There was a heat wave in the North recently, right? So, doesn't that mean it's almost time for the fall season to start? No? Well, there are schedules available from that part of the country anyway so I figured I might as well start a thread.
Nebraska Wesleyan (https://nwusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They are hosting a mini-tournament Sept 7-8 with Colorado College and Simpson College. Last year, Nebraska Wesleyan played in Colorado College's tournament. Makes sense, since Nebraska Wesleyan is the closest D3 program to Colorado College (only 560 miles and about 8 hours away!)
The following weekend, they travel to Illinois to play Dominican and Elmhurst.
Wisconsin-Whitewater (https://uwwsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Some difficult road games in September, including at Macalester, at North Park in a mid-week game, and at Wartburg.
North Central (https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Starting out the season with a bang, hosting St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus in the first weekend and then hosting University of Chicago and Milwaukee School of Engineering about ten days later. Those four games alone could leave them either highly-ranked or trying to dig out of a hole. A few weeks later, they travel to Wisconsin to play Wisconsin-Platteville too.
Aurora (https://athletics.aurora.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Another team with a rough non-conference schedule to start the season, but all of these games are at home, hosting Loras, Wash U, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and Chicago in 4 of their first 6 games
Wartburg (https://go-knights.net/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
A difficult non-conference schedule that includes Macalester, MSOE, North Park, Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Wisconsin-Platteville later in the season
Augsburg (https://athletics.augsburg.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing close to home, but lots of the teams already mentioned
Dominican (https://dustars.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
North Central away in a scrimmage, but otherwise a pretty typical schedule.
Wheaton College (https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule) (Illinois) is coming to Southern California in the fall for a two game tour of the SCIAC.
They will play Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Thursday 9/12 and Chapman on Saturday 9/14
Would not be surprised at all if St. Olaf/GAC are both playing U of Chicago on opening weekend
Quote from: mngopher on March 10, 2024, 11:39:12 AMWould not be surprised at all if St. Olaf/GAC are both playing U of Chicago on opening weekend
Good call! Given that they are each playing at North Central opening weekend, it stands to reason that they are playing another Chicago team on the day they aren't playing North Central. With Chicago playing at St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus on opening weekend in 2023, it stands to reason that this will be each school's return trip in the home-and-home series.
A few more new schedules
North Park (https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Replaces two top Ohio schools from last year's schedule (Ohio Northern and John Carroll) with two top Wisconsin schools this year (Wisconsin Eau Claire and Wisconsin Whitewater)
UC Santa Cruz (https://goslugs.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Always interesting because they have no conference games and are 6+ hours away from the nearest D3 schools. The positive to offset that is that they have the advantage of being on the quarter system, which means classes don't even start until 9/21. So, they are bringing Pacific Lutheran and Pomona-Pitzer to Santa Cruz the Friday and Saturday of the first weekend of the season (which likely means Pacific Lutheran and Pomona-Pitzer are playing each other on Sunday in Santa Cruz) and then they travel to LA to play Occidental the next weekend, travel to Oregon to play weekday (W/F) games against Pacific and Willamette, and then back to LA to play weekday (W/F) games against La Verne and Redlands, all before their classes begin. After that, they play home or nearby games against DII or NAIA opponents, except for three more weekend trips to LA to play Chapman, Cal Lutheran, and CMS. The only SCIAC teams they don't play this year are Whittier and Cal Tech.
Baruch (https://athletics.baruch.cuny.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
First time they are playing NYU since 2021, when they lost 10-0.
Norwich (https://norwichathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Robert Emmett certainly isn't shying away from tough games in his first season at Norwich by scheduling his very first game of the season at the school he left at Middlebury. It's a team they've played regularly of late because of proximity, but not for the opener.
Coe College (https://kohawkathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
heading up to Wisconsin-Platteville for a late September game should be a challenge
St. Mary's (Minnesota) (https://saintmaryssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
One of the first schools to play at Wisconsin-Stout in its opening season
Ferrum College (https://ferrumpanthers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
You don't often see schools play a team in their conference for a game designated as a non-conference game, but they did it against Bridgewater in 2022 and are doing so again home and away in 2024. Not sure why. it doesn't look like they are that close to each other compared to other ODAC schools.
A couple more schedules
Ripon (https://riponredhawks.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Another team that has University of Wisconsin-Stout on its non-conference schedule in its inaugural year
John Carroll (https://jcusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Last year in the OAC, but they are getting a jump start on NCAC play by playing at Oberlin and home to Kenyon on the first weekend of the season. That isn't a surprise since they often play NCAC teams and these are just the second legs of home/away series that they started last year, but it is a chance for Kenyon to get revenge after losing 4-0 to John Carroll last year in Gambier. They are also hosting Stockton and Trine for something called the Cleveland Classic in mid-September on a Friday/Sunday, which probably means Trine and Stockton will play each other on that Saturday. Always nice to see those East Coast/Midwest clashes. Another interesting addition to the schedule is they are traveling to Williamsport to play Lycoming on Sept 21 after playing Ohio Wesleyan on the 18th, and before playing Case Western on the 25th and hosting Calvin on the 28th. That's a murderer's row of games. In fact, in their 10 non-conference games to start the season, only Oberlin and Trine did not have winning records last year and Trine was 7-7-3 and beat Kenyon.
Quote from: Kuiper on March 22, 2024, 02:56:02 PMA few more new schedules
Ferrum College (https://ferrumpanthers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
You don't often see schools play a team in their conference for a game designated as a non-conference game, but they did it against Bridgewater in 2022 and are doing so again home and away in 2024. Not sure why. it doesn't look like they are that close to each other compared to other ODAC schools.
Maybe so, but I know W&L has in the past. ODAC has so many teams (12 teams and not broken down into two or more divisions) and they are required to play so certain no. of ODAC games (used to be 8 and now 10 I believe). If I remember correctly, ODAC in 2019 did not schedule W&L to play Lynchburg as part of their ODAC schedule. Lynchburg and W&L are rivals so the coaches scheduled this game as a non-conference game that did not count for ODACs.
Obviously, ODAC coaches know each other and there may not be other options for scheduling especially being in rural western Virginia. I am guessing that teams like Ferrum and Bridgewater who work hard but have not have amazing results may have problems scheduling non-conf games as their opponent will most likely not gain much by playing either team regionally or nationally.
The 2024 season for the Wabash College Little Giants includes a trip to Dayton to take on the Flyers.
https://sports.wabash.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024 (https://sports.wabash.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Kalamazoo (https://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Chicago, North Park, and North Central again this year, but they've added Wheaton (IL), Illinois Wesleyan, and Elmhurst, to their Illinois opponents.
Ohio Northern (https://www.onusports.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Lots to talk about on this one, but I'll move some of the commentary to the NCAA rule change thread.
Notable that they are listed as playing at Colorado College and at UT Dallas on 9/13-9/14. I'm assuming they aren't actually flying out of Colorado Springs late at night on the 13th to play at Dallas early afternoon on the 14th, so UT Dallas is probably coming up to Colorado College for a round robin. I wonder if ONU is having work on its home field or something else is going on, because it seems a little unusual to not have a single home game between 9/11 and 10/9. They are spending a month and 6 games on the road. The games against Otterbein and Mount Union on 10/23 and 10/26 are at home, though, which could help decide the OAC regular season champion. Also, interesting to see that John Carroll is scheduled for an early November game after ONU is finished with its conference schedule. Seems like they wanted to keep the rivalry alive even after JCU switched to the NCAC and they found a way to squeeze it in before the conference tournaments.
SUNY Potsdam (https://potsdambears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They are playing in the Cardinal Classic at SUNY Plattsburgh on opening weekend against Baruch and Manhattanville. The following weekend, they host SUNY Delhi and John Jay
SUNY Canton (https://rooathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Also playing John Jay and SUNY Delhi that second weekend of the season, but those two teams are traveling between Potsdam and Canton for their games each day (not sure why SUNY has campuses 20 minutes apart, but it certainly makes it convenient for scheduling)
Quote from: Kuiper on April 04, 2024, 12:53:54 PMSUNY Potsdam (https://potsdambears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They are playing in the Cardinal Classic at SUNY Plattsburgh on opening weekend against Baruch and Manhattanville. The following weekend, they host SUNY Delhi and John Jay
SUNY Canton (https://rooathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Also playing John Jay and SUNY Delhi that second weekend of the season, but those two teams are traveling between Potsdam and Canton for their games each day (not sure why SUNY has campuses 20 minutes apart, but it certainly makes it convenient for scheduling)
Well for most of its history Canton was a 2 year Ag/Tech school. Only transitioned into the 4 year/division III profile within the last 15 years. ~10 years ago SUNY made a big push to combine the schools but there was enough pushback among alumni and campus administration that it was scrapped in the end. People lost jobs/were forced into retirement over it. Given the current landscape of higher ed this is probably going to happen down the road anyways.
The Ohio Northern Polar Bears open the fall season with Kenyon followed by Oberlin, Hope, Calvin, Ohio Wesleyan, Colorado College and UTD (games in Colorado), Washington (Mo.) and Greenville.
ONU also plays Rose-Hulman.
I have a thread on the D3Boards page about this already, but I'll continue it here for now while we wait to see if those boards can be brought back to life:
Illinois Wesleyan (https://www.iwusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
For a team that won the CCIW AQ before losing to Chicago in the first round, this is a pretty underwhelming non-conference schedule, although Lake Forest did advance to the NCAA tournament (despite a losing record) by winning the MWC tourney. Some of these are return legs from home-and-away contracts, but maybe they heard about the NCAA selection criteria changes recommended for D3 and decided they got plenty of Strength of Schedule from CCIW and they would stay easier in non-conference games.
Kalamazoo (https://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
One of IWU's opponents for 2024. They host Chicago and play at North Park and North Central.
Lawrence (https://vikings.lawrence.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They didn't win a single game in 2023. Maybe that's why they added the brand new men's soccer team at University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point to their schedule twice (once in an exhibition game)
Denison (https://denisonbigred.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
It's pretty easy to see why Coach Bianco is so interested in deferring the proposed change in NCAA tournament selection criteria a year (which apparently hurt teams with rigorous schedules because of a provision for dropping bad wins - wins against weak teams - from the SoS calculation). His non-conference schedule has Denison playing Stevens, Mount Union, Case Western Reserve, Christopher Newport, and Otterbein. Plus, Capital, Grove City, and Centre all had winning records last year and the only team they play with a losing record from last year is Transylvania, which was only 1 under 500 and Denison plays them away. Having said that, Denison is playing Stevens, Mount Union, Case, CNU, and Otterbein all at home in their gorgeous new soccer stadium.
Union (https://athletics.gcc.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2023)
A strong schedule for them, opening away to Oneonta and home to New Paltz and then away to TCNJ and Rutgers-Newark. They also play at Williams and host Brandeis and Plattsburgh.
Chapman (https://athletics.chapman.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Chapman has some interesting non-conference games on the schedule early in the season. On the second weekend, they travel to Montclair, New Jersey to take on Stevens and Montclair State. The following weekend, they host Wheaton (IL) and Whitman. Immediately thereafter, they open the SCIAC schedule at Redlands and at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. I suspect we'll know a lot about whether Chapman is a pretender or contender after that string of games.
Millikin (https://athletics.millikin.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They've added a trip to Iowa to play Grinnell for the first time since at least 2010, if ever.
North Carolina Wesleyan (https://ncwsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Pretty tough first four games
@Mary Washington
@Randolph Macon
@ Emory
@ Oglethorpe
Averett (https://averettcougars.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
No Davidson DI game like last year.
Gustavus Adolphus (https://gogusties.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Similar schedule to last year in the second year of home-and-homes: Hosting Loras and Luther this year Away at Chicago, but added away at North Central while they are in town.
As an aside, it's interesting that they are starting with two exhibitions against college club teams - University of Minnesota and Gustavus Adolphus club team. I'm sure UM's club team is relatively high quality, but couldn't they just play Gustavus' own club team informally with an asst coach as a referee?
Central College (https://athletics.central.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opening the season hosting Macalester and Westminster
RPI (https://rpiathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Not as tough as starting with Mary Washington last year, but New Paltz for a first game won't be a walk in the park, especially at New Paltz in a round robin where neither team is likely expend as much energy with their other game against Sarah Lawrence. RPI also hosts Colby on a Sunday in the middle of its conference schedule after playing at Union the day before.
Lycoming (https://lycomingathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Playing a trio of Ohio schools: Baldwin Wallace (at the PSU-Behrend tournament to open the season) and hosting Case Western Reserve and John Carroll. Also hosting Messiah in a rematch of a game they lost 2-0 in Grantham last year
Keystone (https://www.gokcgiants.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
This appears to be their non-conference schedule only, which includes games against Lycoming and at Salisbury (MD)
Probably the big news is that Keystone actually is putting up a schedule for Fall 2024. Last week, Keystone's accreditor required it to submit a closure/teach-out plan. Doesn't mean it's closing, but something doesn't sound right at the school based on this story.
https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/news/accreditor-requires-keystone-college-to-prepare-plan-for-potential-closure/article_a40f1e44-a414-5e48-858e-27a767ba0ad8.html
Cententary (https://centenarycyclones.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
As with Keystone, this is non-conference schedule only. They open against Stockton again this year, which won't be easy.
Washington & Jefferson (https://gopresidents.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing Oberlin rather than Mount Union this year, which is probably a better matchup for them among Ohio teams. Also added La Roche and Mt. Aloysius and dropped Muskingum to a scrimmage.
Earlham (https://goearlham.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I had no idea there was an Indiana University East, but apparently it is an NAIA team. Only two non-conference games are away from home.
Bates (https://gobatesbobcats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Bates appears to be the first NESCAC school to post their schedule. Only non-conference game change from last year is they are playing St. Joseph's of Maine instead of Maine Maritime Academy. That's an upgrade and a potentially tough first game of the year as St. Joseph's was 12-4-3 last year, while Maine Maritime was a decent 8-7-2, but lost to Bates 9-0.
Hendrix (https://hendrixwarriors.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Hendrix provides an answer to the annual question of who Trinity is going to invite to San Antonio for its early season round robin. With Hendrix also playing Southwestern in Georgetown, TX, there's probably a third team involved in San Antonio. It makes sense that Trinity and Southwestern want to play Hendrix, though, because they probably would like an advance look at a future SAA opponent. Hendrix has four open TBA spots in the schedule, at least one of which is the result of losing one SAA conference game with Birmingham Southern's closure.
Wisconsin-Stevens Point (https://athletics.uwsp.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Inaugural schedule for UW-SP. They have a certain amount of optimism with Northland College on the schedule (although, to be fair, they seem to be trying to get by with belt-tightening and department cuts). After a reasonably gentle schedule the first part of the season including both non-conference and conference game against fellow newcomer Wisconsin-Stout, they travel to Loras late in the season in what looks like an attempt to ramp up to play a murder's row of conference opponents in Whitewater, Eau Claire, and Platteville.
Millsaps (https://gomajors.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024?grid=true)
It looks like they are replacing Birmingham Southern by playing Tougaloo College (NAIA) twice in a home and away series.
Calvin University (https://calvinknights.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Starting with a local set of games against Letourneau and Lake Forest College (wouldn't be surprised if both also played Hope College that same weekend). Then off to Oregon to play Willamette and Pacific Lutheran. The rest of the non-conference looks similar to last few years: University of Chicago, Ohio Wesleyan and several other Ohio schools.
Farmingdale State (https://farmingdalesports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Trip to New Jersey the second weekend of the season to play The College of New Jersey and Rutgers Newark. Also travels to play Haverford in a mid-week game to break up conference play for each team.
Hamline (https://hamlineathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Could be an honorary member of the WIAC with Stout, Stevens Point, and River Falls on the schedule, all of whom are starting up new teams.
Lakeland (https://lakelandmuskies.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024?grid=true)
Another team playing brand new WIAC schools in Stout and Stevens Point
https://umweagles.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule
Home v Messiah and Rowan
Neutral v Colorado College
at Hopkins, Rhodes & Mt Union
Quote from: eaglesoccerdad on May 03, 2024, 04:27:36 PMhttps://umweagles.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule
Home v Messiah and Rowan
Neutral v Colorado College
at Hopkins, Rhodes & Mt Union
Presumably, Colorado College is doing the away portion of a home-and-away series at Christopher Newport and is playing Mary Washington and Christopher Newport on the trip. That is a crazy hard away trip!
Lake Forest (https://goforesters.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Seems like a lighter schedule than last year when they played Colorado College and North Central, but they do play Wisconsin-Whitewater.
University of New England (https://athletics.une.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing both Bowdoin and Bates again this year
Clarkson (https://clarksonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing at Rochester before it starts conference play against RIT.
Some NWC schedules dropped recently. The upper half of the NWC could be a model of what a new, post Pairwise/NPI NCAA selection system schedule could look like. The NWC is a top-heavy conference where the second place team can still amass a lot of wins against the weaker teams in the conference, but under the old system ends up with a weak strength-of-schedule. They play a double round robin in conference, which means less travel and fewer non-conference games (i.e., fewer opportunities to get SoS points). Typically, they have a few games against Pacific Northwest NAIA/DII teams and then the more ambitious teams host or travel for at least a few games against other teams in Region X. Under the new system where the wins against bad opponents are dropped for SoS purposes, but not for W-L record purposes, this allows them to get a few strong-ish non-conference wins that could raise their strength of schedule if they need it because they don't win the NWC automatic qualifier, while still having a great overall record.
