Will we be getting the d3 All Americans this year?
The D3soccer.com women's All-America teams, including Players of the Year and Coach of the Year, should be released tonight or tomorrow. The men's teams, POYs, and COY probably won't get released by the end of the work week, so more likely sometime over the weekend or Monday morning.
We do apologize that once again this year, like two years ago, we are not just slow/late with announcing our teams, but extremely late. It was another year where family and career responsibilities just made it extremely difficult to find ample time to work through our All-American process, not to mention that I am supposed to be largely retired from the website at this point (and was this season up until the conference and NCAA tournaments). I can say that I prioritized family over the holiday season much more this year than I have since joining D3soccer.com eight years ago, which was very good, but it contributed to the delay. This season was Jim Hutchinson's first in charge of the day-to-day running of the website, and he will certainly be looking for ways we can get our All-America teams selected and announced much more quickly following the conclusion of the season. Hopefully he (we) will find ways that our process can be changed and improved to be much more efficient and less time-consuming while not sacrificing quality. And more man-power would help immensely as well. Yes, we can always use more help with all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into maintaining D3soccer.com and doing things like the Top 25's, the All-America teams, etc. So if anyone has a serious interest in getting involved and joining the team in some capacity--big or small, then contact us at d3soccer.com@gmail.com
2018 D3soccer.com Men's All-America teamshttp://www.d3soccer.com/awards/all-america/2018/2018-Mens-AA
2018 MEN'S PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
| Forward | Nick West | Sr. | Messiah |
| Midfielder | Bryce Ikeda | Sr. | Rochester |
| Defender | Trent Vegter | Sr. | Calvin |
| Goalkeeper | AJ Marcucci | So. | Connecticut Col. |
2018 MEN'S ALL-AMERICANSFIRST TEAM
F | Nick West * | Sr. | Messiah |
F | Matthew Koh * | Sr. | Chicago |
F | Max Lopez ** | Sr. | Chicago |
M | Bryce Ikeda | Sr. | Rochester |
M | Gavin Tasker | Jr. | Tufts |
M | Dylan Ritch | Sr. | Washington & Lee |
M | Jacob Lyon | Jr. | Calvin |
D | Trent Vegter ** | Sr. | Calvin |
D | Bret Lowry * | Jr. | Kenyon |
D | Sterling Weatherbie | Sr. | Tufts |
GK | AJ Marcucci | So. | Connecticut Col. |
SECOND TEAM
F | Chewy Gordon | Sr. | Capital |
F | Joseph Fala | Jr. | Ramapo |
F | Ian Adams | Jr. | Calvin |
M | Jake Keller | Jr. | Cortland State |
M | Nicco Capotosto ** | Sr. | Chicago |
M | David Anderson | Sr. | Kenyon |
D | Moctar Niang | Sr. | Bowdoin |
D | Luke Groothoff | Fr. | Messiah |
D | Brady Johnston | Jr. | Trinity (Texas) |
D | Jacob Myers | Sr. | Eastern |
GK | Blake Mullen * | Sr. | St. Joseph's (Me.) |
THIRD TEAM
F | Bobby McCaw | Sr. | Calvin |
F | Joe Braun | Jr. | Tufts |
F | Nick Jannelli | Jr. | Haverford |
M | Zachary Senft | Jr. | Case Western |
M | Peder Olsen | So. | North Park |
M | Samuel Ruiz Plaza | Sr. | Messiah |
D | Jackson Greenspan | Sr. | Babson |
D | Cole Rosenberger | Sr. | Johns Hopkins |
D | Mark Roth | Sr. | Carleton |
D | William Birchard | So. | Claremont-M-S |
GK | Garrett Kaelin | Jr. | Augsburg |
| * previous D3soccer.com All-America honors |
2018 MEN'S COACH OF THE YEAR| Josh Shapiro | | Tufts (18-0-3) | | 2018 National Champion |
Thank you for not loading the 1st team with 8 forwards ;-)
Quote from: EB2319 on February 15, 2019, 05:11:38 PM
Thank you for not loading the 1st team with 8 forwards ;-)
Well, we're glad you like that. We like it too!!! ;-)
When D3soccer.com decided to name All-America teams almost ten years ago, the desire and commitment was to have a hard cap of three 11-player teams (33 players overall), and to have a ratio of forwards, midfielders and defenders that was fairly reflective of reality, both overall and within each of the three teams. The idea was to provide proportional representation in which forwards didn't have a greater chance at being selected just because it's the stat-friendly, head-lining position. There isn't a fixed number of forwards, midfielders, and defenders that get selected each year; there is flexibility to go deeper at a given position if it is believed that one position is stronger/deeper with more deserving candidates than another in a given year. D3soccer.com teams are usually 4-4-2, 4-3-3, or 3-4-3 with a the overall ratio typically being 11-11-8.**
This approach does mean tougher decisions--just 33 selections versus the USC's 45 to 50 picks, especially at forward (+/-8 versus as many as 20). If you want to more fairly compare D3soccer.com selections to the USC, make the comparison using just the USC's 1st and 2nd teams (32 players this year). I wouldn't proclaim that D3soccer.com is better at evaluating and selecting players than the USC, but I very much prefer our framework. Now if only we could develop a process/system and have the staff/manpower to be able to name our teams shortly after the Final Four. At present, the goal is by New Years, but as often as not, like this year, we don't even come close. *sigh*
** - What will probably never be realistic is to have somewhat proportional representation of center backs vs. outside backs, of defensive/holding mids vs. center/box-to-box mids vs. outside mids vs. attacking mids, of wingers vs. center forwards/strikers. An attempt is made to consider these different roles within the more general categories of forward, midfielder, defender, but there's no realistic way to assign more specific positions and have a voting process that is broken down like into so many more categories.
