Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C)

[Kuiper]

Living in VA, I've often wondered why UMW and CNU don't join a better conference than the C2C. They are both very good programs, I'm sure there would be offers. Anybody have insights on this?

I don't know the specific story, but the C2C has recently been a place for schools that had trouble finding a conference that would have them.  In the recent past, the C2C members have included UMW, CNU, UCSC, Wisconsin-Platteville, and Wisconsin Whitewater, among others.  The common denominator for these schools is that they are all state schools with larger enrollments than most D3 schools.  It's sometimes hard for schools like that to find conferences because most schools want to be grouped with schools that are similarly situated to them in terms of size and resources.

[eaglesoccerdad]

The C2C was pulled together with old members of the Capital Athletic Conference that over a couple of years saw defections - Frostburg to D2, PSU Harrisburg to NEAC, York to the MAC, St Marys to UEC. This left Salisbury, CNU & UMW needing more schools in order to get AC status. I guess fortunately there were enough other orphaned schools out there UCSC & the UW schools looking for partners. Once the schools from around the country were brought in the CAC was rebranded to the C2C.
CNU & UMW are a little larger (3500-4000) than most ODAC schools (1500-3000) but not by much.

[Gregory Sager]

The C2C was pulled together with old members of the Capital Athletic Conference that over a couple of years saw defections - Frostburg to D2, PSU Harrisburg to NEAC, York to the MAC, St Marys to UEC. This left Salisbury, CNU & UMW needing more schools in order to get AC status. I guess fortunately there were enough other orphaned schools out there UCSC & the UW schools looking for partners. Once the schools from around the country were brought in the CAC was rebranded to the C2C.
CNU & UMW are a little larger (3500-4000) than most ODAC schools (1500-3000) but not by much.

Based upon conversations I've read over the years on D3boards, I think that in this case public vs. private is regarded as a more important issue than enrollment size when it comes to conference affiliations in MD/VA/NC and southern PA.

[stlawus]

The ODAC's charter specifically states that members have to be private universities.

[eaglesoccerdad]

C2C Tournament Schedule

Quarterfinals – Thursday, November 6
4:00 PM ET – Game 1: #4 UC Santa Cruz vs. #5 JWU Charlotte
7:00 PM ET – Game 2: #3 Salisbury vs. #6 Warren Wilson

Semifinals – Friday, November 7
4:00 PM ET – Game 3: #1 Christopher Newport vs. Game 1 Winner
7:00 PM ET – Game 4: #2 Mary Washington vs. Game 2 Winner

Championship – Sunday, November 9
10:00 AM ET – Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner

[Kuiper]

https://www.c2csports.com/sports/msoc/2025-26/releases/20251105C2CawardsMSOC

The 2025 Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Men's Soccer awards have been announced. The following are this year's honorees, as voted on by the league's head coaches.

Mary Washington's Sammy Amorose claimed Offensive Player of the Year honors.  He has a league-high six assists along with seven goals for 20 points for the Eagles.

UMW's Tristan Kickbush took home Defensive Player of the Year honors.  Kickbush led the C2C in saves (78) and save percentage (83%) and has five shutouts.

Salisbury's David Brunetti was named Rookie of the Year after playing in all 17 games.  He led the Sea Gull offense with seven goals including two game-winners.

UMW's Nathan Macek, a business major, received Scholar-Athlete of the Year distinction.  The senior started all 18 games with 1,507 minutes played and two assists.

Christopher Newport's Justin Chezem earned Coaching Staff of the Year honors for the third time.  The Captains are 10-2-5 this season in his seventh year on the sidelines.