Whitworth (https://whitworthpirates.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Whitworth is traveling to Texas the second week of the season to play Trinity at Trinity and Southwestern in Georgetown, TX. Those could be good games. Whitworth started slowly last year as Kevin Moon was named interim head coach after school ended and therefore didn't have a spring season to get to know his players, but the team only lost two games in conference (both to Pacific Lutheran) and finished 12-4-4. This year, Moon was named permanent head coach and Cole Friesen, who only played 1 game as a freshman, but blossomed under Moon as a sophomore, scoring 24 goals and getting 5 assists, returns as a junior and should continue to be dangerous.
Whitman (https://athletics.whitman.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
After traveling to Texas last season, Whitman travels to Southern California the third weekend of the upcoming season to play at La Verne, Redlands, and Chapman.
St. Norbert (https://athletics.snc.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Not as hard a schedule as 2023, when they opened at Calvin, at Hope, and at North Central. They open at debutante Wisconsin Stevens Point instead, but they do add games at Gustavus Adolphus and at Carthage to this year's schedule
Martin Luther (https://mlcknights.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Not as many non-conference games because the UMAC does a double round robin, but they do add Ripon to the schedule this year
Methodist (https://mumonarchs.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Methodist opens the season by traveling to San Antonio to play Trinity and Southwestern. The next weekend, it then travels north to play at Hood and at Shenandoah
University of St. Joseph (CT) (https://www.usjbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
They typically only have a couple of non-conference games because the GNAC takes up so much space, but they did upgrade a little by hosting Wheaton.
Inaugural UW-River Falls schedule. As you can imagine, lots of UMAC and MIAC.
https://uwrfsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Quote from: PauldingLightUP on May 08, 2024, 04:33:39 PMInaugural UW-River Falls schedule. As you can imagine, lots of UMAC and MIAC.
https://uwrfsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
For a brand new team in its first season, that is kind of a brutal schedule. They play 4 teams that made it to at least the second round of the NCAA tournament (St. Olaf, Carleton, Platteville, and Eau-Claire), including the National Champion in St. Olaf and the team St. Olaf scraped by in the 3rd round (Eau-Claire) by a score of 4-3 on a goal in the 85th minute after Eau-Claire had tied it up in the 83rd minute.
I didn't realize that the MAC Commonwealth had only 7 conference games. Makes room for lots of opportunities for teams like Messiah and York to schedule pretty good non-conference opponents.
Messiah (https://gomessiah.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Of particular interest to me is Cal Lutheran, which is making the big cross-country trip this year. Ironically, I don't think Cal Lu has a single player on its roster from the east coast (and only one from east of Arizona I think). Messiah is also hosting Carthage, which is making a big trip of its own, that same weekend. Messiah does have some interesting away games as well, including at Rowan, at Mary Washington, and at Lycoming.
York College of PA (https://ycpspartans.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
York opens up hosting Carnegie Mellon, which will be eager for revenge after York beat them last year in Pittsburgh 1-0, and traveling to Washington College, which would like revenge for a 1-1 tie last year at York. Otherwise, I'm not sure if Nate Gibboney had much to say about this schedule, but if he did he has kept the degree of difficulty fairly modest in what amounts to a rebuilding year.
Cross-Posted from the Go West thread
Pomona-Pitzer just posted its schedule (https://www.instagram.com/p/C6wXCkgJGpN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)on its instagram page, although it's not up on its web page yet
They play UC Santa Cruz and Pacific Lutheran on opening weekend at Santa Cruz as part of a round robin and then hosts PLU's fellow NWC member Puget Sound the following weekend. They have an interesting SCIAC draw this year (since they have gone away from the double round robin format, schools play some teams once and others twice). They play Oxy, Redlands, Cal Lu, La Verne and Whittier twice, but CMS, Chapman, and Cal tech only once. On the one hand, this is a pretty tough draw since Oxy and Redlands were the class of the conference last season. Plus, they only play CMS once and P-P gets up for that game no matter what the records (they beat them in the last game of the season in 2023). On the other hand, having the 6th Street Rivalry game at CMS means it will be under the lights on a Saturday night and that should make for a pretty big combined crowd from the two schools that are on the same campus. Also, if Cal Tech keeps trending up, it might not be a bad thing to only play them once.
Lyon (https://lyonscots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
One of the so-called Baptist 4 from the ASC is listed as an opponent, with Howard Payne hosting Lyon on opening weekend (only other I have seen is East Texas Baptist playing an exhibition game against Hendrix). Lyon played HPU last year, though, so that isn't surprising.
Northland (https://northlandcollegesports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
With the school's future seemingly secured, at least for next year, they have released their schedule. Two of their three non-conference games are against brand new programs (Wisconsin-Stout and Wisconsin-Stevens Point). The question is what Northland's roster will look like with the school's future so uncertain up until very recently. They had 7 seniors last year and I don't know if they were able to secure much of a freshman class. More significantly, they had 18 freshman and sophomores on the roster last year and only 6 juniors. The juniors may stay to graduate, but I could see many of the underclassmen transferring either for a more stable school or because their major was cut in the curriculum reform that was part of the effort to cut costs.
Dickinson (https://dickinsonathletics.com/sports/msoc/schedule) [UPDATED]
They play at Messiah in a game they only lost 1-0 last year in Carlisle. They add Marymount, Shenandoah, and St. Mary's MD to their nonconference schedule this year. All teams with winning records last year and St. Mary's lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to John Carroll. That seems a step up from the non-conference foes they replaced from 2023 - Southern VA, Penn State Brandywine, and Hood.
Spalding (https://spaldingathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing Wilmington and Elmhurst at home on the second weekend of the season.
Marietta (https://pioneers.marietta.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Ambitious, but somewhat odd, 4+ hour trip to Roanoke for a single game on a Saturday in mid-September sandwiched between away Wednesday games at Franciscan the week before and at Case Western the week after.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 12, 2024, 12:58:26 PMDickinson (https://www.instagram.com/p/C61lcBLLANq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Thy posted their schedule on Instagram, although it doesn't appear to be on the website yet. They host Messiah in a game they only lost 1-0 last year in Carlisle. They add Marymount, Shenandoah, and St. Mary's MD to their nonconference schedule this year. All teams with winning records last year and St. Mary's lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to John Carroll. That seems a step up from the non-conference foes they replaced from 2023 - Southern VA, Penn State Brandywine, and Hood.
*** (SNIP)
Actually that Messiah-Dickinson game will be played in Grantham.
The Falcons also announced the incoming class, which is large and seems no less talented than the previous two groups (https://gomessiah.com/news/2024/5/8/mens-soccer-announces-incoming-class-schedule-for-2024-season.aspx). However, two FR from last year's roster are not on this year's roster, CB Mark Adja (who scored that goal on a brilliant header vs Dickinson last fall) and MF-Winger Bruno Franco, a Brazilian who played at Avon Old Farms High School (CT).
I do not know why either young man left the program. A highlight video of Franco, opening with the information that he has 3 years of eligibility left, went up last month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZaqARpfQTA. Presumably he wants to transfer, but I found no information about where, and of course D3 has always been completely free for that (as it should be). My assumption is he just wants more PT. Adja also put up a highlight video last month, starting with the Dickinson goal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LXwRIRQlQA). He would have played a lot more had he not been injured for several games. Maybe he would even have started this fall, replacing Jake Lent-Koop who graduated and is now on the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (https://www.riverhounds.com/roster/jake-lent-koop/) for whom he has not yet played.
The fact that Messiah has two incoming freshmen who already enrolled this spring just goes to show how different this program is from others in D3. I've never heard anyone even thinking of graduating HS early to get a jump on their D3 career. Certainly not something I would have ever done, but then again I wasn't recruited by Messiah ;-)
Hood (https://hoodathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Coming off two straight three win seasons, it's not surprising that Hood has tried to schedule a few more competitive games, adding schools like Wilson College and Galludet instead of Lynchburg and Dickinson.
Thiel (https://thielathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
After five straight years of either 0 or 1 wins, Thiel's problems really can't be solved with finding more evenly matched opponents.
Salisbury (https://suseagulls.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opens the season hosting Rowan and TCNJ in its own round robin tournament and then follows up the next weekend playing in the St. Mary's (MD) tournament against Centennial foes Dickinson and Washington College. With games against Messiah, Johns Hopkins, Muhlenberg, St. Mary's (MD), Widener, York and home-and-away series against Mary Washington and Christopher Newport, Salisbury's strength of schedule could be through the roof. I think the only opponents with losing records last year are Keystone, TCNJ, Stevenson, and York (which was just one win from being .500 and could be due for a rebound with Lycoming's former HC taking over).
Simpson (https://www.simpsonathletics.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
As discussed in the Go West thread, they play Colorado College and Concordia Moorhead in neutral site Lincoln, Nebraska on the second weekend.
Wilkes (https://gowilkesu.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Adds Marywood, Misericordia, Rosemont, Ursinus to the non-conference schedule this year.
Hobart (https://hwsathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Opens the season with four straight road games, including at Oneonta, and then the home opener is against Rochester before starting conference play. Not the easiest end to the season either, replicating its 2023 schedule playing a mid-week non-conference game against Buffalo State and then ending against St. Lawrence, but this year both of those games are away.
Williams (https://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Reasonably challenging non-conference schedule for a NESCAC school. @Wheaton (MA), Union, @Western Connecticut State, SUNY Cortland, and @Keene State. Every one of those teams had a winning record last year.
The Western Connecticut game is on a Sunday after playing Trinity the day before (where they will likely stay in a hotel in CT between games) and the Cortland game is on a Sunday after playing Bates the day before, so Williams is likely counting on the Bates and Trinity games not being particularly taxing. If either or both NESCAC foes turn things around this year, that could make for difficult weekends.
Concordia Chicago (https://www.cucougars.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Carthage and Concordia open the season against each other again, this time at Concordia in Chicago. Hosts Hope on Friday 9/13, which probably will be paired with a game at Chicago that weekend since Chicago played at Hope last year.
Inaugural Stout schedule features four MIAC, four UMAC, two ARC, two NACC and one MWC.
https://stoutbluedevils.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Quote from: PauldingLightUP on May 20, 2024, 05:07:20 PMInaugural Stout schedule features four MIAC, four UMAC, two ARC, two NACC and one MWC.
https://stoutbluedevils.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Going to guess that first game was set up a long time ago. Justin Oliver (current St Olaf head coach) was the UW-Stout head coach for a month or two before the St Olaf job unexpectedly opened up in July. He had been the associate HC at Olaf, so when Travis Wall left for Kenyon the Oles scooped Oliver back up for the sake of continuity. Justin's twin brother Tyler is the head coach at Hamline, which is the squad Stout will play in their inaugural game.
Wittenberg (https://www.wittenbergtigers.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Last year, they played Muskingum in the last game before opening conference play at Ohio Wesleyan. This year, they are playing @Carnegie Mellon in that last game before hosting OWU to start conference play. We'll see if the tougher pre-conference game better prepares them for the rigors of OWU or wears them out for that game. Other than that game, the rest of the non-conference schedule is fairly similar to last year, either in opponent or level of opponent.
William Paterson (https://www.wpupioneers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They open with a trip to the Boston area to play at Endicott and Gordon. They also switch out Hunter College from last year with Brooklyn and Baruch College.
Keystone (https://www.gokcgiants.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Now that they have news that it looks like the college will stay open for at least another year, they have completed the partial schedule they posted earlier. The big non-conference trip looks like the one to Salisbury before starting conference play.
I see where Keystone has misspelled the name of one of their opponents. Free refills on coffee today for the first person who knows the answer.
Cairn University, who happens to have a player with my favorite college name of all time... Moses Beers.
Illinois College features two HCAC, four SLIAC, two CCIW and one ARC.
https://illinoiscollegeathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Johns Hopkins (https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Heck of a way to start the non-conference schedule, playing at Washington & Lee and home to Sewanee on opening weekend and then hosting Kenyon and Rowan the following weekend. They also host Mary Washington in a mid-week game sandwiched in-between the conference opener at Muhlenberg and the conference home opener against Ursinus.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 22, 2024, 04:49:37 PMJohns Hopkins (https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Heck of a way to start the non-conference schedule, playing at Washington & Lee and home to Sewanee on opening weekend and then hosting Kenyon and Rowan the following weekend. They also host Mary Washington in a mid-week game sandwiched in-between the conference opener at Muhlenberg and the conference home opener against Ursinus.
Very true. May have one of the toughest out of conf. schedules. It was strong last year, but this is even stronger. Plus W&L is about a 3.5-4 hr ride so they'll have to go the day before and made a commitment to travel even further to TN the next year. They could easily play any local team which are obviously much closer and less competitive.
Zoinks. That's a doozy. Heck, St. Mary's, Rowan and R-UN are all capable of putting together quality squads in addition to the ones you guys highlighted.
It's a "Schools that start with the letter "M" theme"
Manchester (https://muspartans.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
This kind of went under the radar, but Manchester was 10-1-8 last year. They lost to Rose-Hulman in the HCAC Championship 1-0 for their only loss on the year, but if they had a stronger strength-of-schedule maybe they could have been the Williams of 2023 with only 1 loss and 8 ties. Doesn't look like they did anything to rectify that situation and go for it this year. They switched out Grace Christian (7-8-5 in NCCAA) and Illinois Tech (6-9-6) for Marian (3-8-4) and Saint Mary of the Woods (1-13-2 in NAIA). If anything, they got an easier schedule.
Marian (https://sabreathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2023)
Not too much to see here, but it is interesting to see that they include their "Varsity Reserve" games on their regular schedule. You don't see that as much in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic or West, but it seems a bit more common in the Upper Midwest. They play Ripon and Carroll in Varsity games, but also their reserve squad plays each of those two schools twice in home-and-away games. Unless they have a reserve roster not listed on their website Marian had 33 total players on the roster last year, which actually is pretty modest compared to some schools with Varsity Reserve or "JV" squads.
Macalester (https://athletics.macalester.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They've switched out Wisconsin-Superior and Carthage for Wisconsin-Whitewater and Grinnell, which seems more or less like a wash. Macalester will have enough SoS from Carleton, St. Olaf, and Gustavus Adolphus in conference.
Rochester (https://uofrathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opens the season at SUNY Cortland and then has a tough road trip to Stevens at the end of September. It played both teams at home last year. It also plays Clarkson instead of Keuka, which is a big upgrade
Westminster (https://athletics.westminster.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Swaps out Pitt-Greensburg for Penn State Altoona, but otherwise the same as last year.
Beloit schedule features one MIAC, three SLIAC, two WIAC, one HCAC, two NACC, and one CCIW.
https://beloitcollegeathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
And because I was double checking Westimnster. MO Blue Jay's features two ARC, two MWC, one NCAC, and two others.
https://www.wcbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule
Hope features one MWC, one ASC, one OAC, three NCAC, two NACC, one SLIAC, and one UAA.
https://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Carroll features one UMAC, one MIAC, three NACC, one MWC, two ARC, and one WIAC.
https://gopios.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Quote from: PauldingLightUP on May 24, 2024, 03:12:47 PMHope features one MWC, one ASC, one OAC, three NCAC, two NACC, one SLIAC, and one UAA.
https://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Carroll features one UMAC, one MIAC, three NACC, one MWC, two ARC, and one WIAC.
https://gopios.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
.500ish LeTourneau (TX) travelling all the way to MI to play Hope (and you'd imagine someone else while they're at it) is a real head-scratcher. They do annually often take one out-of-region trip but this is more out-of-region than usual. Next season will be their last in the ASC before moving to the SCAC.
Quote from: Ron Boerger on May 24, 2024, 04:01:05 PMQuote from: PauldingLightUP on May 24, 2024, 03:12:47 PMHope features one MWC, one ASC, one OAC, three NCAC, two NACC, one SLIAC, and one UAA.
https://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Carroll features one UMAC, one MIAC, three NACC, one MWC, two ARC, and one WIAC.
https://gopios.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
.500ish LeTourneau (TX) travelling all the way to MI to play Hope (and you'd imagine someone else while they're at it) is a real head-scratcher. They do annually often take one out-of-region trip but this is more out-of-region than usual. Next season will be their last in the ASC before moving to the SCAC.
I saw that as well and the only thing I can figure is that LeTourneau's coach was trying to negotiate some home-and-away series when he thought it might not get the invitation to the SCAC and would need additional non-conference games in future years. They only accepted the invite to the SCAC last month and presumably this deal was reached some time before then. Plus, since they won't join the SCAC until next fall, they needed the two extra non-conference games this year, which made an out-of-state trip a good idea. Of course, they might have been able to do that without going quite so far, but once you hop on an airplane, the extra cost isn't going to vary too greatly.
https://athletics.stolaf.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
The defending national champs hosting a couple of teams from Region X as well as the expected trip to Chicago. A few other solid in-region non-conference opponents including UW Platteville and UW Eau Claire.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 24, 2024, 04:19:42 PMQuote from: Ron Boerger on May 24, 2024, 04:01:05 PMQuote from: PauldingLightUP on May 24, 2024, 03:12:47 PMHope features one MWC, one ASC, one OAC, three NCAC, two NACC, one SLIAC, and one UAA.
https://athletics.hope.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Carroll features one UMAC, one MIAC, three NACC, one MWC, two ARC, and one WIAC.
https://gopios.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
.500ish LeTourneau (TX) travelling all the way to MI to play Hope (and you'd imagine someone else while they're at it) is a real head-scratcher. They do annually often take one out-of-region trip but this is more out-of-region than usual. Next season will be their last in the ASC before moving to the SCAC.
