Notwithstanding the April snow storm in the Northeast, we're starting to see the first signs of spring - postings of Fall 2025 Men's Soccer schedules! I'm interested to see if the new NPI rules will affect the nature of non-conference games. Last year's schedules were largely done before the NPI rules were finalized and while many schedules are still affected by prior year scheduling decisions because of home-and-away contracts, it will be interesting to see if we notice signs of scheduling adjustments now that teams are not necessarily chasing wins against regionally ranked opponents.
Below are a few early ones. As with last season, the upper Midwest tends to post earlier, possibly because they want to wish spring into existence! This region also may be less revealing about scheduling changes since the distances are greater and teams tend to stay playing teams in the same circles.
Coe College (https://kohawkathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Wisconsin-Platteville looks to be the second half of a home-and-away series, but North Central is a strong new addition.
Augsburg (https://athletics.augsburg.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Linfield traveling to Augsburg for an early season match. Maybe this helps Linfield's strength of schedule, which is something the Northwest Conference struggles with given their isolation and double round-robin conference schedule, but I suspect this was in the works for awhile since many teams, particularly in Region X, budget for one big pre-conference trip every four years as kind of a reward for the players and as a recruiting foray for the coaches and to raise the profile of the school in a big metro area like Minneapolis. For Augsburg, unless Linfield dramatically improves this season or Augsburg collapses, it provides the Auggies with an easier early season opponent.
North Central (https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
The is the first schedule that seems less loaded than last season (at least based on preseason expectations in both years). Gone are St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Wisconsin-Platteville, and University of Chicago. In their place are Wartburg and Coe, which are part of an Iowa weekend, Monmouth, and Illinois Institute of Technology
Wisconsin-Whitewater (https://uwwsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
They play North Park and Loras on return trips, but Macalester is gone from the schedule and they pick up teams like Webster and Greenville in a trip south to return a game against Westminster
Aurora (https://athletics.aurora.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
They play University of Chicago in a return trip, but replace Wash U and Wisconsin Eau Claire with North Park and one less non-conference game.
North Park (https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Lots of familiar teams, but replaces Wisconsin Eau Claire with Wisconsin Platteville
Central College (https://athletics.central.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Replaces Macalester and Westminster with Wisconsin River Falls and Blackburn
Calvin (https://calvinknights.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Calvin hosting Ohio Wesleyan on opening weekend for perhaps OWU's first or second game in the post-Jay Martin era should be interesting. Otherwise, a pretty different schedule from 2024. Not sure Oberlin will compare to Mount Union or Ohio Northern.
More 2025 schedules
Occidental (https://oxyathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Very interesting opening exhibition game at Azusa Pacific on Aug. 19th, which recently announced it will be leaving DII and joining Oxy in the SCIAC. Oxy is also taking a trip as far away from SoCal as possible to open the season in a very tough set of three games against Babson, MIT, and UMass Boston. In the SCIAC, they play Cal Lu, Pomona-Pitzer, Chapman, and La Verne twice, and Redlands, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Cal Tech, and Whittier only once. That likely is a favorable draw and one that probably explains the scheduling to open the season.
Washington & Jefferson (https://gopresidents.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Interesting that they are taking a 5 hour+ weekend trip to Virginia to play a single game against Randolph-Macon in mid-September. I don't think the two teams have played each other before.
Albion (https://gobrits.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Although not going fully Adrian since they added Ohio Northern and Chicago, they do learn from Adrian after losing all of their non-conference games last year. They added a bunch of DIII and NAIA teams that struggled to win any games last season in an apparent effort to focus on wins, which is the coin of the realm in NPI
Alma (https://almascots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Not sure I understand why they agreed to play Calvin twice, adding them as a non-conference game before also playing them in conference, but maybe it's tough for them to get a mid-week game.
Wabash (https://sports.wabash.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
One notable omission (at least to me) is Earlham, who they have played 55 times over the years. They played every single year from 1967 to 2019, but stopped when the streak broke in the pandemic. I thought the rivalry may have restarted when they played again for the first time in 2024 to an exciting 5-3 Wabash win. Earlham roared back from 4-0 deficit to score 3 goals in the second half before Wabash got an insurance goal in the 79th minute. Alas, tradition is dead (or Earlham was worried that Wabash was catching up to them in the all time series).
Alfred State (https://alfredstateathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
First season for Vince Correa after moving over from an AC position at SUNY Brockport. I, for one, am happy that they open the season hosting Alfred University so that no matter what happens, Alfred wins.
Wheaton (IL) (https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
They open the season hosting Chapman from the SCIAC and Colorado College from the SCAC and then travel to the NWC to play Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound. Chapman is a return trip from Wheaton's trip to SoCal last season, but the others are new. Thus far, Region X teams seem to be the ones still traveling big distances for non-conference games (and presumably subsidizing trips to play them at home), although it's still a small sample of schedules. If that continues to hold as schedules get posted, though, it would make sense. The "island" conferences are the ones that need to to look out of region for DIII opponents, which are the ones that count for NPI purposes. For Wheaton, with non-conference games also on the schedule against Wash U and Chicago, they will certainly be battle-tested by the time conference play begins.
Marietta (https://pioneers.marietta.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They have kind of an impressive three state road trip in early September: @Washington & Jefferson (PA) Wed 9/3, @Transylvania (KY) Sat 9/6 and @Hanover (IN) Sun 9/7.
SUNY Potsdam (https://potsdambears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Traveling to St. Lawrence on 9/17 for Saints fans. Host SUNY ESF and the Baruch/Nazareth in the Potsdam College Cup
Washington & Lee (https://generalssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025?grid=true)
Strong non-conference schedule, opening with games at Emory and Oglethorpe and then home to Covenant (who beat them 3-0 away last season) and away to Mary Washington. No Johns Hopkins this year, but if anything the schedule is harder.
Lake Forest (https://goforesters.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They play Calvin and Wisconsin-Whitewater again in the second game of home-and-away series, but otherwise the schedule is pretty similar except for the absence of Hope, who they played while in Michigan to play Calvin.
Hendrix (https://hendrixwarriors.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Kind of an odd schedule in their first year in the SCAC. They do play at Rhodes and against Westminster as part of the Rhodes tournament, but it seems like they had to push to fill in slots, playing Northwest Mississippi Community College and DII Ouachita Baptist as regular season games and having a game against Dakota Wesleyan (an NAIA team from South Dakota?!) on the schedule for late September that has already been cancelled. They do host Emory and get an immediate introduction to the rigors of SCAC travel with a trip to Colorado College.
Wisconsin-Stout (https://stoutbluedevils.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Lakeland and Northland (RIP) are gone from the schedule, with Beloit and Crown replacing them in the second year of the men's soccer program.
Quote from: Kuiper on April 14, 2025, 04:31:02 PMWashington & Lee (https://generalssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025?grid=true)
Strong non-conference schedule, opening with games at Emory and Oglethorpe and then home to Covenant (who beat them 3-0 away last season) and away to Mary Washington. No Johns Hopkins this year, but if anything the schedule is harder.
W&L also has Christopher Newport later in the season and is still showing an open date. That is a full and challenging non-conference schedule.
I'm hoping to get to the Atlanta games this year. Really hoping they look more like the team that ended the season than the one I saw get manhandled by Covenant last year. I suspect year 2 under Shabazz will start better than year 1.
https://athletics.stolaf.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule
2025 St. Olaf schedule
I'd say pretty comparable to the past few seasons in terms of difficulty. Maybe a touch on the lighter side, but it's pretty tough to make that determination before any games are played. Open the season hosting Pacific Lutheran and University of Chicago, and ending with UW-Platteville. Traveling to 2024 Sweet 16 participant UW-Superior. No surprise that the Oliver twins will open with an exhibition contest vs each other.
Bates (https://gobatesbobcats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
This is an incomplete schedule, with only the NESCAC games. Only double conference game weekend is at home against Williams and Hamilton
Gustavus Adolphus (https://gogusties.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Interesting that they are playing St. Olaf as a scrimmage before playing them again in conference. Like St. Olaf, they are playing Pacific Lutheran and Chicago in the opening weekend and also have some tricky non-conference games against Calvin, @Luther, @Nebraska Wesleyan, and against Wisconsin-Superior, with the later two sprinkled amidst conference play
John Carroll (https://jcusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
First season in the NCAC, which means they play Kenyon et al in conference now. They are playing Capital, Mount Union, and Baldwin Wallace from the OAC instead. They do have return games against Carnegie Mellon and Lycoming and added a tricky opening game against Edgewood, which was 17-2-2 last season. Perhaps the most interesting game is away at Brandeis on 9/27. That's an awfully long way to go for a single Saturday game.
Dominican (https://dustars.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They replace Fontbonne (RIP) and Nebraska Wesleyan with Elmhurst and North Central
Quote from: Kuiper on April 13, 2025, 07:14:49 PMWabash (https://sports.wabash.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
One notable omission (at least to me) is Earlham, who they have played 55 times over the years. They played every single year from 1967 to 2019, but stopped when the streak broke in the pandemic. I thought the rivalry may have restarted when they played again for the first time in 2024 to an exciting 5-3 Wabash win. Earlham roared back from 4-0 deficit to score 3 goals in the second half before Wabash got an insurance goal in the 79th minute. Alas, tradition is dead (or Earlham was worried that Wabash was catching up to them in the all time series).
I keep waiting for my Little Giants to break out and be competitive with the upper tier of the North Coast. It hasn't happened yet and will only be more difficult with the addition of JCU to the conference.
SUNY Canton (https://rooathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Actually taking a legitimately long, pre-conference, out-of-state, road trip for the first time in years as far as I can tell, traveling to PA to play Juniata and Mount Aloysius the second weekend of the season. Considering SUNY Canton's record last season and the records of Juniata and Mount Aloysius, this may be a situation where a weak team in the NPI era may be in some demand for stronger schools looking to bolster their W-L record before conference play. SUNY Canton, however, doesn't seem to be searching for easy wins with this schedule. VTSU Johnson isn't on their schedule, nor is SUNY Delhi, which accounted for two of their three wins last season.
St. Mary's College (Maryland) (https://smcmathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Only the home games are listed on this schedule, but it's definitely not a pushover schedule for a team that played Dickinson tight in the opening round of the NCAA tournament last season. Washington College, Johns Hopkins, Stevenson, and Salisbury are return games, and they add Lynchburg.
Bethel (MN) (https://athletics.bethel.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Added Grinnell, Wartburg, and Simpson for teams like Wheaton, NC Wesleyan, and Nebraska Wesleyan
Earlham (https://goearlham.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
It seems like most of the teams Earlham lost to last season were replaced in this year's schedule except Wilmington, Spalding, and Indiana University East. They kept Kuyper (who they beat) and added Beloit, Muskingum, Heidelberg, and Olivet.
Quote from: Kuiper on April 13, 2025, 05:59:30 PMNorth Park (https://athletics.northpark.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Lots of familiar teams, but replaces Wisconsin Eau Claire with Wisconsin Platteville
It's not entirely same-old, same-old for North Park in 2025. Trine is on the schedule; while NPU has played Trine in plenty of other sports before, this will be the first time ever that the Vikings and the "other" Thunder meet on the soccer pitch. MSOE is also back on the North Park docket after a dozen-year absence; the Vikings used to play the Raiders practically every season for awhile in the millennium's first decade when John Born, now North Park's AD, was the head coach of the Vikings; MSOE had been his previous stop as a head coach.
Quote from: Kuiper on April 13, 2025, 07:14:49 PMAlma (https://almascots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Not sure I understand why they agreed to play Calvin twice, adding them as a non-conference game before also playing them in conference, but maybe it's tough for them to get a mid-week game.
It's not as conspicuous an island school as are UMPI, Colorado College, UCSC, or the two West Coast conferences' teams, but Alma really does fall within the "you can't get there from here" category. Trust me on this, as I've been on the team bus to call road games against the Scots for both the NPU football and the NPU men's basketball teams, and the trips were mind-numbingly long. Alma, MI is located a third of the way up the index finger on its inside edge, if you're using the traditional "point at your outstretched left hand" method Michiganders use to identify locations on the Lower Peninsula. The only non-MIAA schools that are less than four hours away from Alma are Heidelberg and Bluffton, and they're both 3 1/2 hours distant. Alma coaches in a lot of sports have difficulty with midweek non-conference scheduling.
Quote from: Kuiper on April 13, 2025, 07:14:49 PMAlfred State (https://alfredstateathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
First season for Vince Correa after moving over from an AC position at SUNY Brockport. I, for one, am happy that they open the season hosting Alfred University so that no matter what happens, Alfred wins.
There's no good reason for these two schools to not play each other in every sport possible. This could naturally evolve into the one of the best D3 rivalries there is, alongside Calvin/Hope, Williams/Amherst, DePauw/Wabash, Carleton/St. Olaf, and Ithaca/Cortland.
Quote from: Kuiper on April 13, 2025, 07:14:49 PMSUNY Potsdam (https://potsdambears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Traveling to St. Lawrence on 9/17 for Saints fans. Host SUNY ESF and the Baruch/Nazareth in the Potsdam College Cup
I'm happy to see that the Stumpies are still playing sports. When I was a kid I used to read the paragraph-sized recaps of ESF men's basketball games in the Syracuse newspapers. I can remember wondering how the heck the ESF coach was able to recruit basketball players to come to a school set up to train forest rangers and logging managers. Of course, since then I've learned that the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry produces graduates who cover a much more diverse spectrum of occupations than just forest ranger and logging manager, but it's worth noting that all ESF students are still called "Stumpies," regardless.
Quote from: Kuiper on April 15, 2025, 01:02:33 AMDominican (https://dustars.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They replace Fontbonne (RIP) and Nebraska Wesleyan with Elmhurst and North Central
It's an upgrade in terms of competitive level, but I suspect that the reason that the Stars are doing this is to cut travel costs.
Quote from: Kuiper on April 14, 2025, 04:31:02 PMWashington & Lee (https://generalssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025?grid=true)
Strong non-conference schedule, opening with games at Emory and Oglethorpe and then home to Covenant (who beat them 3-0 away last season) and away to Mary Washington. No Johns Hopkins this year, but if anything the schedule is harder.
Lake Forest (https://goforesters.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They play Calvin and Wisconsin-Whitewater again in the second game of home-and-away series, but otherwise the schedule is pretty similar except for the absence of Hope, who they played while in Michigan to play Calvin.
Hendrix (https://hendrixwarriors.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Kind of an odd schedule in their first year in the SCAC. They do play at Rhodes and against Westminster as part of the Rhodes tournament, but it seems like they had to push to fill in slots, playing Northwest Mississippi Community College and DII Ouachita Baptist as regular season games and having a game against Dakota Wesleyan (an NAIA team from South Dakota?!) on the schedule for late September that has already been cancelled. They do host Emory and get an immediate introduction to the rigors of SCAC travel with a trip to Colorado College.
Wisconsin-Stout (https://stoutbluedevils.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Lakeland and Northland (RIP) are gone from the schedule, with Beloit and Crown replacing them in the second year of the men's soccer program.
Have to hand it to UW-Stout for scheduling what has to be the first ever Concordia back-to-back. They play Concordia (MN) on 9/6 and then Concordia (WI) on 9/7. You can't convince me this wasn't done on purpose. Impressive scheduling.
Norwich (https://norwichathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Replacing Middlebury with Mass College of Liberal Arts makes the start of the season much less formidable, but they do add Plattsburgh State to the non-conference games.
Illinois Wesleyan (https://www.iwusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
They add Spalding, Centre, and Illinois College and drop Monmouth and Rockford
Cornell College (https://cornellrams.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Of the their two biggest defeats last season (Carleton 1-8 and Wartburg 0-7), Wartburg remains and Carleton is off the schedule.
Geneva (https://athletics.geneva.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They went undefeated last season, but were upset by Grove City in the PAC semifinals and failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament because of some bad ties and low SOS. Perhaps in a nod to the latter problem, they added Otterbein, but they probably still need to convert some of their ties to wins next season.
Amherst (https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Opening with Suffolk and Conn College again, but this year on the road. Plays Albertus Magnus, Anna Maria, and Penn State Harrisburg instead of WPI, Manhattanville, and Emerson, but keeps Babson (at home this year).
Carroll (https://gopios.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Some tough games added to the schedule for 2025, including St. Olaf, @Colorado College, and Wisconsin-Whitewater, plus return engagements with Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Lake Forest.
Baruch (https://athletics.baruch.cuny.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
The teams in the Potsdam Invitational to open the season are still TBA, but just knowing that NYU isn't on the schedule after beating them 10-0 last season must be a relief.
Whitworth (https://whitworthpirates.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After Lewis & Clark did this last year, it's apparently Whitworth's turn to open the season in Hawaii playing Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade. They had four Hawaiians on the roster last season, so it's been fertile ground for them in recruiting.