2025 C2C Offensive Player of the Year: Sammy Amorose, Mary Washington
2025 C2C Defensive Player of the Year: Tristan Kickbush, Mary Washington
2025 C2C Rookie of the Year: David Brunetti, Salisbury
2025 C2C Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Nathan Macek, Mary Washington
2025 C2C Coaching Staff of the Year: Justin Chezem, Christopher Newport

2025 All-C2C Men's Soccer First Team
NAME    YR.    POS.    TEAM    HOMETOWN
Sammy Amorose    Sr.    F    Mary Washington    Jacksonville, N.C.
David Brunetti    Fr.    F    Salisbury    Essex, Md.
Soren Groessl    Jr.    F    UC Santa Cruz    Encinitas, Calif.
Yann-Olivier Kamga    Jr.    F    Regent    Woodbridge, Va.
Niklas Seguin    Jr.    F    JWU Charlotte    Mooresville, NC
Moises Argueta-Garcia    Fr.    M    Mary Washington    Leesburg, Va.
Jackson Chandler    Sr.    M    UC Santa Cruz    Agoura Hills, Calif.
Barry Jones    Sr.    M    Christopher Newport    Richmond, Va.
Jack Sturman    Jr.    M    Mary Washington    Ashburn, Va.
Michael Braun    Jr.    D     UC Santa Cruz    San Diego, Calif.
Carson Friedlein    So.    D    Christopher Newport    Midlothian, Va.
Nathan Macek    Sr.    D     Mary Washington    Laurel, Md.
Tristan Kickbush    Sr.    GK    Mary Washington    Arlington, Va.
                    
2025 All-C2C Men's Soccer Second Team
NAME    YR.    POS.    TEAM    HOMETOWN
Drew McWhinney    Jr.    F    Christopher Newport    Arlington, Va.
Steve Moodie    Fr.    F    Warren Wilson    Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Joe Summerfield    Jr.    F    Christopher Newport    Hampton, Va.
Dale Gordon    Jr.    M    Salisbury    Ellicott City, Md.
Asher Kuzemka    Sr.    M    Christopher Newport    Clifton, Va.
Gavin Miller    Sr.    M    Salisbury    Salisbury, Md.
Carter Bonini    Jr.    D     JWU Charlotte    Hickory, NC
Nicolas Chinchilla    Fr.    D     Salisbury    Brooklyn, Md.
Blake Hoskins    Sr.    D    Mary Washington    Glen Burnie, Md.
Declan Karney    So.    D     Christopher Newport    Severna Park, Md.
Jack Schwarz    Jr.    D     Salisbury    Richmond, Va.
Yazan Yaghmmour    Jr.    D     Christopher Newport    Haymarket, Va.
Hayden Dewey    Sr.    GK    Christopher Newport    Richmond, Va.

[eaglesoccerdad]

happy to see Amarose get the recognition. Every team had the knives out for him with some man marking as well since he is clearly the main creator.

[eaglesoccerdad]

updated schedules after the quarters. surprising that Warren Wilson able to keep it tight with Salisbury. WW finished the year 2-12-1.

Quarterfinals – Thursday, November 6
4:00 PM ET – Game 1: #4 UC Santa Cruz vs. #5 JWU Charlotte, UCSC 3-1
7:00 PM ET – Game 2: #3 Salisbury vs. #6 Warren Wilson, SU 3-2

Semifinals – Friday, November 7
4:00 PM ET – Game 3: #1 Christopher Newport vs. #4 UC Santa Cruz
7:00 PM ET – Game 4: #2 Mary Washington vs. #3 Salisbury

Championship – Sunday, November 9
10:00 AM ET – Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner
Note: Match can be moved to 12:00 PM ET if both finalists agree after semifinals

[Kuiper]

Salisbury really taking it to Mary Washington in the semifinal matchup.  Up 2-0 with a little over 10 minutes to go.  Barring a late comeback from UMW, it will be a Christopher Newport - Salisbury final in the C2C

FINAL:  Salisbury 2 - Mary Washington 0

[eaglesoccerdad]

0-0 with 20 minutes left in 2nd

Update: CNU with a solid goal to go up 1-0 with 12 minutes left

Final CNU 1 - Salisbury 0

[Kuiper]

Big (not good) news for the C2C

The C2C currently has 7 members in men's soccer

Christopher Newport
UC Santa Cruz
Johnson & Wales - Charlotte*
Salisbury
Mary Washington
Regent
Warren Wilson*

Seven would be enough for an automatic qualifier bid, but two of those members, J&C-Charlotte and Regent, are provisional members that don't count for reaching the minimum 6 members for the AQ bid.  C2C, therefore, applied for a waiver to extend the time until they had both reached full status.