I saw that as well and the only thing I can figure is that LeTourneau's coach was trying to negotiate some home-and-away series when he thought it might not get the invitation to the SCAC and would need additional non-conference games in future years. They only accepted the invite to the SCAC last month and presumably this deal was reached some time before then. Plus, since they won't join the SCAC until next fall, they needed the two extra non-conference games this year, which made an out-of-state trip a good idea. Of course, they might have been able to do that without going quite so far, but once you hop on an airplane, the extra cost isn't going to vary too greatly.
LeTourneau is playing Calvin on Friday, Aug. 30 and Hope on Saturday, Aug. 31.
One possible explanation for lining up these opponents is that LeTourneau is a Christian/faith-based institution as are Hope and Calvin, even if their historical and current-day denominational affiliations differ. Hope and Calvin come from the Reformed tradition while LeTourneau, though always non-denominational, historically was more on the Baptist/evangelical/fundamental end of the spectrum. (Full disclosure: as a very strong engineering school, LeTourneau was my second choice behind Messiah back in the late 80's.)
Kenyon
https://athletics.kenyon.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Kenyon was spoiled last year with 12 home games, 2024 schedule features a more mainstream 8 home games. They add JHU and F&M to non-conference play which should make for an interesting weekend. Coach Travis Wall adds huge recruiting class of 15, ready to make his mark in his 2nd season with the Owls.
Ohio Wesleyan
https://battlingbishops.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule
OWU has similar start to 2024 season as in 2023. First 7 games are against 5 NCAA tourney contenders - and Mt. Union, 16-2-2 in 2023. Need to avoid a repeat of the 2022 season when they didn't see their first win until their 8th game. They always finish strong in conference play and cap their season vs. Denison.
One of the things I expected with Wall was an upgrade on scheduling and willingness to travel. Just thrilled although the Owls have the toughest schedule I've seen for them since I've been following.
First 4 games...ONU, JCU, F&M, JHU...then later CNU, away at Trine who put a loss on the Owls last year, and Otterbein.
Excited about recruiting class. One downer...Alex Ramirez transferred back to his home state and so Trinity in TX will be getting a big pickup in create and distribute in the midfield.
Good to see youback, PaulNewman!
St. Joseph's (CT) (https://www.usjbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
They finished 13-2-3 last year, but lost in the conference tournament and didn't get to the NCAA's because of Strength of Schedule. They are kind of the poster child for the new NCAA selection system because they only have a couple of non-conference game slots given the its 14 conference games. They do add Wheaton this year, but instead of SUNY Poly, which was an NCAA tournament team last year and they add John Jay. Probably still need to win the GNAC to qualify.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 27, 2024, 03:47:11 PMSt. Joseph's (CT) (https://www.usjbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
They finished 13-2-3 last year, but lost in the conference tournament and didn't get to the NCAA's because of Strength of Schedule. They are kind of the poster child for the new NCAA selection system because they only have a couple of non-conference game slots given the its 14 conference games. They do add Wheaton this year, but instead of SUNY Poly, which was an NCAA tournament team last year and they add John Jay. Probably still need to win the GNAC to qualify.
Last year their win % ranked tied for 2nd in their region of 49 teams. Their SOS wasn't fantastic, but well above average at .535 which ranked 13th in their region. They were not regionally ranked. 2 teams in their region that were in the regional rankings - one had #19 win % plus #3 SOS and another #14 win % plus #10 SOS. St Joseph's also had a similar to better record vs ranked than both. 1-1-2 vs 1-5-1 and 1-3-3.
And as you mentioned, with 14 conference games it is not easy for a team like St Joseph's to do much about SOS.
These are the types of examples (along with Mount Union) that make the argument for something new to be used with the ranking committees. SOS appears to be more important than results, which just doesn't seem right.
Buena Vista (https://bvuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
In the last three seasons, Buena Vista has won 2 games, 0 games, and 1 game. I'm not sure where a win comes from in 2024 among new teams to its schedule. One candidate is Monmouth College, which it plays at home in the second game of the season and was 3-11-2 last year, but Monmouth beat NCAA tournament qualifier Lake Forest last year in conference play. Spurgeon College, an NCCAA team, is another candidate. It had a decent 4-7-1 record last year, but it lose to Coe College 8-1 and Buena Vista only lost to Coe 3-0.
Washington & Lee (https://generalssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I wonder if this was Singleton's parting gift to the team. Open by hosting Johns Hopkins and Catholic, then travel to Tennessee to play Sewanee and Georgia to play Covenant the following weekend and the weekend after that play Oglethorpe in Atlanta. Also plays at Christopher Newport in the middle of the week in the middle of its conference schedule. All teams with winning records.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 28, 2024, 12:54:38 PMBuena Vista (https://bvuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
In the last three seasons, Buena Vista has won 2 games, 0 games, and 1 game. I'm not sure where a win comes from in 2024 among new teams to its schedule. One candidate is Monmouth College, which it plays at home in the second game of the season and was 3-11-2 last year, but Monmouth beat NCAA tournament qualifier Lake Forest last year in conference play. Spurgeon College, an NCCAA team, is another candidate. It had a decent 4-7-1 record last year, but it lose to Coe College 8-1 and Buena Vista only lost to Coe 3-0.
Washington & Lee (https://generalssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I wonder if this was Singleton's parting gift to the team. Open by hosting Johns Hopkins and Catholic, then travel to Tennessee to play Sewanee and Georgia to play Covenant the following weekend and the weekend after that play Oglethorpe in Atlanta. Also plays at Christopher Newport in the middle of the week in the middle of its conference schedule. All teams with winning records.
That's not far off a typical schedule for W&L lately. Usually Emory is part of the southern swing, but Oglethorpe is in Charlotte, not Atlanta. So one long road trip for Sewanee and Covenant, who are relatively close together, Charlotte is a manageable trip. CNU is a frequent opponent, JHU and Catholic are home.
The schedule has been hard since
Singleton came in. It has paid off. Hopefully W&L can stay on the track he put them on. With the change in Pool C selections, I suspect one or two of these hard games will be subbed out going forward, but it still pays to challenge yourself.
Quote from: jknezek on May 28, 2024, 01:31:04 PMQuote from: Kuiper on May 28, 2024, 12:54:38 PMBuena Vista (https://bvuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
In the last three seasons, Buena Vista has won 2 games, 0 games, and 1 game. I'm not sure where a win comes from in 2024 among new teams to its schedule. One candidate is Monmouth College, which it plays at home in the second game of the season and was 3-11-2 last year, but Monmouth beat NCAA tournament qualifier Lake Forest last year in conference play. Spurgeon College, an NCCAA team, is another candidate. It had a decent 4-7-1 record last year, but it lose to Coe College 8-1 and Buena Vista only lost to Coe 3-0.
Washington & Lee (https://generalssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I wonder if this was Singleton's parting gift to the team. Open by hosting Johns Hopkins and Catholic, then travel to Tennessee to play Sewanee and Georgia to play Covenant the following weekend and the weekend after that play Oglethorpe in Atlanta. Also plays at Christopher Newport in the middle of the week in the middle of its conference schedule. All teams with winning records.
That's not far off a typical schedule for W&L lately. Usually Emory is part of the southern swing, but Oglethorpe is in Charlotte, not Atlanta. So one long road trip for Sewanee and Covenant, who are relatively close together, Charlotte is a manageable trip. CNU is a frequent opponent, JHU and Catholic are home.
The schedule has been hard since
Singleton came in. It has paid off. Hopefully W&L can stay on the track he put them on. With the change in Pool C selections, I suspect one or two of these hard games will be subbed out going forward, but it still pays to challenge yourself.
Thanks for correcting the Ogelthorpe game location. A little better, but still not a home game against a team that gave them fits last year in an early season matchup in Atlanta.
It's really the opener against Johns Hopkins that stands out, especially with a new coach (particularly if they go with someone different than Freeman and there's an adjustment).
W&L has been playing Hop since my days, off and on. For whatever reason, it's just a thing.
Muhlenberg (https://muhlenbergsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Quote from: Hopkins92 on May 28, 2024, 10:33:03 PMW&L has been playing Hop since my days, off and on. For whatever reason, it's just a thing.
Not as often as you'd think given proximity. Only 10 game, with the first being 1973, then six more between 88 and 92. The last 3 were 2007, '18, and '19, with '18 being the Tournament game at Messiah and 1990 played in Pittsburgh. JHU has had the better of W&L, going 6-3-1, though of the 10 games, 6 were played at Hopkins, 2 at neutral sites. So it's been rare for JHU to come to Lexington, only '88 and '91.
Quote from: jknezek on May 29, 2024, 08:50:26 AMQuote from: Hopkins92 on May 28, 2024, 10:33:03 PMW&L has been playing Hop since my days, off and on. For whatever reason, it's just a thing.
Not as often as you'd think given proximity. Only 10 game, with the first being 1973, then six more between 88 and 92. The last 3 were 2007, '18, and '19, with '18 being the Tournament game at Messiah and 1990 played in Pittsburgh. JHU has had the better of W&L, going 6-3-1, though of the 10 games, 6 were played at Hopkins, 2 at neutral sites. So it's been rare for JHU to come to Lexington, only '88 and '91.
:D
Guess the fact that I played in 2 of those clouded my perspective. The field back in 88 was one of the nicest I had ever seen.
Quote from: Hopkins92 on May 29, 2024, 11:01:05 AMQuote from: jknezek on May 29, 2024, 08:50:26 AMQuote from: Hopkins92 on May 28, 2024, 10:33:03 PMW&L has been playing Hop since my days, off and on. For whatever reason, it's just a thing.
Not as often as you'd think given proximity. Only 10 game, with the first being 1973, then six more between 88 and 92. The last 3 were 2007, '18, and '19, with '18 being the Tournament game at Messiah and 1990 played in Pittsburgh. JHU has had the better of W&L, going 6-3-1, though of the 10 games, 6 were played at Hopkins, 2 at neutral sites. So it's been rare for JHU to come to Lexington, only '88 and '91.
:D
Guess the fact that I played in 2 of those clouded my perspective. The field back in 88 was one of the nicest I had ever seen.
Yeah. I was surprised it wasn't more. W&L's website makes it real easy to look up. But outside of conference teams, W&L has really spread around out of conference games. There are some "old school" D1 matchups from the 40s/50s/60s with UVA, UNC, Maryland, Duke, etc. that were played 20-40x, but in terms of D3, you get Southern Virginia, Catholic and UMW around 15x, Hopkins and Gettysburg 10x, and a whole lot of teams in that 0-5x range.
Quote from: jknezek on May 29, 2024, 11:09:47 AMQuote from: Hopkins92 on May 29, 2024, 11:01:05 AMQuote from: jknezek on May 29, 2024, 08:50:26 AMQuote from: Hopkins92 on May 28, 2024, 10:33:03 PMW&L has been playing Hop since my days, off and on. For whatever reason, it's just a thing.
Not as often as you'd think given proximity. Only 10 game, with the first being 1973, then six more between 88 and 92. The last 3 were 2007, '18, and '19, with '18 being the Tournament game at Messiah and 1990 played in Pittsburgh. JHU has had the better of W&L, going 6-3-1, though of the 10 games, 6 were played at Hopkins, 2 at neutral sites. So it's been rare for JHU to come to Lexington, only '88 and '91.
:D
Guess the fact that I played in 2 of those clouded my perspective. The field back in 88 was one of the nicest I had ever seen.
Yeah. I was surprised it wasn't more. W&L's website makes it real easy to look up. But outside of conference teams, W&L has really spread around out of conference games. There are some "old school" D1 matchups from the 40s/50s/60s with UVA, UNC, Maryland, Duke, etc. that were played 20-40x, but in terms of D3, you get Southern Virginia, Catholic and UMW around 15x, Hopkins and Gettysburg 10x, and a whole lot of teams in that 0-5x range.
Yeah, Hopkins has a "Record Book" that lays out just about any stat or other bit of history you could think of: https://indd.adobe.com/view/247eb226-77ec-4525-a731-f6603128a193
We also had some funky matchups, like Delaware and Maryland around the same timeframe you mention.
Beloit (https://beloitcollegeathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They have Westminster (PA) on the schedule to play at Beloit on 9/22, but Westminster (https://athletics.westminster.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)(PA) does not list Beloit on its schedule. Assuming they have the wrong Westminster on the schedule, I checked the one in Missouri.
Westminster College (MO) (https://wcbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
It is indeed Westminster (MO) that is traveling to Beloit on 9/22. I'll blame AI for the error (or an overworked SID intern). That makes a lot more sense anyway.
Luther (https://luthernorse.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Luther's non-conference schedule has to be in the top 10 for degree of difficulty. First, they take a big trip out to Southern California the first weekend of the season to play at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Redlands. Typically, when schools make this trip, they try to schedule one upper half and one lower half SCIAC team, but they are taking on teams that finished 2nd and 3rd in league last year and are historically at the top of the table. Plus, when they get back to the Midwest, they take on a decent Augsburg team in Minneapolis and then host Macalester, Wisconsin-Platteville, and North Park. They get a break hosting Franklin and then they host Wisconsin-Eau Claire and St. Olaf and then at Gustavus Adolphus. Holy Cow! Most of these are the second game of a two -year deal, but they only made it harder by adding CMS, Redlands, and North Park. Should be a big test for Luther and a chance to see if they will be likely to rebound from an uncharacteristically weak 2023 season for them, when they finished below .500 for the first time since 2010.
Hanover (https://athletics.hanover.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Tough trip east to Ohio to play at Otterbein and Capital.
Grove City (https://athletics.gcc.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Denison and Carnegie Mellon highlight the non-conference schedule
Mississippi University for Women (https://owlsathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024) (which still apparently hasn't found a better name)
They travel to Shreveport in mid-September to play Centenary and Austin, which is interesting since both of those teams are in the SCAC and usually these weekend round robins involve the non-hosting teams playing each other on the off day for the host. Maybe they aren't, but if they are filling their non-conference schedule by playing a conference opponent, that would be a couple less non-conference opponents for the remaining ASC teams to schedule.
Dubuque (https://udspartans.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Hosting North Park in the last weekend before conference play
Alma (https://almascots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing Wabash and Monmouth (IL) in the Robbie Dreher Classic the second weekend of the season
Rhodes (https://rhodeslynx.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opening at Wash U is an interesting matchup, plus traveling to Virginia to take on Hampden-Sydney and Mary Washington in mid-September
Carnegie Mellon (https://athletics.cmu.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
This isn't the soft non-conference schedule of CMU seasons past. Three straight away games to start the season - at York, at Gettysburg, and at John Carroll - plus they host Montclair State and Ohio Wesleyan on successive weekends in mid-September.
Lebanon Valley (https://godutchmen.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Season opener vs. Washington College then Alfred in the shared tournament with Elizabethtown. That means Etown will open vs. Alfred and then host Washington College.
Some other decent non-conference games on the slate include @Muhlenberg, @Gettysbug, @York, @Rutgers-Camden, Etown, F&M.
I suspect the MACF title will once again be a battle between LVC and Stevens, although the Dutchmen host Stevens this year in the regular season which should help their chances of earning the #1 seed.
Nathan Prex is a fun one to watch. A junior this year, Prex was 1st team All-American last year with 21 goals and 5 assists. LVC also return 3 other All-Region players, making them a great sleeper pick this year.
Colby-Sawyer (https://www.colby-sawyerathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Switched out Clark from last year for Curry, which is interesting since Clark beat them pretty easily last year and Curry may be a stronger opponent.
Keene State (https://keeneowls.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Pretty strong non-conference schedule playing at Middlebury, at Endicott, and at RPI right in a row before starting conference play against Western CT and then hosting Williams between the last two conference games
Christopher Newport (https://www.cnusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
CNU is always a fun schedule because it is essentially completely non-conference until the conference tournament (counting the two C2C opponents as "non-conference"). I'm kind of amazed that they start with 9 straight home games. They've done something similar in the past, but the visiting schools seem much stronger this year, including Region X teams Concordia Texas and Colorado College, as well as tough Mid-Atlantic teams like Stockton, Widener, Catholic and Rowan. The first away trip is a humdinger though, traveling to Granville, OH to play Denison and Kenyon, then coming back for a home game against W&L before traveling a little to play at Mary Washington, at Salisbury, and at Lynchburg. They finish with a home series against fellow C2C teams Mary Washington and Salisbury. So, a lot less travel than last year (when they went out to Colorado Springs to play Colorado College and UC Santa Cruz in a tough road trip in altitude), but overall stronger competition I think.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire (https://blugolds.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They have a couple of weeks that stand out, such as 9/1 hosting Macalester and 9/6 traveling to North Park and 9/18 traveling to Luther, 9/21 hosting Chicago, and 9/25 traveling to St. Olaf.
