I thought I read that D3 is voting on the 5 for 5 rule in January. May be mistaken though...

Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on October 03, 2026, 10:10:25 PMUgh.  Needed this one.

How did this scoreless tie compare to the JCU game?

The tie certainly didn't help. I guess if you look at the latest NPI rankings, Rochester is 111 and JCU is 124. Neither are good, just means Case is going to have to do better against the rest. Problem is, the rest are pretty good also.

Latest NPI has Case at 14, 2nd in UAA. Means they would be favorites (based on NPI) against all but Chicago. I think they need to get to 12 wins to qualify but depends on everyone e else also.

Otherwise it's looking like the last couple of years- great non-conference record, but bad UAA = no ncaa tournament.

Quote from: BlueJay95 on October 02, 2026, 07:41:16 AMTCNJ 4-0-5
Westfield State definitely did not make the tournament last year either.

Yeah, I was wrong on all counts regarding Westfield- it was 2024 and they lost to Tufts in the 1st round 2-1. Anyway, they were still 10-4-5 last year so my point stands- going from 10 wins to 0 so far is a huge drop. Granted their conference is pretty easy so I'm sure they'll pick up a few wins now.

Crazy that Westfield State hasn't won a game- didn't they make the 2nd round in the tournament last year? Quite the drop off. I know they don't have a lot of history, but that's a big season to season drop.

First weekend of conference games is upon us with all 8 teams playing on Saturday...

CMU @ Emory 11:30am
WashU @ Brandeis 12:00pm
Case @ Rochester 5:00pm
UChicago @ NYU 6:00pm

A lot of Case talk on the boards but not much from the other schools. Where is everyone?

Kind of surprised Montclair (now 8-2) didn't receive any votes after their beatdown of Christopher Newport.

Quote from: CalJohn on September 27, 2026, 04:42:25 PMYou aren't kidding. My heart has been broken before with UAA gauntlet, but when is last time we won 8 of first 9 with a tie? Didn't see Trine game, did anyone else see what happend? 2-0 sounds comfortible. When does Rossen return?

Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on September 27, 2026, 09:22:24 AMAll right.

Good to finish non-conf with a win over Trine.

I am glad to see this because I remember that school bouncing us from the football playoffs some years ago.

The UAA schedule is always a tough row to hoe.

Hope we do well!!!

Trine was the first game I've missed all season, and there wasn't any video so I don't have any updates. I did hear that Case dominated throughout though. Rossen has bone spurs in his ankle, not sure when he's supposed to return. They need him though, the offense hasn't been the same since he went out.

A little scared for conference games, although I think they should be okay next week vs Rochester.

Quote from: CalJohn on September 24, 2026, 12:54:01 PMYes, the strikers, forwards and attacking midfield should finish when they have opportunites, but the problem is in the midfield not providing any opportunites any more. The first half of the Lycoming game showed that the midfield has the ability to connect passes to their teammates, possess the ball into the final third, and get shots and goals for their attackers.

John Carroll is an inferior team to Lycoming that dominated possession last night. When Case got the ball, the midfielders dribbled into pressure or passed short passes repeatedly to the wrong team. If the defense got the ball, the midfielders did not show for the defense, so the defense just long passed it to John Carroll's back line.

I am concerned that the similar pattern is happening again this year where the team tightens up due to coaching, chemistry, injuries or something unknown and then turns into a shell of the early season. I agree that the substitution patterns are strange and maybe the absense of key players that play with confidence like Rossen, apparently injured, and Trosch, who knows, cause the rest of the team to play jittery under pressure.

One last troubling thing is, like last year, last night the defense either went longball or went to the right side, where the midfield gave the ball away until the last 15 minutes. Their captain and, probably outside of Rossen, best player Cormack A. was able to connect passes and get push up the left side, but he barely touched the ball last night.

Come on Coach, this team can be special if you let it. Coaching, confidence and chemistry matter.



"TBH, Case was lucky to get a tie. Got out worked, out muscled, out hustled, everything. JCU was stronger and fought harder, just didn't have much offensively. If JCU had any sort of offensive threat, they probably win.

Rossen has been out for Case the last couple of games so the D1 transfer is starting. Playing well, but then the backup has been a reserve center back. Big and tall, strong and fast, but is clearly not a goal threat. No idea what the coach is thinking- he has 2 very capable striker subs that he could be playing that are definitely goal-dangerous, but is not for some reason. His sub patterns have been strange and questionable, not sure if this is an every-year thing, but this year it's been odd."

Good analysis! Keying in on the center forwards...they haven't been playing with what I would consider a true center forward, someone that can score in the box off crosses, run in behind, check in when necessary, etc. Rossen wanders around all over the field- he's quick and can get in behind defenders but he's not a true center forward, although he has been effective. As for the D1 guy, he positions more centrally but acts more like a winger, would rather dribble around then get to goal. I feel like they need a true center forward that can be strong and physical but still fast enough to get in behind. Strikers are aggressive and typically a bit selfish, their main job is to score. The only people with that mentality are on the bench.