Macalester (https://athletics.macalester.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
As I suggested, Linfield is playing Macalester as the second game in its Minneapolis trip to play Augsburg. Playing Nebraska Wesleyan instead of Grinnell and St. Norbert instead of Central. Also switched Wisconsin-Superior for Wisconsin-Whitewater.
St. Norbert (https://athletics.snc.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They open with Augsburg and Macalester, but it doesn't get easier as they play Calvin and Carthage. They could be 0-4 before playing Wisconsin-Stevens Point on 9/9.
Lyon (https://lyonscots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Lyon plays a lot of ASC and SCAC eams in its non-conference games that it might as well join them (and it did for football as an affiliate of the SCAC). This year, it had one more spot to fill in its conference schedule in the SLIAC with Fontbonne's closure and it added University of Dallas, Centenary (LA), and East Texas Baptist. It also travels to Jackson, MS for a pair of games against Belhaven and Millsaps.
Kalamazoo (https://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025?grid=true)
They are opening the season at home with consecutive games against NAIA foes - UM Dearborn and Aquinas (a team that beat Kalamazoo 5-0 last season), but that might be because they wanted to stay at home in preparation for a long trip to Texas to play some very tough games in San Antonio against Trinity and Southwestern. That's followed by three straight away games (Illinois Wesleyan, Loras, and Oberlin), home against North Park, and then another away trip to Chicago and Wheaton. Pretty challenging non-conference schedule!
St. Joseph's (CT) (https://www.usjbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
In addition to playing @Wheaton (MA) on the return trip of a home-and-away, they add Trinity (CT) and Springfield instead of Fisher, Bridgewater, and John Jay.
Rose-Hulman (https://athletics.rose-hulman.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Travels to Ohio Northern on a return trip in a home-and-away, plays at Greenville after last year's opener was cancelled.
Lakeland (https://lakelandmuskies.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Adds Cornell College, Martin Luther, Hamline, and Aurora instead of Wisconsin-Stout, Elmhurst and Beloit
Saint John's University (https://gojohnnies.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Playing Concordia (MN) both as a conference and a non-conference foe. No Carroll or Wartburg, but they add Nebraska Wesleyan, Crown, UW-Superior, Bethany Lutheran, and North Central (MN)
Hanford (https://athletics.hanover.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Pretty ambitious schedule for Hanford. They start out with 4 straight games in Louisville, playing Centre and Spalding in the Spalding tourney opening weekend and then Mount Union and Marietta the next weekend in the Transylvania tourney, but they also play Kenyon at home and travel to Bloomington in the middle of conference play to Indiana University
Utica (https://uticapioneers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Travels to PA to play Kings College in the season opener, but drops Cortland State, Skidmore, and Oneonta from the schedule. Weaker schedule than last year as a result, but it still plays Hamilton in the middle of conference season.
Quote from: Gregory Sager on April 15, 2025, 03:19:58 PMQuote from: Kuiper on April 13, 2025, 07:14:49 PMAlfred State (https://alfredstateathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
First season for Vince Correa after moving over from an AC position at SUNY Brockport. I, for one, am happy that they open the season hosting Alfred University so that no matter what happens, Alfred wins.
There's no good reason for these two schools to not play each other in every sport possible. This could naturally evolve into the one of the best D3 rivalries there is, alongside Calvin/Hope, Williams/Amherst, DePauw/Wabash, Carleton/St. Olaf, and Ithaca/Cortland.
It appears that you have spoken this into existence!
Alfred State and Alfred University Announce the Alfred State Cup Competition (https://alfredstateathletics.com/news/2025/4/29/general-alfred-state-college-and-alfred-university-announce-the-alfred-cup-competition.aspx)
QuoteToday, Alfred State College Athletics and Alfred University Athletics introduced 'The Alfred Cup' ahead of the 2025-26 competition season.
The Alfred Cup, sponsored by the Power and Construction Group, Inc. and SERVU Credit Union, will be an annual competition between Alfred State and Alfred University athletic teams. The Alfred Cup will highlight the unique setting of two NCAA Division III members located in the same upstate New York town.
In a Washington Post ranking of the Ultimate College Town, Alfred was ranked number one and reporter Andrew Van Dam called Alfred "the collegiest", a term he coined. In the data analysis by Van Dam, the Alfred community, with a population of 4,026, was shown to be made up of 85% college students. As Van Dam described, "If you go left at the town's only stoplight, you're on one campus. Turn right, you're on the other. Now that's a college town."
The competition, set to begin this fall, uses a point-based system that awards two points for a win, one point for a tie, and zero points for a loss in head-to-head match-ups or predetermined meets amongst varsity intercollegiate varsity programs.
Associate Vice President for Student Experience, Athletics & Recreation, Deb Steward from Alfred University and Director of Athletics, Jason Doviak, from Alfred State College collaborated to create this unique competition.
"As part of The Alfred Cup, besides outstanding competition, supporting our Alfred community will be an important aspect of this initiative," Steward said. "From our football teams' commitment to the National Marrow Donor Program to our other teams supporting families during the holidays and food drives, we are committed to The Alfred Cup making a positive impact on our community. We are also thrilled to partner with the Power and Construction Group to design and build the traveling trophy. The Power and Construction Group installed the infamous lone traffic light in Alfred which is located at the intersection of our two campuses. We are grateful for their shared excitement in The Alfred Cup."
With its roots in Western New York, the Power and Construction Group is a well-established utility services company that was founded in 1970.
"The Alfred Cup represents more than just competition—it's an opportunity to celebrate the uniqueness of our community where two NCAA Division III Institutions sit across the street from one another," Doviak said. "This competition will bring out the best in our student-athletes and create lasting moments for our campuses, community, and fans. We're excited to launch this annual tradition and look forward to the energy, excitement, and camaraderie it will bring to our village."
The sports eligible for The Alfred Cup competition are men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's swimming & diving, baseball, men's and women's lacrosse, softball, and men's and women's track & field. For the football head-to-head match-ups, Alfred State and Alfred University will additionally compete for the 'Traffic Light Trophy', which will be up for grabs each fall moving forward. Beginning in the fall of 2025, Alfred State College will compete as an Empire 8 affiliate member in the sport of football.
The points will be tracked throughout the fall, winter, and springs seasons and after competition concludes, a winner will be determined based upon the total amount of points earned. A trophy, designed to mirror the stoplight that separates both institutions on Main Street, will be presented to the winning institution annually in May.
Hiram (https://hiramterriers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
First year in the PAC after being in the NCAC for a long time makes a big difference in strength of schedule. They no longer have to play NCAC powers Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, and Kenyon, and instead schedule more comparable Ohio schools like Oberlin from the NCAC and Heidelberg from the OAC in their non-conference schedule. The one exception is an away game at Mount Union from the OAC.
University of New England (https://athletics.une.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Has to travel to Bowdoin and Bates this year, while also adding a tough match against UMass Boston at home.
Wittenberg (https://wittenbergtigers.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
It must be rough for a team that only won 4 games last season to see one of their wins (Hiram)
leave the conference and John Carroll take its place. They do start with three teams - Heidelberg, Mount St. Joseph and Michigan Dearborn (NAIA) that struggled to find wins last season, but they follow that with Franciscan, Otterbein, and Capital, which likely won't be easy games.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 02, 2025, 06:08:22 PMQuote from: Gregory Sager on April 15, 2025, 03:19:58 PMQuote from: Kuiper on April 13, 2025, 07:14:49 PMAlfred State (https://alfredstateathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
First season for Vince Correa after moving over from an AC position at SUNY Brockport. I, for one, am happy that they open the season hosting Alfred University so that no matter what happens, Alfred wins.
There's no good reason for these two schools to not play each other in every sport possible. This could naturally evolve into the one of the best D3 rivalries there is, alongside Calvin/Hope, Williams/Amherst, DePauw/Wabash, Carleton/St. Olaf, and Ithaca/Cortland.
It appears that you have spoken this into existence!
Alfred State and Alfred University Announce the Alfred State Cup Competition (https://alfredstateathletics.com/news/2025/4/29/general-alfred-state-college-and-alfred-university-announce-the-alfred-cup-competition.aspx)
QuoteToday, Alfred State College Athletics and Alfred University Athletics introduced 'The Alfred Cup' ahead of the 2025-26 competition season.
The Alfred Cup, sponsored by the Power and Construction Group, Inc. and SERVU Credit Union, will be an annual competition between Alfred State and Alfred University athletic teams. The Alfred Cup will highlight the unique setting of two NCAA Division III members located in the same upstate New York town.
In a Washington Post ranking of the Ultimate College Town, Alfred was ranked number one and reporter Andrew Van Dam called Alfred "the collegiest", a term he coined. In the data analysis by Van Dam, the Alfred community, with a population of 4,026, was shown to be made up of 85% college students. As Van Dam described, "If you go left at the town's only stoplight, you're on one campus. Turn right, you're on the other. Now that's a college town."
The competition, set to begin this fall, uses a point-based system that awards two points for a win, one point for a tie, and zero points for a loss in head-to-head match-ups or predetermined meets amongst varsity intercollegiate varsity programs.
Associate Vice President for Student Experience, Athletics & Recreation, Deb Steward from Alfred University and Director of Athletics, Jason Doviak, from Alfred State College collaborated to create this unique competition.
"As part of The Alfred Cup, besides outstanding competition, supporting our Alfred community will be an important aspect of this initiative," Steward said. "From our football teams' commitment to the National Marrow Donor Program to our other teams supporting families during the holidays and food drives, we are committed to The Alfred Cup making a positive impact on our community. We are also thrilled to partner with the Power and Construction Group to design and build the traveling trophy. The Power and Construction Group installed the infamous lone traffic light in Alfred which is located at the intersection of our two campuses. We are grateful for their shared excitement in The Alfred Cup."
With its roots in Western New York, the Power and Construction Group is a well-established utility services company that was founded in 1970.
"The Alfred Cup represents more than just competition—it's an opportunity to celebrate the uniqueness of our community where two NCAA Division III Institutions sit across the street from one another," Doviak said. "This competition will bring out the best in our student-athletes and create lasting moments for our campuses, community, and fans. We're excited to launch this annual tradition and look forward to the energy, excitement, and camaraderie it will bring to our village."
The sports eligible for The Alfred Cup competition are men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's swimming & diving, baseball, men's and women's lacrosse, softball, and men's and women's track & field. For the football head-to-head match-ups, Alfred State and Alfred University will additionally compete for the 'Traffic Light Trophy', which will be up for grabs each fall moving forward. Beginning in the fall of 2025, Alfred State College will compete as an Empire 8 affiliate member in the sport of football.
The points will be tracked throughout the fall, winter, and springs seasons and after competition concludes, a winner will be determined based upon the total amount of points earned. A trophy, designed to mirror the stoplight that separates both institutions on Main Street, will be presented to the winning institution annually in May.
I love it when I shout into the void, and the universe nods back in response.
Needs to happen more often. ;)
I'm also interested in seeing what a traveling trophy based upon the design of a traffic light looks like.
(https://www.alfredstate.edu/sites/default/files/inline-images/Alfred%20Cup%20web.jpg)
Clarkson (https://clarksonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They drop Vermont State Castleton and Alfred State and pick up Oswego State in Carter Lincoln's return to Clarkson after spending two seasons as an assistant at Syracuse
Amherst announced theirs and I will say that I was unfamiliar with a few on the schedule, but will quickly catch up. It will be quite different without EnmoreKitten taking the field, but at least it means no more 2/3am wake ups to watch on a Sunday morning.
Quote from: EnmoreCat on May 08, 2025, 03:09:08 AMAmherst announced theirs and I will say that I was unfamiliar with a few on the schedule, but will quickly catch up. It will be quite different without EnmoreKitten taking the field, but at least it means no more 2/3am wake ups to watch on a Sunday morning.
For those who missed the Amherst schedule posted several weeks ago.
Amherst (https://athletics.amherst.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Opening with Suffolk and Conn College again, but this year on the road. Plays Albertus Magnus, Anna Maria, and Penn State Harrisburg instead of WPI, Manhattanville, and Emerson, but keeps Babson (at home this year).
McMurry (https://mcmurrysports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
First look at a Post-Trinity/Southwestern SCAC schedule. They open with Arlington Baptist, which is a NCCAA bible college that I haven't seen play a DIII school before (it re-started playing sports in 2011). It drops University of Dallas (as a non-conference) and UT Dallas and replaces them with Arlington Baptist and University of Houston-Victoria, an NAIA school. Retains 11 conference games with Hendrix and LeTourneau replacing Trinity and Southwestern. Looks like Hendrix is a travel partner with Ozarks (not surprising for the two Arkansas schools) and LeTourneau is a travel partner with Austin College.
Brevard (https://bctornados.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They open in the Maryville tournament against Berry and Maryville. After beating Warren Wilson 10-1 last season, they decided to double their fun this year and play a home-and-away series. That has to be to reduce travel, since it can't be for competitive reasons (although WW certainly needs the games as a member of the C2C conference). Gone from last year's non-conference schedule are Averett and Washington & Lee. They replace them with Roanoke and Centre.
Farmingdale State (https://farmingdalesports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025?grid=true)
Pretty much the same schedule as last season except for whoever they play in game 2 of the Rutgers-Newark tournament instead of TCNJ and for a game at Stony Brook on a Monday night. Haverford takes the long drive to play them in the second game of a home-and-away on a Wednesday at 4 pm in the middle of conference play.
Eastern Mennonite (https://emuroyals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Starts with 4 straight opponents it did not see last season. Opens by making the drive up to Western PA to face Grove City and Geneva and then hosts John Jay and Johnson & Wales (NC), two teams that are each making long drives to meet in the middle and presumably play each other as well as EMU. Gone from last year's schedule are Maritime, York, Marietta, Linfield, and McDaniel.
Capital (https://athletics.capital.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
This is a very bumpy schedule in the sense that they have sets of really tough games all in a row followed by easier games, and then back to tougher games. They open with a tough three games - Kenyon and then @John Carroll and @Franciscan. That is followed by a comparatively easier three games - @Bethany (WVa), @Transylvania, and home to Chatham, before going back to a tough stretch hosting Ohio Wesleyan and Denison before @Oberlin and then on to conference play.
Franciscan (https://franciscanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Pretty strong schedule following their NCAA tournament season. They add Case Western, Penn State Beaver, and Wittenberg (instead of LaRoche, Muskingum, and W&J as a non-conference) to teams from last year such Capital, Marietta, Mount Union, Penn State Behrend, and Kenyon. They also add Hiram as a new PAC conference opponent.
Mary Washington (https://umweagles.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
As usual, Mary Washington assembled a strong schedule. New opponents include Ohio Northern (making the very long trip to Fredericksburg, VA), Washington & Lee, @ Washington College and @ Lynchburg alongside returning strong opponents such as Messiah and Christopher Newport (x2).
Otterbein (https://otterbeincardinals.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Adds Carnegie Mellon, but losing Texas Lutheran and former OAC foe John Carroll probably makes the schedule a little weaker than last season, while still being strong given all of the NCAC and UAA foes.
Chapman (https://athletics.chapman.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Opens the season with a trip to Illinois where it plays Wheaton and DePauw. It then returns to play Life Pacific (NAIA) and its alumni game before starting SCIAC play. This year, it plays the following teams twice: LaVerne (twice in two weeks), Caltech, CMS, and Whittier. Seems like a pretty favorable draw for them, which they'll need given that they are playing only the 13 conference games and 2 other countable DIII opponents non-conference.
Messiah announces their schedule and incoming players. https://gomessiah.com/news/2025/5/13/mens-soccer-2025-schedule-and-incoming-class.aspx
Quote from: Falconer on May 14, 2025, 08:58:43 PMMessiah announces their schedule and incoming players. https://gomessiah.com/news/2025/5/13/mens-soccer-2025-schedule-and-incoming-class.aspx
Big trip for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to travel to Messiah
Dickinson released its 2025 schedule on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/DJrdmm3uBtn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link), which annoyingly means you have to try to interpret all the athletic logos of its opponents to know who they are playing. From what I can tell, they've upgraded the strength-of-schedule a bit, adding away games against Virginia Wesleyan, Christopher Newport, and Widener, instead of Rosemont, Goucher, and DeSales.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 15, 2025, 02:16:50 PMDickinson released its 2025 schedule on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/DJrdmm3uBtn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link), which annoyingly means you have to try to interpret all the athletic logos of its opponents to know who they are playing. From what I can tell, they've upgraded the strength-of-schedule a bit, adding away games against Virginia Wesleyan, Christopher Newport, and Widener, instead of Rosemont, Goucher, and DeSales.
That should be good for them. I understand they bring back a lot of the core that made the tournament run last year. Having watched them lose to W&L, I thought they looked tactically limited in that game. Upping the competition will be good preparation, though you'd think just playing in a strong CC should generally be enough.