Willamette (https://wubearcats.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
New head coach Matt Corti-Young is definitely not trying to pad his record to start the season. They open with a trip to So Cal to play at Cal Lutheran and at Occidental, then they host UC Santa Cruz and Calvin before starting NWC play.
Chicago (https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Almost the same non-conference opponents as last year, with the only changes being the addition of Aurora and North Central. Might be slightly easier since they open by hosting Gustavus Adolphus and St. Olaf, rather than traveling west like last year.
Eastern Mennonite (https://emuroyals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
What stood out to me is that they are hosting Marietta College and Linfield University (from Oregon and the NWC) on the second weekend. That's a really big trip for Linfield and I'm guessing they either play Marietta or some other ODAC team on their trip as well.
Berry (https://berryvikings.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Lots of Texas teams on the schedule as they are hosting Hardin-Simmons and then traveling to San Antonio to play Trinity and Southwestern
Franciscan (https://franciscanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
The back-to-back away games at Kenyon and Mount Union right before conference play begins will either force them to step up their game or leave them demoralized.
Cairn (https://www.cairnhighlanders.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024?grid=true)
Switched out Delaware Valley and Centenary for Penn State Harrisburg and Cabrini (RIP)
Delaware Valley (https://athletics.delval.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
A six game road trip to start the season is pretty brutal, especially for a team that was 0-7-3 on the road last year and 3-3-1 at home.
Bridgewater State (https://www.bsubears.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Not many changes from last year, but they do host Middlebury in a mid-week game in October, perhaps so they can get better prepared than they were last year when they lost to Tufts in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Plattsburgh State (https://gocardinalsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Hosting Baruch and Manhattanville to open the season and then traveling to Boston to play Endicott and UMass Boston. Ends the season against St. Lawrence.
Saint Joseph's of Maine hasn't released their schedule online yet so there's no link, but they have it listed on their Instagram page. They managed to shoehorn 4 quality New England teams amid the large GNAC schedule
Aug 30 - Babson@ SJC
Sept 1 - SJC @ Wheaton
Sept 4 - Bates @ SJC
Sept 11 - SJC @ Emmanuel
Sept 14 - SJC @ Dean
Sept 16 - SJC @ Lasell
Sept 21 - St. Joseph's CT @ SJC
Sept 25 - Rivier @ SJC
Sept 28 - SJC @ Colby Sawyer
Oct 1 - Norwich @ SJC
Oct 5 - Mitchell @ SJC
Oct 9 - SJC @ NEC
Oct 12 - Elms @ SJC
Oct 15 - Bowdoin @ SJC
Oct 19 - Albertus Magnus @ SJC
Oct 23 - SJC @ Regis
Oct 26 - SJC @ Johnson & Wales
Oct 29 - Anna Maria @ SJC
Edgewood (https://edgewoodcollegeeagles.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They are really taking advantage of the new Wisconsin teams, adding Stout, Stevens Point, and River Falls to their schedule, as well as playing Eau Claire and adding Whitewater. They might as well have added Platteville and just joined the WIAC. Other interesting aspect of their schedule is they are playing D1 Marquette the week before starting NACC play, but they are classifying it as an exhibition. Other D3 teams have played D1 opponents in a countable game in recent years because D1 now permits one game against a non-D1 opponent to count in their record. Not sure the advantage of classifying it as an exhibition here.
Brandeis (https://brandeisjudges.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Replaces Clark, WPI, and Wesleyan with Union and Suffolk, going with one less non-conference game this year.
Saw the Hopkins schedule came out. https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule
Looks pretty challenging. Non-conf. possibly great games - W&L, Kenyon, Mary Wash and maybe Rowan. While they are traveling to Lexington, VA (about 4 or 5 hour drive) at the beginning of the season, they've managed to schedule 10 of their 17 games at home (5 non conf. coming to them as well as 5 of 9 conf. games). Pretty good. Might mean nothing or everything. However, I would not necessarily want their schedule next year with traveling to Sewanee and Kenyon.
One other comment, in 2021 and 2022, they played F&M and both games meant a great deal to how the conf. turned out. Those were great important games to both teams. The last two they played Dickinson and not so much. Before 2021, that they played Dickinson twice and then WC three times. During these times JHU and F&M played in mid Oct. Would be great if the Cent. Conf. could schedule rivalry games other than Haverford and Swarthmore at the end of the season.
Colorado College (https://cctigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Always interesting to see this schedule because no matter who they schedule and whether it is home or away, someone is traveling a really far way to get there and you tend to get a lot of interregional matchups. Plus, Colorado College was very good last year and should return all but 1-2 of their major contributors.
Fontbonne and Concordia (MN) is a relatively soft opening weekend. More interesting is that Austin College is flying to Colorado College to play both of those teams, but not play Colorado College who they will play in conference the second-to-last game of the season. That's a long way to travel to play those two out-of-region teams, but I guess the advantage is that Austin gets a preview of playing at altitude and the ability to scout CC up close. The second weekend CC may have their only road trip of the season that's by bus, since it's about 8 hours to Lincoln, NE, the closest DIII school, where they play Nebraska Wesleyan and Simpson. All of that is prelude to the big weekend hosting Ohio Northern and Emory, both of whom provide tough competition, but they are likely unfamiliar with playing at altitude for two games in two days. Christopher Newport found out how tough that can be last year. It's also interesting that UT Dallas is making the trip to Colorado Springs to play ONU and Emory as well instead of those CC opponents playing each other. UT Dallas was a NCAA tournament qualifier last year and is moving to DII next year. I expect their recruiting has been supercharged by the hope of scholarships starting in 2025, so those could be really nice matchups. All of that is leading up to a brutal trip to Newport News, VA to play Christopher Newport and Mary Washington during CC's intersession between the first block and second block in their fall schedule. With St. Thomas traveling to Colorado Springs to open up SCAC play the next weekend, CC could stake their claim for a high national ranking by the end of September if they emerge from it unscathed.
Case Western (https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Not the easiest of non-conference schedules, although only one reasonably long road trip. Otterbein, @Wooster, @Lycoming, Trine, Stockton, Marietta, @ Denison, John Carroll, Mount Union. Even the weaker teams are capable of upsets, as evidenced by Trine beating Kenyon and Wooster beating Denison.
Ithaca (https://athletics.ithaca.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opens by traveling to Eastern PA to play Eastern and Wilkes. Games against Cortland, Hobart and Hamilton sandwich the conference opener at Bard.
Rowan (https://www.rowanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I keep finding schedules that are more brutal than the last . Rowan has 7 out of 9 non-conference games away, including the first 5. Playing at Franklin & Marshall, at Johns Hopkins, and at SUNY Cortland over a six day period sounds as brutal as it gets, but then, after a home game against Haverford, they play at Mary Washington, at Christopher Newport, and home to Messiah over a six day period before conference play. And, lest you think Haverford will be their day of rest, they tied the Fords last year.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 08, 2024, 04:47:01 PMCase Western (https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Not the easiest of non-conference schedules, although only one reasonably long road trip. Otterbein, @Wooster, @Lycoming, Trine, Stockton, Marietta, @ Denison, John Carroll, Mount Union. Even the weaker teams are capable of upsets, as evidenced by Trine beating Kenyon and Wooster beating Denison.
Ithaca (https://athletics.ithaca.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opens by traveling to Eastern PA to play Eastern and Wilkes. Games against Cortland, Hobart and Hamilton sandwich the conference opener at Bard.
Rowan (https://www.rowanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I keep finding schedules that are more brutal than the last . Rowan has 7 out of 9 non-conference games away, including the first 5. Playing at Franklin & Marshall, at Johns Hopkins, and at SUNY Cortland over a six day period sounds as brutal as it gets, but then, after a home game against Haverford, they play at Mary Washington, at Christopher Newport, and home to Messiah over a six day period before conference play. And, lest you think Haverford will be their day of rest, they tied the Fords last year.
Ithaca conference opener would be Hobart unless I missed something.
Quote from: kevdog on June 08, 2024, 07:14:49 PMQuote from: Kuiper on June 08, 2024, 04:47:01 PMCase Western (https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Not the easiest of non-conference schedules, although only one reasonably long road trip. Otterbein, @Wooster, @Lycoming, Trine, Stockton, Marietta, @ Denison, John Carroll, Mount Union. Even the weaker teams are capable of upsets, as evidenced by Trine beating Kenyon and Wooster beating Denison.
Ithaca (https://athletics.ithaca.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opens by traveling to Eastern PA to play Eastern and Wilkes. Games against Cortland, Hobart and Hamilton sandwich the conference opener at Bard.
Rowan (https://www.rowanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I keep finding schedules that are more brutal than the last . Rowan has 7 out of 9 non-conference games away, including the first 5. Playing at Franklin & Marshall, at Johns Hopkins, and at SUNY Cortland over a six day period sounds as brutal as it gets, but then, after a home game against Haverford, they play at Mary Washington, at Christopher Newport, and home to Messiah over a six day period before conference play. And, lest you think Haverford will be their day of rest, they tied the Fords last year.
Ithaca conference opener would be Hobart unless I missed something.
I'm sure you're right, but Ithaca left off the asterix identifying it as a conference match
Quote from: Kuiper on June 08, 2024, 04:47:01 PMRowan (https://www.rowanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I keep finding schedules that are more brutal than the last . Rowan has 7 out of 9 non-conference games away, including the first 5. Playing at Franklin & Marshall, at Johns Hopkins, and at SUNY Cortland over a six day period sounds as brutal as it gets, but then, after a home game against Haverford, they play at Mary Washington, at Christopher Newport, and home to Messiah over a six day period before conference play. And, lest you think Haverford will be their day of rest, they tied the Fords last year.
Oh my.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 08, 2024, 07:24:09 PMQuote from: kevdog on June 08, 2024, 07:14:49 PMQuote from: Kuiper on June 08, 2024, 04:47:01 PMCase Western (https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Not the easiest of non-conference schedules, although only one reasonably long road trip. Otterbein, @Wooster, @Lycoming, Trine, Stockton, Marietta, @ Denison, John Carroll, Mount Union. Even the weaker teams are capable of upsets, as evidenced by Trine beating Kenyon and Wooster beating Denison.
Ithaca (https://athletics.ithaca.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opens by traveling to Eastern PA to play Eastern and Wilkes. Games against Cortland, Hobart and Hamilton sandwich the conference opener at Bard.
Rowan (https://www.rowanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I keep finding schedules that are more brutal than the last . Rowan has 7 out of 9 non-conference games away, including the first 5. Playing at Franklin & Marshall, at Johns Hopkins, and at SUNY Cortland over a six day period sounds as brutal as it gets, but then, after a home game against Haverford, they play at Mary Washington, at Christopher Newport, and home to Messiah over a six day period before conference play. And, lest you think Haverford will be their day of rest, they tied the Fords last year.
Ithaca conference opener would be Hobart unless I missed something.
I'm sure you're right, but Ithaca left off the asterix identifying it as a conference match
Well they were in the Liberty Conference last year so I assumed they are still in it. Things could have changed though. Any way thank you for posting these schedules, Kulper. Much appreciated.
Some SCAC schedules are starting to trickle out
Texas Lutheran (https://tlubulldogs.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Traveling to the Buckeye State the second weekend of the season to play Capital and Otterbein. Otherwise, the non-conference schedule consists of UT Dallas, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Hardin-Simmons, all from the ASC, which suggests there is no particular resistance of SCAC teams to schedule the ASC teams, even though there's less room in the schedule with the SCAC expansion this year. They get St. Thomas, Concordia TX and Colorado College at home in conference play this year, which is a bit of an advantage, although they do play Southwestern and Trinity away.
McMurry (https://mcmurrysports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024-25)
Other than Lyon (SLIAC), all of their five non-conference games are away against their old conference foes from the ASC
Brevard (https://bctornados.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Amherst (https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They may not have a headliner non-conference opponent as they did last year with Montclair State, but Emerson won't be easy and Suffolk is better than Yeshiva. An early season matchup in Amherst against Conn College will be a game to watch.
Skidmore (https://skidmoreathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Trading out SUNY New Paltz and John Jay for Springfield and Utica this year.
An eastern PA focus to this post (and given the number of teams in this area, it could be many posts if I wanted)
Clarks Summit (https://gocsudefenders.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
After reading that Clarks Summit has furloughed ALL of their employees indefinitely (see post #3138 on the "Future of Division III" thread under the "General Division III issues" section of the Boards), I checked their Men's Soccer page and was a little surprised to see that they do have up a 2024 schedule. I guess they did insist that they are not closing. I'm not expecting that TBA game on 9/11 will be filled anytime soon though.
Penn State Schuylkill (https://www.psuschuylkillathletics.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Interesting that they are playing Lancaster Bible College's JV team in an exhibition. I haven't seen many varsity teams play JV teams of other DIII schools in exhibition matches, but I suppose it's a good way to play nearby schools while keeping the games competitive.
Bryn Athyn (https://brynathynathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
All but one of their nonconference games are home games. Second game against Ursinus gives them a chance to gauge improvement against a team they lost to last year 3-0 away.
Rosemont (https://rosemont-ravens.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Road trip to Christopher Newport and Virginia Wesleyan the first weekend of the season is a challenging opener.
Gwynedd Mercy (https://gwyneddathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Adds Lancaster Bible College and Misericordia this year
Misericordia (https://athletics.misericordia.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
This schedule was basically done by the former coach now at Scranton. Lycoming, Muhlenberg, and Ithaca were all close games last year that might have gone either way. Widener may be the true barometer of whether they have improved under the new coaching staff because they lost that one last year 4-1.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 10, 2024, 01:15:33 AMAmherst (https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They may not have a headliner non-conference opponent as they did last year with Montclair State, but Emerson won't be easy and Suffolk is better than Yeshiva. An early season matchup in Amherst against Conn College will be a game to watch.
Saw that they also play WPI and Babson. Both very strong teams last year who made the NCAAs and lost in OT or PKs. So they could definitely push Amherst.
Interesting as they play Williams so early as well. Not saying Williams is top team within NESCAC, but ancient rival like Haverford/Swarthmore and maybe Harvard/Yale, Lafayette/Lehigh or Army/Navy. Just like to see this at the end of the season.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 10, 2024, 12:52:57 PMRosemont (https://rosemont-ravens.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Road trip to Christopher Newport and Virginia Wesleyan the first weekend of the season is a challenging opener.
Sorry to see that they are not playing F&M this year. First time they played a great game on their one of kind grayish turf. Was an other world experience - sort of like watching Boise State in football. https://rosemont-ravens.com/sports/2014/1/9/GEN_0109143449.aspx
Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on June 10, 2024, 04:09:15 PMbut ancient rival like Haverford/Swarthmore and maybe Harvard/Yale, Lafayette/Lehigh or Army/Navy.
Ahem. The proper term is and always will be Lehigh/Lafayette!
Signed,
'93 Lehigh grad ;D
Some Region X schedules
Redlands (https://goredlands.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Interesting schedule that demonstrates the challenges of increasing SoS in a conference like the SCIAC. They are playing two exhibition games against DII opponents (Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State San Marcos) and then they open the season with a game at DII power Cal Poly Pomona, a team that was 14-2-5 last year, lost in the 3rd round of the DII NCAA tournament, and was ranked #10 in the final DII men's soccer USC rankings. Really tough opening game of the season and I don't even know how that is factored in for SoS purposes. Then they host Luther, Puget Sound, and Whitman - which could be good games, but may simply be who they could get to fly to them since they last flew out of state in 2022 and they may not have the budget to do it again so soon.
Pacific Lutheran (https://golutes.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Different kind of challenge, but similar goal as Redlands. PLU's issue is that the NWC's double round robin leaves very little space for non-conference games, all of which require travel from them or someone else if they want a countable game. They are starting with a trip to Santa Cruz to play Pomona-Pitzer and UC Santa Cruz, then travel to Willamette for a big game against Calvin. If, as I suspect, P-P and UCSC aren't really big SoS boosts, then everything kind of rides on the Calvin game as to whether they get an adequate amount of quality wins if they don't get the AQ.
Pacific (https://goboxers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Pacific is a smaller school that likely doesn't have the budget to do more than what they are doing. They host UC Santa Cruz in the last non-conference game before opening NWC play, but all the rest of their non-conference games are against local NAIA opponents.
Whittier (https://wcpoets.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
Opens with a visit on Friday Aug 30 from Albion College in Michigan (who must be playing another SCIAC team on Saturday or Sunday of the same weekend) and then travels to Santa Cruz to play UC Santa Cruz. All of the other non-conference games are against NAIA foes.
La Verne (https://leopardathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Hosts Whitman on Friday 9/13 and then UC Santa Cruz on Wed 9/18. All the rest of the games are against non-NCAA teams. The team labeled "Southern California Leadership Academy" must be "Southern California Leadership University," which is still seeking accreditation. It is starting a brand new men's soccer team this year.
Quote from: Freddyfud on June 10, 2024, 06:11:34 PMQuote from: SierraFD3soccer on June 10, 2024, 04:09:15 PMbut ancient rival like Haverford/Swarthmore and maybe Harvard/Yale, Lafayette/Lehigh or Army/Navy.
Ahem. The proper term is and always will be Lehigh/Lafayette!
