Anybody have any recruiting info or expectations for the upcoming season? Transfers in/out, incoming freshmen, coaching changes, anything? I know there are several people here that seem to have intimate knowledge of some of the UAA programs, let's hear it (without giving away secrets). Or better yet, give them away !

The UAA board has been pretty quiet for a while now, just looking to get it going again.

Quote from: Kuiper on January 21, 2026, 12:18:53 PM

Quote from: jknezek on January 21, 2026, 11:12:23 AMYeah. I don't think there is a D3 soccer equivalent. Indiana is a byproduct of the massive shift in D1 athletics, especially football and basketball, and a fantastic coaching hire. The ingredients required for this kind of rags to riches shift, impossibly fast roster turnover, traditional power becoming irrelevant by dollars, and a coach that learned what Calipari struggled to learn... strong, proven men all over the playing surface are better than outstanding young talented boys.

But without the earthquake of changes to how FBS football works, it doesn't happen like this. I'm not saying Indiana couldn't have improved, I'm saying the lightning shift doesn't happen without the transfer portal, the importance of dollars, and a brilliant coach.

If FBS programs have any sense, the value for proven 20+ year old players should have just blown past the value for flashy 5 star incoming freshman. Honestly, the G5 has become AAA. They should be able to recruit better young players now, but they are going to get picked clean for any of them that actually develop after a year or two.

Interestingly, there are some parallels in DIII to the kind of changes that propelled Indiana to the top - roster limits in DI, the transfer portal, the creation of the NPI (which potentially allows some underrated teams to climb the rankings more quickly than they would have under the regional ranking system), expanded recruiting georgraphically, retirements/removals of chronically underperforming coaches as DIII schools recognize the importance of athletics in enrollment, expanded international recruiting in DIII, etc. 

As I said in the original post, there probably are no actual Indiana stories in DIII men's soccer.  There are some pretty quick turnarounds in records in recent years, but none of these teams made any noise in the NCAA tournament:

TCNJ (2-12-15 in 2024; 11-5-5 in 2025)
Caltech (1-12-1 in 2021; 8-7-3 in 2024)
Haverford (2-11-5 in 2024; 10-0-10 in 2025)
Lake Forest (4-13-1 in 2021; 19-2 in 2025)
Edgewood (1-15-1 in 2022; 17-2-2 in 2024)

There are probably other good examples of this.
   

I think these are some good potential examples, however like you said, they died quickly in the tournament. They each had great regular seasons but did nothing after that. Indiana not only went undefeated in the regular season, but also made the tournament (playoff) run to win it all.

Haverford went undefeated but then faded once they got to the tournament/playoffs. They would have needed to win it all (what, 4-5 more games?) before we could consider them in the same level as an IU football story.

Maybe if Dickinson won it all last year, it could have been similar? But they had a great season the year before as well.

I think it's going to be tough to really get a good D3 soccer comparison because of the lack of NIL/$$$. Unless an NYU (UAA) or Trinity (CT) (NESCAC) or similar type school starts buying players, I don't think we're going to see it.

Vilardo is an interesting case (at Case, haha)...played GK first 3 years then switched to forward his senior year because of their inability to put the goal in the net. Like Ejay said, 0 goals on 2 shots. He did play a fair amount but little to no production (like most of Case's forwards this year, unfortunately for them). Probably the academy connections...

Anyway, sounds like Case is going after attackers this year- I think 5 commits so far and 4 are forwards (2)/attacking mids (2), plus a GK.

I know this is the men's board, but congrats to the UAA women's teams on making the final four, and now the championship game.

3 out of 4 final four teams- WashU, Chicago, Emory .

WashU and Emory competing for the women's title.

And Emory with a chance at the men's /women's sweep.

Quote from: SierraFD3soccer on December 04, 2025, 10:40:02 PMTufts will not sweep the womans and mens as the women lost in the semis. Either way that is pretty impressive they even had a chance.

So is Tufts now the D1 version of Connecticut basketball (2014 and 2004)?

No, but Emory still can.

Glad you all are here with updates, tried following on the ncaa website and they have Chicago winning.

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.

Quote from: Hopkins92 on December 01, 2025, 10:56:31 AMI'm not disagreeing with you Sierra, but at least with soccer, it's not hard to find highly competitive teams/leagues that you can play with/in for MANY years after college. I was able to latch onto a team that made it to the Over 30 final four that was held in Orlando. (humble brag ;-))

The guys I feel for are football players. More than any other sport, it's really difficult to keep playing after college. Just too expensive and to much chance for serious injury.

