2026 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Another Mom]

I watched the W&L v Lynchburg game last night. W&L looked good -- for a decent amount of time they looked like the better team. However still struggled to convert their chances into a goal. End score was 0-1, Lynchburg.

[Ron Boerger]

Realizing that early-season NPIs are pretty meaningless, the D3Datacast crew is now calculating NPIs daily for many sports including soccer.  They use the NCAA formula and their results have historically matched the official ones when officially released.  Find men's soccer NPIs here:  https://d3datacast.com/npi/msoc/

Edit: oh hell, @Ziggy beat me to this.  That's OK seeing as he's one of the crew. 

[jknezek]

I watched the W&L v Lynchburg game last night. W&L looked good -- for a decent amount of time they looked like the better team. However still struggled to convert their chances into a goal. End score was 0-1, Lynchburg.

My takeaway as well. Defense is elite, offense is anemic. Hate playing Lynchburg game 1 non-conference. Just irritating.

[Kuiper]

What's the point of a game like this, especially on opening day of the season for D3?

UNC Asheville (D1) 15 - Warren Wilson 0

I get these D3 games v. D1 games are a little bit of a chance for DI teams to get their players some stats and empty the bench, while giving the D3 team a chance to play in the big house and test themselves against a higher-level team.  Warren Wilson, however, only won 2 games all last season (against Mississippi University for Women and Regent University, which is transitioning to D3) and is just barely out of preseason.  UNC Asheville, while not a P5 school by any stretch, is a decent program.  They just tied #3 Furman. This was always going to be a bloodbath.  To make things worse, Warren Wilson plays D1 Virginia Military Institute in a week. They are a much worse DI program than UNC Asheville, but should still overwhelm Warren Wilson.

[kevdog]

What's the point of a game like this, especially on opening day of the season for D3?

UNC Asheville (D1) 15 - Warren Wilson 0

I get these D3 games v. D1 games are a little bit of a chance for DI teams to get their players some stats and empty the bench, while giving the D3 team a chance to play in the big house and test themselves against a higher-level team.  Warren Wilson, however, only won 2 games all last season (against Mississippi University for Women and Regent University, which is transitioning to D3) and is just barely out of preseason.  UNC Asheville, while not a P5 school by any stretch, is a decent program.  They just tied #3 Furman. This was always going to be a bloodbath.  To make things worse, Warren Wilson plays D1 Virginia Military Institute in a week. They are a much worse DI program than UNC Asheville, but should still overwhelm Warren Wilson.

Sometimes the games are already schedule or have a history of playing against each other. SLU use to play against UVM (D1) but there last game was 1990 after UVM went to the Final 4.

[SKUD]

Detroit (D1) lost to Adrian on 8/24 and then Adrian lost to Hope.

[ziggy]

Realizing that early-season NPIs are pretty meaningless, the D3Datacast crew is now calculating NPIs daily for many sports including soccer.  They use the NCAA formula and their results have historically matched the official ones when officially released.  Find men's soccer NPIs here:  https://d3datacast.com/npi/msoc/

Edit: oh hell, @Ziggy beat me to this.  That's OK seeing as he's one of the crew. 

Always appreciate when others help spread the word, especially someone like you who has been a great supporter of our work!

[Hopkins92]

Hopkins played Towson (State, at the time) for a number of years. Most of the matches were fairly competitive into the second half, but I don't think they got a result in the modern era.

*looks up record book*

Yep, last game was a 2-0 win for Towson. Last time Hop pulled a result was 4-2 win in 1977.

[Kuiper]

Hopkins played Towson (State, at the time) for a number of years. Most of the matches were fairly competitive into the second half, but I don't think they got a result in the modern era.

*looks up record book*

Yep, last game was a 2-0 win for Towson. Last time Hop pulled a result was 4-2 win in 1977.

Your comment reminds me that I meant to check the roster for Johns Hopkins (which was late to post) as kind of a gauge of trends in grad transfers in D3.  Last season, Hop had two (Vadeghi and Howlett).  This season, they have two again, although one is their own 4 year player taking advantage of a medical year to play his 4th season (Laudisa).  The new grad student player is Dylan Ellis from Brown (D1), who did not play in Hop's first game. 

Chicago has one grad student this year, Austin Murawski, a transfer from Hartford (D3) and before that Bryant (D1)

Emory has one, Walker Stebbings from Hampden-Sydney (D3)

Rochester has one, Aidan Hartman from Fort Hays State (D2), plus one of their own students returning after missing a year (Mikey Burke)

That's just a small sample of schools with strong grad programs, but nothing suggests these types of schools with strong grad programs are using it to obtain a massive advantage.