Quote from: jknezek on May 15, 2025, 02:33:52 PMQuote from: Kuiper on May 15, 2025, 02:16:50 PMDickinson released its 2025 schedule on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/DJrdmm3uBtn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link), which annoyingly means you have to try to interpret all the athletic logos of its opponents to know who they are playing. From what I can tell, they've upgraded the strength-of-schedule a bit, adding away games against Virginia Wesleyan, Christopher Newport, and Widener, instead of Rosemont, Goucher, and DeSales.
That should be good for them. I understand they bring back a lot of the core that made the tournament run last year. Having watched them lose to W&L, I thought they looked tactically limited in that game. Upping the competition will be good preparation, though you'd think just playing in a strong CC should generally be enough.
Perhaps. However, they have two very good goal scorers, Saul Iwowo (senior 16 goals, 9 assists) and Ethan Jarden (senior, 13 g, 8 assists). https://dickinsonathletics.com/news/2024/12/6/mens-soccer-devils-dynamic-duo-of-iwowo-and-jarden-named-all-american.aspx
Assuming that they can improve their defense, they could have an excellent chance to improve on last year.
Last non conf. game is against Marymount which was decent team last which lost in its conf. championship. The other is Albright in Reading. Lebanon Valley is another one.
Yeah, the Red Devils are going to be a very tough out this year. Those two guys can turn a game on its head in 10 seconds.
That's what I was referring to by tactically limited. They are very good, but all they were doing was desperately trying to feed those two. Other than that, they didn't seem to have much else to try.
I get it, you ride your stars, especially that point of the season. But if the other team closes down those lanes, you need something else. I just didn't see it, but that was also the only Red Devil game I watched so not exactly a legitimate sample.
Lycoming (https://lycomingathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
They add away games at Neumann and Widener and home game against Ursinus (replacing Baldwin Wallace, Penn State Behrend, Rutgers Newark, Penn State Harrisburg and Case Western) to a schedule with returning opponents John Carroll and Messiah away and Gettysburg at home.
Wartburg (https://go-knights.net/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Adds Bethel (MN), Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and North Central and subtracts Saint Johns, St. Scholastica, and North Park, which seems like an upgrade overall.
Time to take a look at the USA South
LaGrange (https://lagrangepanthers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025?grid=true)
The aren't many years when you can say that a D3 school opens its season in Florida, which is a D3 desert. LaGrange is opening at Pensacola Christian College, which is an NCCAA school that does play some D3 schools typically, including Belhaven, Huntington, and Bob Jones (now in the provisional pipeline). Probably the biggest additions to the schedule are Oglethorpe at home and @Berea as part of a return trip to Kentucky to play Asbury.
Pfeiffer (https://gofalconsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Playing Carolina University (a strong NAIA/NCCAA team) twice (home and away) this season instead of Johnson & Wales (NC), Ferrum, and Wooster after not playing Carolina at all in the last two years. Wonder if that's because they are trying to save money or if this is being pushed from Carolina's side.
Methodist (https://mumonarchs.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Hosting Roanoke and Berry early in September. Playing D1 Campbell in the middle of conference play
St. John Fisher (https://sjfathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Opens on the road at Rutgers Camden, which is interesting because I don't think St. John Fisher has traveled that far out of upstate NY for non-conference games in recent years. I guess it replaces Trinity (CT) from last season, which was their last out of state trip. No game v. Oswego this season as they just go with one less non-conference game in their quest to get back to the NCAA tournament.
Lebanon Valley (https://godutchmen.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Lebanon Valley has loaded up their non-conference schedule with Centennial Conference opponents in recent years and this schedule does not disappoint. They aren't playing Washington College or Franklin & Marshall this year, but instead add games at Johns Hopkins and at Dickinson, plus they are hosting Gettysburg and Muhlenberg.
Anna Maria (https://www.goamcats.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Pretty tough additions to their non-conference schedule in @WPI, @DI Holy Cross, @Wheaton (MA), and @Brandeis. Plus, they host Amherst, although the Anna Maria website identifies that as a conference game, so maybe the GNAC has lured the Mammoths away from the NESCAC with an outrageous FloSports contract ;)
It wasn't posted with the original schedule, but W&L filled out their 9/20 open date with a home game against Regent University who is reclassifying from NCCAA. They are in their first provisional year and went 5-7-1 last year in an exploratory year that featured a 3-3-1 record against DIII teams and a 5-7-1 record overall. They went 0-3 against ODAC teams, Va Wes, Guilford and R-MC, but beat Greensboro, Gallaudet, and Mary Baldwin with a tie against NC Wes.
No schedule is yet posted for this year, but I believe they are affiliating with the C2C conference, so they have to find a lot of games.
Quote from: jknezek on May 20, 2025, 03:33:57 PMIt wasn't posted with the original schedule, but W&L filled out their 9/20 open date with a home game against Regent University who is reclassifying from NCCAA. They are in their first provisional year and went 5-7-1 last year in an exploratory year that featured a 3-3-1 record against DIII teams and a 5-7-1 record overall. They went 0-3 against ODAC teams, Va Wes, Guilford and R-MC, but beat Greensboro, Gallaudet, and Mary Baldwin with a tie against NC Wes.
No schedule is yet posted for this year, but I believe they are affiliating with the C2C conference, so they have to find a lot of games.
Mary Washington, also a member of the C2C, released its schedule and it's playing Regent on Sept 5. I wouldn't be surprised if they show up on Christopher Newport's schedule as well, as it was Regent's sponsoring institution and a fellow member of the C2C. They probably will also be on Salisbury's and Warren Wilson's schedules, both of which are also in the C2C. The reality of the C2C is that with the departure of the Wisconsin schools, it has basically become a Southeastern conference + UC Santa Cruz, so Regent actually could get at least 4 "conference" games and possibly more if they play any of those teams twice a season in a home and away series.
SUNY Purchase (https://www.purchasecollegeathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
After a 1-15 season last year, it's not surprising that Purchase sought out more opponents in its league, so-to-speak. It dropped NYU (which beat them 7-0 to open last season) and added John Jay, Pratt, and York
Elizabethtown (https://etownbluejays.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Replaces Alfred and Washington College with an opening game @Ithaca and then home v. Penn State Berks and then replaces Lebanon Valley (who it lost to 6-0 last season) with Hood. The Franklin & Marshall and Messiah games back-to-back, with both being away, sounds like a killer.
Fitchburg State (https://www.fitchburgfalcons.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Replaces Vt. St. Castelton with Rivier and Dean, Lesley, and Curry, with New England College, Emmanuel (MA) and Keene State.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 20, 2025, 12:28:24 AMLebanon Valley (https://godutchmen.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Lebanon Valley has loaded up their non-conference schedule with Centennial Conference opponents in recent years and this schedule does not disappoint. They aren't playing Washington College or Franklin & Marshall this year, but instead add games at Johns Hopkins and at Dickinson, plus they are hosting Gettysburg and Muhlenberg.
Don't know who dropped whom, but not playing F&M after many years in a row. They are pretty close to each other and played each other for 10 straight years and 37 times overall starting in 1974. Hopefully LVC will have a better grass field.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 20, 2025, 06:28:24 PMElizabethtown (https://etownbluejays.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Replaces Alfred and Washington College with an opening game @Ithaca and then home v. Penn State Berks and then replaces Lebanon Valley (who it lost to 6-0 last season) with Hood. The Franklin & Marshall and Messiah games back-to-back, with both being away, sounds like a killer.
Interesting that Elizabethtown is playing F&M on a Saturday. For many years, the Boot Game was on a Wednesday and the same week in Sept. 46 years in a row. Usually a great turnout at both places.
Bonus - you can watch the game free unlike last year at E-Town!Like LVC, hopefully, E-Town has a better grass field this year after several rough years.
Hardin-Simmons (https://hsuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Tough opening game of the season at Texas Lutheran. After that, they play a number of games against familiar SCAC opponents, including a trip to Houston to play St. Thomas on 9/6 and then a game against Concordia three days later. The H-S schedule gets really interesting from 9/18-9/20, with Hardin-Simmons playing Trinity on the 18th, Trinity playing Christopher Newport on the 19th in Abilene at H-S, and then Christopher Newport playing at Hardin-Simmons on the 20th. Three must-see games in a row. Plus, it's one thing for Christopher Newport to travel to San Antonio to play H-S and Trinity, but to travel to Abilene?! It's not that different flight-wise (probably fly from Norfolk with a change of plane in Dallas), but let's just say there's no Riverwalk in Abilene, although they do have something called the Cedar Creek Waterway. Fortunately, all three games are at 7:30 pm because the average high in Abilene that time of year is in the low 90s. Last year, the high was 95 degrees. It could still be in the 90s during warmups and stay in the 80s all game, which might make this a real conditioning test for CNU.
The H-S conference schedule is a reminder that there are only 4 schools left for soccer in 2025-2026 before reinforcements arrive in the form of McMurry and Schreiner (who they play as non-conference opponents this season). All teams in the ASC are playing a home-and-away against every other team, but H-S manages to fit in a non-conference game at Belhaven in Jackson, MS on a Wednesday between a game at Mary Hardin-Baylor on a Saturday and a game at Marshall, TX against East Texas Baptist on Friday evening. That's an 8.5 hour drive to Jackson on a Wednesday, so I wonder if they have some kind of school break and they are staying over in Jackson on Wednesday night and traveling on Thursday to play ETBU on Friday (halfway between Jackson and Abilene). Otherwise, that's a heck of a lot of travel during the week, even for a Texas school.
QuoteInteresting that Elizabethtown is playing F&M on a Saturday. For many years, the Boot Game was on a Wednesday and the same week in Sept. 46 years in a row.
Not that it matters, but I'm confused by the above statement.
2024 - Wed 9/11
2023 - Sat 9/8
2022 - Sat 9/10
2021 - Sat 9/11
Quote from: Ejay on May 22, 2025, 07:41:35 AMQuoteInteresting that Elizabethtown is playing F&M on a Saturday. For many years, the Boot Game was on a Wednesday and the same week in Sept. 46 years in a row.
Not that it matters, but I'm confused by the above statement.
2024 - Wed 9/11
2023 - Sat 9/8
2022 - Sat 9/10
2021 - Sat 9/11
You are right. My mistake.
Muhlenberg
https://muhlenbergsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025
I think the first Cent. Conf. team to post. They appear to not play any particularly tough out of conf. teams.
Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on May 22, 2025, 03:25:58 PMMuhlenberg
https://muhlenbergsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025
I think the first Cent. Conf. team to post. They appear to not play any particularly tough out of conf. teams.
They replaced Scranton, Kean, TCNJ, and Salisbury with Neumann, FDU-Florham, Rutgers-Camden, and Widener. Probably a similar SoS, if not a little better.
Rowan s schedule is on instagram
Quote from: BigSoccerFan on May 22, 2025, 11:36:52 PMRowan s schedule is on instagram
A step back from the Murderer's Row string of non-conference games in last season's schedule (F&M, Johns Hopkins, Cortland, Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, Messiah, and Washington College), but they can hardly be blamed for that. Opening with NYU and Gettysburg away and Cortland at home is no picnic in the park and they still have F&M at home and Messiah away to contend with this season.
Lewis & Clark (https://lcpioneers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
The watch continues for their first win! For those who aren't familiar with them, Lewis & Clark re-started their men's soccer team in 2022 and in three seasons they are 0-47-1. The biggest question mark on the 2025 schedule is why they are playing DI University of Portland in their first scrimmage of the preseason. Seriously, what does Portland get out of this game even if they are playing their deepest reserves? I guess they are only 12 miles apart, so it's convenient. In any event, it's just a scrimmage. In non-conference, L&C play three NAIA teams and Whittier from the SCIAC, which presumably will be playing another NWC team while they are in the area. The rest of the games are home-and-away contests with NWC foes. L&C's best chance for a win might be Bushnell (NAIA) in the first game of the season. Linfield beat Bushnell 4-1 last season in their first game of the season, although Bushnell beat Pacific 3-1 the next game.
Luther (https://luthernorse.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
A bit of a downgrade as CMS, Redlands, Franklin, and North Park are replaced by Wisconsin-Superior, Wisconsin-River Falls, and St. Scholastica, but they still play a lot of tough teams with Macalester, St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Wisconsin-Platteville, and Augsburg.
Quote from: BigSoccerFan on May 22, 2025, 11:36:52 PMRowan s schedule is on instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ7SSVAxMB4/?img_index=2
Colorado College (https://cctigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Always fun to see the crazy travel schedule of Colorado College, which is the most deserted island of the island schools in DIII. This year, the strength-of-schedule dips a bit as CC has to fill the big shoes of some key graduating seniors, including all-everything Curtis Hale. Nevertheless, they have scheduled some really solid schools, which include several that could breakthrough this season. It's the kind of schedule that could be sneakily strong. They travel to the Midwest for opening weekend to take on DePauw (10-5-6 and lost in the NCAA's to Hope) and Wheaton (IL) (10-7-1 and lost to North Central in the CCIW tourney). Do they dare drive? I mean, it's only about 15 hours to DePauw! The following weekend, they host Whitman, Cal Lutheran, and Mary Hardin-Baylor (10-6-3) in a really intriguing Region X invitational that nets them three games in four days. Whitman was 12-6-2 last season and finished third in the NWC despite beating champion Pacific Lutheran 2-1 on the final game of the season. Mary Hardin-Baylor was 10-6-3 and 7-0-1 as the regular season ASC champion, but lost a heartbreaking upset game in PKs to Letourneau in the ASC tournament after beating them 4-1 in the final regular season game. Cal Lutheran had a down season in the SCIAC, finishing 6-9-5, but it handed SCIAC tournament champion Claremont-Mudd-Scripps one of its only losses of the season and still qualified for the SCIAC tournament. The following weekend it hosts Carroll before taking two weeks off to get ready for SCAC play, where they should be serious contenders even with some rebuilding, especially with Trinity and Southwestern gone to the SAA. They are helped by the fact that two of the stronger SCAC teams - Texas Lutheran and Concordia TX - play Colorado College in Colorado Springs this season, where CC has only lost once in the last three seasons. They do have to travel to Houston to play St. Thomas this season, where they have lost to UST in the SCAC semifinals two years in a row.
Greensboro (https://greensborocollegesports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After a 2-13-3 season, Greensboro is kind of desperate for some more wins. It plays LaGrange and Ferrum again - the two teams it beat last season - but both games are away rather than home this season, so it would be too much to say that those are sure things. I guess to make sure it doesn't do any worse than last season, it adds Carolina Christian College, an NCCAA school that doesn't even list its results on its webpage and only started the team in 2023, and Mid-Atlantic Christian University, a USCAA school that was 0-9-1 and lost to Regent 10-0, and North Carolina Wesleyan 14-0 and 8-0. That's one way to "schedule" some wins.
Kenyon (https://athletics.kenyon.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Kenyon once again has a tough schedule. Not as travel-heavy as last season, but some good regional opponents and strong teams visiting Gambier. It starts the season away at Capital, a team it scrimmaged last season, but hasn't played in a regular season game in over a decade (since 2014), which is kind of odd for a school that is just over an hour from Kenyon and has fielded competitive teams of late. Glad that Travis Wall has reinstituted it and is willing to play them away. Then they play four straight high quality opponents, with the first three at home - Edgewood (17-2-2 last season and missed out on the NCAA's when they lost to Aurora in the NACC tournament), Johns Hopkins (13-3-5 and losing to W&L in Pks in the third round of the NCAAs), Franklin & Marshall (10-3-7 and losing to Conn College in the 2nd round), and away to Franciscan, which tied Kenyon 2-2 in Gambier en route to a 13-2-5 record and a 1-0 loss to ONU in the first round of the tournament). It also adds Hanover (9-5-5 last season) and Case Western (a down season, but it did tie Denison and Mt. Union and beat John Carroll) and replaces NCAC bottom dweller Hiram with newcomer John Carroll in conference play.
Rochester (https://uofrathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Hosts Cortland to open the season and then four straight away games. Only difference in opponents between this season and last is they replace Stevens with York and Oswego State. The big difference in UAA play is that they had only three games at home last season, where they were 6-0-3, and only one after Oct 12 and they have four at home in 2025, all of which are Oct. 18 or later. They had the best overall record in the UAA last season, but the late season UAA losses/ties are what prevented them from getting the NCAA bid (their only win in their last four conference games was the only one they played at home).
Brandeis (https://brandeisjudges.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Vassar, Union, Western New England, and Eastern Connecticut State and picks up Coast Guard, Regis, Wesleyan, John Carroll, and Anna Maria. Seems fairly similar, depending upon how good Wesleyan and John Carroll are this year.
