Four games in the SCIAC tonight

Occidental 5 - Pomona-Pitzer 3

This is a game that really typifies Oxy.  They score 3 goals in the first 22 minutes and are dominating Pomona-Pitzer with a swarming attack.  Then, a few minutes after the third goal, they give up a goal to P-P.  Still, they are up 3-1.  P-P lost to Cal Tech 1-0, who lost to Oxy 8-0, so no problem, right?  Coach probably yells at them a little at halftime to not turn off like that and they come out with renewed vigor at halftime and score a fourth goal in the 63rd minute.  So, they're up 4-1 and figure they can cruise.  Turn off again and promptly give up a second goal to P-P four minutes later.  Then, P-P scores another goal in the 76th minute and it's a ball game at 4-3.  Things are tight again until Oxy puts them away in the 85th minute with their fifth goal to win 5-3.  I don't know what it is, but it's hard to put a lot of faith in Oxy as a championship contender when they turn it on and off so easily.  On the one hand, they have a lot of firepower.  On the other hand, they have an off switch during games.  It isn't because the coach brings in a lot of subs and the quality drops either.  If anything, he doesn't trust his bench enough and may be running his favorites into the ground.  Either way, Oxy is 5-1 and 2-0 in the SCIAC, but it needs to be more consistent both in games and from game to game.  I will have a lot more belief in them if they can beat Redlands away on Saturday.

Redlands 2 - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 1

CMS was up 1-0 deep into the second half and let this game slip away.  For most of the game, CMS' passing game was on point and Redlands was chasing a lot of ghosts.  Then, Redlands turned up the press and scored two goals within 6 minutes of each other (in the 71st and the 77th minutes) to win the game.  Redlands moves to 6-0 and 2-0 in the SCIAC.  They play Occidental on Saturday at home in a key game among teams in the regional rankings out west.  CMS drops to 2-2-2 and 0-2-1 in SCIAC play.

Cal Lutheran 3 - Chapman 1

Cal Lutheran bounces back from its tie with La Verne and from a 1-0 deficit in the first four minutes against Chapman to defeat the defending champions.  Neither team has established any consistency of form yet, but both are able to knock off a team when they are on their game.  That could still make them dangerous come tournament time if one or both of them qualify.
 Chapman drops to 4-3 and 1-2 in SCIAC and Cal Lu goes to 3-1-3 and 1-0-2 in SCIAC.  If there was any doubt, Chapman should finally drop out of the Regional Rankings now.

Whittier 4 - La Verne 0

Lawrence Dydell's hat trick powers Whittier to a big win over its lower half of the table SCIAC rivals La Verne.  Whittier moves to 3-3 and 1-2 in the SCIAC and La Verne, who I thought was trending in the right direction after its tie against Cal Lutheran, drops to 4-2-1 and 0-1-1 in the SCIAC.

Mount Union scores with 18 seconds left to beat Case 2-1 and no posts from Simple Coach?  He must be out celebrating!  Big win for the Purple Raiders!

The United Soccer Coaches rankings came out yesterday for 9/12 (before yesterday's games).  This may be one case where the USC rankings make more sense than the first D3Soccer.com Boards rankings (which has a few outliers).

https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-diii-men/

National - Poll 1 - September 12, 2023
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    University of Mary Washington    4    4-0-0
2    Messiah University    12    4-0-0
2    University of Chicago    1    2-0-1
4    Williams College    2    2-0-0
5    John Carroll University    23    4-0-0
6    Montclair State University    NR    4-0-0
7    University of Rochester    NR    3-0-0
8    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    17    4-0-0
9    Franklin & Marshall College    18    4-0-0
10    Gustavus Adolphus College    8    2-0-2
11    Calvin University    19    5-0-0
12    Amherst College    9    0-0-1
13    SUNY Oneonta    15    4-0-0
14    Christopher Newport University    21    3-0-0
15    Trinity University (Texas)    NR    4-0-0
16    Denison University    NR    4-0-1
17    Rowan University    NR    1-0-3
18    Macalester College    NR    3-0-2
19    Emerson College    NR    1-0-2
20    North Central College    20    5-0-0
21    Middlebury College    NR    1-0-1
22    Case Western Reserve University    NR    4-0-0
23    SUNY Cortland    NR    4-1-0
24    Tufts University    25    2-0-1
25    Emory University    NR    2-0-2
25    North Park University    22    3-0-0