I agree with this to a point...but playing for your school is sooo much different than playing for a random club/team. Even my high school senior son right now says that...he has a lot more fun playing for his high school than he ever does playing for his highly competitive ECNL team. His ECNL team has made the national playoffs the last 2 (hopefully 3) years and he's gotten to travel all over the world with different teams, and his high school team sucks. But ask him which one he prefers and it's his HS team- all because of his friends. That's who he grew up with, been friends for years with. His club team doesn't offer that.

I know that changes as you get older, but we're talking college kids- I think when they really think about it, they would want one more game with their school team.

Quote from: Kuiper on November 23, 2025, 09:10:52 PMFINAL:  Juniata 2 - Rutgers-Newark 1

Juniata pulls off what seems like an upset, scoring in the 85th to break a 1-1 tie after Rutgers-Newark had tied it up in the 78 the minute.  Juniata takes home the ECAC championship by winning three straight to end the season at 10-5-7.  Rutgers-Newark finishes 11-9-2.

I kind of wish more schools would participate in these kind of regional post-season tournaments during the time DIII already allows for teams to practice and play together.  I know some players are probably tired and would rather move on to finishing up the semester and getting to the holidays, but it's a nice way to get a few more licks in and end on a high note.

I agree, but I know a lot of D3 coaches are already out recruiting for next season as well as 2027. Should they play in a meaningless tournament or work on next year? Probably a different answer if you ask players versus coaches. As a player, I would have loved to keep playing, but as a coach I might be ready to end this season and work on next season.

I am really interested in the Scranton team- been following them from a distance all year. My son got an offer from them earlier this year but decided to go elsewhere. Great defense and scoring some goals- excited to see how far they go.

Welp...4-0 on the day, not bad. And if you throw the women's teams in, the UAA was 10-1 (NYU women lost).

Still say it's too bad WashU and Chicago play each other tomorrow. Also think Brandeis loses to Tufts. Emory wins. UAA goes 2-2 tomorrow.

Quote from: kansas hokie on November 13, 2025, 03:31:39 PMIt'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!

Agreed! I don't think any of the UAA teams were dominant throughout the season, they all had ups and downs. From top to bottom, the UAA was actually very competitive. While results and overall records may not show that, the actual games were very competitive. NYU even won a couple and CWRU, while finishing at the bottom, had multiple very close 1-0 defeats and several ties.

As far as upsets go, I'm thinking maybe Chicago vs DePauw as the most likely, but then again, I already said I know nothing about the Wisconsin teams, so maybe WashU?

Some rudimentary thoughts on the UAA bracket draw...

Brandeis (NPI 26) vs Stevens (NPI 90)- Stevens is always a tough out and Brandeis hasn't exactly set the world on fire, but I'm picking Brandeis followed by a matchup vs Tufts in the 2nd round.

Chicago (8) vs DePauw (39)- this could be a tough one for Chicago...DePauw is really coming on with some strong wins late in the season, but I'm sticking with Chicago with a second round matchup vs WashU.

WashU (10) vs Wisconsin-Whitewater (27)- I know next to nothing about the Wisconsin teams other than there are a lot of them and most of them are good. WashU in this one...

Emory (5) vs Maryville (103)- all Emory in this one. Their second round opponent could be a tough ODAC team (Hampden Sydney) or Otterbein- a 23 v 53 NPI matchup. As a Virginian, I'm not sold on HS so I'm going with Otterbein in an NPI upset. Of course they will lose to Emory in the 2nd round...

So all 4 UAA teams will advance to the second round, with 2 of the 4 advancing to the sweet 16 (winner of UChicago/WashU and Emory). Unfortunately I think Brandeis loses to Tufts and the loser of UChicago/WashU is obviously out.

Really too bad that Chicago and WashU have to play in the 2nd round.

Quote from: Mr_November on November 13, 2025, 10:47:12 AMRandom question for this thread...who are the biggest programs missing out on the NCAAs this year? Or even programs who had a great season but are still missing out?

A couple of traditional teams that I've noticed missing were Johns Hopkins and Kenyon, among others.

Thanks everyone for answering regarding my ECAC/NIT question. I only knew of the ECAC as a hockey conference back when I worked at a small college in Massachusetts. I didn't know they also held invite tournaments in a variety of sports.

Kind of a strange set-up honestly...an actual conference that holds conference tournaments just like the NESCAC and others, but also an organization similar to the NCAA or NIT that hosts tournaments for any school that wants to pay to play.

Nice that teams not selected to the NCAA tournament have a chance to continue playing, but too bad it's not necessarily the "best of the rest", it's really just the ones that want to pay to play that get to participate.