Ripon (https://riponredhawks.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Edgewood, Martin Luther, and Coe and adds Wisconsin-Stevens Point
York (https://ycpspartans.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After a tie against Washington College last season, York decides to load up on Centennial opponents, playing Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg, in addition to hosting Washington College. Also adds Rochester instead of Carnegie Mellon from the UAA, and St. Mary's (MD) instead of Penn State Abington frmo the United East. After not qualifying for the NCAA's last season with a 14-2-5 record, they'll have to hope these additions are enough to push them up the ladder if they can't get by Messiah.
Westminster (https://athletics.westminster.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Adding Mount Union and John Carroll, as well as Penn State Kensington instead of Pitt-Bradford, who they beat 9-1 last season.
Penn State Altoona (https://www.psaltoonalions.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Replaces Grove City and Geneva with McDaniel and Alfred and also adds Waynesburg and Penn State Scranton.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 23, 2025, 01:29:42 AMLewis & Clark (https://lcpioneers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
The watch continues for their first win! For those who aren't familiar with them, Lewis & Clark re-started their men's soccer team in 2022 and in three seasons they are 0-47-1. The biggest question mark on the 2025 schedule is why they are playing DI University of Portland in their first scrimmage of the preseason. Seriously, what does Portland get out of this game even if they are playing their deepest reserves? I guess they are only 12 miles apart, so it's convenient. In any event, it's just a scrimmage. In non-conference, L&C play three NAIA teams and Whittier from the SCIAC, which presumably will be playing another NWC team while they are in the area. The rest of the games are home-and-away contests with NWC foes. L&C's best chance for a win might be Bushnell (NAIA) in the first game of the season. Linfield beat Bushnell 4-1 last season in their first game of the season, although Bushnell beat Pacific 3-1 the next game.
One possible reason for this U of P schedule friendly is both L&C coaches are former U or P mens soccer coaches (Bill Irwin for many years and Jim Tursi)
Luther (https://luthernorse.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
A bit of a downgrade as CMS, Redlands, Franklin, and North Park are replaced by Wisconsin-Superior, Wisconsin-River Falls, and St. Scholastica, but they still play a lot of tough teams with Macalester, St. Olaf, Gustavus Adolphus, Wisconsin-Platteville, and Augsburg.
Quote from: Kuiper on May 28, 2025, 04:53:54 PMYork (https://ycpspartans.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After a tie against Washington College last season, York decides to load up on Centennial opponents, playing Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg, in addition to hosting Washington College. Also adds Rochester instead of Carnegie Mellon from the UAA, and St. Mary's (MD) instead of Penn State Abington frmo the United East. After not qualifying for the NCAA's last season with a 14-2-5 record, they'll have to hope these additions are enough to push them up the ladder if they can't get by Messiah.
Maybe so, definitely more successful teams with F&M, WC and Rochester (WC and R made it to the tournament 2 years ago). Pretty amazing that they will only have to leave PA twice (play opening weekend in Salisbury, MD and Hood in Fredrick, MD). However, it will still take a lot to make it to the tournament. So much D3 soccer in PA. As to qual and not beating Messiah, looks like for years only the team that wins the MACC Commonwealth makes it. So we will see.
As to playing F&M, they are about 45 min apart and I was surprised that they had not played more often. F&M generally plays Leb Valley and Lancaster Bible every year which are very near.
Ohio Northern (https://www.onusports.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
ONU doesn't shy away from a strong schedule and this year is no exception. Gone from the schedule are Oberlin, Colorado College, UT Dallas, Calvin, Washington (MO), and Greenville, but they add games @Mary Washington (opening game), @Randolph-Macon, @Albion, @Trine, and v. Adrian, while still playing @Hope, @Ohio Wesleyan, and v. Kenyon. The three game sequence in 7 days of OAC play - 10/18 v. Capital, 10/22 @Otterbein, and 10/25 @Mount Union - could be a preview of the OAC tournament this year.
Tufts (https://gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Salem St. in favor of U Mass Boston, which is a decent upgrade, and plays Babson away this year. In conference, the schedule isn't so front-loaded. Last year, they played three conference games before their second non-conference game, while this year they alternate between non-conference and conference games for the first few weeks.
Bowdoin (https://athletics.bowdoin.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Trades Wheaton (MA) for Endicott, which is probably an upgrade if for no other reason that Endicott is away and Wheaton was at home. They get Bates at home this year, where they will surely be eager to avenge a 1-0 loss from last season.
Wesleyan (https://athletics.wesleyan.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Trades Eastern Connecticut for Brandeis, but otherwise plays the same non-conference foes. Babson is an away game this year. The double NESCAC weekend is brutal, playing at Tufts and at Middlebury on the last weekend of September.
Bates (https://gobatesbobcats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
I posted a partial schedule for Bates earlier and now they have added their non-conference games. Only switch was replacing Emerson, which handed Bates their one non-conference loss last season, with Husson.
Husson (https://hussoneagles.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Husson is a very popular opponent among NESCAC teams. They added Bates and Williams and continue to play Bowdoin and Tufts. Williams even agreed to travel almost 6 hours to Bangor, ME to play them. I'm sure it's to pay homage to the Paul Bunyon statue on Main Street and not because they (or any of the others) are eager for a win to bolster their record for conference play.
Moravian (https://www.moraviansports.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Last year was a decent year for Moravian until late in the season, when they went winless in the last four games, including losing to Elizabethtown in the conference tourney after beating them in the regular season. This year, they start with games at Stevenson and Washington College (instead of Widener and Swarthmore) and they drop Bryn Athyn (or, more precisely, Bryn Athyn dropped all sports), Penn St. Abington, and Gwynedd Mercy in favor of Eastern, Kean, Ithaca, and Maywood, while still playing Muhlenberg and Montclair St.
Rockford (https://rockfordregents.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After a 3-13-1 season, they shed some of the non-conference opponents that beat them - Wisconsin-Whitewater, Knox and Illinois Wesleyan, replacing them with Beloit, Marantha Baptist, Elmhurst, and Olivet.
The College of New Jersey (https://tcnjathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After a 2-12-5 season, TCNJ also looks for more competitive games. They drop St. Mary's (MD), Salisbury, Drew, Union, and Muhlenberg, and add Immaculata, Penn State Berks, Keystone, Haverford, and Penn State Harrisburg
Having an actual soccer coach will probably help TCNJ as much as anything else.
St. Scholastica (https://csssaints.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They start with a an England trip, which sounds fun, and then face an almost entirely new set of non-conference opponents (Loras, Luther, Carroll, Marian, Crown, Central, and Carleton, instead of Edgewood, Coe, Wisconsin-Platteville, Northwestern (MN), Wartburg, Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and Wisconsin-River Falls). I guess if I went 3-15-1, I might want to try a new set of teams, but they didn't exactly pick easy ones. This might be a situation where better teams called St. Scholastica looking for a game to beef up their record.
Ithaca (https://athletics.ithaca.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Opening at home against Elizabethtown and Elmira. Replaces Brockport and Fredonia with Geneseo among the SUNYs. Replaces Kings with Wilkes and Moravian instead of Eastern. Has to travel to Cortland and Hamilton this year, instead of hosting them.
Martin Luther (https://mlcknights.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Dakota Wesleyan and Wisconsin Lutheran in favor of UW-Stout, Lakeland, and Waldorf (an NAIA team from Iowa that went 0-15-1 last season)
Marian (https://sabreathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Adds Carthage and St. Scholastica instead of Manchester and Lawrence. Retains some tough games against UW-PLatteville, UW-Stevens Point, and Carroll.
East Texas Baptist (https://goetbutigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
The non-conference schedule is very similar to last year, with Millsaps and Belhaven visiting Marshall, TX this season. They replace the home-and-away conference games against UT Dallas and LeTourneau with games against Southwestern, Austin, Lyon, and Hendrix. In the ASC, they are listed as playing both conference games against Mary Hardin-Baylor at home. Unless this is a mistake or UMHB is doing construction on its field, I'm not sure why they would agree to play both ETBU games away.
Austin College (https://acroos.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Replaces Concordia-Moorhead, Fontbonne, UT Dallas, Nelson, Mississippi University for Women, and Ouachita Baptist with Dallas Christian (NCCAA), Southwestern (as a non-conference game), East Texas Baptist, and Howard Payne as non-conference games and Hendrix and LeTourneau as conference games.
Centenary (NJ) (https://centenarycyclones.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
One way to cut your losses after a 5-11-4 season is just to play fewer games. They drop two of the teams that handed them their largest losses last year - Eastern and Haverford - plus Kean and Delaware Valley and add only Lancaster Bible among non-conference teams and new Atlantic East member Saint Elizabeth.
Plattsburgh (https://gocardinalsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Plenty of Liberty League on the docket, and they keep Manhattanville from last year. They lose some good players from last season including their top scorer but they bring a pretty good amount back, including a few players that had great freshman campaigns.
Glad to see SLU on the schedule early in the season, last few matchups have been extremely late in the season with one or both teams sitting out a lot of players. That's also usually the weekend that SLU plays the Oneonta tournament, I wonder if this means they're not playing that. Oneonta is always good to keep on the schedule but playing them 7 times in a row on the road has to change at some point.
A couple of Centennial conference schedules
Franklin & Marshall (https://godiplomats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
I thought F&M's non-conference schedule last season was tough, but you could make an argument that every single game before Centennial play starts is going to be tricky:
8/29 v. Stockton (9-6-6; tied Christopher Newport away 0-0, beat Montclair twice; lost in NJAC finals to Rowan))
8/31 @ Rowan (12-5-5; tied F&M 2-2 in Lancaster, NCAA tournament 1st round))
9/5 @ Denison (15-2-6; NCAA Elite 8)
9/7 @ Kenyon (13-3-5; tied F&M 1-1 in Lancaster, NCAA 3rd round)
9/13 Elizabethtown (7-9-3, but tied F&M at home and won the Smith-Herr Boot in a PK shootout)
9/17 @ York (14-2-5; lost in MAC Commonwealth Final to Messiah 2-1)
Plus, they got to ease into conference play against Haverford last season, whereas this season they host Muhlenberg, which knocked them out of the Centennial Conference tournament last season in the semifinals
Muhlenberg (https://muhlenbergsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Scranton, Kean, TCNJ, and Salisbury for Neumann, FDU-Florham, Rutgers-Camden, and Widener. In conference, starting with Franklin & Marshall and finishing with Johns Hopkins (at the end of a three game week of games against Washington College and Haverford) and Dickinson, is going to put some pressure on them to win a lot of games in the middle of conference play so they aren't counting on those last games to earn a conference tournament bid.
Willamette (https://www.wubearcats.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Willamette tries to rebound from a tough season last year and with NWC's round robin schedule of 16 conference games, that doesn't leave a lot of room to improve by scheduling differently. Nevertheless, Willamette does appear to have deliberately reduced the degree of difficulty of their non-conference schedule. Gone are Calvin, Occidental, and Cal Lutheran and in their place are Pomona-Pitzer, La Verne, and Whittier. Basically, nationally ranked and top half of the SCIAC exchanged for bottom half of the SCIAC.
Crown (https://athletics.crown.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Pretty complete turnover of non-conference opponents for a team that had a long run in the NCCAA national championships after winning the north regional final. Gone are Wisconsin-River Falls, Augsburg, Bethel, and Buena Vista and new are Wisconsin-Stout, Saint John's, Faith Baptist, and Coe.
Williams (https://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Starts the season with exactly the same teams as last season, although it is even tougher because they are playing @Tufts in game #2 and @Amherst in game #4. The non-conference schedule is a step down as they drop Cortland and add Husson.
Keene State (https://keeneowls.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
The non-conference game @Williams in the middle of conference play seems kind of brutal, but at least they aren't playing Middlebury this season, which beat them 5-1 last year. They also add Colby-Sawyer, Fitchburg State, and Russell Sage instead of Rivier, Lesley, MCLA, and RIT.
Oglethorpe (https://gopetrels.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Lots of interesting matchups in this schedule. In the Sonny Carter Invitational to open the season at Emory, they play Covenant and Washington & Lee. A week later at Oglethorpe's own invitational, they play Wisconsin Lutheran and North Carolina Wesleyan. A week after that, they host Babson, which is also playing Covenant on its trip to Atlanta. Two weeks after that, they host Trinity and Southwestern in their first away trip in the SAA.
McDaniel (https://mcdanielathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Some teams view difficult non-conference games as the best preparation for conference play in a conference where many teams are traditionally very strong regionally and nationally. I've never been convinced that is the right approach unless you already know your team is a top team that might be tempted to play down to the level of their opponent. McDaniel seemed to subscribe to the opposite theory last season. This is the view that it's better to play a somewhat weaker (but not non-competitive) non-conference schedule to give the team time to organize, build a winning culture (especially where there wasn't one before), and pull together in preparation for tough conference games. You then use winnable non-conference games after games against difficult non-conference foes to rebuild confidence and perhaps to allow some starters to ease up a bit. For example, they played Hood (3-0 W) after F&M (3-1 L) and played Stevenson (2-0 W) after Dickinson (1-0 L). I won't say that this always works, since McDaniel has had years with winning records only because of their non-conference creampuff schedule and they have had very few conference wins. Nevertheless, something worked last season because for the first time since 2005 they qualified for the conference tournament and they did not have a losing record in conference.
In 2025, McDaniel is following the same formula that led them to their historic season in 2024. Very similar non-conference schedule except they replaced Eastern Mennonite with Albright and Penn State Altoona. Plus, they have Shenandoah and Goucher - their only two non-wins out of conference last year other than Eastern Mennonite - at home instead of away this season. They end conference play with Dickinson and F&M this season, though, so if they haven't sewed up a conference tourney spot before that point, they may have an uphill climb without any relatively easier non-conference games between those games to give them a chance to regroup.
Albright (https://albrightathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Adds Rosemont to the schedule in the second game of the season, which will be interesting since this will be the last season for the soccer team before they are absorbed by Villanova. I don't know how many players transferred after the school's announcement, but they surely don't have an incoming freshman class. They had 7 seniors last season on a roster of 30 and only 3 juniors (the class most likely to stay and finish up their careers with the team), so they could be pretty depleted if freshman and sophomores left. In addition to adding Rosemont and McDaniel, they drop Berkeley College and and Delaware Valley.
W&L Year 2 Schedule
https://generalssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule
Solid schedule with Emory, Oglethorpe back to back to open in Atlanta.
Then Covenant which had a very good season last year. Two days later they travel to play Univ. of Mary Wash which is the first time since 2019 (maybe they can get Wash College as well to cover the Wash colleges minus Wash and Jefferson next year).
Catholic next who beat W&L 2-1 last year. Regent which is another VA school and pretty new to sports.
Quirk of the ODAC, W&L plays Roanoke in a non-ODAC game and later plays them again which counts for ODAC.
They still play the powers of the ODAC (Roanoke, Lynchburg and VA Wes.) which is good for its SOS. They have to go to VWU, but later play Chris Newport at home in the middle of the week.
IMO, they will definitely need to do well in non conf. games if they don't win the ODACs. W&L have a great goal scorer and 3 backs graduating while a small rising senior class along with a big junior class.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 05, 2025, 01:37:47 PMMcDaniel (https://mcdanielathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Some teams view difficult non-conference games as the best preparation for conference play in a conference where many teams are traditionally very strong regionally and nationally. I've never been convinced that is the right approach unless you already know your team is a top team that might be tempted to play down to the level of their opponent. McDaniel seemed to subscribe to the opposite theory last season. This is the view that it's better to play a somewhat weaker (but not non-competitive) non-conference schedule to give the team time to organize, build a winning culture (especially where there wasn't one before), and pull together in preparation for tough conference games. You then use winnable non-conference games after games against difficult non-conference foes to rebuild confidence and perhaps to allow some starters to ease up a bit. For example, they played Hood (3-0 W) after F&M (3-1 L) and played Stevenson (2-0 W) after Dickinson (1-0 L). I won't say that this always works, since McDaniel has had years with winning records only because of their non-conference creampuff schedule and they have had very few conference wins. Nevertheless, something worked last season because for the first time since 2005 they qualified for the conference tournament and they did not have a losing record in conference.
In 2025, McDaniel is following the same formula that led them to their historic season in 2024. Very similar non-conference schedule except they replaced Eastern Mennonite with Albright and Penn State Altoona. Plus, they have Shenandoah and Albright - their only two non-wins out of conference last year other than Eastern Mennonite - at home instead of away this season. They end conference play with Dickinson and F&M this season, though, so if they haven't sewed up a conference tourney spot before that point, they may have an uphill climb without any relatively easier non-conference games between those games to give them a chance to regroup.
McDaniels has been doing this for years. They generally go into Cent. Conf. play with a winning record. They actually made it to the CC playoffs as the 6th seed for the first time in years last year. I think it also could be a budget thing. Pretty much all non-conf are less than 100 miles away in MD, northern VA and southern PA.
Ursinus does this as well.
https://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/msoc/schedule/2024
Quote from: SKUD on June 06, 2025, 10:57:42 AMhttps://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/msoc/schedule/2024
That's the 2024 schedule. Did they release the 2025 schedule somewhere else (social media etc)?
