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Messages - ThankstoJack

#1
Chris Shirk posted this on the men's board the other day. I realize this board is much "quieter" but there is a least some activity, so I wanted to share with you.

"At the outset of the season, Jim Hutchinson and I (aka D3soccer.com) did not plan to do the Top 25 or All-America teams this year. We ended up doing the Top 25, but as of yesterday we still had no plan to do the All-America teams. Today, however, I can share that we will do our best to name All-America teams one last time. After keeping the website running one more season than we intended, albeit without any columns or articles, it felt wrong to not close the season with All-America teams. That said, we have no set timetable. Our families and personal well-being will come first during the holiday season. So I wouldn't expect the teams to be released any earlier than in most recent years (i.e., a month into the new year).

Over the years we have appreciated the interest in our rankings and awards and the compliments we recieve. We believe and are told that both are positive additions to the D-III soccer community. We have always striven to do the best we can and have enjoyed providing an alternate to the NSCAA/USC rankings and awards. While we won't miss the long hours and sacrifices that were required to pull off many of the things we have done at D3soccer.com, we will miss the satisfaction of contributing to the D-III soccer community in a meaningful way. And we genuinely and earnestly hope that the things we had a hand in over the years continue to exist and evolve in some form, whether through a revitalized D3soccer.com or something competely new.

So, be patient with us, but keep your eyes out for All-America teams in the new year."

Jim Hutchinson
#2
Men's soccer / Re: D3Soccer.com
September 04, 2022, 05:01:02 PM
Yes, for A or B programs. No additional work on our part.  :)

For C v D match ups, yes, I go to each individual school website, find what matches we do not have on our Presto schedule and then create that entry in the Presto database.  >:(

The rankings are the D3soccer.com coaches' poll from the most recent week. What you see currently is the Final poll from 2021. We make those entries into the Presto database after each weekly poll and there is programming that pulls from there to appear in schedules / results.

As an aside, we are not planning to produce a coaches' poll this season. It takes roughly 12 to 15 hours from start to finish to produce both polls (men's and women's), if everything goes perfectly. Rarely, if ever does everything go perfectly. I will likely leave the Final 2021 poll up for a bit longer but then will pull that ranking out. Chris and I are considering how we might identify the stronger teams so their contests will appear at the top of the daily schedule similar to those in the Top 25 do now.

What appears in the November 5 schedule currently is coming from two sources: (1) Anything with a conference tournament reference is coming from an individual school's schedule they set up in Presto. A few schools do make entries in anticipation of making the conference tournament. (2) The other entries are for NWC and UAA regular season matches. These are coming either from schools in those two conferences using Presto or I have created them in Presto for the "C v D" matches.

For full Sidearm games, yes, we go to the websites of one of the two to get the score and then post to our Presto database.

This season, I entered all the "C v D' schedules and will post most of those scores. Chris is going to help when he can, but he has a full-time job and a young family. The last few years Duane Cole helped a great deal with the schedule set up and score updates. He is not going to be able to help this season. We may have used other volunteers prior to my getting involved in 2015 but have not for the last several seasons.

Lastly, all the above are what happens in the vast majority of cases. There are a few exceptions. For example, there are a few SID's on the Sidearm platform who make some of the entries for us in Presto. That has it's own pluses and minuses.
#3
Men's soccer / Re: D3Soccer.com
September 02, 2022, 08:31:48 PM
Quote from: PaulNewman on September 02, 2022, 06:45:15 PM
Quote from: ThankstoJack on September 02, 2022, 05:59:46 PM
Jim Hutchinson here, not Christan, but here's the situation, and I will try to not get to deep into the weeds. The key is what hosting platform are the institutions using. There are minor exceptions but Prestosports and Sidearm are the two players in this space. In 2021 it was split 37% of D3 institutions sponsoring soccer were on Presto, 62% on Sidearm. Presto is our platform and we have access to whatever the institution puts in their site. We use schedules, V and LS links if provided, and final results. If at least one of the two competitors is hosted by Presto. If both are Sidearm we track the schedules and results, and then update our database in Presto.

