The Midwest conference definitely fits Luther better in terms of the academic mission of its membership. I also wonder about the long term sustainability of the ARC. Many of those schools fit the mold of institutions that are probably going to struggle with the enrollment cliff over the next couple of decades.

 There was talk a few years back of some or all of Carleton, Macalester, St. Olaf, and Gustavus leaving the MIAC for the Midwest conference. The logic would have been similar there - joining a set of institutions that are more similar in terms of academic mission as well as similar philosophies regarding athletics, particularly football.

Quote from: Kuiper on June 03, 2025, 11:11:05 AMKind of a big deal move in the midwest.  Feels like the same motivation as John Carroll's move from the OAC to the NCAC

Luther College to leave American Rivers Conference after 2025-2026 for the Midwest Conference

QuoteAfter 103 years, Luther College has announced that it will be leaving the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) at the conclusion of the 2025-26 academic year. The Norse will be departing for membership in the Midwest Conference. Luther was a charter member of the A-R-C which dates back to 1922.

Here is Luther's statement

QuotePresident Brad Chamberlain announced the Luther College Norse are changing athletic conferences, moving to the Midwest Conference for the 2026-27 academic year.
 
"Luther College is a proud Iowa college with a regional presence and a national reputation," Chamberlain said. "At Luther, athletics is about community, character, and competition. Athletics at Luther is part of our holistic approach to learning that develops mind, body, and spirit. Luther was honored to receive an invitation from the Midwest Conference, and we look forward to joining the league in 2026."

By unanimous vote of its Presidents' Council this past week, the members of the Midwest Conference (MWC) extended an invitation to join the NCAA Division III league to Luther College. Chamberlain accepted the offer on behalf of the college and its Board of Regents to begin competition in fall 2026 as the 10th core member of the MWC.

"The decision to change Luther's athletic conference affiliation was not made lightly," Chamberlain continued. "The decision followed an intentional period of discernment that involved Luther's leadership team, its Board of Regents, its athletic administrators, and its coaching staff."

President Anne Harris of Grinnell College, who is the current chair of the Midwest Conference Board Officers, extended the offer.

"Luther's interest in the Midwest Conference was met with broad-based enthusiasm by the members of the Presidents' Council, " Harris said. "Its mission and vision for its athletic programs perfectly complement that which we believe to be distinguishing characteristics of the Midwest Conference experience."

Headquartered in Grinnell, Iowa, the Midwest Conference traces its roots back to 1921 and the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference. The MWC's executive director is Heather Benning, and conference leadership was excited about the addition of Luther.

"While other leagues in our region are primarily state-identified, we truly are the DIII athletic conference of the Midwest," said Benning. "When the league was formed 104 years ago, the intent was to establish an interstate athletic union of like-minded institutions; what binds our schools isn't necessarily geographic proximity but rather a shared vision of the role of athletics in the undergraduate experience."

The core members of the MWC are Beloit College, Cornell College, Grinnell College, Illinois College, Knox College, Lake Forest College, Lawrence University, Monmouth College and Ripon College. St. Norbert (men's and women's swimming and diving), the University of Chicago (football) and Milwaukee School of Engineering (men's and women's swimming and diving) are affiliate members.

An important factor in the decision to join the MWC was Luther College's membership in the academic consortium of like-minded liberal arts colleges, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM).

"In the Midwest Conference, Luther finds partner institutions that share our philosophy towards athletics and that match the geographical diversity of our student body," Chamberlain said. "When we considered all of our affiliations, including athletics, we took into consideration that the Midwest Conference more closely aligns with our academic partners in the ACM, and that Luther's strengths, challenges, strategic priorities, and the geographical origins of its student body fit well with the MWC."

The ACM is a consortium of 14 colleges across five midwestern states. Eight of the nine current members of the MWC are also members of the ACM.

The MWC currently sponsors 18 conference championships in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's indoor track, men's and women's outdoor track, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's and women's tennis, and volleyball.

"We have deeply enjoyed and have greatly benefited from the community, collaboration, and competition afforded by Luther's membership in the American Rivers Conference and its predecessor," Chamberlain said. "We desire to remain connected to member institutions of the American Rivers Conference, and we would welcome opportunities for non-conference contests between our institutions."

Quote from: Kuiper on April 14, 2025, 04:31:02 PMWashington & Lee

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

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

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

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.

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.

Look, replay review is always a good idea in theory, but I'd be very concerned about what it would look like for D3. They always start with the "we're only correcting obvious errors". I'm sure just about every D3 coach can think of 3-4 obvious missed calls that really cost their team this past season, but I'd bet that if we put ten of us in a room to watch those replays we'd rarely come up with 10-0 or even 9-1 splits. The quality of the replay video is going to leave some opening for doubt. Yes, we absolutely should be wanting to get things right as much as we can. But that needs to be accomplished in a reasonable manner.