Signed,
'93 Lehigh grad ;D
Hahahaha - that's great!! I did not make a mistake!! Born and raised in Easton and lived on College Hill while spending tons of time on the Lafayette campus sneaking into sports events and just having a great time as a kid. Grew up with most of the faculty kids. Dad, after failing his freshman year (spent to much time in the movies as he seemed to recall) spent a year as a hungry Leopard and went back to Yale for another 3 years. Dad's first job was working for Bethlehem Steel, but at Sparrows Point. He actually worked summers for BS next to Lehigh. Mom was in Lafayette's Comptroller Office for many years. Actually spent a lot of time in Lehigh's Saucon Valley facility playing soccer growing up.
FYI, Lehigh - great college, middle kid almost picked it for engineering (should have stuck with "Engineers" as opposed to "Mountain Hawks") but for the horrible colors - sh1t brown and white. Just kidding, price of going was insane in 2020.
Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on June 11, 2024, 02:24:00 PMQuote from: Freddyfud on June 10, 2024, 06:11:34 PMQuote from: SierraFD3soccer on June 10, 2024, 04:09:15 PMbut ancient rival like Haverford/Swarthmore and maybe Harvard/Yale, Lafayette/Lehigh or Army/Navy.
Ahem. The proper term is and always will be Lehigh/Lafayette!
Signed,
'93 Lehigh grad ;D
Hahahaha - that's great!! I did not make a mistake!! Born and raised in Easton and lived on College Hill while spending tons of time on the Lafayette campus sneaking into sports events and just having a great time as a kid. Grew up with most of the faculty kids. Dad, after failing his freshman year (spent to much time in the movies as he seemed to recall) spent a year as a hungry Leopard and went back to Yale for another 3 years. Dad's first job was working for Bethlehem Steel, but at Sparrows Point. He actually worked summers for BS next to Lehigh. Mom was in Lafayette's Comptroller Office for many years. Actually spent a lot of time in Lehigh's Saucon Valley facility playing soccer growing up.
FYI, Lehigh - great college, middle kid almost picked it for engineering (should have stuck with "Engineers" as opposed to "Mountain Hawks") but for the horrible colors - sh1t brown and white. Just kidding, price of going was insane in 2020.
We will agree to disagree ;) Some of my best friends played soccer for both, and our mutual hometown friends would visit for the football game. It was a competition to see who threw the best
parties movies and why I made sure they knew the
correct term. While I was there they changed the old wooden field goal posts to metal to prevent the violence after the game. We also had 3 mascots--the Engineers and the Hawks but with a provisional one in between. The Brown and White :-[ And the tuition is always insane!!
Quote from: Kuiper on June 10, 2024, 01:15:33 AMAmherst (https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They may not have a headliner non-conference opponent as they did last year with Montclair State, but Emerson won't be easy and Suffolk is better than Yeshiva. An early season matchup in Amherst against Conn College will be a game to watch.
Wild take to comment on Emerson and Suffolk over the 2 NCAA Qualifiers on the road mid-week.
Quote from: SKUD on June 11, 2024, 04:14:00 PMQuote from: Kuiper on June 10, 2024, 01:15:33 AMAmherst (https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They may not have a headliner non-conference opponent as they did last year with Montclair State, but Emerson won't be easy and Suffolk is better than Yeshiva. An early season matchup in Amherst against Conn College will be a game to watch.
Wild take to comment on Emerson and Suffolk over the 2 NCAA Qualifiers on the road mid-week.
I typically focus on what is different about a team's non-conference opponents from the previous year, especially in a conference where they play relatively few non-conference games and where they usually shy away from difficult games because of the strength of the conference opponents. They switched out Montclair State and Yeshiva for Emerson and Suffolk, which is why I mentioned them. Babson and WPI should be tough games again for sure.
Tufts (https://gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
Babson will again be a tough non-conference game (that's for you SKUD ;D !), but I think an interesting change may be omitting Maine-Farmington, who they crushed 7-0 last year. That's not because the team they replaced them with, Husson, is dramatically better (although Husson did beat Farmington twice in head-to-head last season), but because I think the Farmington game came early in the season, before a rest may have been required, and could have disrupted their progression going into the Amherst game (a 3-1 loss). I get why it was placed there as part of a double game weekend with Conn College, but maybe the game itself could have come later. Husson, by contrast, will be right before the last game of the season when they may need the break from conference games to gather themselves before the tournament. By the same token, playing Colby, Conn, Salem State, and Hamilton in one week from 9/14-9/21 this season might make the Salem State game important for rotation.
St. Mary's College of Maryland (https://smcmathletics.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
Whether because of proximity or ambition, this team always seems to play a reasonably strong schedule. Considering they only lost 1-0 to John Carroll in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year, they certainly have a right to be ambitious. This year, they open with TCNJ and Rowan, then play three Centennial Conference teams in a row in Washington College, Dickinson, and @Johns Hopkins and then play @Mary Washington before the Lancaster Bible game in conference.
Wesleyan (https://athletics.wesleyan.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They've added Babson to the non-conference schedule in the second game of the season, which should be pretty challenging. Considering they lost to both Western CT St and Eastern CT St last season, those games could be pretty tough, especially with the first right after Amherst and the second right after the Bowdoin game.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 11, 2024, 08:21:35 PMSt. Mary's College of Maryland (https://smcmathletics.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
Whether because of proximity or ambition, this team always seems to play a reasonably strong schedule. Considering they only lost 1-0 to John Carroll in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year, they certainly have a right to be ambitious. This year, they open with TCNJ and Rowan, then play three Centennial Conference teams in a row in Washington College, Dickinson, and @Johns Hopkins and then play @Mary Washington before the Lancaster Bible game in conference.
St Mary's College of Maryland is actually not a religious school, but maybe of the smallest public college (at least in Maryland) and is named after the county it is in. Beautiful location with a great coach and program which has been on the cusp for a while. Most players come from some very good Maryland programs. Simple Coach interviewed him last year = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCgOlMPkN_Q
The College of New Jersey (https://tcnjathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing two tournaments to open the season, at Salisbury against St. Mary's College of Maryland and Salisbury and home against Farmingdale State and Union.
Utica (https://uticapioneers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Adds Skidmore, Marywood, and SUNY Morrisville in place of Pittsburgh-Bradford, Plattsburgh State, and SUNY Poly, which might make for a slightly better chance of winning 2 out of 3 rather than 1 out of 3, but with Cortland, Oneonta, and Hamilton still on the non-conference schedule, it will be tough regardless.
Capital (https://athletics.capital.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2023)
Capital has been a tough out of late and seems to have the potential to upset a top team at any time, like they did beating John Carroll in University Heights last year 3-1. This year, hosting Texas Lutheran on Friday 9/6 and then traveling to play at Denison on Monday 9/9, with Hanover in between on the 7th, seems like a tough stretch of games. Once again playing Ohio Wesleyan before starting conference play.
Hampden-Sydney (https://hscathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
The Rhodes/Mount Union games in Richmond should be interesting. This also suggests the Mary Washington schedule, which has them visiting Mount Union and Rhodes for games the same weekend, is incorrect and those teams are actually coming to Richmond and playing UMW there.
Thiel (https://thielathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Loading up on Penn State branch camps this season, with Beaver and New Kensington replacing Alfred State and Heidelberg
Greensboro (https://greensborocollegesports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Rough 0-15-1 season last year. Not sure where wins will come from in this year's schedule, but at least they took off a few teams like Lynchburg and Roanoke and replaced them with Ferrum and Piedmont
Randolph (https://randolphwildcats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
McDaniel making the fairly long trip down to Lynchburg to play Randolph on Sat 9/14. I wonder if they are staying in the area and playing Lynchburg or another team on Sunday.
Oneonta (https://oneontaathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Very similar to last year.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 13, 2024, 12:50:11 AMHampden-Sydney (https://hscathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
The Rhodes/Mount Union games in Richmond should be interesting. This also suggests the Mary Washington schedule, which has them visiting Mount Union and Rhodes for games the same weekend, is incorrect and those teams are actually coming to Richmond and playing UMW there.
What is also interesting is that HSC is not playing W&L this year which is a first for probably a long, long time. Website states that they played every year since 1969, but in the team records site states that they have played 67 times.
Reason being most likely is that ODAC has 13 conf. teams and no divisions. They are obligated to play 10 of in conf. games. Don't know if that will make a diff. in the new NCAA voodoo computations.
Saint Vincent (https://athletics.stvincent.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
I'm sort of surprised they aren't pairing the Bridgewater trip for opening weekend with another team. Maybe they are going to make the trip, which is part of a home-and-away series, in one day.
Oberlin (https://goyeo.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
I keep thinking Oberlin should be somewhat better than they are given their national recruiting base and proximity to a decent-sized city and airport in Cleveland, but they haven't broken through in a long time despite playing competitive in some games. It's not for lack of strong area competition though. Once again, they are starting with the brutal John Carroll/Ohio Northern opening weekend (although they only lost to JCU 2-1 last year), but this year they also host Otterbein in a mid-week game this year.
Vassar (https://www.vassarathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
No Middlebury this year, but they replace them with an away game at Oneonta
Pfeiffer (https://gofalconsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Hosting Wooster in mid-September for its first game against an out-of-region opponent since before the Pandemic.
Wooster (https://www.woosterathletics.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Before Wooster plays Pfeiffer, it plays Guilford the same weekend in their North Carolina swing. They also replace Mount Union, Alma, and Albion, with Adrian.
Washington College (https://washcollsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Following up the Final Four season by traveling to Lebanon Valley and Elizabethtown on opening weekend. Other new teams on the schedule include Catholic and St. Mary's College of Maryland. In conference, playing at Johns Hopkins and at Franklin & Marshall this year.
Elizabethtown (https://etownbluejays.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Playing Washington College and Alfred on opening weekend and then added Immaculata to the schedule, replacing Pratt, which they beat 10-0 last year
Quote from: Kuiper on June 15, 2024, 12:58:34 AMElizabethtown (https://etownbluejays.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Playing Washington College and Alfred on opening weekend and then added Immaculata to the schedule, replacing Pratt, which they beat 10-0 last year
Immaculata is part of a home/home from two years ago. Other annual games of note include the Smith-Herr Boot game vs. F&M and the Marshmallow Bowl vs Messiah.
Cornell College (https://cornellrams.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Replaces Luther with Wisconsin-Whitewater at home this year, and travels to Carleton in the weekend between two mid-week conference games.
Maryville (https://mcscots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Notable additions to this year's schedule include Berry and Oglethorpe.
Colby (https://colbyathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing at RPI the day after playing Hamilton away, so it's probably part of a New York road trip that could be pretty challenging.
Wittenberg (https://wittenbergtigers.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
The game against Carnegie Mellon before it opens conference play could tell a lot about whether Wittenberg's 8-4-4 record reflects a major step forward or was a mirage.
Trinity (https://www.instagram.com/p/C8SJEjFOSZ6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)
It's only a sneak preview of the part of the schedule that fits within the shape of the state of Texas, but Trinity is hosting past and future SCAC member Hendrix and Methodist on the first weekend, Whitworth and Berry on the second weekend, and then a game against Cal Lutheran with a partially obscured date, but I'm guessing is the following weekend. That's like a who's who of conferences in the south, west, southwest, and northwest, playing teams from the SAA, USA South, NWC, and SCIAC. Plus scrimmages against DI Incarnate Word and DII Midwestern State University. With 11 SCAC conference games and at least 5 accounted for, that doesn't leave much room, if any, for the ASC teams that might have been looking to SCAC opponents for non-conference games. My guess is that they play Hardin-Simmons, if any, since that is a team that sometimes participates in the games with the non-conference opponents Trinity brings to San Antonio.
Impressive, especially since I was thinking Trinity, CT!
Johnson & Wales - Providence (https://providence.jwuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Almost exactly the same schedule as last year when they went 14-2-5, except that they added Worcester State, which won't exactly raise their SoS. I guess they almost beat Rochester on PKs in the first round of the tournament, so no reason to mess with what works.
Worcester State (https://www.wsulancers.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Adds Coast Guard and JWU-Providence this year
A couple of Texas schools
Austin College (https://austin.prestosports.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Opens the season by traveling to Colorado College to play Concordia-Moorehead and Fontbonne. Plays many of the ASC schools, including Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin-Simmons, UT Dallas, and LeTourneau
East Texas Baptist University (https://goetbutigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
This is the first ASC schedule to come out and it confirms that they are playing a double round robin, which gives them 10 total conference games. ETBU has scheduled 9 non-conference games, which suggests they are not planning on having a conference tournament. It looks like the normal mix of SCAC schools (Univ of Dallas, Ozarks, Schreiner, Concordia TX, McMurry, Centenary), plus a few others from the SAA (Hendrix and Millsaps) and the CCS (Belhaven).
Quote from: Kuiper on June 15, 2024, 12:58:34 AMWashington College (https://washcollsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Following up the Final Four season by traveling to Lebanon Valley and Elizabethtown on opening weekend. Other new teams on the schedule include Catholic and St. Mary's College of Maryland. In conference, playing at Johns Hopkins and at Franklin & Marshall this year.
Elizabethtown (https://etownbluejays.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Playing Washington College and Alfred on opening weekend and then added Immaculata to the schedule, replacing Pratt, which they beat 10-0 last year
WC has a tough last 4 games of the season like last year, playing JHU, Muhls, Catholic and F&M at the end of the season. Only Muhls at home. Also traveling for 10 of 17 games this year.
Otterbein (https://otterbeincardinals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Opens with games away at Case (Friday) and Trine (Sunday). If they are coming home in-between, that's kind of a lot of driving with a 2 hours each way to Cleveland and 3 hours each way to Trine. Hosting Texas Lutheran on the second game of its Ohio trip, which effectively replaces the W&L game from last year in terms of being an out-of-region team that offers the prospect of a competitive game that can offer some SoS boost. Kenyon is also back on the schedule, which I didn't think was noteworthy, but I looked it up and the schools haven't played each other since 2017 as far as I can tell. That suggests this is kind of noteworthy.
Catholic (https://catholicathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
The schedule seems constructed to face one highly-ranked team each of the first four weekends, but to pair it with one team that seems a bit more manageable. Opening with a road trip to Roanoke and Washington & Lee, coming home the next weekend and hosting SUNY Cortland and King's College, traveling to play Virginia Wesleyan and Christopher Newport, before hosting Gettysburg mid-week and traveling to Lynchburg for the fourth weekend before starting conference play. They also seem to typically sneak in a really hard non-conference mid-week game right before the last conference game, possibly as a way to gear up for the conference tournament. Last year, that game was Mary Washington, which they lost 1-0, but went on to win the Landmark tournament and qualified for the NCAAs. This year, it is Washington College. We'll see if it works again.
Roanoke (https://roanokemaroons.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
After opening by hosting Catholic, they travel to Atlanta to play Oglethorpe and Emory and host Marrieta and Centre among out-of-region opponents. One curious non-conference game is a road-trip on the second-to-last weekend of the regular season to play at Penn State Abington. The game is sandwiched between mid-week conference games against Averett and W&L. PSU-Abington had a decent season last year, but that's like a 6 hour drive each way to play a single game. Are they planning to sight-see the morning after and check out the Liberty Bell? Maybe the Philadelphia market has recruiting value for the school?
LaGrange (https://lagrangepanthers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
is LaGrange one of the most southern DIII schools, or at least one of the more isolated southern DIII schools, especially with Birmingham Southern's closure? Their schedule looks sort of like a SCIAC or NWC schedule with them playing an NCCAA and a NAIA school on opening weekend and another NAIA school in the middle of conference play, suggesting their options for reasonably affordable non-conference games are limited. After all, some of their other non-conference games include hosting William Peace, which is about 7.5 hours away, and traveling to Methodist University and Greensboro College, which are about 6-7 hours away.
Seen a couple HCAC teams posted, thought I'd get them all. Defiance has left the conference for NAIA, Berea has joined from the CCS
#1 Manchester (https://muspartans.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule) (10-1-8 Overall, 6-0-3 HCAC)
#2 Hanover (https://athletics.hanover.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule) (9-7-2, 6-2-1)
#3 Rose-Hulman (https://athletics.rose-hulman.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule) (12-5-3, 6-2-1)
#4 Transylvania (5-6-7, 4-3-2)
#6 Bluffton (https://blufftonbeavers.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule) (7-8-2, 3-4-2)
#7 Anderson (https://athletics.anderson.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule-all) (10-7-2, 3-5-1)
#8 Earlham (https://goearlham.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule) (4-9-4, 2-5-2)
#9 Franklin (3-10-4, 2-5-2)
#10 Mount St Joseph (https://msjlions.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024) (2-14, 1-8)
Berea (7-11-1, 3-3 CCS)
#5 Defiance (6-6-7, 3-2-4)
Quote from: Kuiper on June 19, 2024, 01:20:58 AMLaGrange (https://lagrangepanthers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
is LaGrange one of the most southern DIII schools, or at least one of the more isolated southern DIII schools, especially with Birmingham Southern's closure? Their schedule looks sort of like a SCIAC or NWC schedule with them playing an NCCAA and a NAIA school on opening weekend and another NAIA school in the middle of conference play, suggesting their options for reasonably affordable non-conference games are limited. After all, some of their other non-conference games include hosting William Peace, which is about 7.5 hours away, and traveling to Methodist University and Greensboro College, which are about 6-7 hours away.
