QuoteStephen Vilardo GK/F Case Western

Goalkeeper and Forward? Played a total of 20 minutes in goal and only 750 as a Forward with 0 goals and 2 shots.  I'm guessing the Academy definitely invites their alum.


Separately, if you're on the list does that mean they're not going back to college? I'm thinking specifically of Clemson Sophomore Ransford Gyan. He's going to be a legit pro, but I didn't know he was leaving early. 

And here's the 2026 preseason poll...


Rank    School                    Prev    W-L-T

1    Tufts University    1    14-1-3
2    Trinity University (Texas)    5    15-1-1
3    St. Olaf College    4    16-2-3
4    Emory University    6    13-1-3
5    Bowdoin College    10    10-3-3
6    Dickinson College    RV    13-0-7
7    Wheaton College (Mass.)    8    15-0-4
8    Augsburg University    2    16-2-2
9    Connecticut College    7    10-3-5
10    Williams College    15    8-4-4
11    SUNY Cortland    9    12-1-5
12    Rowan University    RV    15-3-4
13    Macalester College    RV    15-4-0
14    Washington University (Mo.)    12    13-3-0
14    University of Lynchburg    13    17-1-2
16    Messiah University    NR    11-7-2
17    University of Scranton    17    12-0-6
18    Brandeis University    18    9-3-5
19    Middlebury College    14    9-5-2
20    University of Chicago    3    11-2-5
21    Denison University    25    14-2-3
22    University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire    21    12-2-4
23    University of Massachusetts-Boston    NR    12-3-4
24    Christopher Newport University    22    11-2-5
25    Luther College    NR    9-2-7

Also receiving votes: Catholic University, Wesleyan University, University of Lynchburg, Babson College, Calvin University, Hampden-Sydney College, Edgewood University, Texas Lutheran University

Quote from: Kuiper on December 06, 2025, 04:50:43 PMIf Trinity wins, it will still fall short of its magical 2003 national championship run.  A 21-1-1 record would be mighty impressive, but not as impressive as the 24-0-0 record of the 2003 squad.

I was at that 2003 championship game in which Trinity held on for dear life to claim the title over Drew (20-2-3). If I remember correctly, Trinity was up 2-1 but Drew was peppering them in the final 15 minutes and even hit the crossbar.

I've mentioned this before, but that Drew team was unreal. They only gave up 6 goals all season and went 17 games in a row without giving up a goal. The semi-final victory vs. Wheaton was perhaps the greatest D3 game I've ever seen considering the circumstances. IMHO, Drew deserved a Natty that year plain and simple, but that's why you play the game.

What's the story with Leitner? 1st Team All-American forward with only 9 goals on 40 shots??

Quote from: Kuiper on December 05, 2025, 09:00:28 PMEmory deserves a lot of credit.  They were outstanding and Halpern was phenomenal despite conceding the goal from what seems like an impossible angle.

Ultimately, Emory's lack of quality in front of the net and its lack of depth/subs to allow them to continue pressing as effectively as in the first half allowed Trinity to stay in the game and creep into control.  The pass from Ramirez to Mayfield and from Mayfield to Theiss to spring that goal was class and the finish was what you expect from a kid who scored as often as he did this year.

Just watched the goal. Great build up and beautiful passing and off the ball movement. And Kudos to Theiss for the celebration. He didn't make it about himself and he didn't show up the other team. Granted it's only one moment, but I he seems like a class act, unlike many of the other players who have scored big goals recently.

Absolutely no value, but interesting to see (at least to me)...

Hometown	K	D	M	F	Total
OH	1	2	3	1	7
PA	1	2	1	2	6
CA	0	0	3	1	4
IL	0	1	2	1	4
NY	0	0	1	3	4
TX	1	1	1	1	4
VA	1	1	1	0	3
FL	0	0	0	2	2
MA	0	0	0	2	2
MD	1	0	0	1	2
NJ	0	0	0	2	2
WI	0	1	0	1	2
DC	0	1	0	0	1
KY	0	0	1	0	1
LA	0	1	0	0	1
MN	0	0	0	1	1
NC	0	0	1	0	1
ND	0	0	1	0	1
NV	0	1	0	0	1
OR	0	0	1	0	1
WA	0	1	0	0	1
England	0	0	0	1	1

I wish we had buses for our trips when I played. We had two 12-person vans for our 4 hour drives. Lots of card playing, which was awesome, but man it would have been nice to have a "comfy" seat and sleep.