Implementing this at the D3 level would be an absolute trainwreck.
 

https://hamlineathletics.com/news/2025/3/5/john-pucci-named-hamline-head-mens-soccer-coach.aspx

Hamline names John Pucci as head men's soccer coach.

We officially have a game of musical chairs on our hands in the MIAC. Tudor Flintham left Gustavus for his alma mater St. John's. Tyler Oliver left Hamline to fill the Gustavus vacancy. Now John Pucci has left St. Mary's for his alma mater Hamline. For those unfamiliar — St. John's, Gustavus, Hamline, and St Mary's are all MIAC schools.

I'm curious how this would look in the colder regions of the US, especially at the D3 level. I'm in MN, and you generally can't play outdoor soccer from December-March here. Even April can be iffy some years. There are full-size domed fields available, but there are only a couple I know of (Augsburg and St. John's) that is owned and run by a D3 school. The rest of the schools in MN would have to find a way to rent space in a dome which is typically $300-$500/hr for a full field. Not to mention that many of these domes already have very high demand between youth club sports and community activities. The cost alone would be pretty prohibitive for a lot of these D3 schools that are already spreading their athletic budgets pretty thin.

Quote from: Kuiper on December 12, 2024, 03:16:18 PMBig news out of Minnesota

Gustavus Adolphus head coach Tudor Flintham Steps Down after 7 years

QuoteGustavus men's soccer head coach Tudor Flintham announced his resignation today after seven years with the program. Over the course of six full seasons plus four games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Flintham led the Gusties to an overall record of 92-20-18 and went 51-6-7 in the MIAC. Flintham boasts the highest winning percentage (.777) in program history among coaches with at least six years at Gustavus.
 
...
 
In seven seasons at Gustavus, Flintham guided the Gusties to four MIAC regular season championships (2018, 19, 22, 24), one conference playoff title (2019), and five NCAA tournament appearances (2018, 19, 22, 23, 24), including hosting the 2022 and 2024 NCAA regionals. In 2022, Flintham and the Gusties won the regional and advanced to the national quarterfinals for the first time since 2005. That year, Flintham was voted MIAC Coach of the Year and the Gustavus coaching staff was recognized as the United Soccer Coaches North Region Staff of the Year. Flintham also earned MIAC Coach of the Year his first season in 2018 after winning the regular season championship.
 
"I'm beyond proud of what we have achieved this season and the years since I arrived in 2018," said Flintham. "There is a mandate at Gustavus to build on what has come before. To write new interesting chapters in what is a special story. It's a privilege to watch and help new generations of Gusties tell their tale. These chapters are ones which will be read for years to come.

Gustavus is a very strong program, and probably one of the best jobs in the upper Midwest. They should be able to attract a sitting head coach if they want to.

Some names to watch for this one:
Greg Holker - current Augsburg HC. A GAC grad who has been the HC at Augsburg for about 20 years. Has had some success at Augsburg (I think a Sweet 16 run a while back), a program that was an absolute mess when he took over. Not sure if he is interested as he was not the last time the GAC job opened up about 8 years ago, but I would think they have to consider him if he wants it.
Joe Hartwell - current Carleton assistant. Another GAC grad who was recently inducted into the Gustavus Athletics Hall of Fame. Has been an assistant coach at GAC and Carleton (two of the better MIAC programs) for the last 15 years. Lots of youth soccer connections including MN Thunder Academy, which is probably the top youth club in MN.
Tyler Oliver - current Hamline HC. Has had a couple nice seasons at Hamline to begin his coaching career. Won 14 games in 2024 which is Hamline's best season in as long as I can remember. Former Gustavus assistant coach, including when they went to the Elite Eight in 2022. Twin brother of St Olaf HC Justin Oliver which would be a fun dynamic for two of the MIAC's top programs.

Quote from: NEsoccerfan on November 24, 2024, 02:23:55 PM

Quote from: mngopher on November 24, 2024, 12:36:00 PMAs a North region guy lost in all of this NESCAC love-hate I just want to point out that one of the biggest stories of the tournament really is that the 4th leading goalscorer of ALL TIME in D3 soccer (Nathan Donovan from UWEC) hasn't played a minute in this tournament and is done for the season. Yet, his team is in the final 8. If he played for a team further east this would be discussed more, but we in the north generally are stuffed into the same sectional and largely ignored. It's ok, we are used to it.

What a remarkable stat and kudos to both him and UWEC. While I'm well aware of the caveat that they pile on goals against some very questionable competition, you have to tip your hat to that much consistent production over four years. Needless to say I'll be cheering for them this afternoon.