Submitting it late and doing it right is better than submitting it quickly and doing it slipshod, Christan. Thanks for the work you do for this.
Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 15, 2019, 11:37:34 PM
Submitting it late and doing it right is better than submitting it quickly and doing it slipshod, Christan. Thanks for the work you do for this.
Agree 100%.
How does Jethro Dede from SLU not make your All American team?
The kid was a First Team USC All American. What a player. What a miss from d3soccer.com!
Quote from: SaintsgoMarching on February 17, 2019, 11:45:47 PM
How does Jethro Dede from SLU not make your All American team?
The kid was a First Team USC All American. What a player. What a miss from d3soccer.com!
Looks like we've got a live homer!
In all seriousness, it's fine to debate these teams, but just because someone is a USC First Team AA has no relevance to whether they make another AA team — Tyler Savonen of Brandeis was a first team NSCAA AA in 2014 but, like Dede, did not receive D3soccer honors. He may have been worth a spot on the D3soccer team but being on one AA team does not necessitate a spot on the other — and with differing processes it's understandable that some miss out.
I hope you're here to do more than contest an AA spot. If so, welcome.
To blooter's point, Sterling Weatherby and Gavin Tasker are 1st team for d3soccer.com but when the USC AAs are announced at the final four banquet they were left off the stage. Although I think the two of them were probably fine with how the rest of the weekend went.
Overall the d3soccer.com AA selections do a really great job, and I'd argue they are better than the USC. It seems just looking at the list that d3 seems to put more emphasis on team success and tournament performance that USC which rewards regular season statistics. Two different methodologies but I think i'd take the d3 teams in a game against the USC.
Best way to address a "how can someone be left off" is ... "who would you replace and why?"
Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on February 21, 2019, 12:05:58 AM
Best way to address a "how can someone be left off" is ... "who would you replace and why?"
Heh, I might get myself into trouble here...I'll just say that I have definitely thought through hypothetical swaps in my head many times.
Saw that I got a -k, likely for my previous post. I've got no problem with a -k, and it wasn't my intention to be "holier-than-thou" or to be a jerk with the homer comment, but when someone whose username indicates a strong leaning comes on and makes a first accusatory post about how in the world X guy from their team didn't make an AA team, it is a bit hard to take seriously, which is why I responded tongue-in-cheek. That being said, having watched a bit of the Saints this past year, I personally think Dede is a great player, and — like the players that d4 put forth — probably would have been deserving of a spot. But, as DMac said, it's easier to hypothesize "why didn't you take X kid" versus making a claim of "I would replace Y with X because Z."
Bloots, I balanced you off with another +k!
Quote from: d4_Pace on February 18, 2019, 10:31:03 PM
Overall the d3soccer.com AA selections do a really great job, and I'd argue they are better than the USC. It seems just looking at the list that d3 seems to put more emphasis on team success and tournament performance that USC which rewards regular season statistics. Two different methodologies but I think i'd take the d3 teams in a game against the USC.
If the USC team is playing eight forwards, I'd definitely take the d3 teams!
Quote from: 1970s NESCAC Player on February 21, 2019, 01:27:14 PM
Bloots, I balanced you off with another +k!
And one for you: a +k for a +k!
I will also opine that I am definitely in favor of the 33 player cap...not a fan of the 8 forwards per team thing the USC does.