v1 with the keeper.  I do think UST played the better soccer game as far as style and possession is concerned.  Gustavus did not impress in the ability to build up play and resorted to long balls and winning the second ball the majority of the time.  With Gustavus now the AQ the question remains does UST have enough on the resume to get a bid? 
#7
Men's soccer / Re: 2019 Pool C bid "stealers"
November 09, 2019, 02:24:50 PM
St. Thomas narrowly avoids a Gustavus counter attack.  Shot off the post and second shot saved on the goal line.  UST goes back and scores a few minutes later.  Now prolific goal scorer Cattelin for Gustavus goes down with a hamstring(?) injury.  Game is fast paced with very little passing around the back lines.
#8
Men's soccer / Re: 2019 Pool C bid "stealers"
November 08, 2019, 02:25:13 PM
The St. Thomas and Gustavus matchup is looking to be a great game.  Both teams hitting stride at the right time with St. Thomas' comfortable 3-0 win over Carleton and Gustavus lighting up the score sheet 6-2 over St. Johns.  I do think both teams deserve a chance in the NCAA tournament but with the way the ARC is set up it could be a winner take all situation.  It can be a lesson for Gustavus to schedule better non conference games and for St. Thomas to get better results out of theirs.  I do think St. Thomas' current playing form would fare better in those dropped games from the beginning of the season. 
#9
I will say St. Thomas has shown significant improvement since the worrisome 1-3-3 start to the season.  Since then they have rattled of 9 straight wins.  The team has dramatically improved their offensive presence.  There have been numerous player, position, and formation changes that may contribute to the success.  They are hitting their stride at the right time going into conference playoffs and hopefully NCAA tournament.  I wonder if the MIAC gets 2 teams into the postseason with the success of the ARC conference in the region.  I hypothesize St. Thomas might get a bid if they lose conference final to Gustavus due to recent success and SOS.  If the reverse happens and St. Thomas beats Gustavus in the conference final does Gustavus get a bid?  The low SOS leads me to say no but not sure.  Thoughts?
#10
I agree with Gustie that GAC, MAC, Carleton should get a bit more recognition.  They are all solid teams this year and GAC has shown to be quite capable of playing at a high level.  They thing that irks me about the MIAC schools like GAC is they schedule some soft non conference games that do nothing but pad the stats.  They and the rest of the MIAC would greatly benefit from playing teams from other regions that are good.
St. Thomas is certainly having a down year when it comes to their record and stats.  All of the players who had significant roles in the 2016 and 2017 tournament runs are gone.  The new team is organized but lacks an identity.  They do not have anyone who is stepping up to score goals or run the midfield unlike previous years with the Oliver twins and Bottum. Maybe they bit off more they can chew with their early season schedule but I think they can learn from this and maybe it won't be this year but rather a year or two from now where they make a run again. 
#11
St. Thomas is "involuntarily removed" from the MIAC.  The oust is official. 
#12
Men's soccer / Re: MIAC to vote to oust St. Thomas
April 09, 2019, 11:38:29 AM
Quote from: EB2319 on April 09, 2019, 11:05:10 AM
Can someone educate me on the backstory? I see they're routinely smoking everyone in football, but what's different about the school compared to their league peers, and how have they changed in the last 20 years? I'm not familiar with the conference at all, and as someone pointed out, there are plenty of other conferences with outliers. For example, I'm not sure what Stevens has in common with future MAC-Freedom conference mates Delaware Valley or FDU-Florham.
In short, the MIAC has some very prestigious academic institutions.  Carleton being top tier liberal arts in the nation.  Macalaster and St. Olaf not far behind.  Schools with large endowments that divert very little to no money to athletics, hence St. Olaf alumni and others raising the majority of funds to build new ice arena.  Appears St. Olaf did invest some capital.  St. Thomas has a lot of funds given to athletics.  St. Thomas is also much larger than other MIAC schools and has, from an outsider perspective, easier academics.  Some MIAC schools do not believe St. Thomas fits the MIAC values.  The MIAC 4 core values are, quality athletics, academics, student-athlete well-being, integrity.  And their Mission statement, "The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference strives to guide, govern and support fair and equitable athletic competition and promote student-athlete well-being among its members. The Conference recognizes and celebrates the important contribution competitive athletics can make to the quality of an education experienced in a context in which the academic program is paramount."
#13
Men's soccer / Re: MIAC to vote to oust St. Thomas
April 09, 2019, 11:19:30 AM
Quote from: jknezek on April 09, 2019, 10:19:20 AM