Records shown are through games of September 10, 2023

Also receiving votes: Bowdoin College, Loras College, Babson College, Texas Lutheran University, Johns Hopkins University, Lebanon Valley College, University of Lynchburg, North Central University, Connecticut College, University of Mount Union

National - Poll 2 - September 19, 2023
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    University of Mary Washington    1    6-0-0
2    Williams College    4    4-0-0
3    Messiah University    2    5-0-1
4    John Carroll University    5    5-0-1
5    Montclair State University    6    5-0-1
6    University of Chicago    2    3-1-1
7    University of Rochester    7    4-0-1
7    Amherst College    12    3-0-1
9    Franklin & Marshall College    9    5-0-1
10    University of Saint Thomas (Texas)    8    4-0-1
11    Carleton College    NR    7-0-0
12    SUNY Oneonta    13    6-0-0
13    Calvin University    11    6-1-0
14    Trinity University (Texas)    15    4-0-2
15    Babson College    RV    5-2-1
16    Gustavus Adolphus College    10    3-1-2
17    Middlebury College    21    3-0-1
18    University of Mount Union    RV    6-0-0
19    Emory University    25    3-1-2
20    Lebanon Valley College    RV    5-1-0
21    Rowan University    17    2-0-4
22    North Central College    20    6-1-0
23    Macalester College    18    4-1-2
24    SUNY Cortland    23    5-1-1
25    Case Western Reserve University    22    5-0-1

Records shown are through games of September 17, 2023

Also receiving votes: Christopher Newport University, Bowdoin College, Texas Lutheran University, Widener University, Johns Hopkins University, Salve Regina University, Denison University, North Central University, University of Lynchburg

The much-maligned USC coaches poll already knew Mary Washington was number one last week even before Chicago suffered its first loss and Messiah its first tie.  Williams jumps both of them to number 2.  Dropping St. Thomas from 8 to 10 is sort of rough considering its tie was to a DII team when F&M stayed at 9 and its tie was to DIII Haverford, a team that may be improving, but it's not showing up on the win column yet.  Carleton jumps all the way to 11 after not even receiving votes last week.

UIW just tied it up on a PK.  Trinity 1 -UIW 1

This is an example of a low D1 against a high D3 and a Trinity has looked very good despite giving up the PK

Final 1-1 tie

Will Washington College or Haverford be this year's Williams? Both currently site 1-0-5.

I don't think either team will make it to the NCAA finals, but if the Centennial Conference continues to go like it did on Saturday, there will be many more ties to come for both teams!

I think we established earlier this year that Massey past season influence went back 3-4 seasons, which would be necessary in Redlands’ case because last year was a down year for them.  And Redlands does have a 9-0 victory, but it was against a brand new NAIA side that is pretty bad.  Cal Tech beat the same team 5-1.

A number of games in the Northwest Conference today:

Pacific Lutheran 6 - Whitman 0

The Lutes continue their dominant weekend coming back to NWC play (after beating Whitworth 4-1 on Saturday).  Craig Johnson had a hat trick and Alvin Kamau had a brace in a game where Pacific Lutheran thoroughly out-matched Whitman. 

Whitworth 1 - Puget Sound 1

Whitworth salvages a point after the Pac Lu game, scoring the tying goal in the 88th minute. 

Pacific (OR) 4 - Lewis & Clark 0

This was L&C's first official game as a member of the NWC (after their game yesterday against Willamette was postponed).  It didn't go so well, but L&C did hold off Pacific through the first half, which ended 0-0.  Not surprisingly for a team in their second year of existence, they have very little depth and the second half was their undoing, giving up 4 goals.  Pacific played 31 players (pretty much their whole roster), which helped keep things from getting out of hand.  Lewis & Clark played 18, which included two goalkeepers and the third GK, who came on as a field player.  Not sure why L&C couldn't play more players considering they have a roster of 30. Perhaps they have an injury or illness bug that could also explain why their Saturday game against Willamette was postponed. 

Linfield 1 - George Fox 1.  It's apparently a rivalry match.