So there is quite a bit of manual effort, and plenty of opportunities for fat finger errors. And unfortunately for us, there has been a long term trend (at least since 2015 that I know about) of institutions moving from Presto to Sidearm. So its getting worse over time.

I have built some (unreasonably complex) Excel workbooks, macros, web scraping routines, and scripts over the years to automate pieces of the tasks. My challenge is they require a lot of handholding to keep working. Reminds me of my first car was a '54 Ford convertible. Thing was a tank ... that's probably why my Dad let me have it. (The $150 purchase price wouldn't buy the spare tire today, but I digress)

Thanks, Jim.  I keep reading what you nicely dumbed for me and I'm still struggling.  Thank you for all your work behind the scenes.
Let me try this.

Team A and Team B use Prestosports for their athletics web sites.
Team C and Team D use Sidearm

A plays B   Information automatically available to D3soccer.com
A plays C or D   Information automatically available to D3soccer.com
B plays C or D   Information automatically available to D3soccer.com
C plays D   Jim H is the automation  :)

Specific examples. Kenyon is Sidearm, ONU is Presto. John Carroll is Sidearm
The 9/1 match was automatically on our schedule along with the final score and a recap because ONU uses Presto.
The 9/3 match schedule with John Carroll was entered by me. Even though there will be a V and LS, we don't show on our schedule page. That would require additional manual updating.
Hope this helps.

The C vs D scenario is becoming more common as schools move from Prestosports to Sidearm for the web site service. Particularly as more conferences make the change and bring along most / all of their member institutions.
#4
Men's soccer / Re: D3Soccer.com
September 02, 2022, 05:59:46 PM
Jim Hutchinson here, not Christan, but here's the situation, and I will try to not get to deep into the weeds. The key is what hosting platform are the institutions using. There are minor exceptions but Prestosports and Sidearm are the two players in this space. In 2021 it was split 37% of D3 institutions sponsoring soccer were on Presto, 62% on Sidearm. Presto is our platform and we have access to whatever the institution puts in their site. We use schedules, V and LS links if provided, and final results. If at least one of the two competitors is hosted by Presto. If both are Sidearm we track the schedules and results, and then update our database in Presto.

So there is quite a bit of manual effort, and plenty of opportunities for fat finger errors. And unfortunately for us, there has been a long term trend (at least since 2015 that I know about) of institutions moving from Presto to Sidearm. So its getting worse over time.

I have built some (unreasonably complex) Excel workbooks, macros, web scraping routines, and scripts over the years to automate pieces of the tasks. My challenge is they require a lot of handholding to keep working. Reminds me of my first car was a '54 Ford convertible. Thing was a tank ... that's probably why my Dad let me have it. (The $150 purchase price wouldn't buy the spare tire today, but I digress)

#5
Women's soccer / D3soccer.com is back ... sort of
September 01, 2022, 02:23:48 PM
Here's a link to the "official" release about the status of the website:  https://d3soccer.com/notables/2022/back-for-2022

Christan threw together an Opening Day 2022 article summarizing some of the changes for 2022 (conference moves, rules changes, etc.): https://d3soccer.com/notables/2022/opening-day-2022

Also we have pulled together all the conference preseason polls:   https://d3soccer.prestosports.com/notables/2022/Preseason-Conference-Polls
#6
Women's soccer / 2021 D3soccer.com All-America Teams
January 27, 2022, 02:34:06 PM
2021 D3soccer.com Women's All-America teams
https://d3soccer.com/awards/all-america/2021/2021-Womens-AA

2021 WOMEN'S PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

Forward of the Year:  Julia Keogh (Sr.), William Smith

Midfielder of the Year:  Riley Cook (Sr.), Christopher Newport

Defender of the Year:  Gabbie Cesarone (Sr.), Washington U.

