Quote from: Kuiper on March 17, 2026, 10:29:07 AMTop Drawer posted a Top 10 players list for DIII Men's Soccer.  The article is paywalled, but an Instagram post gives the player names.

Do you agree with it?  Who have they left off?  For me, not including Adam Knutson or Samuel Theiss from Trinity is a miss.

1. Bijan Akhtarzandi-Das (Tufts)
2. Ryan Bechtel (St. Olaf)
3. Connor Gage (Edgewood)
4. Alex Michael (Pfeiffer)
5. Christian Hodges (Augsburg)
6. Kasdan Blattman (Macalester)
7. Matthew Torrell (Calvin)
8. Alex Depperschmidt (Mt. Union)
9. Ethan Wirtschaffter (Wash. U)
10. Brady Leitner (Hobart)

My view of lists like this is that they are of very little value. These are top players, for sure! The problem with d3 soccer is that there are so many teams, over such a wide geographic area, and now so many teams behind paywalls that it is virtually impossible for any one person let alone group of people to see all the good players out there, and then compare them to all the other kids playing.

Sure, most players don't need to be seen. But no one is watching all of the top 20%, or even top 10% of players. If a kid is on a high profile team, they get seen (though not compared to all the other players at a similar level). If not, it's very very unlikely they will make this list. Even with good teams, it's impossible to put the players in a national context with any accuracy.

I am rooting for Lynchburg.  They are a strong team, and they don't get a lot of attention on the forum. (I know probably because of the Flo Sports paywall) (which, by the way, I took great pleasure in canceling yesterday)

Washington and Lee the better team, but score is 0-0.

My take from watching the three ODAC teams: Hampden Sydney is the weakest, W&L will be ok if they can score (and hopefully have their Centerback back), and Lynchburg is one tough team. I would think they could go far.

Thanks both of you!

What does this mean for the ncaa tournament? Can W&L breathe a little easier?

W&L win 2-0. They were the better team. Ricky Sanchez scored the 2nd goal on a 1 v 1 breakaway. Impressive.

Winning the ODAC might be tough, as W&L already lost to Lynchburg. On the other hand W&L is steadily improving, so who knows.

W&L 7-0 over Averett. I didn't watch the game, but saw that Bridgewater (up until last night at the top of ODAC standings) tied Averett 2-2. So presumably Averett not irredeemably weak.

So, W&L scored 3 goals, all in the run of play today. Granted, their opponent was pretty weak, but -- progress!

W&L is playing well but almost all their goals have come from set pieces. They cannot score in the run of play to save their lives! (OK, hyperbole, but only slightly off). They remind me a bit of the team from last year.

W&L v Roanoke -- W&L looks to be in good form, and the score reflects this. 2-0 at halftime. I don't know how strong Roanoke is, but W&L looks great.

W&L Mary Washington game is not behind a paywall. Less than 10 min in the score is 1-1.

W&L played really well -- great possession and passing -- but struggled to finish. They outshot Covenant by a wide margin, and the score really should have been 3-0. But a momentary lapse late in the game allowed a Covenant goal. Frustrating!

My take: they are playing better than they were a year ago, so that's good. The first year who scored, Sami Seife, looks like he has a lot of potential.  But they have to figure out how to finish, or I'm not optimistic about the season.

100% agree. They need goals and it isn't clear where they are coming from.