I also said this was a good year if anyone was going to knock off RMC. I still don't think W&L is better than they have been the last few years. Which is fine. They've been good and competitive and finishing in the top 2 or 3 of the ODAC.

I don't think RMC is as good as they've been the last few years. That's no knock on RMC, they've been consistently excellent. This year? A step or two below. Enough for W&L and H-SC and maybe Shenandoah to join the conversation.

Big win for the Generals today. First one in five years over RMC. Holding the Jackets under 300 yards of offense and going 11-17 on 3rd downs and 3-4 on 4th made the difference. No turnovers for either team and a massive W&L TOP advantage kept RMC's offense on the bench.

Get a red card in the first 25 minutes of the game, go down 2-0 in the first half, score 3 straight to take the lead in the second half, and then leak a goal in the final 10 minutes to tie. Tough day for the Generals.

I think it says a lot about Batten that with W&L down a man they still out shot the Marlins.

Down a man and down 2-0, at the half, I think W&L showed resilience. Shame they couldn't hold on for the win.

Quote from: CollegeSoccerFan on October 09, 2026, 10:01:23 AM

Quote from: jknezek on October 09, 2026, 09:52:11 AMBridgewater's schedule has been softer than a marshmallow. Some of it is not their fault, but I could see them losing their last 4 games straight. They only play W&L, not Lynchburg thanks to the unbalanced schedule, and got both Batten and Roanoke in a year neither can remember how to play soccer.

I'll give them credit for cleaning up on the bottom of the ODAC, but there is a reason their NPI is going nowhere, despite having 8 wins.

I'm with you - but credit to them for beating those in front of them. I have not seen everyone play this season yet.

Have you see Batten and Roanoke? What are their struggles?

Have not seen either. I refuse to pay Flo, so the only games I see are the ones I'm at or occasionally when I borrow a friend's login.

It was a nice win. I don't think either team played their best. W&L looked like a team that knew they had an 8 hour bus ride home that night. Both of Sewanee's keepers probably wish they had those shots back. W&L's keeper made a great save late on a fabulous free kick.

W&L had the better of play and deserved the win. Long road trip, win over a solid team, good for NPI, mission successful. Now back to he work of winning the ODAC and hopefully securing a high seed in the tournament.

Good job Generals!

Bridgewater's schedule has been softer than a marshmallow. Some of it is not their fault, but I could see them losing their last 4 games straight. They only play W&L, not Lynchburg thanks to the unbalanced schedule, and got both Batten and Roanoke in a year neither can remember how to play soccer.

I'll give them credit for cleaning up on the bottom of the ODAC, but there is a reason their NPI is going nowhere, despite having 8 wins.

I usually go to the games when they come down this way. Well, for sports I like. Soccer, football, basketball, lacrosse, wish the wrestling team would come down. But yeah, volleyball and baseball I just can't do it. Same with the individuals like cross country, track, or golf/tennis. I feel bad, but not bad enough to go!

Excited to be off to the W&L at Sewanee game today. Always happy when one of the Generals teams ventures down this way to be able to go to the game. Sadly I'm going with a coworker whose daughter plays for Sewanee, so I won't have my W&L flag that I bought almost 30 years ago to hang in my dorm and bring to waive when they score.

Best behavior.... Uggh.

Quote from: CollegeSoccerFan on October 08, 2026, 04:23:40 PMAfter Lynchburg's win over HSC yesterday, it seems there's two at the top and then the field. Lynchburg-W&L round 2 should be a fun watch (hopefully get a round 3)

Yeah. H-SC dropped into the 50s in NPI. They will need to basically win out (less the conference final) to get in. Or just win the conference tournament. But no one else is really in the running. W&L and Lynchburg need to win the games they are expected to win and it will be fine.

How is Batten 1-5-5? 

I think the 5 for 5 rule, and the time when the clock starts ticking, academic year following the athlete's 19th birthday (or sooner if they enroll sooner) will solve some of the "older students coming from abroad" issue. Not all of it of course, it still allows for 24 year olds to play a final season, but I think it will stop some of the issues. Bringing in a 21 or 22 year old knowing you only get 2 or 3 years may not be as attractive as pulling in a 17/18 year old h.s. senior and realizing you get 5 full years out of them if they don't transfer.

Time will tell, and I don't think D3 has adapted the 5 for 5 yet, but with D1 and D2 already on board I think D3 will at some point.

Quote from: Hopkins92 on October 08, 2026, 01:30:44 PMYeah, we talked about this... Trying to make college soccer more relevant in the development/pipeline is kind of a fool's errand, but he is right that they needed to do something to counter the MLS academy system funneling the best American talent into the professional model.

Why? I understand that college, particularly D1 college, is the main pro pathway for football and basketball, but it doesn't have to be. I'd argue it shouldn't be. Our current disastrous situation with the transfer portal and NIL indicates how poor a "semi-pro" system college has become. If MLS Academies are the best way forward, then they should be the path for the very small percentage of players that could go pro. They can play soccer at the academies and take college courses if they want, instead of taking college courses to play soccer, which really makes no sense.

The NFL has benefited for years by not having to pay for a minor league. As did basketball, though the much maligned NBA Development League now at least provides something. But there is no reason colleges should play that role, except that traditionally they have. As we've seen, it was highly exploitative of student athletes in select sports, while in other sports it forced "athletes" to try and be "student-athletes."

There is no reason for this to continue. Let the pro teams develop their own talent how they see fit, and let colleges and universities get back to the business of being colleges and universities with athletics as a draw for students who want to play and watch. I know that's naive, especially in regards to D1 football, but that's really what should happen.

There is no reason colleges should be competing to be a "pro-pathway" for sports, especially in a sport like soccer that is a net negative for athletic departments at the D1 level. Pro teams have the ability to fund that as a "business expense", I suggest we let them do so.

There's still a lot of games to be played this year. I think the NPI has done a decent job the last couple years, though I do like the upcoming tweaks. But the fewer data points it has to work with, the weirder it will be. Most teams are 10-ish games in and still have 6-ish games to go before the conference tournaments begin. So we are only 2/3rds of the regular season finished, more or less.

But yeah, it's a bit wonky right now. Kuiper's discovery is pretty interesting. NPI = QWB right now. It's a perfect correlation until you hit 0 QWB. Tells me QWB might be way over-weighted!

Quote from: SimpleCoach on October 08, 2026, 11:44:51 AMThis list makes me wonder if I am just watching a different game altogether.

SC.

You are watching games. This list is watching math

Quote from: Another Mom on October 07, 2026, 12:08:40 PMDid you watch the W&L Lynchburg game? I did, and I did not think Lynchburg looked all that good, although of course they won. (W&L didn't look great either, I should also say!). But Lynchburg really were not impressive.

I would guess by now they are playing better, as clearly W&L is as well.

I didn't but I saw how W&L played Covenant and Maryville and how Lynchburg handled them and it was very different. In the end, as I said, it doesn't really matter, but if I was voting, I'd have waited for a few more common opponents to see whose way they go. A h2h is kind of important, winning the h2h on the road is important, but it does get less important with every week that goes on. So maybe just my preference?

Quote from: Hopkins92 on October 07, 2026, 12:22:03 PMI know these may seem like obvious points, but I don't think it's all that fair to look at G1 or G2 and make season-long pronouncements. Especially at the level of programs like W&L and/or Lynchburg.

I'm here with you. I don't think it should last all season, that's crazy. But there are 4 common opponents (counting the h2h) and only one result favored W&L. It was the most recent, so I can see it from that point of view, but I might have waited another week. Between now and Saturday they add 3 more common opponent games.