Oops!
Buena Vista (https://bvuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Drops Hamline, Crown, Oaks Hill Christian and Marantha Baptist and picks up Minnesota-Morris, Mount Marty University (South Dakota) (NAIA), University of Northwestern. Looking at Buena Vista's schedule and Mount Marty's schedule the past few years and the announcement move of Luther from the American Rivers Conference, it strikes me that if DIII is going to expand, it might be in the Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota etc region. There are so many very small NAIA schools that fit the profile of schools that are going to have difficulty surviving over the next decade or so and the stronger of those schools may decide to move to a DIII conference rather than ride the waive of instability where they are right now. Of course, in Buena Vista's case (and that of other schools), it could also decide to go in the other direction and join in with NAIA schools.
Milwaukee School of Engineering (https://msoeraiders.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
This is perhaps the most brutal non-conference schedule I have seen thus far in 2025. MSOE keep Wartburg and North Central and add Calvin, Hope, North Park, and University of Chicago to their pre-conference schedule and then add Wisconsin-Eau Claire as a mid-week game non-conference game in the middle of conference. Every school except Chicago was in the NCAA tournament last season and Chicago missed out for the first time in a awhile after being in the QFs 2 years ago and a nat'l champion 3 years ago. Plus, every non-conference game but North Park and Wisconsin-Eau Claire is away. To be fair, MSOE had a strong schedule last season too. Teams no longer on the schedule are Wisconsin-Plateville, Montclair, Stevens, and Carthage, where only Montclair and Carthage were not NCAA qualifiers. This may be a comment on the NACC, where failing to get the auto bid can leave you with too little SoS to qualify under the NPI system (as Edgewood found out last season despite finishing 17-2-2, including 10-0-1 in conference).
Skidmore (https://skidmoreathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Replaces Utica, Ramapo, SUNY Oswego, and SUNY Geneseo with Salem State, SUNY Poly, Plattsburgh, and VTSU Castleton. I kind of love how almost every home game is a designated special day, often with a different local youth soccer club, especially in a place like Saratoga Springs where watching D3 soccer might as well be like watching big time pro soccer. I also really like the specific Women's Soccer doubleheader with Plattsburgh. I've seen other schools do it regularly and it helps to bond the men's and women's players together a bit, ensures some fan support even on an away day.
Whittier (https://wcpoets.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Whittier seeks to build upon a decent season last year, finishing 4-7-1 in conference after going 1-10-1 in 2023. They were inconsistent, but highlights included a 2-0 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and a 1-0 victory over Redlands on the last game of the regular season. Before last season, they adopted a new recruiting strategy that focused on international recruits and CC transfers, which they have continued this season (which could backfire if this Administration stops student visas). According to their Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/poets_msoccer/), 3 out of the 5 recruits announced thus far are from either Sweden or Norway and the 4th is a CC transfer. This season, they drop Albion, Bethesda (NAIA) and Stanton (NAIA) for a trip to the Northwest where they play Lewis & Clark, George Fox, and Willamette after starting the season against Southern California Leadership University, a sketchy school that La Verne beat last year 3-0 in an exhibition game, and Cal Tech beat 3-1. In conference, they play Redlands, Chapman, La Verne, and Pomona-Pitzer twice and the rest once. The rough part is they open with CMS, but they have 10 days between their Oregon trip and that game and it's at home.
Johns Hopkins (https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Not at the level of 2024, but still a pretty challenging non-conference schedule. They aren't playing Washington & Lee, Mary Washington, or Rowan, but this season has some unique challenges, in part because of the travel given that they start the season with five straight away games, including two pretty long road trips involving overnight stays. They go to Tennessee for opening weekend and take on Rhodes and Sewanee. Then they travel to Ohio the next weekend to take on Denison and Kenyon and then turn around and play a midweek game at St. Mary's of MD. They finally have two home games before opening conference play, but neither are pushovers. Rutgers-Newark only lost to JHU 1-0 last season and Lebanon Valley tied Franklin & Marshall 2-2.
Yeshiva (https://yumacs.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
This schedule tells us more about Swarthmore than Yeshiva in some respects. Yeshiva is opening at the Swarthmore Invitational, but no other opponents are identified, and then goes right into league play. That's not atypical for them, but means it is more of a window into Swarthmore (which hasn't posted its 2025 schedule yet) than to Yeshiva. Last year, Swarthmore hosted Penn State Abington and Moravian to open the season and in 2023 it hosted Rosemont and Coast Guard, so this implies Swat isn't doing anything much different in terms of quality of opponent to open up its season. Last year, it started out of the gate quickly, but that proved to be fool's gold as it wasn't able to sustain that success in the Centennial. I thought it might change up its strategy, but we'll have to see. One clear difference is that the opening games at least for Yeshiva are 12:00 Friday (presumably so they can observe the Sabbath before sundown) and 1:00 Sunday, when Swat has typically held at least the Friday game in the late afternoon/early evening and the Sunday game earlier only when the opponent was farther away and needed to drive home the same day. I suspect Yeshiva will play Swat that first game since it's the easiest for them to play a midday game on a Friday and then an opponent from out-of-town on Sunday so they can both get home earlier.
Alvernia (https://auwolves.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Alvernia often has a pretty impressive schedule and this year is no exception. Some teams re-load their rosters. Alvernia re-loads their schedule. They lose Cortland, Franklin & Marshall, and Montclair, but add Dickinson and Rowan this year and they continue to play Muhlenberg, Rochester, Stevens, and Messiah in conference.
Babson (https://babsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
They start with 4 straight home or close-to-home games against solid opponents. Opening against Occidental is a great early-season test for both teams. Both teams graduated some strong players, including their starting, regionally recognized, goalkeepers (Riley Nyhan for Oxy and Walker White for Babson) and top scorers. Oxy graduated Oury Diane (8g/3a) and Andrew Notter (10g/2a) and Babson graduated Kento Abe (9g/6a) and James Donaldson (7g/6a). So, they will both be placing players in positions of increased responsibility and they will need them right out of the gate. UMass Boston is also no slouch, having gone 10-1-6 last season. The next weekend they host Wesleyan, which should be an especially spicy matchup since Wesleyan's season ended in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament in a 1-0 loss to Babson at Babson Park. I'm sure Wesleyan will be looking for a small measure of payback. After a short trip to Gordon College (which tied Babson last season 1-1), Babson heads to Atlanta to take on Covenant and Oglethorpe. Both are capable of giving Babson trouble. Covenant came out of the gate very strong last season, beating W&L 3-0, and Oglethorpe made it to the NCAA tourney before losing to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the opening round in Colorado Springs. Babson also hosts Brandeis, Amherst (who they tied 1-1 last season), and Tufts (who they also tied 1-1 last season) to complete what is a really challenging schedule. The only notable omission from last season's schedule is Middlebury, who they lost to 3-1.
Covenant (https://athletics.covenant.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
The game at Washington & Lee should have added meaning as the Generals seek revenge for Covenant's 3-0 win at home last season. They don't play Hardin-Simmons this season, but they still play a Texas team, hosting Trinity. The odd thing is that it's a game on a Thursday in the middle of conference play (10/9). We can only guess where that fits into Trinity's schedule since it's not out yet, but since the SAA has fewer conference games than the SCAC (6 v. 11 last season), I suspect that Trinity is going out early when it plays Oglethorpe in conference play to get in an extra non-conference game. With Covenant also hosting Babson and adding a game at Centre (in place of Rhodes), that's a pretty big upgrade in its schedule.
Rhodes (https://rhodeslynx.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Rhodes conference schedule is definitely more challenging in 2025 than 2024 because it exchanged Hendrix for Trinity and Southwestern and it is playing them in Texas (although it kept Hendrix as a non-conference game). In non-conference, it doesn't play Mary Washington or Covenant this season, but it adds Johns Hopkins and Montclair on opening weekend, which is a really brutal way to start the season, mitigated only by the fact that they will be at home. They also pick up a mid-week home game against Mary Hardin-Baylor right before conference play starts, which could be pretty challenging. I'm guessing Mary Hardin-Baylor will play someone else on the trip.
Adrian (https://adrianbulldogs.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
In 2024, Adrian mounted a dramatic turnaround, finishing 11-4-2, compared with 2023, when they finished 1-13-2. In both years, however, the schedule was pretty weak (indeed, Adrian's lofty NPI ranking early last season suggested how little SoS mattered compared with wins under the new formula, at least when few of the undefeated teams had many distinguishing wins). In 2025, Adrian looks like it is starting to throw off the training wheels and try to up the quality of the non-conference schedule a bit. They still play Defiance (0-18 with .72 goals/game and 5.67 goals conceded/game) and they add Bethany (WV) (1-11-4), but they also add DePauw, Wilmington, and Ohio Northern, as well as Western Michigan (DI).
Case Western Reserve (https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They start slowly with Franciscan and Juniata away and Penn State-Behrend, Oberlin, Wooster, and Allegheny at home, but Case has a tough four game road trip leading into conference play against Marietta, Kenyon, John Carroll, and Otterbein that should tell us a lot about how good they will be this year.
Wash U (https://washubears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They drop Aurora and Ohio Northern and pick up Westminster and Illinois College, plus they get North Park and Wheaton (IL) at home. Their most challenging travel weekend might be the last weekend in October, when they play Rochester away on Friday 10/24 and then Emory away on Sunday 10/26. If they come down to the wire in conference, their last two games - against NYU and Chicago - are at home on successive Saturdays.
Christopher Newport (https://www.cnusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
The Coast-to-Coast conference gets flak from people, but the lack of regular season conference games means that a school like Christopher Newport always has one of the most interesting, challenging, and geographically diverse non-conference schedules in the country. They have what is a de facto conference schedule with fellow C2C members Mary Washington (x2), Salisbury (x2), and incoming member Regent and some other local-ish schools like Marymount, Virgina Wesleyan, Washington & Lee, and North Carolina Wesleyan that is probably one of the stronger "conference" schedules around, but the fun comes when they just play whomever they want to play and they seem to change it regularly. This year, they open with 6 games at home against a crazy mix of opponents from different regions, styles of play, and levels of competition - Merchant Marine, Dickinson, William Paterson, University of Redlands, Rutgers-Camden, and Hampden-Sydney. Dickinson and Redlands alone offer contrasting styles from very different parts of the country and really challenging opposition. Then, in late September, they travel to Abilene, Texas to play Trinity and Hardin-Simmons, which is a long trip, a pretty unique setting for boys from Virginia, and a chance to play a quality Hardin-Simmons team and a Trinity team that should once again challenge for the best in the country. By my count, they hit teams from 8 different conferences. Another scheduling note of interest is that the C2C conference tournament is in Newport News this year, so CNU should be well-positioned to avenge its OT loss to Mary Washington in last season's C2C finals when it was held in Fredericksburg.
One additional note that may only be of interest to me: There may be a back story to scheduling Redlands from Region X. Not only is it a strong team that plays a nice style of possession combined with grit, but it may hold special significance for Redlands' head coach Ralph Perez. 2025 will be Coach Perez' final season after 50+ years of coaching and more than 445 wins at DI, DII, and DIII combined (plus asst coaching at the professional level with the Galaxy and Metrostars and for the USMNT team) and a spot in the SUNY Oneonta Athletics Hall of Fame. Perez coached at DI Old Dominion in Norfolk, VA from 1990-95, where he led the team to a program-best 18-2-2 record in 1991, with a conference championship, an NCAA tournament appearance and the school's highest ever final ranking of #9 in the country. Perez never took the school as far in the NCAA tournament as his successor Alan Dawson, but I wonder if ODU, which is only about 30 miles away from CNU, is doing anything to recognize Perez on this trip. Even if not, it's probably an opportunity for him to visit some of his old haunts and to greet some old friends.
(Kuiper, always assume that someone is interested in your background posts. I may not read every single word of your Region X stuff, but I absolutely read stuff like you put up about Coach Perez.)
Oneonta (https://oneontaathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Very Liberty League heavy as usual and keeping Hamilton.
Much different Mayor's Cup this year with SLU not on the schedule. I like having Oneonta on SLU's schedule for SOS purposes, but I'm sure Toshack has travel fatigue with that matchup. They have played Oneonta on the road 7 straight times. Can't continuously unilaterally disarm in a matchup like that by never playing at home.
Quote from: Hopkins92 on June 10, 2025, 04:34:28 PM(Kuiper, always assume that someone is interested in your background posts. I may not read every single word of your Region X stuff, but I absolutely read stuff like you put up about Coach Perez.)
I'm simply in awe of how much Kuiper contributes. Makes for great off-season reading.
Some OAC schedules
Wilmington (https://wilmingtonquakers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Looks like a schedule upgrade for the Quakers, who went 11-6-3 last season. Gone are Spalding, Centre, Franklin, and Asbury. In their place are Berea, Bluffton, Adrian, and Ohio Wesleyan. They get a soft start to their OAC schedule with Heidelberg (1-14-2) and Muskingum (4-13-2), although both games are away. The conference has to feel just a little more wide open this season with John Carroll in the NCAC, but Wilmington has to feel a tinge of regret that they won't be able to get revenge last season after leading John Carroll 2-1 in the 53rd minute and giving up 3 straight goals in an 8 minute period to go down 4-2 and scoring a goal of its own less than 90 seconds later that gave them what turned out to be false hope they could come back
Capital (https://athletics.capital.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Pretty brutal opening weekend of the season, hosting Kenyon on Friday and then traveling to John Carroll on Sunday for a non-conference game after beating them in the OAC QFs last season. In another brutal pair of games a week-and-half before opening conference play, they host Ohio Wesleyan and Denison back-to-back. If Capital can survive both of those weekends, they have to like their chances to compete in the John Carroll-less OAC (and the NCAC for that matter).
North Carolina Wesleyan (https://ncwsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
In an odd relationship that reflects the fact that both teams have trouble filling out a schedule for different reasons, last year and again this year NC Wesleyan has played a home-and-away series with Mary Washington. It kind of puts in perspective NC Wesleyan's 9-4-4 record this year when you consider 2 of the losses were to one of the best teams in the country. This year, Bethel, Loras, Marymount, Johnson & Wales, Virginia Wesleyan, and Shaw are off the schedule and NC Wesleyan really powers up its SoS. In addition to playing Mary Washington twice and Randolph-Macon again on opening weekend, it adds games at Emory, at Oglethorpe, home to Roanoke and Averett, at Hampden-Sydney, at Catholic, and home to Christopher Newport. if they survive all of that, I like their chances in the USA South tournament.
Johnson & Wales-Providence (https://providence.jwuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
For a team that finished 15-3-3 last season, losing out on an auto bid in the GNAC championship game to St. Joseph's (CT), JWU-Providence mostly follows the same scheduling formula. They have no illusions they can amp their NPI up high enough to get a bid that way, so they just focus on racking up wins and getting ready for conference play. They drop Bridgewater State and Roger Williams and add Emmanuel and Rhode Island College.
Randolph Macon (https://rmcathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Drops Rutgers-Newark, Marymount, Bethany, but gets a bunch of geographically diverse set of new opponents to travel to them in non-conference, including Ohio Northern, Kean, Washington & Jefferson, and Southern Virginia.
Cortland (https://www.cortlandreddragons.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Traditional opener against Rochester with SLU on the same weekend. Added Vassar this year which should be a good one. 17 games this season which is light compared to years past.
Beloit (https://beloitcollegeathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
A 2-16 team is going to have a hard time finding a schedule to get them some wins. Nevertheless, this schedule seems harder rather than easier. Gone are Lakeland, Eureka, Saint Mary's (MN), Principia, and Westminster. In their place, they've added games against Earlham, Rockford, Wisconsin-Stout, Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Roanoke (https://roanokemaroons.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
It's easier to mention the non-conference opponents they keep this year - William Peace and Penn State Abington - than the ones they dropped. They add Washington College (MD), Stevenson, Brevard, Methodist, Washington & Lee and Mary Washington. That's probably an upgrade from last season, when the stronger teams they played were Catholic, Emory, Oglethorpe, Marietta, and Centre.
Not a full schedule, but Denison coach Brandon Bianco revealed on his interview with Simple Coach (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3EXmYffm00) that they are traveling to the NJ/NYC area the first weekend of the season to play Stevens on Friday night and then Stockton on Sunday and then the second weekend (which we already knew about through their opponents' respective schedules) they are hosting Franklin & Marshall on Friday night and Johns Hopkins on Sunday. Three NCAA tournament teams in the first four games with a fourth game against a team that made the NJAC championship game last season is one way to open the season after graduating 11 contributing players from last year's team.
Curry College (https://www.curryathletics.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Drops MIT, Colby-Sawyer, Lasell, Fitchburg State, Worcester State, and Plymouth state and adds Dean, Regis, Maine-Fort Kent, and Framingham State
Dickinson (https://dickinsonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
I posted about this when it came out on Instagram, but here's the official schedule.