IMO, this is the difference between a true center forward and someone they just stick there because there are no other options. The problem is, they do have those options- there are 2 people that have barely played that can take up that position. Maybe it's just a coach preference, I don't know, but it's frustrating knowing there are players that can play that position and score at this level that are just wasting away on the bench.

Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on September 24, 2026, 07:17:41 AMWell, that's unfortunate.

How long will Rossen be out?

If he is going to be out for awhile, then I hope our coach rethinks his personnel.

I wouldn't think he's out very long...I saw the injury occur, it was just a collision. He actually got up and ran off the field, had a bandage on his leg after the game. I am assuming they are keeping him out, getting him healthy for conference games coming up, but they have no real offensive threat when he's not in there since they've been playing the center back at striker instead. The D1 guy has been starting and has good size but just isn't an "in the box" scorer. He seems to play more as a winger than a true center forward.

Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on September 23, 2026, 10:09:04 PMUGH.

Can't believe we let JCU tie us.

Costs us the city's bragging rights.

TBH, Case was lucky to get a tie. Got out worked, out muscled, out hustled, everything. JCU was stronger and fought harder, just didn't have much offensively. If JCU had any sort of offensive threat, they probably win.

Rossen has been out for Case the last couple of games so the D1 transfer is starting. Playing well, but then the backup has been a reserve center back. Big and tall, strong and fast, but is clearly not a goal threat. No idea what the coach is thinking- he has 2 very capable striker subs that he could be playing that are definitely goal-dangerous, but is not for some reason. His sub patterns have been strange and questionable, not sure if this is an every-year thing, but this year it's been odd.

Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on September 20, 2026, 11:17:57 AMVASoccerDad,

Out of curiosity, what is your son studying/planning to study at CWRU?

He's Mechanical Engineering. It was probably the major reason he chose Case over some others.

Regarding the game vs Kenyon- it was pretty evenly matched despite the score. CWRU scored off a corner, a long throw with a flick header that somehow found someone near the back post and a nice 1v1 drive/shot. Other than those three plays, the game was very even. Not a lot of shot attempts by either team, fast and physical play. Case's defense smothered Kenyon most of the game. Kenyon was good, could keep possession, but never really threatened until a couple sequences late in the game.

I know every team has ups and downs, but the UAA seems a little down this year based on some of the non-conference results. Could be an interesting conference season here in a couple of weeks.

Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on September 14, 2026, 01:22:15 PMOK, you sort of piqued my interest, so I went to Kenyon's athletic website and looked up their men's soccer team.  They seem to be doing well so far.  So yeah, this may be our toughest test thus far.

I just discovered something that I hadn't realized.  I was used to calling Kenyon's teams the "Lords" or "Ladies."

I had no idea that they were now the "Owls" until literally just today.  Interesting!

I am assuming that you live somewhere in NE Ohio, right?  Which D3 sports program is your favorite, and are you an alum of that particular school?

I am pretty familiar with Kenyon as it was one of my son's favorites during the recruiting process. While visiting colleges two summers ago, he was offered by Kenyon, but they didn't have what he wanted to study so he ended up at Case.

I am not from Ohio, but we recently moved to the Columbus area so we could see him play. Fortunately, we've been able to go to every game so far, home and away. Unfortunately my son has been injured the entire time so hasn't played yet- this weekend was big for him because he really liked Coach Wall at Kenyon. Hopefully he's cleared to play and will get a chance this weekend. It'll be a tough game for sure.

Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on September 13, 2026, 06:58:31 PMAnother CWRU win over Allegheny today, but I really don't think they have been tested yet.

The Allegheny game was interesting...a tale of two halves for sure. Completely dominant in first half, could easily have been 5-0.

The Allegheny goal was a crazy own goal- Case GK came out to clear a ball near the 35 yard line, smashed it into the attackers face and the ball ricocheted all the way back towards the goal. Case defender came in at last minute to clear the ball off the line but kicked it into the net instead. 3-1 at half.

Second half, Allegheny controlled throughout but couldn't score. Their GK made a couple of nice saves and their striker was a beast, narrowly missing a couple of shots. Case looked gassed even though they were subbing frequently. Just couldn't get it together in that second half, luckily it didn't hurt them.

Kenyon up next- will be their toughest game to date.

Quote from: DagarmanSpartan on September 12, 2026, 05:20:09 PMCWRu men win again.

Yep, PK and two set piece goals. Probably the toughest team they've played all season, but very workmanlike, just took care of business. The thing I like is that there is not much drop off when the subs come in.

Been to DiSanto many times now, but the Oberlin game last night was at Oberlin.

I like DiSanto and the campus. Surrounding area not so much. Son says the turf is a bit older, so a little hard. As I am assuming you know, they don't have space to build dedicated soccer fields since they are in a city, but it's a nice facility.

We're lucky enough to live near several of the Ohio D3's so I've been able to visit a lot of them. The one thing Case doesn't have that many of the others do have, is a newer athletic training complex/building. They have Wyant and Veale, but that's nothing compared to most other schools now.