In the Report of the NCAA Division III Championships Committee from the March 31, 2026 meeting, the waiver request was denied

Coast-to-Coast Conference men's soccer and men's basketball waiver request.

The committee discussed but did not support the conference's request to extend its grace
period in men's basketball and men's soccer for two years due to member attrition. The
conference posed extending its grace period with five members (one below the required
minimum of six) until two provisional Division III members that have affiliated with the
conference reach active status. The Championships Committee understood the rationale
but did not support granting a waiver that would in effect double the grace period and
set an undesired precedent.

I assume this means C2C schools will have to qualify on their own this fall.  In some respects, that's a little easier under the NPI system because it's not left in the hands of a committee.  In other respects, that's harder because other non-AQ teams can bump them out of the NCAA picture altogether.  Knowing this was a possibility, it will be interesting to see if CNU and UMW - the two teams that typically have the most serious NCAA aspirations - have adjusted their schedules to either increase their wins or increase their strength-of-schedules.

[Chargers96]

I wish there was a solution for CNU, UMW, and Salisbury.  All solid programs -- probably too solid which is why they can't find a stable conference situation (and geography).  Kinda surprised recruiting doesn't seem to be impacted.  Honestly, in Virginia, I still don't understand how Radford and Longwood remain Div. 1 soccer programs.  If they dropped to DIII, I could see CNU, UMW, Salisbury, Radford, Longwood, and add St. Mary's MD as a good conference as far as soccer goes.

[VASoccerDad]

I wish there was a solution for CNU, UMW, and Salisbury.  All solid programs -- probably too solid which is why they can't find a stable conference situation (and geography).  Kinda surprised recruiting doesn't seem to be impacted.  Honestly, in Virginia, I still don't understand how Radford and Longwood remain Div. 1 soccer programs.  If they dropped to DIII, I could see CNU, UMW, Salisbury, Radford, Longwood, and add St. Mary's MD as a good conference as far as soccer goes.

You could throw VMI in with Radford/Longwood. VMI and Radford have been 2 of the worst D1 teams over the last 5 years.

[SierraFD3soccer]

I wish there was a solution for CNU, UMW, and Salisbury.  All solid programs -- probably too solid which is why they can't find a stable conference situation (and geography).  Kinda surprised recruiting doesn't seem to be impacted.  Honestly, in Virginia, I still don't understand how Radford and Longwood remain Div. 1 soccer programs.  If they dropped to DIII, I could see CNU, UMW, Salisbury, Radford, Longwood, and add St. Mary's MD as a good conference as far as soccer goes.

Son played at Radford for his first 2 years and had a decent experience. Radford soccer is part of a the Big South which is 3rd tier D1 conf whose teams primarily has 50% int'l players in most programs. Only one team qualifies for the NCAA tournament.  What you see at the top tier D1 trend with int'l players has been going on in the Big South for years. Longwood = 2025 18 int'l, Radford- 13 int'l, Gardner-Webb 20 int'l. Marshall broke that barrier which primarily has int'l players who play almost all the minutes.

IMO, Radford is never going D3. It is a state school with over 6000k enrolled. However has little resources across its sports programs. Several of the other programs do decently like its basketball program.

VMI imo will never go D1. Despite doing poorly in almost every sport and a smaller school, the school vision of itself would suffer substantially. 1500-1700 students with 86% men. I went to W&L literally next door. The alumni base would not allow this.

My comments on Radford is that it is a regional university with absolute no pretension. In fact, it seemed to be the most diverse college I have ever seen, literally. Not something they had to aspire to. Mostly I think because it was reasonably inexpensive even for out of state kids. Very accessible. Overall, just a bunch of poor kids trying to get educations and where sports has little to do as to why they attended there. Lot's of positives.

[Gregory Sager]

The Virginians who post on the basketball boards likewise insist that Longwood, despite its small size and comparative lack of resources for a D1 school, will never leave D1 for D3 because the school's identity is too tied up in its men's basketball program. Most of what public awareness there is of the school within the Old Dominion apparently stems from hoops, particularly due to former Longwood star and long-time NBA player Jerome Kersey.