A good example here of the lack of knowledge about north region teams. You are likely confusing them with UMAC member UW-Superior. UW Eau Claire has played a high quality schedule since starting their program in 2021.

As a North region guy lost in all of this NESCAC love-hate I just want to point out that one of the biggest stories of the tournament really is that the 4th leading goalscorer of ALL TIME in D3 soccer (Nathan Donovan from UWEC) hasn't played a minute in this tournament and is done for the season. Yet, his team is in the final 8. If he played for a team further east this would be discussed more, but we in the north generally are stuffed into the same sectional and largely ignored. It's ok, we are used to it.

Quote from: Mr_November on November 18, 2024, 10:30:41 AM

Quote from: Dustin_Patrón on November 18, 2024, 10:22:40 AMIn response to Fitz's comment about the fouls committed by nescac sides in comparison to normies:

Fouls are a part of the sport. In fact, fouling is an important tactic that it practiced and coached at the highest level. I don't think we should shine a negative light on it, as Fitz aimed to do--especially when these teams are coming from the most physical conference in the country and are used to refs that often times let them play. Not to mention, these same teams continue to dominate division 3 soccer.

During last year's NBA season, critics were pointing out the Celtics high volume of 3-point shooting, scoffing at their decision to chuck up 3s rather than getting to the paint or posting guys up. This season, the majority of teams are shooting significantly more 3s after watching Boston skip through the playoffs on their way to an 18th championship for the franchise. Even the Celtics have upped their volume to start the year.

Though an imperfect analogy (fouls and 3-pointers are quite different), I think Messiah and other normies can take something from this. Rather than hang your hat on fouling less than other teams, why not coach fouling? Any Nescac team would have immediately fouled the Williams player during that counter attack (or at least tried to) and they probably could've saved a goal.

I think we're seeing two contrasting philosophies in sports ethics. NESCAC schools operate out of a mode where you must "win at all costs" rather than "winning the right way". Messiah prides themselves on winning with class and sportsmanship, whereas NESCAC schools don't mind a bit of gamesmanship to get the job done. I don't take issue with either approach. It all just depends on your sports ethics philosophy.

Not sure the 3 point analogy works with soccer, to be completely honest.

The only way this comment is acceptable is if it is sarcasm.

Quote from: jknezek on November 18, 2024, 08:35:14 AM

Quote from: wihsuafs24 on November 18, 2024, 08:20:10 AM

Quote from: Kuiper on November 17, 2024, 04:27:07 PMColorado College almost ties it up in the 54th minute, but the ref blows the whistle on a yellow card foul instead of playing advantage and a goal scored is negated.  CC players have a right to be upset about not playing on, but once the ref blows the whistle it's over. 

CMS is pinned back now.  It's been one way traffic for awhile as Colorado College has dialed up the pressure in search of the equalizer.

A lot of talk about "game changing" ref errors on the board, but this one takes the cake. First, the foul happened arguably in or at the edge of the box, and the ensuing goal happened immediately thereafter. Second, the ref immediately told the players he "f'd" up by blowing his whistle prematurely.  His words.  In the 54th minute.  ... I guess in D3 soccer this is what we get.

That's kind of what happens everywhere. Refs are people. People make mistakes. Watch an NFL game and see how many times those ref's miss something. Or a World Cup match. Even at the highest levels, the "hand of god" play can somehow happen. Or Lampard's non-goal.

It sucks. Especially when it explicitly affects the outcome of a game. As a former ref I know I made wrong calls. We all try not to, but it happens. It's unavoidable. I always felt players and fans have the right to grumble and complain, but not be abusive.

So far all I've heard are grumbles and complaints, so I say have at it. It's a long season and it doesn't deserve to end because of mistakes, but that's a darn good life lesson because, as we all know and our parents told us many times, life isn't fair.

All a ref can do is his/her best. We are always in desperate need of refs, especially these days as it feels like parents and spectators have worse and worse behavior, so if you think you can do better, I encourage you to take the classes, work your way up the ranks, and get involved with these matches. It's not easy, but the game needs people to take on the challenge and, all too often these days, the abuse, in order for the game to stay alive.

This needs to be reiterated a thousand times over.

Quote from: jknezek on November 17, 2024, 10:05:34 PMTeams Remaining and the 11/10 NPI

Middlebury 1
C-M-S      31
Trinity    8
Babson    10
Total:    50

Amherst    4
Wisc Sup  72
Wisc EC    7
Wisc Plat  21
Total:    104

Buff St    33
Dickinson  17
Williams  6
W&L        18
Total:    74

MWC        3
Denison    14
Conn Col  5
Kenyon    12
Total:    34

The tightest remaining quad is Mary Washington. The loosest is Amherst. In theory, Williams has the easiest remaining quad with no other team in the top 10. Mary Washington has, by far the hardest path through their quad by NPI.