[Kuiper]

I posted this in the Go WEST thread, but thought it might also be interested generally. 

D3soccerworld identified the "The Biggest Trips this Weekend" and, not surprisingly, all of them involve Region X teams.  There's some approximating on numbers because airports are not the same as the campuses, but it gives you an idea.

More important than distance, though, I would say that many of these games are the most interesting games of the weekend in their own right.


Trinity @ Claremont Mudd Scripps 9/4 and v. Redlands (@ Azusa Pacific) 9/6 (1180 miles)

Lynchburg @ Texas Lutheran 9/4 and @ Southwestern 9/6 (1180 miles)

Lake Forest @ Puget Sound 9/4 and @ Pacific Lutheran 9/6 (1720 miles)

Whitman @ Mary Washington 9/4 and @ Marymount (VA) 9/6 (2130 miles)


Russell Sage @ Cal Lutheran 9/3, @ La Verne 9/5, and @ Whittier 9/6 (2450 miles)

Gordon @ Cal Lutheran 9/4 and @ Occidental 9/6 (2600 miles)

[stlawus]

Hopkins played Towson (State, at the time) for a number of years. Most of the matches were fairly competitive into the second half, but I don't think they got a result in the modern era.

*looks up record book*

Yep, last game was a 2-0 win for Towson. Last time Hop pulled a result was 4-2 win in 1977.

Your comment reminds me that I meant to check the roster for Johns Hopkins (which was late to post) as kind of a gauge of trends in grad transfers in D3.  Last season, Hop had two (Vadeghi and Howlett).  This season, they have two again, although one is their own 4 year player taking advantage of a medical year to play his 4th season (Laudisa).  The new grad student player is Dylan Ellis from Brown (D1), who did not play in Hop's first game. 

Chicago has one grad student this year, Austin Murawski, a transfer from Hartford (D3) and before that Bryant (D1)

Emory has one, Walker Stebbings from Hampden-Sydney (D3)

Rochester has one, Aidan Hartman from Fort Hays State (D2), plus one of their own students returning after missing a year (Mikey Burke)

That's just a small sample of schools with strong grad programs, but nothing suggests these types of schools with strong grad programs are using it to obtain a massive advantage.

Grad school at a UAA school is a much different world than anywhere else. UR got a grad transfer in basketball from Duke a few years ago (who played minutes at Duke) and didn't last through preseason.

A lot of the talent using a 5th/grad year are going d1 instead of leveling up elsewhere in d3

[Kuiper]

For those who think that money doesn't pass hands in D3, and certainly not for soccer players, this infractions report from the NCAA against Whittier suggests otherwise.

Institution: Whittier College

Date: September 04, 2026

Violation Summary: Pursuant to Bylaw 32.9.6, this negotiated resolution has no precedential value. This case involved Whittier providing impermissible financial aid awards during the 2024-25 academic year to 11 international men's and women's soccer student-athletes in a pattern clearly distinguishable from the financial aid patterns for all students at the institution. The case also involved a failure to monitor violation. Whittier's enrollment office recommended recruiting prospects from Sweden for the 2024-25 academic year in order to help ease the burden of the institution's enrollment crisis.

Penalty Summary: The parties agreed the penalties include public reprimand and censure, one year of probation, a Level II review by the Financial Aid Committee, a fine of $2,500 and compliance education programming with the NCAA staff.

Involved Sports:
Men's Soccer ,  Women's Soccer

Involved Penalties:
Television: 0 yrs
Reduction in Financial Aid: No
Postseason: 0 yrs
Recruiting: No
Probation: 1 yrs
Show Cause Penalty: No
 
Vacation of Record: No

[Kuiper]

Reposting this from the Go WEST thread

Wildest Ending of the Year Award (thus far)

Colorado College 5 Wheaton (IL) 4

CC was up 4-2 after they scored in minute 84:44.  Wheaton then scored in minute 85:22 to make it 4-3 and equalized it in minute 87 on a PK.  Jack Hillard then scored the game-winner for Colorado College in minute 88:48.

4 goals in just over 4 minutes!

Second Wildest Ending of the Year Award (thus far)

Emory 5 - Belhaven 3

Belhaven absolutely shocked Emory with goals in the 2nd, 22nd, and 30th minutes.  Finding themselves down 3-0, Emory went to work, scoring 5 straight goals in the 32nd, 40th, and 51st to tie it at 3-3.  It stayed that way for 36 minutes until Emory scored goals in the 87th and 89th minutes to win the game.