Yeah. LaGrange is out there. Huntington or Emory are probably the closest D3 schools. Losing B-SC hurts the case for the whole region. LaGrange's other problem is they aren't good. So Emory, Oglethorpe, Covenant and Sewanee, all reasonable distance OOC opponents, probably don't see much point in playing them. That leaves Berry.
Greensboro and Methodist are old USASAC conference mates. I forget how that conference split for soccer purposes but I suspect they have held on to some of those old conference opponents as OOC games.
Franklin & Marshall (https://godiplomats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They play at cross-town rival Lancaster Bible to open the season on Friday 8/30 and then play what looks like a neutral site game (at Shenandoah?) against Lynchburg on Sunday 9/1 in Winchester, VA. Then they have a highly competitive next weekend, hosting Rowan and Kenyon. If Lynchburg is a fairly even replacement for Stevens from last year's schedule, Rowan and Kenyon are a pretty big upgrade from non-conference teams Rosemont and PSU-Harrisburg that they replaced from last year's schedule.
Springfield (https://springfieldcollegepride.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
They play exactly the same non-conference games as last year, except this year should be tougher with away games at Vassar and Wesleyan, plus at Babson in conference, which will want to avenge last year's 0-0 tie in Springfield.
Lewis & Clark (https://lcpioneers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule?path=msoc)
Lewis & Clark is in the third year of its (renewed) existence and has yet to win a game. It went 0-7 in it's first season and last year, in its first year playing NWC games that counted, it went 0-19-1. The program highlight was a 0-0 tie against George Fox. Last year, they invited Cal Tech up to play them and traveled down to LA to play Whittier, but both teams beat them handily. If finding a team that is worse than they are is asking a lot, who can they play where they can at least generate some excitement among their team and possibly notch some recruiting points so they can try to get better? In a stroke of scheduling genius, they are playing their first weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii. I'm in awe of how great that is. First, they are playing Chaminade on Saturday, a DII team that went 0-12-3 last year, and Hawaii Pacific on Sunday, a DII team that went 4-11-3 last year. So, both teams are weaker DII teams, but they still are DII and I'm guessing Lewis & Clark will have trouble competing with them on the field. Nevertheless, it's a trip to Hawaii on the opening weekend of the season! That should get the boys fired up and eager to do their summer fitness packets so they can make the travel roster! Plus, Lewis & Clark had two players on its team last year from Hawaii and has another in its recruiting class this year. That state is a hidden gem in recruiting because most of the clubs can't get very far onto the mainland to play showcase tournaments (and aren't MLS Next/ECNL), most coaches in DIII never see them, and most players and parents don't want to go that far from home. They tend to go to the DII Pac West Conference because it has these two schools located in Hawaii plus University of Hawaii at Hilo. If Lewis & Clark can show that they are willing to travel to Hawaii (for all I know, they could be the only DIII school to ever play in Hawaii), they may be able to pick up a few players on the island who can help them and it may be seen as a perk for players from other parts of the country too. Lewis & Clark as a whole has more students from Hawaii (50) than New York (26) or Massachusetts (28), so the interest in the school is there already.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 19, 2024, 01:28:46 PMFranklin & Marshall (https://godiplomats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They play at cross-town rival Lancaster Bible to open the season on Friday 8/30 and then play what looks like a neutral site game (at Shenandoah?) against Lynchburg on Sunday 9/1 in Winchester, VA. Then they have a highly competitive next weekend, hosting Rowan and Kenyon. If Lynchburg is a fairly even replacement for Stevens from last year's schedule, Rowan and Kenyon are a pretty big upgrade from non-conference teams Rosemont and PSU-Harrisburg that they replaced from last year's schedule.
Definitely agree. Most like likely even drive for Lynchburg and F&M. 10 home games and looks like they front loaded the schedule as well. They'll have a lot of games spread out towards the end which helps with injury recovery.
Also as to F&M, they are playing 6 teams that made the NCAAs last year. Doesn't necessarily mean much year to year, but most of them are competitive every year.
Notre Dame of Maryland (https://notredamegators.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Playing at Stockton the second weekend of the season is a challenging addition to the schedule this year
Stevenson (https://gomustangsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Stevenson was 4-10-5 last year, but they were competitive in many games, only losing to Messiah 2-1 and 2-0 and Johns Hopkins 1-0, and tying Widener 0-0. I'm not sure they have fully gone in that direction, but at least Dickinson and McDaniel are not quite as formidable as Hopkins
Eastern University (https://goeasterneagles.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They add Ithaca, Ursinus, Rutgers-Newark, Arcadia, and Swarthmore this year in place of Eastern Mennonite, Rutgers-Camden, Farmingdale State, Cabrini (RIP) and NYU.
SUNY Poly (https://wildcats.sunypoly.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Opponents in the SUNY Poly tournament opening weekend are still TBD, but right now the big game is hosting Hamilton in a mid-week game in September. They were crushed 5-1 by Hamilton away last year, but went on to win the NAC and only lost to Amherst 2-1 in the NCAA tournament. We'll see if they are better prepared for Hamilton this year.
UW-Platteville schedule is finally published. Non conference includes, two NACC, two MIAC, one UMAC, six! ARC, and one CCIW.
https://letsgopioneers.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule
Carthage schedule includes four NACC, one CC, one MACC, and one UAA.
https://athletics.carthage.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Quote from: PauldingLightUP on June 21, 2024, 11:23:18 AMCarthage schedule includes four NACC, one CC, one MACC, and one UAA.
https://athletics.carthage.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Carthage's trip to Pennsylvania to play Gettysburg and Messiah on the second week of the season should be a good test for them. Messiah is Messiah, obviously, but Gettysburg is no pushover either, especially at home. They were 5-1-1 at home last year and 0-6-3 away. On the other hand, Carthage did have success away from home last year, going 6-3-2, including a 4-2 win at Calvin.
Augustana schedule features two ARC, one MIAC, two MWC, and one SLIAC.
https://athletics.augustana.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024
Cal Lutheran (https://clusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Cal Lutheran has really diversified its opponents this year and is making some big trips. It opens by hosting Willamette on its trip down from Oregon. On the second weekend, Cal Lu is playing at Messiah on Thursday 9/5 and then at Gettysburg on Saturday 9/7. Carthage, discussed in the previous post, is doing the reverse, playing @Gettysburg on Thursday and @Messiah on Saturday. (incidentally, Cal Lu lists the location for both games as "Philadelphia," but Messiah and Carthage lists Grantham and Gettysburg - I'm guessing the Cal Lu SID intern just assumed everything in eastern PA is basically a suburb of Philly ;D ). The following weekend, Cal Lu travels to Texas to play at Trinity on Friday 9/13 and at Southwestern on Sunday 9/15. That is a heck of a lot of travel/time zones and games against high-level opponents. Plus, with SCIAC play opening on Wednesday 9/18 against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, they won't have a lot of time to catch their breath before jumping right into one of the stronger teams in the league. (I checked the women's soccer team's schedule for 2024 since they just won the national championship and the school may have decided to pump some money into men's and women's soccer - they are hosting Southwestern and Concordia TX and traveling to Oregon to play Linfield and Willamette, so there may be something to that theory).
Wisconsin Lutheran (https://wlcsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Replaces Wisconsin-Whitewater, Bethel, and Marantha Baptist with Martin Luther, Beloit, and Lake Forest
Baldwin Wallace (https://www.bwyellowjackets.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Opening the season against Lycoming in the Penn State Behrand tournament, which is one of the few true tournament formats in regular season, with a winners bracket etc. Traveling the second weekend to Mount Union to play Transylvania and Allegheny
PSU Behrend (https://www.psblions.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Plays Mass College of Liberal Arts and either Lycoming or Baldwin Wallace in its opening weekend tournament. Then travels the second weekend to play Kings and Cortland at Catholic. Other interesting non-conference match is a mid-week away game at RIT after conference play has started.
Not online yet, but Emory (https://www.emoryathletics.com/sports/msoc/2023-24/schedule) has Oglethorpe and Bellhaven to start. Lynchburg & Roanoke come down for host tourney. UT-Dallas and NCAA rematch with Colorado College at CC tourney. 4 game away stretch at Sewanee, Covenant, Brevard, & Oglethorpe for regional games. Then conference schedule to close it out. Same order just flip home/away as 2023. Wash U / CWRU home, away CMU, Brandeis, NYU, home Chicago and Rochester
Lebanon Valley College (https://godutchmen.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They should be an honorary member of the Centennial Conference after having almost half the schools on the 2024 schedule. They open hosting Washington College and also play Muhlenberg, Franklin & Marshall, and Gettysburg. They only lost 2 games all year, including F&M by a 3-2 score in Lancaster. We'll see if they can flip the script at home this year.
Occidental (https://oxyathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Oxy starts its SCIAC title defense with a non-conference schedule that is full of home games. They basically have imported DIII competition (probably subsidizing the trip) with games against Willamette and Swarthmore, the latter of which has become a regular at Oxy's "Elite Colleges" ID camps. The conference schedule from Oct 9 - Oct 30 looks rough simply because there are home-and-away repeats so close together (Chapman, CMS, Cal Tech, CMS, Chapman). They only play Cal Lutheran and Redlands once each this year.
Babson (https://babsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
If Lebanon Valley could be an honorary member of the Centennial Conference because of how many of those schools are on its schedule as non-conference opponents this year, Babson could be an honorary member of the NESCAC this year. They are playing Wesleyan, Amherst, Tufts, and Middlebury, with all but Amherst away from home. Last year, they played Conn College and I've heard they were originally on the schedule again for this year, but backed out for some reason. No matter, though, since Babson replaced Conn (and another high quality opponent in Stevens) with two NESCACs in Wesleyan and Middlebury and still plays Montclair State (at home this year) and Brandeis.
Middlebury (https://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/msoc/schedule/2024)
New additions to the non-conference schedule include Keene State, Bridgewater State, and Babson, replacing Mount Saint Mary's, Vassar, and Eastern Nazarene. Babson should be tough and Bridgewater State could be a tricky game. They played Tufts reasonably well for awhile in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year and Middlebury is playing them mid-week at Bridgewater, which is a long drive away and not the home field advantage Tufts had in the tournament. Plus, the Bridgewater game is a couple of days after a tough game at Bowdoin. Babson is the day after the Colby game, but both are at home, which gives Middlebury a bit of an edge. Seems like a schedule upgrade overall.
Eastern Nazarene (https://athletics.enc.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Same opening schedule as last year, but they are away at both Salem State and Plymouth State. They tied a tough WPI team last year away, though, and host them this year. They add Fitchburg State this year and remove Middlebury.
Elmira (https://athletics.elmira.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Elmira was a surprise winner of the Empire 8 tournament last year, before losing a relatively close 2-0 game to Montclair State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. This year, they start with the Buffalo State tournament, facing Buffalo State and Fredonia. Other than that, they play SUNY Delhi, SUNY Oswego, Union, and Susquehanna again, but they have 5 straight away games to start the season.
Hilbert (https://athletics.elmira.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Same schedule as last year except they play Bryant & Stratton in a home and away, which appears to be a replacement for former conference foe Wells (RIP).
Geneva (https://athletics.geneva.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
After watching Simple Coach's Field of Dreams segment (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI_R6vASthE&t=542s) on Geneva and learning about its new soccer stadium turf project this summer, I had to check out its schedule. It gets to use that new turf right away because on opening weekend it is slated to host its own tournament against Alfred State and Penn State Altoona. Other interesting non-conference game is a trip to Rochester (3 hours away per SC!) the following weekend to play at RIT.
SUNY Maritime (https://maritimeathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Opens hosting Eastern Mennonite, which is a long way from its home of Harrisonburg, VA. I'm assuming the Mass Maritime game is the big rivalry game considering they seem to play every year. They tied last year away, but home or away doesn't seem to matter in these games.
67 days till August 30th kick off! 8-)
Macalester (https://athletics.macalester.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
After a strong season last year, Macalester replaces Wisconsin-Superior with Wisconsin-Whitewater and Carthage with Grinnell and both of those games are at home. Also gets St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, and Carleton at home this year. Considering that they were an undefeated 8-0-2 at home last year and 3-3-3 away, that might not be insignificant. although it probably has more to do with the quality of the teams they played home v. away.
SUNY Old Westbury (https://www.oldwestburypanthers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
John Jay and SUNY Delhi replace New Jersey City University and Kean.
Medgar Evers (https://mecathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
After a 1-12-2 season last year, including an opening game 8-0 loss to Ursinus at home, I'm sure they would have preferred not to have to open the season away at Ursinus this year or for Penn State Scranton, the only team they beat last year, to leave the schedule. I'm not sure where they will get a win from this year. Maybe York College (NY), who they tied 2-2 (in their non-conference version of the game) and lost to 2-1 when playing in conference, or CCNY, another school with only 1 in last year (against York College), who tied Medgar Evers last season.
Carleton (https://athletics.carleton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Sort of an underwhelming non-conference schedule for a team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last year. I suppose you could look at it as replacing Northland with Wisconsin-River Falls (which might as well be Northland considering how many of those kids transferred to the new program at River Falls) and replacing North Central with Wisconsin-Superior, which lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to St. Olaf, but I would have thought they would have tried for more of an upgrade. Of course, with St. Olaf, Macalester, and Gustavus Adolphus in conference, they probably rightly figure that they don't need much of an upgrade.
Swarthmore (https://swarthmoreathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
The most notable addition to the schedule is a trip out to Los Angeles the second weekend of the season to take on Occidental and Cal Tech. Last year, Swat had 5 players on its roster who went to HS in California and 3 more from the west coast/AZ, so this could be a trip designed to give their families a chance to see their kids play in person. It won't be easy, though, as Oxy and Cal Tech will be tough.
Sadly, there a bunch of teams on Eastern Nazarene's schedule (https://athletics.enc.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule) that are probably going to be scrambling to fill an open date or are going to just have to play one fewer game. Presumably, the non-conference opponents (Salem State, Plymouth State, WPI, U Mass Boston, and Fitchburg State) could play each other or fill in the schedules of one of the members of the GNAC.
https://enc.edu/news/board-announces-developing-plan-for-closure/
QuoteThe Board of Trustees of Eastern Nazarene College today announced it has voted unanimously to begin the process of closing ENC and transitioning it into a new educational enterprise that will carry on ENC's legacy of providing a transformational education that equips diverse students to lead and serve our world as agent of Christ's love and truth.
An alum on the main D3 Board posts in the "Future of DIII" thread that it is closing pretty much immediately except for students who are finishing up student teaching field work or senior projects.
QuoteENC's goal, pending the commitment of a critical mass of students and faculty, is to continue serving undergraduate and graduate students who are on track to graduate by the end of the year. Administrators have arranged teach-out agreements with three institutions – Gordon College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University and Trevecca Nazarene University – to provide streamlined transfer options for all other students. ENC will also provide job-placement support and access to counseling resources for faculty and staff affected by the closure.
Covenant (https://athletics.covenant.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Reasonably tough opening weekend hosting Hardin-Simmons and Brevard, followed up by a perhaps tougher second weekend hosting Hampden-Sydney and Washington & Lee. They also once again play strong regional games against Oglethorpe, Emory, and Lynchburg. Interesting that they are playing an exhibition game in the middle of conference play against D1 Belmont.
Hardin-Simmons (https://hsuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
After an opening trip to Georgia to play Covenant and Berry, they mostly play non-conference games against SCAC teams before doing a double round robin against the remaining ASC teams.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 25, 2024, 05:09:21 PMSadly, there a bunch of teams on Eastern Nazarene's schedule (https://athletics.enc.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule) that are probably going to be scrambling to fill an open date or are going to just have to play one fewer game. Presumably, the non-conference opponents (Salem State, Plymouth State, WPI, U Mass Boston, and Fitchburg State) could play each other or fill in the schedules of one of the members of the GNAC.
https://enc.edu/news/board-announces-developing-plan-for-closure/
QuoteThe Board of Trustees of Eastern Nazarene College today announced it has voted unanimously to begin the process of closing ENC and transitioning it into a new educational enterprise that will carry on ENC's legacy of providing a transformational education that equips diverse students to lead and serve our world as agent of Christ's love and truth.
An alum on the main D3 Board posts in the "Future of DIII" thread that it is closing pretty much immediately except for students who are finishing up student teaching field work or senior projects.
QuoteENC's goal, pending the commitment of a critical mass of students and faculty, is to continue serving undergraduate and graduate students who are on track to graduate by the end of the year. Administrators have arranged teach-out agreements with three institutions – Gordon College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University and Trevecca Nazarene University – to provide streamlined transfer options for all other students. ENC will also provide job-placement support and access to counseling resources for faculty and staff affected by the closure.
If there was any doubt, Eastern Nazarene's schedule (https://athletics.enc.edu/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)has been updated so that every game is now listed as "cancelled"
The few schools with 2024 schedule posted that were scheduled to play them, however, have not necessarily gotten the message:
Maine Maritime (https://marinersports.org/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They are still listing games against Eastern Nazarene on 9/27 and 10/19. Does an opponent playing fewer games affect Colby's strength of schedule (which is playing Maine Maritime on 10/14)?
Thomas College (Maine) (https://athletics.thomas.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They still list Eastern Nazarene on 9/14 and 10/16. Ironically (not really because of geographic proximity), they also play Colby. One interesting note is that they play an exhibition against Southern Maine Community College after starting the regular season against Univ of New England and Colby. That is where former Bates coach Noah Riskind landed after his departure.