If we were to reseed, and we don't shift the NPI for the first 2 rounds, it would look like this:

Middlebury    1
Wisc Sup    72
Williams    6
W&L          18
Total:      98

MWC          3
Buff State    33
Wisc EC      7
Dickinson    17
Total:        60

Amherst      4
C-M-S        31
Trinity      8
Denison      14
Total:        57

Conn Col      5
Wisc Plat    21
Babson        10
Kenyon        12
Total:        48

Honestly, the chalk has held up pretty well. Tufts (2) is the big upset, followed by Johns Hopkins (9), Gustavus Adolphus (11), Colorado College (13), St. Olaf (15), and Wesleyan (16). And even then, not a single one of the top 21 by NPI lost in the first round.

Cortland at 22, losing to Messiah, is the highest NPI to lose the opening game. Muhlenberg (26), North Park (27), Ogelthorpe (28), and Rowan (29) round out teams losing in the first round in the top half of the bracket.

Ogelthorpe lost to C-M-S (31), another team in the top 32, so that was going to be a below NPI game for someone.

Overall, the NPI system did a fair job of seeding teams in my opinion based on these results. Other than Wisc-Superior, there just aren't any true outliers. They beat teams 27 and 15 by NPI, so a solid run for a team at 72.

In the end, there are only 4 teams below 20 in the Sweet Sixteen, and 3 of those teams won a game on PKs to get there. Add in W&L's win on PKs, and of the 6 teams below 16 in NPI, C-M-S and Dickinson are the only teams who got to round 3 without a PK win.

I still have my doubts about the NESCAC deserving 8 bids. If you look closely, the bottom 3 NESCAC at-large bids, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Hamilton, did what was expected, first round wins, before bowing out. Tufts underperformed, and the remaining 4 are where rankings suggest they should be. I'm not convinced Mount Union, York and Covenant would have done any better or worse than Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Hamilton, and that's the rub. I've never said the top to top middle of the conference didn't deserve bids. The NESCAC is the premiere conference and deserves to get more of their teams in until that changes. But do they deserve to get a pile of their middle to lower middle teams in?

The dials give the NESCAC the advantage, but the results show they were no better than what should have been expected. So should they have gotten 8 bids? Hard to argue no, since they did what was expected, hard to argue yes since they did no better than what was expected. My personal preference is to spread those bids around to teams that win rather than give one conference a huge benefit of the doubt for teams with a whole bunch of "power ties", but the dials will need some tweaking for that to happen.

On to weekend 2!

The NPI isn't meant to be predictive. One of the main factors in predictive metrics is margin of victory. UW Superior is a good example of this. They play in a bad conference, but they dominated. 16-0 in conference games with 13 of them by 3 or more goals. Then some very close losses to highly ranked teams - GAC and UWP.

Shout out to UW Superior! They knocked off my Oles, and it was no fluke. I think it is easy to forget about the UMAC, I often do even being based in MN. The Yellowjackets dominated the conference this season. 16-0 in the conference including the conference tournament. 13 of those 16 wins were by 3 or more goals. Only gave up 5 goals in 16 conference games. Close games against very high quality opponents during the regular season, and a couple of big wins to start off the NCAA tournament. Heck of a season so far, and they've earned themselves a trip to the Sweet 16. Congrats, and best of luck!

Quote from: PaulNewman on November 17, 2024, 06:14:08 PMSo....Amherst is hosting the Wisconsin Invitational....and CMS and Trinity head to Vermont.  Beautiful college town.  Got married there.  But not exactly the trip I wanna make from CA or TX.  I assume they will fly into Burlington.  Obviously no direct flights to Burlington.

Assuming Amherst is hosting I would applaud the NCAA for actually spending some travel money on the D3 soccer tournament. At the same time I am very frustrated with the bracketing if that is the case. Why do all the North region teams have to be in the same sectional if they are going to be flown out anyways? Flip the Denison pod with the Gustavus pod, and the Colorado College pod with the UW Eau Claire pod. Let's see some matchups we don't usually get to see if we are going to spend the money to fly teams out for the 3rd/4th rounds.

Quote from: NEsoccerfan on November 17, 2024, 04:59:44 PMAnnouncers in the St. Olaf game mentioned that 3 of their players from last year transferred to D1. Anyone know who those were besides Morgan? I'd be interested to see how they fared this year playing up 2 divisions.

McCloskey went to UNC-Charlotte. Gaulmin went to Akron. Morgan went to Loyola Marymount. All played pretty significant time this season.