I expected to see them take on a little more challenging schedule than last year and they do add Christopher Newport (away) early in the season as a serious test, but mostly this is pretty similar to last season. Outside of CNU and Messiah, most of their strongest tests come in conference.
Rutgers-Camden (https://scarletraptors.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Rutgers-Camden walked a tightrope last season. An astounding 16 of their 21 games were 1-0 wins, 0-1 losses, or 0-0/1-1 ties. Of the remaining 5 games, only 3 were decided by more than one goal and only 1 decided by more than two goals. Could just have been quirk, but maybe they are a team that plays compactly and conservatively, mucks things up and hopes to nick a goal in a scramble in the box and avoid a similar fate on the other end. That is the kind of strategy that helps a team stay in a game against a top team and allows a weaker team to hang with them when they shouldn't. Either way, changing opponents under that scenario doesn't necessarily change results, so why bother? This year's schedule kind of reflects that attitude. They drop Neumann and Rosemont and add St. John's Fisher, Salisbury and Muhlenberg.
Misericordia (https://athletics.misericordia.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Penn State-Brandywine and adds NYU and Ursinus
Ursinus (https://ursinusathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
It looks like they're taking off the training wheels this year as they've dropped some of the weakest teams from their 2024 schedule - Medgar Evers (who they beat 8-0), Penn State Berks (who they beat 7-0), and Penn State Brandywine (who they beat 5-3). They also dropped Immaculata and Moravian. In their place, they've added St. Mary's of Maryland and Salisbury away on opening weekend, Lycoming, Gwynedd Mercy, Stockton, and Misericordia.
Centenary (TX) (https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
They start by hosting Texas College (NAIA team with a 3-13 record last year) and Dallas Christian (an NCCAA team) and also add Lyon and Hardin-Simmons. Drops Piedmont, Mississippi University for Women, UT-Dallas, and Ouachita Bpatist.
Messiah (https://gomessiah.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Someone posted the press release with the schedule highlights, but it's now been posted in full on the website. Big changes are hosting Claremont-Mudd-Scripps instead of Cal Lutheran, playing Lynchburg away instead of hosting Carthage and playing Dickinson away instead of at home. They do get Mary Washington at home this year.
Middlebury (https://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/msoc/schedule)
Middlebury had a pretty strong non-conference schedule (for a NESCAC school) last season. This one might not have a highly ranked opponent, but the schedule may be more exciting with two highlight matchups against Liberty League powers. They drop Norwich, Keene State, Endicott, and Babson and add St. Lawrence, Thomas, and Vassar. Vassar is a particularly interesting opponent after losing to Middlebury 2-1 at Middlebury in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament last season. St. Lawrence is another really interesting matchup. I think the last time the two schools played each other was in 2006, when the Saints beat Middlebury at Middlebury 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. I'm sure there are some SLU alums who remember that one. I don't know when the two teams last played each other in the regular season, though. It would be pretty cool if this became a regular thing.
Some SCIAC schedules dropped
Pomona-Pitzer (https://sagehens.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
With a new head coach - Clint Moore from DII Colorado School of Mines - for the first time since 1986, P-P opens with a game at DII Cal State San Marcos (which ended the 2024 season with a 13 game winless streak, but beat Moore's Colorado School of Mines team last season) and hosts NAIA side Park University (AZ) (which lost to Cal Tech 1-0 last season). It then travels to Oregon and plays Willamette and Linfield. Conference play is unforgiving. Instead of starting with La Verne, Whittier, and Cal Tech like last season, P-P starts SCIAC play this season with Redlands, Cal Lutheran, Occidental, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Cal Lutheran (https://clusports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After traveling last season to Eastern PA to play Messiah and Gettysburg and then to South Texas to play Trinity and Southwestern, Cal Lu would have been forgiven if they played a more low key schedule this season, but that's not the case. The Administration must have increased support to the Cal Lu soccer program after the women won the nat'l championship. This year, following a game at Soka (NAIA), they travel to Colorado Springs to play Colorado College and Whitman and then play at Masters (NAIA) (which also scrimmages Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and plays at Occidental this season). In the SCIAC, they play Redlands and Occidental twice, including ending the regular season away at those two places.
University of Chicago (https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
As they try to recover from probably the worst Chicago season in years (according to their standards), they drop North Central and Calvin and add Milwaukee School of Engineering and Albion. With the Maroons starting the season away at Gustavus Adolphus and St. Olaf and still playing other NCAA tournament teams like North Park, Hope, and Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and the normal tough UAA schedule, Chicago doesn't have any easy pathways back to the Tournament.
Pacific Lutheran (https://golutes.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
The Lutes don't get to play a lot of non-conference games because of the Northwest Conference's double round robin format, but they've seemed to make the most of it in recent years. They travel to Minnesota on opening weekend and take on St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus. The following weekend, they host Wheaton (IL) and UC Santa Cruz in Tacoma before starting conference play. These will all be big test for PLU as I'm assuming they've lost of ton of Pacific Lutheran Hall of Fame-type players, including GK Nicholas Gaston, midfielder Craig Johnson, forward Trevor Thompson (NWC offensive player of the year), and defender Cole Dobson (NWC defensive player of the year)
Hamilton (https://athletics.hamilton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Exactly the same non-conference teams as last season. They start away at Oswego State and then host Middlebury and Williams, which should provide a good indication of whether they have advanced since last year.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 16, 2025, 12:59:39 PMMiddlebury (https://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/msoc/schedule)
Middlebury had a pretty strong non-conference schedule (for a NESCAC school) last season. This one might not have a highly ranked opponent, but the schedule may be more exciting with two highlight matchups against Liberty League powers. They drop Norwich, Keene State, Endicott, and Babson and add St. Lawrence, Thomas, and Vassar. Vassar is a particularly interesting opponent after losing to Middlebury 2-1 at Middlebury in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament last season. St. Lawrence is another really interesting matchup. I think the last time the two schools played each other was in 2006, when the Saints beat Middlebury at Middlebury 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. I'm sure there are some SLU alums who remember that one. I don't know when the two teams last played each other in the regular season, though. It would be pretty cool if this became a regular thing.
Plus they play 9 home games (all of the non-league games plus 5 NESCAC) and only 5 away. That is nice for any team.
Centre (https://centrecolonels.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Centre has been slowly rebuilding the program after a NCAA tournament appearance in 2021 was followed by a 2-12-2 season in 2022. Last season, they finished 11-4-3, with some signature wins, such as over Denison, but suffered a disappointing loss to Rhodes on a goal in the 102nd minute in 2OT of the SAA semifinals. This year, they will be making the push to take the next step and make it back to the Tournament. They drop Franklin, Wilmington, Elmhurst, Berea, Roanoke, and Piedmont and host Illinois Wesleyan (at Louisville) and Nebraska Wesleyan, take a road trip to North Carolina to play Brevard and Warren Wilson, and host Covenant, while also taking a few tough road trips to play teams they faced last year at DePauw and at Denison. In the SAA, they travel to San Antonio to play Trinity, but host Southwestern the following Saturday, which is odd because Centre has Friday/Sunday weekends for other conference games.
Washington College (MD) (https://washcollsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Lebanon Valley, Elizabethtown, Kings, and Rowan and adds Roanoke, Moravian, Mary Washington, Stockton, and Eastern. The three game week of @Stockton (Tues), @Dickinson (Sat), and @Franklin & Marshall (Tues) seems particularly tough, especially early in conference play.
Trinity (TX) (https://trinitytigers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Trinity always uses its central location and great reputation to craft an interesting schedule. This year is no exception. Opening weekend includes a must-see game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and the reprise of their rivalry with former SCAC foe St. Thomas. The following weekend, they host Kalamazoo and former SCAC foe Schreiner and then have an away game at Texas Lutheran and a home game against Concordia (TX). They then travel to Abilene to take on Hardin-Simmons from the ASC and Christopher Newport before coming home to host UC Santa Cruz and then beginning SAA play with a trip to Atlanta. Really crazy that they can play teams from California, Michigan, and Virginia without even leaving Texas. They also host Mary Hardin-Baylor at the end of conference play. So, they basically play all of those teams from different parts of the country and most of the best teams from the SCAC (except Colorado College) and ASC without getting on a plane until they start SAA play. 11 of their games are at home and only 6 are away. Plus, the SAA championships are in Georgetown, Texas at Southwestern this year.
Incidentally, I'm guessing Paul McGinlay invited Claremont-Mudd-Scripps as a homecoming of sorts for Edward Cartee, his former long-time assistant, who started at CMS in 2023 after spending a decade at Trinity. McGinlay may also have invited St. Thomas because St. Thomas' head coach is Ernesto Ramirez, who was an assistant coach at Occidental when Edward Cartee first came to CMS and the two likely crossed paths many times on the recruiting and coaching trail. I'm assuming CMS will play St. Thomas while they are both in San Antonio, which will add extra spice to that game.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 17, 2025, 01:15:43 PMWashington College (MD) (https://washcollsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Lebanon Valley, Elizabethtown, Kings, and Rowan and adds Roanoke, Moravian, Mary Washington, Stockton, and Eastern. The three game week of @Stockton (Tues), @Dickinson (Sat), and @Franklin & Marshall (Tues) seems particularly tough, especially early in conference play.
They also play two tournaments two weekends in a row. First Friday/Sunday and the next Saturday and Sunday which are against Salisbury and St. Marys (so sort of a mini Maryland Tournament with Lynchburg being the out of stater). Knock on WC was that the nonconference was not very strong, but this year it is harder with UMW and the others.
As to the Tuesday, Sat and then Tues. Most if not all Cent. Conf games are always Wednesday/Sat. However, the second Tuesday is because Yom Kippur starts Wednesday night.
Should be a really interesting year for WC. After making the NCAAs semis and losing 1-0 to St. Olafs, they had a real tough time at the end of the season which could have been injury related. They also lose 12 5th year and seniors this year who were the core of the NCAA run, but have 11 Sophomores. Anything could happen.
Vassar swaps in Cortland, NYU and Middlebury while dropping Brandeis and Drew. Tough schedule.
https://www.vassarathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025
Southwestern (https://southwesternpirates.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
The other Texas school leaving the SCAC for the SAA with Trinity. It is playing most of the out-of-state and non-conference Texas teams mentioned as Trinity opponents in my earlier post, including Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (which is apparently not playing St. Thomas as I suggested might be the case), St. Thomas, Kalamazoo, Concordia (TX), Texas Lutheran, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and UC Santa Cruz. It departs from Trinity in also playing Howard Payne, LeTourneau, Austin College, and East Texas Baptist. They have 14 home games out of 19 total, including the first 7 and 9 out of the first 10, plus it's hosting the SAA tournament. It kind of feels like Trinity and Southwestern left the SCAC and got the best of both worlds. At least this year, they both are playing a ton of home games and they still get all the games against SCAC and ASC schools they want. As much drama as Texas conferences have had over the years with teams switching from one to the other, they basically all need each other to fill out their schedules (at least in soccer).
Some NESCAC schedules
Connecticut College (https://camelathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Western New England (the only non-conference team to score a goal off Conn last season) and adds University of Hartford (which beat Trinity (CT) last season, but lost to Western New England). National Championship rematch is the second game of the season at Conn, so that will be on everyone's must-see list. Their double game weekend is at home against Colby and Tufts
Colby (https://colbyathletics.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
Drops RPI and adds St. Joseph's College of Maine (a team that was merely average last season, but did hand Babson a 0-0 tie in the opening game of the season). Starts the season with 5 straight at home, which includes Bowdoin and Tufts
Ohio Wesleyan (https://battlingbishops.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Year one of the Matt Weiss era at OWU (I hear that the last guy occupied the job for 47 years and was the NCAA career leader in wins, so no pressure ;) ). This year, they drop Mount Union, John Carroll, and Stevens and pick up Berea, Bethany, and Wilmington. That's a pretty noticeable decline in opponent pedigree, but they still have a plenty tough schedule with returning opponents Hope and Calvin (away on opening weekend) as well as Otterbein, Carnegie Mellon, Ohio Northern, and Marietta.
Mary Hardin-Baylor (https://cruathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
With only 6 conference games this season now that LeTourneau has left and McMurry and Schreiner won't come back to the ASC until Fall 2026, Mary Hardin-Baylor had to load up on non-conference games this season. They make a big trip to Colorado Springs the second weekend of the season to play Whitman and Colorado College and they travel to Memphis to play Rhodes and Jackson to play Belhaven, but otherwise they just load up on Texas opponents. They drop UT Dallas and LeTourneau, but play Schreiner, Texas Lutheran, Concordia (TX), St. Thomas, Austin College, Southwestern, and Trinity. With 18 games total and only 4 teams in the ASC, it looks like there may not be an ASC tournament this year, which means the Mary Hardin-Baylor game at Hardin-Simmons on Nov. 1 to end the regular season could be the de facto championship game.
UPDATE: According to the East Texas Baptist schedule, the ASC is having a conference tournament this year Nov. 6-8. Presumably, everyone will make it, which is how LeTourneau got to the championship game last season.
Maryville (https://mcscots.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Southern Virginia, Greenville, Bob Jones, Oglethorpe, Greensboro and Rhodes with Lynchburg on opening day, Johnson University (TN) (NAIA), Spalding, Emory, LeTourneau, and Warren Wilson. They are playing LeTourneau in the Berry University Classic in Georgia, which makes this the second year in a row that LeTourneau makes an out-of-state trip after traveling to Michigan last year to play Calvin and Hope. Maryville is a more competitive matchup for them and Georgia is only a 9-10 hour bus ride, but I still wonder what changed for a program that almost never traveled as far as they have last year and this year.
Buffalo State (https://buffalostateathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After a 16-3-4 season in which they beat Tufts in the NCAA tournament in the second round on PKs before losing to Dickinson in the Sweet 16, I wondered if Buffalo State would up the quality of their schedule this season. They're typically going to have some decent games in the SUNYAC with Cortland, Oneonta, Plattsburgh, but their non-conference schedule was pretty pedestrian. It appears not much has changed. They drop Elmira and Mt. Aloysius in favor of New Jersey City University and SUNY Geneseo, but otherwise it is the same as last year, playing Alfred and Bryant & Stratton in the Fredonia Classic and then SUNY Brockport, Houghton, and Hilbert at home and Grove City away. They had 12 seniors last season, so it will be interesting to see if last season was a one-hit wonder or something to build upon. Diego Rivera, their first team All-American forward who scored 18 goals and had 8 assists, was only a junior, but I think they are losing Manu Prieto, their second team All-American Portuguese midfielder who had 10 goals and 17 assists (he played 1 year at NAIA Mount Mercy before 3 years at Buff State), who is going to be really difficult to replace. Not many people manage 17 assists in a college career, let alone a single season. They also may be losing Shae Wirt, their GK, who was an underrated key to their success after starting his career at D1 Presbyterian (he was at Presbyterian for two years, but that includes a Covid year, so maybe he redshirted the second year and still has a year left). Wirt made some strong saves in PKs against Tufts to allow Buff State to advance.
Mississippi University for Women (https://owlsathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
(BACKGROUND: Yes, that is still its name. Yes, they have a men's team. Yes, it is 2025. Yes, there were proposals to change its name, but they were withdrawn because of criticism from alumni. Yes, there was a bill last year to merge it with Mississippi State, but the bill died in the Senate. Apparently, it is now known for athletics purposes as the "W," but a recently released internal memo (https://mississippitoday.org/2025/03/29/internal-msu-memo-proposed-renaming-the-w-for-workforce/) written while the proposed merger was under consideration reveals that Mississippi State University officials had considered making "W" official, but as a designation for "Workforce," rather than "Women," because they proposed to focus the campus on nursing, speech pathology, and culinary arts)
MUW was 0-17 last season. They were bad. Like, historically bad. Like, Lewis & Clark might have actually had a chance of beating them bad (seriously, we need these two teams to play each other). MUW scored 11 goals and gave up 100 goals. And if you take out the Ecclesia game, where they scored 3 goals after an Ecclesia player was red carded, but still lost 5-3, and the Principia game, where they scored 2 goals after being down 7-1, they only scored 5 goals in 15 games. They had 18 players listed on the roster, including only 1 player listed as a GK (a 5'9" freshman) and they used a midfielder in goal in the one game the regular GK was unavailable. The bench was pretty thin some games, including one game they lost 11-0 with only one player on the bench according to the box score. They listed a 2025 Spring roster with 10 players. And with the legislative battle in March of 2024 about whether the school would even continue to exist as a separate entity, I wouldn't be surprised if recruiting was less than stellar.