Quote from: VASoccerDad on December 01, 2025, 02:19:43 PM

Quote from: Ejay on December 01, 2025, 01:35:24 PMMy Junior year we won the ECAC tournament. It was awesome. My senior year, nobody wanted to play in it. It was a frustrating year and we just wanted it over. We made the finals and it was 38 degrees, raining, with 30 MPH winds. The absolute worst game to finish your career on. I was never so happy to be subbed off in the second half. With about 15 minutes to play, coach asked me to go back in. I said, "nah, I'm good. Let one of the younger kids play".

In the moment you were fine giving it up because of the weather, frustration, etc., but looking back on it (not now, but back then) would you want one more game? I would say probably yes...

I know in my case I would.

It's a great question, but I was honestly done. Took me almost 2 years before I touched a ball again.

What I would want though, is to redo that entire season. We were returning 10 starters, we had a successful preseason trip with all returning players (defeating a U20 National Team among others), and were firing on all cylinders. Things looked promising. So what does coach do? He throws 3 new players (1 freshmen, 2 transfers) into the starting lineup. There goes the chemistry. Things just spiraled from there.

My Junior year we won the ECAC tournament. It was awesome. My senior year, nobody wanted to play in it. It was a frustrating year and we just wanted it over. We made the finals and it was 38 degrees, raining, with 30 MPH winds. The absolute worst game to finish your career on. I was never so happy to be subbed off in the second half. With about 15 minutes to play, coach asked me to go back in. I said, "nah, I'm good. Let one of the younger kids play".

I'm finding a lot of ironic humor in all the complaining about multiple games a weekend.  The majority of these kids have spent their entire competitive youth career traveling around the country playing in 2-3-4 game weekend tournaments; often back-to-back. And then once they get to college their first weekend of the season is most likely a Fri/Sun "tournament". I think they can handle these weekends.

Quote from: Ejay on November 17, 2025, 08:28:09 AMPretty pleased with my bracket thus far.

Tufts (#1) v. Messiah (#107)
Conn College (#7) v. Bowdoin (#9)

Augsburg (#2) v. Cortland (#18)
Wash U (#10) v. Trinity (#12)

St. Olaf (#3) v. Williams (#17)
Macalester (#6) v. Wheaton (MA) (#21)

Lynchburg (#4) v. Dickinson (#22)
Emory (#5) v. Rowan (#32)

Still pretty pleased with my bracket. If only it had some kind of value...

Tufts (#1) vs. St. Olaf (#3)
Trinity (#12) vs. Emory (#5)

Back when I played, they did carry over. I assume that's still the case.

Quote from: Hopkins92 on November 23, 2025, 07:07:17 PMThe board was pretty wonky and I couldn't post for a bit.

Emory stole that game in PKs. They were exhausted and Dickinson just couldn't seal the deal. Even in Pks, they made the first save and looked like they had momentum.

I don't want to go all NESCAC-level drama here, but the final PK winner from Emory went right over to the Dickinson bench to do the CR cellie... Extremely disrespectful and unnecessary and almost turned into a brawl. Just... why?

He was interviewed after the game and said, straight up, Dickinson was the better team on the day. Take your W and Final Four berth and move on.

I will say, Dickinson's bench is VERY vocal. When my boys were getting walked off the field in the CC finals, I am old enough to find the humor in the taunting, but... I can see why their yapping might lead to what Emory did at the end.

And where did he play prior taking a graduate year at Emory?

Quote from: Kuiper on November 22, 2025, 01:44:33 AMWheaton has to fly to Minnesota and I can't find any evidence that it has played a game far enough to fly to in at least the last 6 years.  In most years, it doesn't even travel to play a team outside of Massachusetts or an adjacent state. I think its longest road trip this year was a 3 hour bus ride to Schenectady to play Union.  So, this will be different for them.  That can be exciting or it can be tiring and a challenge.

I'll put my money on exciting.

I take the fouls and cards with a grain of salt. Referees control games differently in different conferences and different parts of the country. Foul counts/cards for NESCAC schools vs. foul counts/cards for ODAC schools is not an apples to apples comparison.