Ursinus (https://ursinusathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
As with last year, this is a non-conference schedule designed to generate wins. The changes were to switch out Kings, Delaware Valley, and Bryn Athyn and add Wilkes, Eastern, and Penn State Brandywine, but they still start with Medgar Evers and Penn State Berks, who they beat 8-0 and 9-0, respectively, last year. Almost all of the games against top Centennial opponents are away this year, which won't make new coach Colin Klingman's job any easier.
One note: Ursinus doesn't list Bryn Athyn on the schedule, but Bryn Athyn lists Ursinus on Sept 5. Ursinus does technically have an open date that day, but they play another midweek game the day before. I wonder which schedule is correct.
Ozarks (https://uofoathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Plays a home and away against Hendrix, which looks like a Birmingham Southern replacement game for Hendrix.
Mary Hardin-Baylor (https://cruathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They travel the second weekend of the season to Northfield, MN to play at St. Olaf and also take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Otherwise, it's fairly normal schedule for them in that they play a lot of SCAC teams for non-conference games. No hard feelings with former ASC member Concordia TX, who is on the schedule. Trinity TX and St. Thomas both play them in Belton, which is the return trip from last year for Trinity, but St. Thomas played in Belton last year too. Maybe UST didn't have access to their field.
LeTourneau (https://letuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Big trip for LeTourneau to play at Calvin and at Hope the first weekend of the season. That's pretty ambitious from a competitive standpoint, but at least Michigan might be a little cooler in the evening that time of year than Longview, Texas. They also travel to Jackson, Mississippi to play Belhaven and Millsaps the second weekend.
Hardin-Simmons (https://hsuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Taking a trip to Georgia for opening weekend and playing Berry and Covenant and then plays a bunch of SCAC teams before starting conference play. Interestingly, Trinity is not one of the SCAC teams. Other than 2020, the last time Hardin-Simmons didn't play Trinity was 2001.
John Jay (https://johnjayathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They travel to upstate New York the second weekend to take on SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam. Pretty interesting to add a game at Montclair State right before a game at Western Connecticut State right before the start of conference play. I'm not sure if the strong opponents are a sign John Jay is feeling good about its team this year and is being ambitious or other teams found about NPI and identified John Jay as a team they could schedule who they could beat and it wouldn't hurt them for SoS purposes.
Geneseo partial (https://geneseoknights.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Cortland (https://www.cortlandreddragons.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
20 game schedule for Cortland.
Clark Summit just announced (https://www.clarkssummitu.edu/)it is closing and will not be offering classes starting in Fall 2024.
They had already posted their Men's Soccer schedule (https://gocsudefenders.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024). If anyone is looking for another opponent for a game, looks like a bunch of teams will have an empty slot to fill.
Of course, if anyone still has room for transfers, the FAQ section of the announcement reports that "Student-athletes will be entered into the NCAA Transfer Portal within two weeks of closure."
Bethany (WV) (https://www.bethanybison.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Challenging start to the first season for Coach Wolf, traveling to Ohio to play Denison and Mount Union and then traveling the next weekend to Virginia to play Mary Washington and Randolph-Macon.
Yeshiva (https://yumacs.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They only play one non-conference game, against Rutgers-Newark, perhaps because they can't play Fridays or Saturdays.
Rosemont (https://rosemont-ravens.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Challenging start to the season with a trip to Virginia to play Christopher Newport and Virginia Wesleyan.
Quote from: SKUD on June 24, 2024, 09:51:27 PM67 days till August 30th kick off! 8-)
59 days
Call this the Clarks Summit memorial schedule post (since all of these teams were on Clarks Summit's 2024 schedule):
Pittsburgh-Bradford (https://athletics.pittbradford.org/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
They were supposed to play Clarks Summit for their opening game on Aug. 31, but since they play the next day on Sept 1 against Keystone they should be fine, right? Right? (last week Keystone announced (https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/news/keystone-college-cuts-29-faculty-staff-positions-closes-three-low-enrollment-programs/article_208d089c-46f6-5368-89a5-714d4b4e58d0.html)cutting 29 faculty/staff positions plus several departments to save money after signing a letter of intent with an unnamed investor who needs approval from the accreditation agency). The home opener is the second weekend against Thiel.
Gwynedd Mercy (https://gwyneddathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
According to Clarks Summit's schedule, they were to host Gwynedd Mercy on Saturday Sept 7. Gwynedd Mercy either took them off the schedule already or didn't have much faith in the likelihood of the game as they have games on 9/3 and 9/11, but nothing on 9/7. They also have 19 games on the schedule, so I'm guessing they replaced the Clarks Summit game already.
Penn State Schuylkill (https://www.psuschuylkillathletics.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
They still have Clark's Summit on the schedule for Wed. 9/18. With only 16 games on the schedule, including Clarks Summit and Lancaster Bible College JV, I'm guessing they will want to find a replacement game.
Gallaudet (https://gallaudetbison.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Opens by hosting Southern VA and Alfred State. Clarks Summit was supposed to be the conference opener on 9/28, but if nothing is switched around, they won't open conference play until 10/2 with Valley Forge. Other interesting note is that they play home and away games against Regent as if they are a conference opponent. Regent is in its DIII exploratory year. I wonder if they are a candidate for the UEC even though their sponsoring institution is Christopher Newport and there would be more geographical logic in them being in the C2C (if there is any geographical logic in that conference).
Bryn Athyn (https://brynathynathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Clarks Summit is the last regular season game on the schedule - Oct. 26 - so probably not hard to just let it go. That would leave them with only 14 games though.
Gettysburg (https://www.instagram.com/p/C89ozwfRXj6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)
They've only posted this on instagram thus far, but it's definitely one of the more geographically diverse set of opponents among Centennial Conference teams. They open by hosting Sewanee and Carnegie Mellon and the following weekend they host Carthage and Cal Lutheran. They also travel to Southern Virginia and host some historically challenging local non-conference teams in Lebanon Valley and Lycoming. Only 4 away games in conference -- only two of which qualified the conference tourney last year -- sets them up for success. They also start pre-season early with a trip to Costa Rica in August. I've always wondered whether this is an advantage in giving them a running start on the season or tires a team out when the crucial late-season games arrive. We'll see soon enough.
Dickinson (https://dickinsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Travels the second weekend to St. Mary's of Maryland to take on the Seahawks and Salisbury. It then plays at Messiah in a midweek Wednesday game and the next day hosts Gettysburg's "developmental" team. That's interesting on two levels: 1. I didn't know Gettysburg had a developmental team, but they had 36 players on the roster last year, so it stands to reason that many won't get much or any playing time without some scrimmages like this. They don't list one on their website and they don't even acknowledge the existence of this game on their instagram schedule post, but they play Lebanon Valley the day before, so this is a scrimmage designed to allow them to not rotate against Lebanon Valley, while still giving playing time to players that don't play that game. 2. It also suggests that Dickinson thinks of itself as having a developmental team, since it had 33 on the roster last season. Even if it doesn't, the scheduling of this game seems to be an indication that Dickinson doesn't expect to rotate much against Messiah, but can reassure players that if they didn't play against Messiah, they will play the next game against Gettysburg's developmental team. It's one way to deal with the problems of increasing roster size without completely creating a separate team. Everybody considers themselves part of the "varsity" team, but not at the cost of basically sitting the entire season without playing opportunities.
Profiles of schedules for schools in conferences where teams tend to schedule very few non-conference opponents because their conferences are large and/or teams play each other twice
George Fox (https://athletics.georgefox.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Doesn't play on opening weekend, but it travels all the way across the country to Boston to take on Emerson and Emmanuel on the second weekend. It only plays one other game -- against NAIA side Corban - before starting NWC conference play.
Puget Sound (https://loggerathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Opens by taking on DII side Seattle Pacific and then travels to Southern California the second weekend to take on Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer before starting NWC conference play.
Emmanuel (https://goecsaints.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
In addition to playing George Fox, it opens with games against Suffolk and Rhode Island College and then the rest of its schedule are entirely teams from the GNAC.
Anna Maria (https://www.goamcats.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
They open against Nichols and Westfield St. and the only other non-conference game is the second-to-last game of the season when they play Clark.
Elms (https://www.ecblazers.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
They open at Fitchburg State and then host Westfield State and SUNY Cobleskill before GNAC play starts. They also play MCLA later in the season.
Regis College (https://www.goregispride.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
They play one game - hosting Mass Maritime - before starting conference play, but they do play Westfield State in the middle of conference play
Some schedules from deep in the heart of Texas
Howard Payne (https://www.instagram.com/p/C7zPm9CJS_n/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Howard Payne's schedule is only on Instagram right now. They open hosting Lyon and then 6 straight SCAC opponents before starting ASC conference play. Interestingly, they have 5 non-conference games away and only 2 at home.
McMurry (https://www.instagram.com/p/C8vexZTsKxl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
McMurry also only has its schedule on Instagram currently. It also host Lyon to open and then 6 straight away non-conference games, most of which are ASC opponents, but also include fellow SCAC member University of Dallas in a non-conference game.
Schreiner (https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8ue6Xvxm7j/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Some interesting names on this schedule, including Texas A&M San Antonio (NAIA) and Huston-Tillotson (NAIA), which suggests that there weren't ASC schools to go around because enough of them scheduled games with out-of-state teams
Warren Wilson (https://warrenwilsonowls.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
After going 0-14 last year, I didn't expect Warren Wilson to schedule a pre-season scrimmage against D1 VMI, but there it is on Aug. 26. Not sure whether it says more about Warren Wilson's ambitions or VMI's prospects. Not only is it on VMI's schedule (https://vmikeydets.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule), but it is slated to be broadcast on ESPN+. Warren Wilson has the unique ability to schedule entirely non-conference opponents as a member of the Coast2Coast conference, but I'm not sure where they can get a win this year. Maybe Tococca Falls, a NCCAA school that went 3-11-1 last year, including losing to Piedmont 8-1, which only beat Warren Wilson 5-0 last year. It did play Brevard and Ferrum close last year, so perhaps that's another possibility.
Baldwin-Wallace (https://www.bwyellowjackets.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
21 games on the schedule, in part because they are participating in the Penn State Behrend tournament, which gets them three games, including two in one day, and the Mount Union tournament. Not sure how they play two games in one day like in club, but the opening game of the season the day before against Lycoming is going to be tough enough that the two games the next day will probably be where they heavily rotate the squad.
Baldwin Wallace will only be playing one game that day. They *likely* just listed out both game slots as options because the tournament is fluid rather than being a set schedule. Winners of the Saturday games will play at one time on Sunday and losers will play the other.
Some upstate NY schedules
Hilbert (https://hilberthawks.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Same non-conference schedule as last year with the order switched a bit, although they have their first two games at home this year instead of starting on the road.
Nazareth (https://nazathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
The big changes are the additions of SUNY Brockport and SUNY Geneseo to the Empire 8 schedule (SUNY Poly comes in as well, but Nazareth beat them last year in non-conference play). That will make it much harder for Nazareth to repeat last year's 5-2-1 conference record.
Houghton (https://athletics.houghton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Wells' closure takes away one of Houghton's three wins from last year. That puts some pressure on the opening match against Hilbert, which was another of their wins, since the third win against Keuka was only 1-0. Pitt Bradford, a team they beat 4-0 two years ago, seems the most likely of the new additions to give them a chance at another win.
Rutgers Newark (https://rutgersnewarkathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Pretty challenging schedule. They open by traveling to Virginia to take on Randolph-Macon and Mary Washington. A couple of weeks later they host Johns Hopkins and Lycoming.
Bard (https://bardathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They started the season last year with a string of wins against weak opponents and it looks like they have continued that strategy this year. We'll see if they can snatch a win in the Liberty League this year. They do have some games at home this year against teams they tied last year (Vassar and RIT).
Connecticut College (https://camelathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Always interesting to see the NESCAC schools pretty much jump straight into the deep end of conference play right away. This season, Conn warms up by hosting USMMA and then the next game travels to play Amherst on Sept 7th. That should be a humdinger of an early season game. It also has a pretty hard set of games the following weekend, hosting Bowdoin on Saturday at 2:00 and traveling to play Tufts a little over 24 hours later on Sunday at 3 in the only double game weekend of the season for Conn and the end of a brutal stretch of 4 games in 8 days (with an away game at Salve Regina in-between Amherst and Bowdoin). Last year, Conn's only double game weekend was Colby and Middlebury and Conn tied the second game to Middlebury. It was also the end of a 4 game stretch in 8 days with games against Williams and Coast Guard as well, but all 4 games were at home and it came a little later in the season. Given that, this seems like a harder schedule for Conn than last year, although dropping Babson makes the non-conference portion easier.
SLU (https://saintsathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Exactly the same as last year.
Quote from: Kuiper on July 09, 2024, 12:36:28 PMConnecticut College (https://camelathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Always interesting to see the NESCAC schools pretty much jump straight into the deep end of conference play right away. This season, Conn warms up by hosting USMMA and then the next game travels to play Amherst on Sept 7th. That should be a humdinger of an early season game. It also has a pretty hard set of games the following weekend, hosting Bowdoin on Saturday at 2:00 and traveling to play Tufts a little over 24 hours later on Sunday at 3 in the only double game weekend of the season for Conn and the end of a brutal stretch of 4 games in 8 days (with an away game at Salve Regina in-between Amherst and Bowdoin). Last year, Conn's only double game weekend was Colby and Middlebury and Conn tied the second game to Middlebury. It was also the end of a 4 game stretch in 8 days with games against Williams and Coast Guard as well, but all 4 games were at home and it came a little later in the season. Given that, this seems like a harder schedule for Conn than last year, although dropping Babson makes the non-conference portion easier.
as a supporter it is tough with only 6 home games - not sure how that helps/hurts the new rankings system.
Quote from: Newenglander on July 09, 2024, 03:36:16 PMQuote from: Kuiper on July 09, 2024, 12:36:28 PMConnecticut College (https://camelathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Always interesting to see the NESCAC schools pretty much jump straight into the deep end of conference play right away. This season, Conn warms up by hosting USMMA and then the next game travels to play Amherst on Sept 7th. That should be a humdinger of an early season game. It also has a pretty hard set of games the following weekend, hosting Bowdoin on Saturday at 2:00 and traveling to play Tufts a little over 24 hours later on Sunday at 3 in the only double game weekend of the season for Conn and the end of a brutal stretch of 4 games in 8 days (with an away game at Salve Regina in-between Amherst and Bowdoin). Last year, Conn's only double game weekend was Colby and Middlebury and Conn tied the second game to Middlebury. It was also the end of a 4 game stretch in 8 days with games against Williams and Coast Guard as well, but all 4 games were at home and it came a little later in the season. Given that, this seems like a harder schedule for Conn than last year, although dropping Babson makes the non-conference portion easier.
as a supporter it is tough with only 6 home games - not sure how that helps/hurts the new rankings system.
The Men's Soccer Committee chose to set the "dial" in the NPI system for home/away at 1.0, meaning that there are no extra points given for road wins. So, it neither helps nor hurts, but it indirectly would hurt if Conn did worse on the road than at home. On the one hand, it was 6-0-3 at home and 5-0-3 on the road last year. Its 2 losses came in neutral site games, but those were also harder games because they were in the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments. That suggests Conn doesn't have a clear home field advantage that will be lost this year. On the other hand, it played some of its toughest conference opponents (eg Amherst, Middlebury, Tufts) at home last year and this year those games are away. So, last year's home/away records might not be relevant.
MIT (https://mitathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
After an opening trip to Pennsylvania last year, MIT stays local this year, taking on Curry and Southern Maine Indeed, local might mean staying home more generally, since some of its tougher opponents from last year - Tufts, U Mass Boston, and Babson - are all home games this year. It also adds Endicott this year at home.
Endicott (https://www.ecgulls.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Endicott also is staying home a lot this year, especially early on when its first 6 games are at home. That includes new non-conference opponents in William Paterson, Keene State, and SUNY Plattsburgh. It also hosts Middlebury this year. Although it isn't playing Boston College like last year, it is traveling to play Colby.
Drew (https://drewrangers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Mostly the same as 2023. No New Paltz but game vs Kean or Hunter, plus added NYU and Immaculata.
Arcadia (https://arcadiaknights.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Mostly a similar mix of schools from last year. Adding Pratt for John Jay is probably a like-for-like switch. The three game stretch of York and Eastern are two additions of note.
FDU-Florham (https://fdudevils.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
I'm not sure I understand the opening weekend "Drew/FDU Fall Festival." FDU-Florham plays Dean on Friday in one game and then Kean and Hunter play each other the next day and then FDU-Florham plays Drew again on Sunday? That must be a misprint and they play Hunter or Kean.
Kean (https://keanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
This makes more sense in the opening weekend, with Kean playing Drew on Sunday Sept 1. That suggests FDU-Florham is playing Hunter on Sunday. A two week stretch in September where they play Swarthmore, Muhlenberg, Widener, Stevens, and Franklin & Marshall should be a real test.