So, the bottom line is that there may be no schedule that MUW could construct for 2025 that would allow them to be competitive or even find a win. They do still have "TBA"s on their schedule for 9/21 and 9/28 if you're a coach looking for, shall we say, a less stressful game. Nevertheless, they do have a schedule. They drop Centenary (LA), Ecclesia, Austin College, and Belhaven and add Millsaps, Warren Wilson, and Toccoa Falls College (NCCAA). Warren Wilson, which was 0-6 last season before the flooding in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene forced the cancellation of the remainder of the season, seems like MUW's best chance for a victory. Toccoa Falls, which lost to Huntington 4-0 and Bob Jones 8-0, is the next best chance. I'll be rooting for them. I like underdogs.
A few New Jersey schedules
Kean (https://keanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Kean drops Hunter, FDU-Florham (although perhaps not because they are going back to the FDU Florham tourney for opening weekend but have a tbd for the second game), Centenary, Merchant Marine, Swarthmore, Muhlenberg, Widener, and Franklin & Marshall and adds Hobart, a trip to VA the second weekend to play Randolph-Macon and Shenandoah, Scranton, Saint Elizabeth, Moravian, Lehman. The only non-conference opponents it kept were Stevens and Western Connecticut. Seems like it will be a drop in SoS in the non-conference schedule for this season, but the NJAC games should make up for some of that.
Rowan (https://www.rowanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Rowan's schedule last season was a Murderer's Row of opponents. In non-conference play, they scheduled a highly-ranked opponent virtually every week. So, they couldn't help but have a more manageable schedule this season. It is, but they still have some potentially difficult games. They drop St. Mary's of MD, Johns Hopkins, Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, and Washington College. In their place, they've added NYU (in NYC), Gettysburg, Scranton, Arcadia, and Alvernia. They also host Franklin & Marshall and Cortland and visit Messiah.
Redlands (https://goredlands.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Redlands's 2025 schedule looks like it is designed to provide Head Coach Ralph Perez a victory lap of sorts. Perez is retiring after 50 years and 445+ wins after this season, including almost 20 years at Redlands, in which he led the team to 10 SCIAC regular season titles, 7 NCAA tourneys, 2 Sweet Sixteen appearances, and 2 Elite Eight appearances. I don't know if he has the players this season to truly send him out on a high note, but he generally gets guys who fight hard for him and play sound, technical, soccer.
They start by traveling to New Jersey and playing an exhibition against Drew and then playing opening weekend against Rutgers-Newark and Swarthmore. What's the significance of that for Perez? He was born and raised in New York and played soccer at Oneonta State. After about 20 years coaching in college, he was recruited to be a coach in Major League Soccer as it was just getting off the ground. In his first gig, Perez was an assistant coach for the New York-New Jersey Metrostars that played in the Meadowlands at Giants Stadium under former Cosmos coach Eddie Firmani, former Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz, and former Brazil national team coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. Aside from the Perez nostalgia, the Swarthmore game should be a really good early test for both teams. It will be the second year in a row Swat opens playing against a SCIAC team, after playing Occidental and Cal Tech last season.
The following week, Redlands travels to southern Virginia and plays Virginia Wesleyan and Christopher Newport. As I mentioned in an earlier post discussing the CNU schedule, Perez coached Old Dominion to its best record and highest ranking ever in the early 1990s. Virginia Wesleyan is only 18 minutes away from ODU and Christopher Newport is about 30 minutes away. Sounds like Perez is going to be visiting his old haunts in the area, if not actually getting some recognition from Old Dominion and some of his former players.
Finally, in a very unusual move, Redlands has scheduled the Alumni Game on Saturday, Oct. 25th, a few days before traveling to what could be a crucial SCIAC matchup at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. That's sure to bring out a huge turnout of alums.
Swarthmore (https://swarthmoreathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After starting last season on an 8 game streak without a loss (7-0-1), Swat fell short against the Centennial Conference's traditional powers (F&M, Hopkins, Washington College) and fell out of even qualifying for the conference tournament with successive losses to Muhlenberg and McDaniel. And yet, most people acknowledged that it was a dangerous team, tying Dickinson 2-2 and playing Hopkins tight in a game Coach Appleby told Simple Coach recently was one of their toughest opponents last season. So, I expect they will be a team primed to turn the corner in 2025, especially since they will return almost all of their regular contributors other than 2nd team all Centennial conference Forward Tejas Sarna and starting GK Christian Bignotti. If they can fill those spots (and develop a more consistent scorer at the striker position as their top scorers were all midfielders last season), they should be a handful. I think their 2025 schedule suggests that this is the expectation of the coaching staff as well because they've added a few more difficult early non-conference opponents. They even start that right out of the gate with their first scrimmage against DI NJIT. Gone from last season's schedule are Penn State Abington, Moravian, Occidental, Cal Tech, Kean, Wilkes and they've added Yeshiva, Redlands, Montclair State, Stevens, Juniata, and UMass Boston.
Simpson (https://www.simpsonathletics.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Simpson, which played Colorado College very tough in a 1-0 loss early last season and tied Wisconsin-Eau Claire 2-2, also looks like a team on the cusp of a better season. The schedule seems a bit weaker than last season, though, with a few more winnable games. They drop Macalester, Concordia-Moorehead, Colorado College, and Wisconsin-Eau-Claire and add Illinois College, North Central (Ill), Saint Mary's (MN), Bethel (MN), and Webster.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 23, 2025, 01:02:37 AMSwarthmore (https://swarthmoreathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After starting last season on an 8 game streak without a loss (7-0-1), Swat fell short against the Centennial Conference's traditional powers (F&M, Hopkins, Washington College) and fell out of even qualifying for the conference tournament with successive losses to Muhlenberg and McDaniel. And yet, most people acknowledged that it was a dangerous team, tying Dickinson 2-2 and playing Hopkins tight in a game Coach Appleby told Simple Coach recently was one of their toughest opponents last season. So, I expect they will be a team primed to turn the corner in 2025, especially since they will return almost all of their regular contributors other than 2nd team all Centennial conference Forward Tejas Sarna and starting GK Christian Bignotti. If they can fill those spots (and develop a more consistent scorer at the striker position as their top scorers were all midfielders last season), they should be a handful. I think their 2025 schedule suggests that this is the expectation of the coaching staff as well because they've added a few more difficult early non-conference opponents. They even start that right out of the gate with their first scrimmage against DI NJIT. Gone from last season's schedule are Penn State Abington, Moravian, Occidental, Cal Tech, Kean, Wilkes and they've added Yeshiva, Redlands, Montclair State, Stevens, Juniata, and UMass Boston.
Should be an interesting for Swat with Mont. State and Stevens back to back with a day in between during the 2nd weekend of the year. Also interesting, they play JHU then week off, F&M on Sat. and Muhls on Tues. Later they play Dickinson on Sat and travel to WC on Wed. IMO, very tough.
Quirk in the schedule maybe, but F&M goes to Swat two years in a row and they don't particularly like each other plus Swat has not beaten F&M in 10 or 11 years.
Allegheny (https://alleghenygators.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Stevenson, Alfred State, Mount Union and converts Hiram from non-conference to conference. Adds Penn State-Behrend, Carnegie Mellon, and Case Western Reserve.
Wooster (https://www.woosterathletics.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
Wooster is often competitive, but last year it struggled. It only won two games in the NCAC - against Hiram and Oberlin - and Hiram has left for the PAC and John Carroll - a team that beat Wooster 3-0 last season in non-conference play - has replaced it. So, if it wants to end with a decent record, it probably needs to stack up some non-conference wins. This year, they drop Guilford and Pfeiffer and add Waynesburg and Bethany (W.Va), but they still have a decently tough non-conference schedule with Case Western and Mount Union.
King's College (https://kingscollegeathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
King's had a winning record last season for the first time in a few years, which is great, but I'm not sure they are in any way ready to play DI Penn State University at University Park, as they are scheduled to do on Sunday Oct 4th at 3 pm, the day after they open conference play hosting Stevens Saturday Oct 3 at 7 pm and after playing Hood, Union, and Stevens in a three game week already. I mean, it's great to give the players the opportunity to play a Big 10 program on their field, but less than 24 hours after playing the best team in your conference and as the 4th game in 8 days is kind of rough.
Beyond that, they drop Keystone, Penn State-Behrend, Catholic, Juniata, Marywood, and Washington College. They add Utica, Oneonta, Hartwick, Ithaca, Neumann, Hood, Union, and Gettysburg, plus playing Penn State (the O.G.).
someone has to help me with why PSU would play Kings and vice versa?
Some UAA schedules for everyone who won't watch their games anymore because they'll be on FloSports
NYU (https://gonyuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
NYU was 1-5-1 in the UAA last season and a pretty weak non-conference schedule was the only reason they didn't end up with a losing record overall. Even then, they were inconsistent, losing to Penn State Harrisburg and almost losing to Sarah Lawrence, but beating Rochester. So, it's pretty surprising that NYU's non-conference schedule is significantly harder this season. They drop Purchase College, Mount Saint Vincent, St. Joseph's Brooklyn, Penn St. Harrisburg, Baruch, and Sarah Lawrence. In their place, they add Farmingdale State, Aelphi, Rowan, Vassar, Stockton, Misericordia, Montclair State, Stevens, and Rutgers Newark. I had to check to see if they were a really young team and this year they were returning everyone, but that's not really the case. NYU's top three scorers from last season and two of their regular starting defenders were all seniors. Maybe they have a great recruiting class arriving?
Emory (https://emoryathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
They played three invitational tournaments last season, so turnover in non-conference was to be expected. That said, I'm surprised they don't play Oglethorpe in their own tournament or as a stand-alone game (especially after playing them twice last season). They also drop Belhaven, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Colorado College, Brevard, and UT Dallas. In their place, they add Washington & Lee, NC Wesleyan, Wisconsin Lutheran, Maryville, Berry, Ozarks, Hendrix, and Piedmont.
Kuiper - Any insight on how far out these schedules are arranged? 1 year out, 2?
Quote from: Hopkins92 on June 24, 2025, 10:43:30 AMKuiper - Any insight on how far out these schedules are arranged? 1 year out, 2?
In most cases, I've found that teams schedule opponents in two-year cycles where each team gets a home game in one of the years. If you are scrambling for opponents every year, you probably will have to travel farther and play more away games, which is expensive. This is the best way to ensure enough home games and a stable travel budget.
Invitationals, however, are generally one-year deals. There are also one-off games where a team just needed one game to complete its schedule, sometimes with one team basically "fitting in" the new team into their schedule by adding a game. That can happen because a school closed or a team did an invitational one year and just wants to complete the cycle with a one-off. It can also happen when one team travels in a return trip on a two year deal and is looking for two games. For example, Coach Appleby mentioned to Simple Coach that the trips to Tennessee and Ohio this year were return trips to Sewanee and Kenyon, but the Rhodes and Denison games are just one-offs to make the travel more worthwhile.
There are also standing non-conference games between non-conference rivals or geographic pairs (e.g., Mary Washington and Christopher Newport; UC Santa Cruz and a bunch of SCIAC teams, Elizabethtown and F&M).
The result is that is about a third to one-half of the non-conference schedule turns over every year under this system, but it's more in some schools, especially those that are geographically isolated or who are stronger and more ambitious than their local schools.
I don't know where to put this. Bryn Athyn drops all athletics.
Quote from: BigSoccerFan on June 24, 2025, 09:20:58 PMI don't know where to put this. Bryn Athyn drops all athletics.
Post it in the topic "Future of Division III" Under General D3 Issues"
Quote from: Gray Fox on June 24, 2025, 09:46:05 PMQuote from: BigSoccerFan on June 24, 2025, 09:20:58 PMI don't know where to put this. Bryn Athyn drops all athletics.
Post it in the topic "Future of Division III" Under General D3 Issues"
we posted about it in that room months ago when it was announced.
Sectional finalist UW-Eau Claire has posted their schedule today.
Non cons against Carroll, UW-Superior, Edgewood, Augsburg, Chicago, Macalester, Luther, Bethel, St. Olaf all return.
Elmhurst in for North Park the CCIW, MSOE in for Aurora in the NACC, Wartburg in for Simpson in the ARC, and Beloit in for Dubuque in the blue armored mascots.
https://blugolds.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025
SLU (https://saintsathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Only 15 games this year. Keeps Cortland and Geneseo as weekend opener, as well as traditional local SUNY games against Canton, Potsdam and Plattsburgh. Drops the Oneonta Mayor's cup in favor of Middlebury. Schedule works out this year that they don't have to play Vassar/Bard on a back to back. Women's team is playing 18 games so I think this is intentional on the coach's part. The Oneonta tournament 7 years in a row has resulted in several high impact injuries, so a year of reprieve might not be the worst thing.
John Jay (https://johnjayathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
John Jay may be one of the most ambitious of the CUNYs in scheduling teams. That doesn't mean, however, that they are one of the most qualified of the CUNYs to play stronger teams. As a result, their record often suffers. This year they drop Pratt, SUNY Canton, Delaware Valley, University of Saint Joseph, SUNY Potsdam, and Montclair State (not sure why either side wanted that game, which John Jay lost 8-0). They add Mount Saint Vincent, SUNY Purchase, Merchant Marine Academy, Eastern Mennonite, Bridgewater, and Mount Saint Mary
Lehman (https://lehmanathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Lehman lost in the finals of the CUNYAC last season and would love to go farther this season. Drops Saint Elizabeth, FDU-Florham, and New Paltz and adds Delaware Valley, Western Connecticut, and Kean
Arcadia (https://arcadiaknights.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Arcadia had their most wins since 2017 last season, with a 12-6-2 record, but they did it with razor-thin margins that relied upon strong defense/goalkeeping and timely, but perhaps lucky, goals, against weaker opponents. Their strong start of 9 wins, 1 tie, and 1 loss melted away with a 2-4-1 conference record. This year, it looks like they decided to upgrade their non-conference schedule, as much possible within the confines of scheduling deals. They drop some of their weakest opponents, like Pratt, Penn State Berks, and Gwynedd Mercy and add Alvernia, Rowan, Eastern, and a mid-week game against DI LaSalle.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (https://cmsathletics.org/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025?grid=true)
Coach Cartee and CMS aren't playing around when they set up their schedule. Last year, they went to Minnesota and took on defending national champion St. Olaf and a regional power Mary Hardin-Baylor and this year they travel to Texas on opening weekend and take on Trinity and Southwestern and then travel the next week to eastern PA and take on Messiah and Gettysburg. If you have the money, that's usually kind of what you have to do under the NPI because playing a 12 game schedule against SCIAC teams is probably not going to get much in the way of SoS credit.
This year, however, if CMS (playing Trinity, Southwesterm, Messiah, and Gettysburg), Redlands (playing Rutgers-Newark, Swarthmore, Virginia Wesleyan, and Christopher Newport), Occidental (playing Babson, MIT, and UMass Boston), Cal Lutheran (playing Colorado College and Whitman), and even Chapman (playing DePauw and Wheaton (IL)) are all successful on their road trips and their opponents go on to have strong years, the SCIAC's SoS might be the highest it's been in a long time. That's a lot of solid to very strong opponents (and tough places to play away).
Interestingly, Cal Lu did the exact same Texas/PA swing in 2024 as CMS is doing in 2025. I know Trinity routinely invites Region X opponents, but it seems like Messiah might be doing that now as well. It didn't really do Cal Lu any favors last season, when it only got a point from Gettysburg in the four games, but it did beat CMS 4-2 a few days after returning from the road trip. My sense is that it wore Cal Lu out and contributed to their inconsistency. It raised their highest level so they could hang with almost anyone, but it made average SCIAC conference games more difficult because they were tired and took them for granted, which might have accounted for losses against La Verne, Pomona-Pitzer, and Cal Tech. We'll see how it affects CMS.
Gettysburg (https://gettysburgsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
In part because of their central location, Gettysburg often seems to get some pretty good non-conference games. It hasn't really helped them advance much in the Centennial recently, but they did show signs they may be in the upswing last season with a win against Johns Hopkins, a 3-4 barnburner loss to Dickinson, and a tie against Muhlenberg. With their top scorers and starting GK graduating, though, it will be interesting to see if that was a turning point or the high point. They drop Sewanee, Carnegie Mellon, Carthage, Penn State Brandywine, and Cal Lutheran and add Widener, Neumann, Rowan, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, York, and King's. With Lebanon Valley, Lycoming, and Southern Virginia still on the schedule, it looks like a step-up. In conference, Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Hopkins, and F&M in a two week stretch could make or break their season.
William Paterson (https://www.wpupioneers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After finishing above .500 for the first time since 2018 (9-8-3), William Paterson's schedule gets a bit of a glow-up, as the kids would say. They drop Endicott, Gordon, Saint Elizabeth, Brooklyn, Keystone, Baruch, and Delaware Valley, and after easing in 2025 with Penn State Brandywine, they add Stevens, Christopher Newport, Virginia Wesleyan, Centenary, Ursinus, and Drew.
