couple thoughts on how these teams are made up....teams from "weaker" conferences can rack up stats against lower competition (goals, assists, shutouts) and when it comes to comparing across conferences those stat differences stand out. This is especially true for teams that dominate their conference play.

Another factor is that for schools in NESCAC & UAA, they have top teams across the board and individual accolades are more common historically. For some of the teams with top level AA's, these are shooting stars that dont' happen all the time, so their coaches and SID's advocate more for them as they should. IT matters more to those programs.

My two pennies.

don't know anything about Tufts, but the parents of the Emory womens and mens teams have had multiple tailgates together and will be doing the same this weekend. Excited to root on both teams!

P.S. - also from Central PA!

I forgot about the Tufts and Emory men's teams!  That has got to be such a cool experience for the families/friends.  It would be fun if the fans would coordinate (and maybe they do) and all stay at the same hotel.  You could possibly have a Tufts hotel and an Emory hotel filled up with all the supporters.
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Emory is very used to the bus trip as they have had to make that same drive twice already in the NCAA tournament. Unlike all the others, Emory never played at home. Bus rides to Farmville, VA (Hampden-Sydney) and Lynchburg, VA (Lynchburg) for the first two weekends. Roanoke will be easier after all of that. Could be an advantage to be in a similar travel rhythm.

Quote from: Kuiper on December 03, 2025, 01:20:40 PMHere's a link to Emory men's soccer Instagram account where the important bit of info (as they are interviewed about their movie choices for the trip) is that it sounds like they are the only school that will be traveling to the Final Four by bus to Salem, VA.  That checks out since it is a 419 mile trip between Emory and Roanoke, but an approximately 6.5 hour bus ride (plus stops) doesn't sound like a ton of fun.  Sounds like they'll need more movies (or maybe some books too with finals coming up!)

Right back at you Freddyfud, your son was an impressive young man, congratulations! Great to meet you and connect in real life. All four teams played well, not sure any of them played their best game though, the stress of the tourney seemed to affect them all at some point. Tomorrow will be a great match, hope you can catch some of it and maybe root for the good guys! Enjoy time at home with your son, special times for sure. Good luck next season to Rowan, it's a quality program that left it all on the field today.

11 a.m. | Tufts vs. Messiah
12 p.m. | St. Olaf vs. Williams
12 p.m. | Augsburg vs. Cortland
1 p.m. | Lynchburg vs. Dickinson
1:30 p.m. | Connecticut Col. vs. Bowdoin
2:30 p.m. | Macalester vs. Wheaton (MA)
2:30 p.m. | WashU vs. Trinity (TX)
3:30 p.m. | Emory vs. Rowan

Host sites - Olaf, Tufts, Wash U, Lynchburg.

Two flights into Olaf - Williams and Wheaton
3 flights (all teams) into Wash U - Trinity, Augsburg, Cortland
No flights to Tufts or Lynchburg.

Welcome to the second weekend!

Kudos as well to Brandeis for a great effort taking the #1 team in the country to the brink of PK's. Tough way to lose but they showed well for UAA and had a great season. Wash U men now hosting the next two rounds may help. Emory is going to Lynchburg.

The second round is full of fairly even matchups, but Lynchburg is top seed in this region and #4 in NPI, losing at home to CNU would have to be called an upset. Lynchburg is clear favorite, but yes, the gap isn't huge.

biggest 2nd round favorites? I'd say Trinity (TX Lutheran), Conn College (Babson), and Bowdoin (U-Mass Boston)

the rest are all narrow differences but I'd call Lynchburg one of the strongest favorites left.

2nd round upsets, pick 3...

CNU over Lynchburg
Rowan over Wesleyan
Edgewood over Augsburg

and I don't think Wash U over chicago should count as an upset since they just beat them a week ago with only 10 men for 75 minutes of the match.

Great stuff Kuiper, really agree. i think the benefit of being top 4 or top 8 shows up in these first-round matchups. After first round, nearly every game is a fight, nothing is easy. Getting a top 8 seed allows you to see one of those weaker opponents in the first round and is huge for saving legs and making the path forward easier. As you note well, once you get in that 15-40 range of NPI, it so close and the margins aren't large at all.

UAA fans, here's your Sunday links...

1:00

Brandeis v Tufts - https://www.ncaa.com/game/6529782

3:00

Emory v. Hampden Sydney - https://www.ncaa.com/game/6529796


4:00

Chicago v. Wash U - https://www.ncaa.com/game/6529792

UAA fans, here's your NCAA games and links...

1pm Emory v. Maryville -  https://www.ncaa.com/game/6529778

1:30 pm Brandeis v. Stevens - https://www.ncaa.com/game/6529751

2:00 pm Chicago v. Depauw - https://www.ncaa.com/game/6529770

4:30 pm Wash U @ UW-whitewater - https://www.ncaa.com/game/6529771

Wash U gets not only the highest ranked opponent...a legit #2 seed in most any pod, someone on level with Dickinson who is hosting as a 1 seed...and it's at their home field. That has to be the toughest first round match up.

Emory meanwhile gets a team they beat 7-1 and both have a long drive to get there. It won't be 7-1 in NCAA but they have to be thankful for this draw compared to what Chicago and Wash U received.

It's hard for me to see all 4 UAA teams making it out of first round, just don't know which one gets upset.

Chicago and Wash U got the toughest matchups...then Brandeis...then Emory.

Good luck to the UAA teams!

Quote from: Ejay on November 10, 2025, 08:19:38 PMNPI dials are changing next year, no? That'll throw a wrench into things.

Yep, believe they are. What do you think they need to change?  Here's my first thoughts...

1) Allow for a benefit for Away results, right now home/away is no difference in NPI but it certainly seems to make a difference in results. Honor that.

2) DON'T change the number of wins needed to remove worse results (currently 10). Just look over at women's NPI (8 win threshold) and see how UAA teams float way up there. 10 feels like a better line to draw, keep it there.

Don't stress too much about it, The UAA this year has 3 of the top 10, but last year only had their one auto-bid (#54 Emory). Centennial will be back and some other conference will drop down to one-bid that we're not used to.