Drew festival
Drew vs FDU Friday
kean vs Hunter Friday
Then Winners of their match play each other for championship Sunday 1pm
Losers of their match play in consolation match Sunday 3pm
Haverford (https://www.haverfordathletics.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
Opens at Arcadia and at Rutgers Camden. Tough four day stretch at Rowan and then the conference opener at Franklin & Marshall. They are scheduled to host John Jay on 9/7, but there must be some mistake because John Jay is also scheduled to play in upstate NY against SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam that weekend (and I don't think John Jay has a big enough roster to split into two traveling teams).
[UPDATE: Haverford removed John Jay from its schedule]
Trinity (CT) (https://bantamsports.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
Same non-conference opponents as last year except they trade out Castleton for St. John Fisher. Only conference win last year was against Bates and one of only two non-losses was a tie against Wesleyan. This year, they open at Bates and host Wesleyan, so maybe they have a chance to get a fast start.
Concordia (TX) (https://athletics.concordia.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Odd start to the season. They play former their former ASC rivals Mary Hardin-Baylor and UT Dallas on opening weekend, which isn't odd, but then they play Mary Hardin-Baylor again two days later at home. Since the second game isn't on UMHB's schedule and it's two days before UMHB travels to play at St. Olaf, maybe it's a reserve squad game. Big trip to Virginia the second weekend to take on Christopher Newport and Virginia Wesleyan.
Adrian (https://adrianbulldogs.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
After finishing 1-13-2 last year, this is another school that has to schedule to try to get a win. Adrian's President may have written the book on using athletics to build enrollment, but I don't think he believes perpetually losing teams will get that job done. They tied Defiance last year 1-1 and open with them this year, so that's a win possibility. Rochester Christian University, an NAIA teams that was 4-10-2 seems like another candidate among new non-conference opponents. I don't know anything about Kuyper College (other than they misspelled my D3 Boards handle if they named it after me), but it looks like a brand new NCCAA men's soccer program, so that's a third win possibility. Of course, if Adrian beats Kuyper, Calvin will probably destroy them when they play a few weeks later. I wondered if this was against Calvin's reserve team, but Calvin has Kuyper listed as its homecoming game, so probably not.
Western New England (https://wnegoldenbears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They have a favorable home-and-away split to start the season this year, playing 6 of the first 8 games at home, including Wesleyan and MIT among new opponents. They also play Conn College and Trinity College at home this year. I don't know if that will do anything for their overall record, but they did have a much better home record last year (4-1-4) than away (2-6-3), although that was probably because most of their strongest opponents were away last year.
I assume Kuyper College (spelled correctly) is named after the famous Dutch politician Abraham Kuyper. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Kuyper
Reformed (I.e., Calvinist) denominations in America often look to Kuyper for a vision of the roles Christians should pursue in the public square. IMO, There is no similar figure in American religious history.
Quote from: Falconer on July 17, 2024, 09:23:05 PMI assume Kuyper College (spelled correctly) is named after the famous Dutch politician Abraham Kuyper. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Kuyper
Reformed (I.e., Calvinist) denominations in America often look to Kuyper for a vision of the roles Christians should pursue in the public square. IMO, There is no similar figure in American religious history.
In 1905 there was a higher education law enacted, but Kuyper was against this and became part of the opposition.
Institutions influenced by Kuyper include Cardus (formerly The Work Research Foundation), Calvin College, The Clapham Institute, Dordt College, Institute for Christian Studies, Redeemer University College, The Coalition for Christian Outreach, Covenant College, The Center for Public Justice, and the Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, & Culture. In 2006, Reformed Bible College, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan was renamed in honor of Abraham Kuyper and is now Kuyper College.
Stockton (https://stocktonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Challenging out-of-NJAC schedule includes Virginia Wesleyan, Christopher Newport, Washington College (MD), John Carroll, Case Western, Widener.
Mount Saint Vincent (https://umsvathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They start the season with 6 straight home games, including games against NYU and Haverford. They also host Springfield in a mid-week game in the middle of conference season. I guess everyone wants to visit the Bronx!
Saint John's University (https://gojohnnies.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
With their head coach just announcing his resignation after 14 years, this tough schedule gets even harder. Not only do they play all the tough MIAC schools like St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Macalester, and Carleton, but they also play Wartburg and Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Washington University (https://washubears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Hardest new opponent is Ohio Northern, which comes right before they start UAA play at Emory. That makes for a pretty tough two game stretch. Also tough to end the conference season playing consecutive road games at Rochester and at Chicago, especially for games on Nov. 3 and 9 that potentially will be played in frigid conditions.
Lancaster Bible College (https://lbcchargers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Pretty tough opening of the season hosting Franklin & Marshall and then playing at Alvernia. They also host Messiah mid-week in the middle of conference play.
Warren Wilson (https://warrenwilsonowls.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
A Coast to Coast Conference school, which means it has to have an entirely non-conference schedule before the conference tournament. They manage the schedule with a combination of opponents from the USA South (4 games), Collegiate Conference of the South (4 games), and USCAA (2 games) and NCCAA (3 games), ODAC (1 game). I wonder if they could be a candidate for the CCS (replacing Maryville College when it leaves for the SAA), although that would make the Belhaven trip even longer.
Pratt Institute (https://goprattgo.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
First year in the America East Conference, after being in the Coast-to-Coast Conference the past few years. They have scheduled a number of Skyline conference opponents for non-conference, including St. Joseph's Brooklyn, Sarah Lawrence, Maritime, and Mount Saint Mary, as well as SUNY and CUNY schools, which is fairly similar to what they scheduled when they had an entirely non-conference schedule in the C2C.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (https://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
A geographically diverse non-conference schedule, hosting Luther in the opener and then going to St. Olaf to play Mary Hardin-Baylor and St. Olaf. Other than St. Olaf, I'm not sure whether it's ambitious since Luther had a down year last year and Mary Hardin-Baylor's decent record was mostly fattened at the expense of the weaker ASC and SCAC schools. Still, it should be a good test of different styles of play, including against Wheaton (IL) at home, before starting SCIAC games. They only play Pomona-Pitzer once this year, which is an unfortunate consequence of dropping the second conference game against some opponents every year to allow teams to schedule high SoS opponents from other areas. Playing Redlands and Occidental twice, however, should provide for stiffer competition and potentially help their SoS. CMS also ends the regular season hosting UC Santa Cruz, which is a somewhat anticlimactic prelude to the SCIAC tournament, depending upon the Banana Slugs' quality this year.
Loras (https://duhawks.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They host Wheaton (ILL) and North Carolina Wesleyan for their own tournament. Otherwise, strongest non-conference opponents might be @Gustavus Adolphus, @Wisconsin PLatteville and @Wisconsin Whitewater
Emerson (https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9uv8E-JBYn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Only on Instagram right now, but the production quality of this video might have made it worth the wait. Hosting George Fox (which is traveling from just outside of Portland, Oregon) in a rare clash between NWC and NEWMAC teams. Playing three NESCAC schools this year (Bates, Tufts, and Amherst) is a tall order, but they beat Bates last year and only lost 1-0 to Tufts. Bigger issue for Emerson is in conference, though, where they went winless last year (0-6-2) and were shutout in all of their losses.
Wisconsin Lutheran (https://wlcsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Replaces Wisconsin-Whitewater, Bethel, Marantha Baptist with Martin Luther, Beloit, and Lake Forest
Sarah Lawrence (https://gogryphons.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Seems like a step up in the degree of difficulty this year, with games against SUNY Poly, RPI and NYU added to the schedule.
Colby-Sawyer (https://www.colby-sawyerathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Only 3 wins last year, two against the Vermont State-Lyndon and Castleton teams, which are on the schedule again this year. Not sure they've done much to change the non-conference schedule this year to get more wins, but maybe Plymouth State will be a more competitive game for them.
Scranton (https://athletics.scranton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
I guess someone has to open the season against Messiah, but it's a tough test for first year coach Andy Loughnane and his squad. I wonder if Loughnane or his predecessor Matt Pivirotto agreed to that one. It doesn't get much easier with Scranton hosting Muhlenberg, SUNY New Paltz, and Alvernia and traveling to SUNY Cortland among non-conference opponents.
Penn State Abington (https://abingtonsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Seems like they want to play Virginia teams this year as they have Shenandoah away and Roanoke at home on the schedule. Also opens with Swarthmore and Widener, neither of which were on the schedule last year and perhaps can be viewed as replacing Washington College and Montclair State.
Coast Guard (https://coastguardathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
Adds Gordon, Mitchell, Worcester State and Eastern Connecticut State to the non-conference schedule and drops Widener, Swarthmore, and UMass Boston.
Southwestern (https://southwesternpirates.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Unlike some of the SCAC schools, Southwestern has mostly scheduled teams from outside the state for its non-conference schedule. That's noteworthy because although Southwestern has traditionally played two or three out-of-state teams, it has also regularly scheduled ASC opponents. This year, they are 5 from out-of-state (Methodist, Hendrix, Berry, Whitworth, and Cal Lutheran) and only 1 from the ASC (Mary Hardin-Baylor). All of its non-conference games are home or on nearby-ish neutral fields in San Antonio (Trinity's home field presumably).
In the SCAC, they host Colorado College this year, which means that the only out-of-state trips they are taking this year are to Centenary in Louisiana and Ozarks in Arkansas, despite playing 8 out-of-state teams over the whole schedule.
NYU (https://gonyuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Apparently, NYU is going to do some preseason training at altitude this year and play some strong opponents to boot. They play scrimmages against Colorado School of Mines, a good DII school on Aug. 21 and then DI Air Force on Aug. 24. By contrast, they have a somewhat easier non-conference regular season schedule, at least on paper, with Montclair State, Stevens, and Wesleyan left off the schedule. I think the only NCAA qualifier on the schedule this year outside of the UAA teams might be Baruch.
Trinity (https://trinitytigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They previewed this on Instagram awhile back, but it is now official on the website. As with Southwestern, Trinity plays most of its non-conference games against out-of-state opponents (Hendrix, Methodist, Whitworth, Berry, Cal Lutheran), which is not surprising because Trinity and Southwestern pair up as they usually do so that these traveling teams can play two games against Texas opponents. The only difference with Southwestern is that all of those games are in San Antonio and Trinity plays two ASC opponents instead of only one (Trinity plays Howard Payne as well), although Trinity plays Mary Hardin-Baylor away, which is a return trip from the game last year where UMHB lost 6-1. In the SCAC, Trinity's toughest road trip from a competitive standpoint will be Friday 10/25 at 7:30 pm at St. Thomas and Sunday 10/27 at 12:00 pm at Colorado College, but the consolation is that it's probably easier to find a non-stop from Houston than San Antonio to Colorado Springs anyway, so that might at least help the travel logistics a little.
Emory (https://emoryathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Emory starts the season with three straight tournaments, hosting Belhaven and Oglethorpe in its own tournament and then playing Lynchburg and Roanoke in the Oglethorpe tournament, before making the trek out to Colorado Springs to play UT Dallas and Colorado College in CC's tournament. Interestingly, it plays Oglethorpe a second team in non-conference play before starting UAA play, which I haven't seen (at least in recent years). Perhaps they had trouble finding a second team for their tournament this year.
Quote from: Kuiper on August 02, 2024, 02:01:24 PMTrinity (https://trinitytigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
They previewed this on Instagram awhile back, but it is now official on the website. As with Southwestern, Trinity plays most of its non-conference games against out-of-state opponents (Hendrix, Methodist, Whitworth, Berry, Cal Lutheran), which is not surprising because Trinity and Southwestern pair up as they usually do so that these traveling teams can play two games against Texas opponents. The only difference with Southwestern is that all of those games are in San Antonio and Trinity plays two ASC opponents instead of only one (Trinity plays Howard Payne as well), although Trinity plays Mary Hardin-Baylor away, which is a return trip from the game last year where UMHB lost 6-1. In the SCAC, Trinity's toughest road trip from a competitive standpoint will be Friday 10/25 at 7:30 pm at St. Thomas and Sunday 10/27 at 12:00 pm at Colorado College, but the consolation is that it's probably easier to find a non-stop from Houston than San Antonio to Colorado Springs anyway, so that might at least help the travel logistics a little.
Emory (https://emoryathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Emory starts the season with three straight tournaments, hosting Belhaven and Oglethorpe in its own tournament and then playing Lynchburg and Roanoke in the Oglethorpe tournament, before making the trek out to Colorado Springs to play UT Dallas and Colorado College in CC's tournament. Interestingly, it plays Oglethorpe a second team in non-conference play before starting UAA play, which I haven't seen (at least in recent years). Perhaps they had trouble finding a second team for their tournament this year.
W&L had a home and home going with Emory for 6 of the last 7 years (COVID being the outlier), but it seems they have gone a different direction playing at Sewanee and Covenant this year. I'm planning to be at those games with one of my sons to put eyes on the Generals after the coaching change and I'm pleased I won't have to drive to Atlanta. Both Sewanee and Covenant are gorgeous campuses and I absolutely love Covenant's field as a spectator. In my opinion it's the most beautiful view of any college field I've been to. Much better than any view in Atlanta as far as I'm concerned.
I will see you there @jknezek!
Quote from: Another Mom on August 03, 2024, 08:57:18 AMI will see you there @jknezek!
Great! We can coordinate when it gets closer. I'll have my other twin son with me this time.
Wheaton (MA) (https://wheatoncollegelyons.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2024)
The opener against Montclair State on Aug. 30 is the headliner addition to the schedule. It doesn't get much easier with games against St. Joseph's (ME) and Williams on 9/1 and 9/3 respectively. The only consolation is that all three are home games, but the Lyons will travel to Bowdoin for a mid-week game right before opening conference play.
Quote from: jknezek on August 02, 2024, 03:19:36 PMQuote from: Kuiper on August 02, 2024, 02:01:24 PMW&L had a home and home going with Emory for 6 of the last 7 years (COVID being the outlier), but it seems they have gone a different direction playing at Sewanee and Covenant this year. I'm planning to be at those games with one of my sons to put eyes on the Generals after the coaching change and I'm pleased I won't have to drive to Atlanta. Both Sewanee and Covenant are gorgeous campuses and I absolutely love Covenant's field as a spectator. In my opinion it's the most beautiful view of any college field I've been to. Much better than any view in Atlanta as far as I'm concerned.
Couple friends had kids go to Sewanee and a cousin graduated from there back in the day (used to also be called the Univ of the South). Very nice college and they all had great times. Whether W&L continues its upwards trajectory which it might for a while or goes back to be a middling soccer school, it still will be a very nice college with some great traditions with strong academics. In my opinion, it will be tough to continue and think the out of conf. games far away will mostly likely be curtailed.
Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on August 06, 2024, 09:12:59 AMQuote from: jknezek on August 02, 2024, 03:19:36 PMQuote from: Kuiper on August 02, 2024, 02:01:24 PMW&L had a home and home going with Emory for 6 of the last 7 years (COVID being the outlier), but it seems they have gone a different direction playing at Sewanee and Covenant this year. I'm planning to be at those games with one of my sons to put eyes on the Generals after the coaching change and I'm pleased I won't have to drive to Atlanta. Both Sewanee and Covenant are gorgeous campuses and I absolutely love Covenant's field as a spectator. In my opinion it's the most beautiful view of any college field I've been to. Much better than any view in Atlanta as far as I'm concerned.
Couple friends had kids go to Sewanee and a cousin graduated from there back in the day (used to also be called the Univ of the South). Very nice college and they all had great times. Whether W&L continues its upwards trajectory which it might for a while or goes back to be a middling soccer school, it still will be a very nice college with some great traditions with strong academics. In my opinion, it will be tough to continue and think the out of conf. games far away will mostly likely be curtailed.
Sewanee actually is, officially, Sewanee: The University of the South. I just can't bring myself to call them that. I think W&L will be ok. Most of W&L's athletic programs have moved forward under Jan Hathorn as AD to the point where they are players on the national scene. Do I expect continued Final Four appearances? Considering we've had 2 in our history, I think that's a stretch. But I do expect W&L will challenge to be in the tournament like most General sports teams and, when they make the tournament, to have the ability to go a couple rounds depending on match ups.
That seems to be the trajectory with a few exceptions. Football is blocked by R-MC and has struggled to regain the form it had under Coach Abell. Basketball is blocked by being in a conference that year in and out has 2 national title contenders, some combination of R-MC, H-SC and Guilford. And baseball, which has also had to contend with 2 national title contenders in Lynchburg and Shenandoah, but the Generals baseball team aren't at that level where I'd say they are blocked only by those teams. Otherwise, it's a rare sport that hasn't made an appearance in the tournament and won a round or two.
I think soccer will be just fine under the new coach. I want to say Hathorn has a knack for hiring coaches, but that diminishes the success she's had, consistently, bringing coaches to Lexington that have elevated programs. She has been superb with far more hits than misses, and even the few misses haven't been bad.
I expect Shabazz will be successful. Of course if you measure success only against Singleton it is a very hard act to follow. But if you consider success to being a player on the national scene, I think he can keep it going.
University of St. Thomas (https://ustcelts.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/schedule)
The Celts are one of the few schools I have seen that is starting its schedule the second, rather than the first, week of the season playing against North American and ASC foe Howard Payne. It also plays at Hendrix, Sul Ross State, and Hardin-Simmons before traveling to Colorado Springs to take on Colorado College in SCAC play. My guess is that Texas Lutheran and Trinity will be circling their games against St. Thomas on 10/18 and 10/25, respectively, based on the events of last season.