Quote from: Kuiper on June 12, 2025, 07:40:44 PMNot a full schedule, but Denison coach Brandon Bianco revealed on his interview with Simple Coach (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3EXmYffm00) that they are traveling to the NJ/NYC area the first weekend of the season to play Stevens on Friday night and then Stockton on Sunday and then the second weekend (which we already knew about through their opponents' respective schedules) they are hosting Franklin & Marshall on Friday night and Johns Hopkins on Sunday. Three NCAA tournament teams in the first four games with a fourth game against a team that made the NJAC championship game last season is one way to open the season after graduating 11 contributing players from last year's team.
The full schedule is now posted on its website and it's still a doozy
Denison (https://denisonbigred.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
As previously mentioned, Denison starts with a trip to New Jersey to play Stevens and Stockton and then comes home to host Franklin & Marshall and Johns Hopkins, but the non-conference schedule doesn't get a ton easier after that. They host Berea next, but then travel to Otterbein, host Centre, and then play Marietta and Capital away. Conference play isn't exactly kind either. They open by hosting Kenyon and they close by traveling to NCAC newcomer John Carroll right about when the win whipping off Lake Erie will be revving up for winter.
Southern Maine (https://southernmainehuskies.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
When you're a DIII soccer program in Southern Maine and you don't want to travel too far, you're going to play a lot of the same sort of schools every year. So, Southern Maine dutifully serves as the punching bag of Bowdoin, Colby, and Bates every year and then plays an assortment of relatively local non-conference opponents such as Maine Maritime, UMaine Fort Kent, University of New England, Husson, Thomas, and University of Maine Farmington. This year, they drop MIT and add Rivier and have to hope they can amass more than 2 wins this season.
Rutgers-Newark (https://rutgersnewarkathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
It always feels like Rutgers-Newark has been underperforming compared to its natural advantages (cost of location). They did have a decent 11-8-4 record in 2024, but in recent years they seem to come up short compared to NJAC powers like Montclair State and Rowan. They drop Randolph-Macon, Mary Washington, Union and Lycoming and pick up an opening game against Redlands, plus Farmingdale State, Penn State Harrisburg, Manhattanville, Manhattanville, and NYU.
Whitman (https://whitmanblues.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
If this is accurate, Whitman has to have agreed to the craziest three game travel schedule I have ever seen. First, they fly from either Walla Walla or drive 45 minutes to Pasco (or 2.5 hours to Spokane) to fly to Colorado Springs or Denver and play at Colorado College on Thursday, Sept 4. Second, they hop on a plane in Colorado Springs or Denver and travel to (I assume) Austin and then take an hour bus ride to Belton, Texas to play Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday, Sept. 5th. Third, they fly from Austin to Los Angeles or Burbank airports and drive 1-2 hours (depending upon traffic and time of arrival) to Thousand Oaks to play Cal Lutheran on Sunday Sept. 7. Then they have two weeks off before conference play. I'm envisioning some travel agent's Rubik's cube of one way flights on regional jets to pull this off. Three games in four days in three different time zones and 5000+ feet changes in elevation. Maybe the Admissions Office was offering a subsidy to any coach who could visit several different metropolitan areas for recruiting events this year?
Beyond the logistical nightmare of the trip, that's a nice opportunity to play three strong schools from three different conferences. Whitman traveled to SoCal last year and beat Chapman and La Verne, while losing to Redlands, so Cal Lutheran should be a good matchup for them.
AA offers daily puddle jumpers (Embraer 175s or Canadair RJ700s) from DFW to Killeen (GRK), which is adjacent to Belton. The fare from COS is pretty reasonable as such things go. Since they connect in DFW they could get back to the West Coast without having to brave Austin traffic and its busy airport.
A few schedules from Lone Star State schools in the SCAC
Concordia (TX) (https://athletics.concordia.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
After traveling to Virginia last season and getting a tie and a win against Christopher Newport and Virginia Wesleyan, they stay local this year, playing four teams from its former conference, the ASC (Howard Payne, Hardin-Simmons, Mary Hardin-Baylor, and East Texas Baptist) and two former teams from its current conference, the SCAC (Trinity and Southwestern). Concordia has been bringing in a lot of strong recruits from Texas schools and they may need them early because they are losing their top two scorers, several of their starting defenders and midfielders, and their starting goalkeeper.
University of St. Thomas (https://ustcelts.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
St. Thomas had a down year last year, relatively speaking, but they still managed to get to the SCAC tournament and beat Colorado College 2-0 in the semis before losing to old nemesis Trinity in the finals. They didn't have a down year from the perspective of cards, though, despite the new coaching staff, receiving 60 yellow cards and 7 reds. This only reinforced UST's reputation as the bad boys of the conference. By contrast, Colorado Colleges numbers were 23/2, Trinity's were 34/2, Concordia's were 43/2, Texas Lutheran's were 20/1, Southwestern's were 30/1, McMurry's were 21/1, Centenary's were 27/1, Ozarks were 39/2, and Austin College's were 30/2. Trinity and Southwestern's players may have been glad to have moved on from playing the Celts, but their coaches had other ideas, as UST starts the season playing at Southwestern and Trinity. They then host Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor, so UST isn't using its schedule to pad its record. They also play two NAIA teams from the Red River Conference - North American and Houston-Victoria. They actually play North American twice - once in a preseason scrimmage and a second team in the regular season, which is fairly unusual.
Texas Lutheran (https://tlubulldogs.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/schedule)
As with the other top teams left in the SCAC, TLU plays Southwestern and Trinity as well as the top ASC teams Hardin-Simmons and Mary Hardin-Baylor. The most interesting opponent is Marymount (VA), which is visiting Texas on the second weekend of the season. Marymount is pretty ambitious in its out-of-state travel, going to SoCal two years ago to play Occidental and Cal Lutheran. This year, they are playing Schreiner as well on their trip to the Texas Hill Country. This is a rebuilding year for TLU, which lost most of its regular starters to graduation from last season.
Some schedules from the Northwest Conference
George Fox (https://athletics.georgefox.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
George Fox finished a historic season last year at 14-5-1. Not only was it a major reversal from the prior two years when they finished 5-11-4, but it's the first winning season for the program since at least 2005 (the online records only go back to 2006). It included a cross-country trip with wins against Emmanuel and Emerson as well as rare wins against Willamette, Whitman, and Whitworth. This year, they drop Warner Pacific and add NAIA sides Oregon Tech and Bushnell and DIII Whittier from the SCIAC as they try to build upon their success. They only lose one regular starter from last year's squad as far as I can tell, so they may be a darkhorse in the NWC.
Pacific (https://goboxers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Pacific drops Multnomah and Evergreen State and adds La Verne on a trip through California where they play UC Santa Cruz the day before.
Quote from: Kuiper on July 03, 2025, 12:36:57 AMSome schedules from the Northwest Conference
George Fox (https://athletics.georgefox.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
George Fox finished a historic season last year at 14-5-1. Not only was it a major reversal from the prior two years when they finished 5-11-4, but it's the first winning season for the program since at least 2005 (the online records only go back to 2006).
According to their record book (https://athletics.georgefox.edu/documents/2024/11/25/Records2024-msoc.pdf), the last winning season was 2001 (10-7-1) which makes the turnaround that much more startling.
Trinity (CT) (https://bantamsports.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
After a 2-13 season last year, including an 0-10 record in the NESCAC, and an 8-32-8 record as Trinity's head coach Methembe Ndlovu is entering his 4th season in the program, the Bantams are likely desperate to get some wins, if for nothing else so Ndlovu can buy some patience with the AD and with recruits. NESCAC's schedule and limited non-conference opportunities make that difficult though. This year, they drop Western Connecticut and St. John's Fisher (one of their two wins last season) and add University of Saint Joseph (CT) (which qualified for the NCAAs and lost to Wesleyan 2-0 in the first round) and Eastern Connecticut State (which tied Wesleyan 0-0 last season, but otherwise didn't have a great season). Trinity better hope that Patrick Ageymang's success with the USMNT hasn't led to immediate recruiting gains for Eastern Conn. St. or Trinity's record may end up even worse this year. Other bottom half NESCAC schools probably hope that doesn't happen either because they don't have as much wiggle room for dropping bad wins under the NPI given their non-conference schedules and middling records against NESCAC teams.
Montclair State (https://montclairathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Starts with a trip to TN to open with Sewanee and Rhodes. Has seven out of conference home games after that.
Stevens (https://stevensducks.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
After losing to Amherst in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament the last two seasons (in OT in 2023 and PKs in 2024) and to Chicago in OT of the Final Four in 2022, Stevens has to feel like it is on the precipice of breaking through. This year, they drop Ohio Wesleyan, Chapman, Milwaukee School of Engineering and Rochester and replace them with William Paterson, Swarthmore, Manhattanville, and NYU. They host Denison in the opener for both teams, which should be a stern test for the two sides that tied 0-0 in Granville, Ohio last year. Their biggest tests, however, may not be how they play against the so-called "name" schools, but whether they can stay consistent and handle some of the local sides that are gunning for them. Last season, they lost to SUNY New Paltz 1-0, tied Kean 0-0, and lost to Alvernia 2-0. They play all three again this season. How they do against those teams might be the best gauge for whether they are ready to take the next step.
Linfield (https://golinfieldwildcats.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Linfield was 3-15-2 last season and two of its wins were against winless Lewis & Clark (the third was against a weak local NAIA side). In those 20 games, they scored 21 goals and conceded 51. In 2023, they weren't much better, finishing 5-12-3. Despite their woes, they have traveled a decent amount in recent years. Two years ago, they went to Southern California and played CalTech, La Verne and Pomona-Pitzer. Last season, they went to Virginia and played Bridgewater and Eastern Mennonite. Unfortunately, they lost all of those games. This year, they travel again, but they are playing even tougher opponents - Macalester and Augsburg - on the opening weekend of the season. Unless Linfield has improved significantly or catch their Minnesota opponents unprepared, it should be more of the same this season. At least they play Lewis & Clark twice again this season in conference.
UC Santa Cruz (https://goslugs.com/sports/msoc/schedule)
UC Santa Cruz is probably one of the most deserted of the D3 island schools in the country. I think the closest D3 school is Cal Lutheran, which is about 315 miles or 5-6 hours away on a good day. They are in the Coast-to-Coast conference, but every other member is in Maryland, Virginia, or North Carolina, so they only play a conference tournament. While the other C2C schools tend to play each other (sometimes in a home-and-away series) in what are technically non-conference games, UC Santa Cruz is for all intents and purposes an independent. Most years, that means it fills its schedule by traveling south to play SCIAC opponents, trying to get a NWC school or two to play them, and filling out its schedule with more local DII or NAIA opponents. This year, however, they play the most D3 opponents that I have seen them schedule - 13. They start with an intriguing preseason scrimmage against Santa Clara and then they open the season with four straight NWC opponents (Willamette and Pacific at home and Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran away) and three SCIAC opponents (Caltech at home and Redlands and Whittier away). They then travel to Texas to play SAA opponents Trinity and Southwestern, host Carleton from the MIAC in a somewhat surprising one-off match and then travel to SoCal again to play La Verne and Cal Lutheran from the SCIAC. Their first non-D3 opponent is Oct. 15 and UC Merced (D2), before they travel back to SoCal for a midweek game with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. A lot of travel and teams from a lot of different parts of the country, but if they do well and their opponents do well, including in the C2C tourney against the likes of Mary Washington and Christopher Newport, this schedule might allow them to accumulate enough strength-of-schedule points to get an NCAA bid even if they don't win the conference tourney. Of course, to do so they will have to do a little better, record-wise, than last season when they only suffered 2 losses, but also only had 6 wins because they had a whopping 9 ties.
La Verne (https://leopardathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
They open with a trip to Oregon to Pacific and Willamette and then they play Park (NAIA) and Westmont (DII) before opening SCIAC play with Chapman (who they play twice in ten days in a quirk of scheduling). La Verne was 1-5-1 in away games last season, which they will have to rectify this year if they have any hope of qualifying for the conference tournament.
Emerson (https://emersonlions.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
They drop George Fox, Bates, Framingham State, and Amherst. Adds a game at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on opening day, plus games against Eastern Connecticut State, Endicott, Rivier, and Bridgewater State. Unless RPI has a massive turnaround this season, that's a pretty big dip in quality of schedule, although they still have a really tough two game sequence against Babson on Wed 10/22 and then at Tufts on Saturday 10/25. Emerson may be hoping to get back above .500 this year after finishing 7-10-2 last season.
Johnson & Wales (Charlotte) (https://charlotte.jwuathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Johnson & Wales Charlotte was in its DIII exploratory year in 2024-2025 and was announced (https://charlotte.jwuathletics.com/news/2025/1/16/general-c2c-announces-johnson-wales-university-charlotte-as-newest-member.aspx)earlier this year as the 7th member of the Coast-to-Coast conference. I think they applied for provisional membership in February and are on pace to become a full member of DIII in 2028-2029. They are, however, immediately eligible to compete in the C2C conference. Their Athletics Dept staff is still getting up to speed on what that means, though, as they have identified 4 games (home-and-away series with Warren Wilson and Regent) as "C2C" games, even though there are no regular season games in the C2C. Nevertheless, I admire their eagerness to claim membership. Last year, they played some DIII schools and did pretty well, beating Greensboro and Methodist, tying NC Wesleyan, and losing to Pfeiffer. This year, they drop NC Wesleyan, Pfeiffer, and Greensboro and, in addition to opening at Methodist and playing Regent and Warren Wilson twice, they add Bridgewater, Eastern Mennonite, Southern Virginia, Guilford, William Peace, and Piedmont. Seems like there be plenty of D3 opponents for J&WC going forward, between the USA South and the ODAC, plus the other mid-Atlantic C2C schools. That might allow them to decline to play DI Davidson, who they lost to 8-0 last year and are again scheduled to play this season. I can understand accepting an opportunity to play local-ish D1 programs like Duke or UNC just for the experience even though they know they will be thrashed, but, with all due respect for @PaulNewman, who I believe went to Davidson, the experience of playing at Davidson's modest field and using their tiny locker rooms isn't going to be better than most DIII programs and will be worse than some. Moreover, the "crowd" Davidson is going to get for a Wednesday game against J&W Charlotte probably isn't going to feel like a DI atmosphere, if such a thing exists across-the-board. It does, however, provide a local game that their parents can easily attend, so from that perspective I get it.
Loras (https://duhawks.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Drops Wheaton (IL), NC Wesleyan, Gustavus Adolphus, and Wisconsin-Stevens Point and adds College of St. Scholastica, Kalamazoo, and Carthage. In my mind (and I don't know if this would be shared by people at Loras), the big game will be at Luther on Wed. 10/8, which will be the last time the two foes will play each other in an American Rivers Conference game as Luther departs next year for the Midwest Conference.
Stevenson (https://gomustangsports.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Stevenson is one of those programs where the team seemed like it could compete with anyone on their day, but those "on" days weren't consistent enough. They finished 3-10-6, but only lost to Dickinson 1-0 (ranked #6 when they played) and Mary Washington 1-0 (ranked #1 when they played). This year, they drop Allegheny, Salisbury, Neumann, Shenandoah, Kings, and Mary Washington and add Moravian, Roanoke, Goucher, Gallaudet, and Delaware Valley.
Quote from: Kuiper on July 12, 2025, 07:04:40 PMStevenson is one of those programs where the team seemed like it could compete with anyone on their day, but those "on" days weren't consistent enough. They finished 3-10-6, but only lost to Dickinson 1-0 (ranked #6 when they played) and Mary Washington 1-0 (ranked #1 when they played). This year, they drop Allegheny, Salisbury, Neumann, Shenandoah, Kings, and Mary Washington and add Moravian, Roanoke, Goucher, Gallaudet, and Delaware Valley.
Bit of a reach. Stevenson was not very good. MWU outshot them 33-4 (10-0 on corner kicks). In fact, Stevenson was outshot in 15 of 19 games, and only 1 of their 3 wins was against a team above .500 (Kings was 3-2-2 at the time and finished 7-6-4).
Shame too, because the Stevenson field is like a putting green - absolutely top class.
Western New England (https://wnegoldenbears.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
Drops Brandeis, Union, Babson, Conn College, and Westfield State and adds Thomas, Wheaton (MA), plus Johnson & Wales (RI) as a conference opponent. That's a dip in non-conference quality, but perhaps it will help them reduce wear-and-tear in prep for conference play.
Scranton (https://athletics.scranton.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule)
Opens with Messiah again this season, but drops Muhlenberg and Marywood and adds Kean and Rowan. The big game might be the visit from SUNY Cortland on Sat., 9/20. Last season, Scranton traveled up to Cortland and came back from a 2-0 deficit in the second half to tie the score in the 88th minute. I'm sure Cortland will be eager to exact revenge on Scranton's home field.
Stockton University (https://stocktonathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2025)
F&M and Denison are a pretty challenging way to open the campaign. DeSales, NYU, Drew, Catholic and Ursinus are new on the schedule.