I think some of this stems from football, no doubt. But I think a lot of it stems from the way St. Thomas has changed over the last 20 years. It is no longer reflective of the other MIAC schools. Now plenty of conferences in D3 have outlier schools and don't have a problem with that setup. But other conferences have been fairly pure to keeping mission and values aligned. There seems to be a part of the MIAC that doesn't want to put up with an outlier who is kicking the crud out of them, not just in football but in other sports as well. And there is a portion of the MIAC that doesn't care and is happy to have elite competition regardless of mission and values.

Is football part of the driving force? Absolutely. But I don't think this is all about football. It's about the athletic arms race, it's about what it takes to be nationally relevant in D3 athletics overall, it's about small liberal arts versus large regional university values, its about admissions philosophies, it's about having a collegial relationship with your colleagues and fellow institutions... in other words, it's about a lot of things that have been building for a very long time both inside and outside athletics and most of them have to do with the coming financial changes for colleges.

I would agree that football is the catalyst to set off this action now, but football isn't the reason the pot started and approached its boiling point.

Kudos to you for seeing the situation as it is.  This is a multi-headed beast.  Football as a catalyst is a great way to explain.  St. Thomas is much different than the other MIAC schools.  They are in a prime location to continue growing as a university.  There are other schools in the MIAC who are also in the prime twin cities location but have chosen not to grow which is where St. Thomas doesn't fit the MIAC "identity." Is this the fault of their own for choosing to expand and take advantage of the market?  Up for debate.  One thing that has not changed much over the past 20 years is the undergraduate enrollment has grown less than 1000 students, 5400 to 6200.  We know athletic success is not based on enrollment size at the collegiate level.  It is recruiting and reputation.  To quote field of dreams, "If you build it, he [they] will come."
#14
Men's soccer / Re: MIAC to vote to oust St. Thomas
April 09, 2019, 10:07:02 AM
Quote from: jknezek on April 09, 2019, 09:29:25 AM
Quote from: Buck O. on April 09, 2019, 07:49:21 AM

Even if St. Thomas were to be thrown out of the MIAC, why would they cease being a D3 member?

There aren't too many likely landing spots for a conference for St. Thomas in D3. Given the way the school has changed, recent hire as AD, there is speculation they were on a path to D2 or eventually D1 at some point. This may be a kick in the pants to get that moving. Being booted from the MIAC doesn't require them to move divisions, but being an Independent would be a very difficult spot.

I would like St. Thomas to stay D3 in regards to soccer as that is all I know.  The program was built for the D3 game.  Many of the players are those who had opportunities to play at higher divisions but wanted the D3 environment of the student-athlete and much less the athlete-student.  An independent sounds great for soccer in my mind as competition is plenty good within Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Northern Illinois but I do not know how well this works for all other sports.  As said before, this stems as a football issue but St. Thomas across all sports in Men and Women do very well. 
#15
Men's soccer / MIAC to vote to oust St. Thomas
April 08, 2019, 04:50:47 PM
For all who do not know St. Thomas may not be a D3 member much longer.  The MIAC conference to put to a vote the end of the month whether St. Thomas is to be ousted.  This is not coming from any illegal behavior but a disparity amongst student population vs academic success.  St. Thomas has roughly double to population of the next largest MIAC school.  This could be a sad exit for a program that just introduced itself into the national discussion as a quality program. Link below to a news report and more information.

http://www.startribune.com/miac-rivals-plot-ouster-of-st-thomas/508145182/