Goalkeeper of the Year:  Haley Eiser (Sr.), Christopher Newport

2021 WOMEN'S ALL-AMERICANS

FIRST TEAM
   F   
Julia Keogh
   Sr.   
William Smith
   F   
Kaylee Sturans
   Sr.   
Misericordia
   M   
Riley Cook *
   Sr.   
Christopher Newport
   M   
Michaela Fasolino
   Sr.   
Misericordia
   M   
Anika Washburn *
   Sr.   
Case Western Reserve
   M   
Payton McDonnell
   Jr.   
Loras
   D   
Gabbie Cesarone *
   Sr.   
Washington U.
   D   
Jules Dotterweich
   Sr.   
McDaniel
   D   
Jess Hall
   Sr.   
TCNJ
   D   
Cameron Zak
   Sr.   
Centre
   GK   
Haley Eiser
   Sr.   
Christopher Newport

SECOND TEAM
   F   
Hannah Schepers
   Sr.   
McDaniel
   F   
Kaity Ward
   Sr.   
Trinity (Texas)
   M   
Gianna Coppola
   Jr.   
TCNJ
   M   
Merilyn Hinrichs
   Sr.   
William Smith
   M   
Megan Sidaway
   So.   
Centre
   M   
Eva Anderson
   Sr.   
MIT
   D   
Hope Drewes
   Sr.   
Scranton
   D   
Bailey Meyer
   Jr.   
Trinity (Texas)
   D   
Jill McDonald
   Jr.   
Christopher Newport
   D   
Bonnie Shea
   Gr.   
Johns Hopkins
   GK   
Caitlin Hendricks
   Sr.   
Johns Hopkins

THIRD TEAM
   F   
Grace Devanny
   Jr.   
Wesleyan
   F   
Emma Sweitzer
   So.   
Misericordia
   M   
Sophie Amundson
   Sr.   
UW-La Crosse
   M   
Amelia Curtis
   Sr.   
TCNJ
   M   
Caelyn Steffens
   Jr.   
Illinois Wesleyan
   M   
Teresa Hegarty
   Jr.   
Scranton
   M   
Kayla Herr
   Sr.   
Messiah
   D   
Ciannah Correa
   Sr.   
Pomona-Pitzer
   D   
Greta Lazzara
   Sr.   
Case Western Reserve
   D   
Annie Mitchell
   Jr.   
Chicago
   GK   
Mika Fisher
   So.   
Amherst
* previous D3soccer.com All-America honors

2021 WOMEN'S COACH OF THE YEAR
Jen Simonetti   |   Case Western (16-2-2)   |   2021 National Sweet 16
#7
Men's soccer / Re: Covid Impacts on Upcoming Season
July 25, 2020, 04:54:14 PM
Thanks for the comment on Fall 2020 Status of Play Updates. You are correct; it is lot of work. The most difficult part may be trying to decipher the statements from the schools. If they leave a bit of wiggle room, whether it's cynically or not, I don't feel it's my place to declare them out. That does bring up the issue of monitoring for changes. I monitor all the conference and individual RSS feeds but if the update isn't posted on the athletics pages, I don't see it. I will take a look at those you mentioned and update as necessary.

As for St. Joseph's (Maine), I missed that they are exploring competition with other colleges and universities. When I looked yesterday, NVU-Johnson, NVU-Lyndon, and Maine-Presque Isle all specifically declared they were looking for competition this fall. Also, Colby's last COVID related statement on their athletics pages was in March. Their campus wide plan notes in their "Athletics" section that they are "exploring possibilities for a more limited, local competition schedule". So, there are possibilities. Not exactly short trips though.

I agree on UR. From a distance I can't see why they are taking that position when the UAA and virtually all other New York D-III's will not be playing in 2020.

With all the conference statements Wed., Thu., and Fri. it became impossible to maintain the individual institutions. And now with considerably more than half saying no Fall 2020 play I decided might be better to create a (shorter) list of who hasn't closed the door rather than who is definitely not playing in 2020.  That stopped when my wife popped in and said, "Why are you working on the website so much? I though you told me the season was going to be cancelled. ;D.

As for the spring, I would love to see it, but the resource issue seems to be a high hurdle. I mentioned the possibility of a spring season to my often injured, former D-III soccer playing daughter and her immediate comment was about the already overworked athletic trainers. However, I will note that most of this week's conference statements about postponing/cancelling the fall season do state fairly emphatically their desire for some sort of spring soccer, and other fall sports.

In any case if anyone sees errors please let me know at d3soccer.com@gmail.com.

#8
Men's soccer / Re: Covid Impacts on Upcoming Season
July 24, 2020, 04:41:39 PM
There have been conferences several that mentioned exploring Spring 2021 play in their suspension/cancellation announcements, but this from the SCAC was a separate statement and very explicit.

SCAC Statement Regarding Alternative Playing Seasons for 2020-21 Academic Year   https://scacsports.prestosports.com/news/covid19_update4
#9
Men's soccer / Re: Player Turnover
April 01, 2020, 08:50:42 PM
When my daughter was looking at schools a bit more than ten years ago, I looked at the attrition rate for the places she was considering and I remember it being roughly 50% from freshmen to senior year.

After the regular season last fall I pulled all the individual match stats from the NCAA D-III statistical database for an analysis I was contemplating. I never got around to that project but seeing this topic reminded me I had the data. I think this analysis addresses the question with a couple of caveats:


  • The NCAA stats data does not appear to have any QC done. It is an upload from each matches boxscore.
  • This is players who played in at least one match. Most rosters have a few players who never make it into a game. I would speculate they are more likely first years.
  • A few of the schools don't include class year in the rosters they upload.

With that said, it's still a good data set; it's just not perfect.

     
       
       
       
       
       
       
     
       
       
       
       
       
       
     
       
       
       
       
       
       
     
       
       
       
       
       
       
     
       
       
       
       
       
       
     
       
       
       
       
       
       
     
       
       
       
       
       
       
men    women
Yearcountpct. chgcountpct. chg
Fr.3,9303,000
So.3,032(22.8%)2,869(10.4%)
Jr.2,436(19.7%)2,247(16.4%)
Sr.2,114(13.2%)1,790(20.3%)
Total    11,512(46.2%)9,726(40.3%)

I have a strong suspicion that these rates vary by success of the program on the pitch almost definitely and possibly by the academic rigor of the institution.

Jim Hutchinson
D3soccer.com
#10
Women's soccer / Re: D-3 Women 2019
November 13, 2019, 03:28:15 PM
QuoteIn the analysis, Otterbein and Wesleyan were listed as being "on the right side of the bubble." Both must have been on the wrong side of the bubble because neither was selected. I was actually surprised that Otterbein was mentioned as having a good chance due to losing to Ohio Northern in the OAC final. I honestly can't remember the last tie that the OAC had an at-large selection. The conference is decent but is not particularly strong. I would have been surprised if Otterbein had made the field and their omission was the correct decision by the committee.

I was more surprised by the omission of NESCAC member Wesleyan. Wesleyan had a 4-4-1 record versus ranked teams including a 2-1 win over Williams. What probably doomed Wesleyan was going 0-3 over the last 3 games.

First thank you for the kind words on the At Large predictions. I struggled mightily with Wesleyan's inclusion since neither their Win% or SoS merited that but I was mesmerized by their 4 ranked wins. In the analysis I published last week, Women's NCAA "At Large"  "https://d3soccer.prestosports.com/columns/jim-hutchinson/2019/womens-pool-c-early from 2011-2018 46 of 47 Pool C "candidates" with four or more wins were selected. With 20/20 hindsight, and a lot less sleep deprivation, I should have listed them at best as "Squarely on the Bubble ..." or probably "Wrong side ..." aka "Last n out ...".

Otterbein was a spreadsheet error, pure and simple. I had their projected SoS much higher than the Final Regional Ranking number. If I had the final result in my thinking I would have put them in the "Bubble" category.

And, not to make excuses, but I will :), we had a ton of things going on with the site that day, 20 hours at the keyboard was too much for this old brain. That said, this was my second year at this and I learned quite a bit. It is an intellectually challenging exercise, for sure.

#11
2019 Men's and Women's Coaching Carousels

      http://www.d3soccer.com/notables/coaching/2019/2019-carousel