Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

I'm posting roster analyses/season previews as I have time.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

CMS finished 16-4-3 last season and lost in the Round of 16 to Middlebury by a 1-0 score on a heart-breaking goal scored with about 6 minutes left in regulation. For a west coast team traveling about as far away from home as they could to play in the cold weather of Vermont with their body clocks messed up by the 7:30 am Pacific start time, it was a pretty darn good season.  It was CMS' best record since 2021 and the farthest they have gone in the NCAA tournament since 2019 when they lost to Centre in a Sweet 16 game played at Kenyon.  The question this season is whether they are poised to break through this year or destined to suffer the same fate as Occidental, which lost in the Sweet 16 to Amherst in 2023 and failed to qualify for the tournament in 2024.  They have enough talent, experienced contributors, and depth, but it might depend upon who steps up and fills Rafael Otero's role on the team as the X factor.

Departing players of note:

CMS loses a bunch of critical players from 2024.  Most notable is All-American Rafael Otero, who was not only the leading scorer with 13 goals (6 assists), but had a knack for both scoring game winning goals (including a golden goal in 2OT against Colorado College in the NCAA 2nd round) and for breaking lines and making things happen offensively for the Stags. There were several times last season when I said in game summaries that how Otero goes is how CMS goes.  The few games where he was neutralized last season were games where CMS lost.  They had a lot of other contributors, but he was the engine.  Even when other players were scoring (and they have a bunch of notable contributors who are returning, such as John Laidlaw, James Gomez, and Shaan Malik), Otero was the center of gravity on the field who was able to draw defenders and create space for his teammates.  Other regular contributors who have departed include M Tommy Brown, D Nico Del Villar, and M Lukas Huntington.

Grad students/Transfers:

They don't have any transfers, but a few students are returning for an extra year as grad students (presumably missing most of a season because of injury). None of them were regular starters, but having the luxury of experienced depth is often the difference between success and failure in D3 play.

F Liam Hall (played 17 games, starting one, and had 4 goals and 2 assists)
D Salvador Leon (only started 3 games last season, but started 12 the year before)
D Jacoby Lockman (only started 3 games last season, but played in 23, with 1 goal and 2 assists)

Freshman:

Sean Lee MF San Jose Earthquakes MLS Next (Taipei, Taiwan/Burlingame, CA)
Taishu Liu D MVLA ECNL (Palo Alto, CA)
Nicolas McKee MF Achilles FC (Washington, DC)
Atticus English D SF Elite (San Francisco, CA)
Daniel Zhu M Crossfire ECNL (Redmond, WA)
Clayton Thomas F Colorado Rapids ECNL (Denver, CO)
Leica Yasukawa M San Diego Surf ECNL (San Diego, CA)
Niall Connor M SF Glens MLS Next (San Francisco, CA)
Tomas Bellatin M Miami Strikers FC (Miami, FL)
Paxton Greene F Real Colorado ECNL (Cherry Creek, CO)
Penn Kaplan MF Silicon Valley Soccer Academy MLS Next (Los Altos, CA)

[Kuiper]

Second SCIAC school for my roster analysis/season preview

Pomona-Pitzer

Pomona-Pitzer has long punched far below its potential weight in men's soccer (women are a different story). They are a top academic school in a beautiful location on a campus shared with the rest of the Claremont schools and it has a built-in rivalry with its across-the-street (literally) neighbor at CMS.  Plus, it has good airport access and recruits nationally and internationally.  Three years ago, they managed to get into the SCIAC tournament for the first time in awhile, beat La Verne in the QFs on PKs and took Oxy to double OT before falling despite being down a man from the 48th minute on and down two men for the end of the 2nd OT.  Driven by a strong recruiting class of freshmen that season, it looked like P-P had turned a corner.  But, that all took place when their very long-time head coach went on medical leave mid-season and their long-time assistant HC served as interim.  He was named interim HC in 2023, but when the head coach, who had tenure, returned but was going to have to be carried by his coaching staff, the asst HC left. Another assistant came on to help out and they ended up at the bottom of the SCIAC table in 2024 as players really didn't know who was in charge.  Now, for the first time in four decades, they have a new HC, Clint Moore, who last coached at DII Colorado School of Mines and DI Air Force (and DIII Illinois Wesleyan before that) and for the first time in a long time I've seen P-P out recruiting nationally.  The question is whether Moore can take advantage of that great recruiting class who helped drive them in Fall 2022, including All SCIAC 2nd teamer Nic Ulrich (D) and fellow seniors Alex Greenstein (F) and former Colorado College GK Jasper Broad, to move out of the SCIAC cellar.  My guess is midfielder Guy Fuchs (Jr) will play an important role if they are to succeed.

Key Departures:

Biggest loss is leading scorer and All SCIAC 2nd teamer (and former SCIAC newcomer of the year) Keyon Namdar, who transferred to NYU and will be playing there in the fall despite being from Irvine, CA.  I doubt the coaching vacuum was why he left (academics/career likely played a bigger role), but it couldn't have helped.  They will also miss regular contributors like grad student (M) Thomas Moulder (former Ursuline player) and (F) Kyle Lau (Hong Kong nat'l team).

Freshman:

Townes Richardson CB/CM Rio Rapids SC ECNL (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Elias Inouye D Hawaii United (Honolulu, HI)
Sebastian Lee Jara D Manhattan SC (Manhattan, NY)
Jiha Choi Wing Laguna United SC EAL (Seoul, South Korea/Laguna, CA)
Andy Xiao M Gretna Elite Academy ECNL (Omaha, Nebraska)
Metolius Halloran-Steiner D Westside Metros FC ECNL (McMinnville, Oregon)

[Kuiper]

Interesting D3 to D1 transfer news:

Kevin Box played three years as GK for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, starting 27 games (including all 17 his senior year in 2023).  He apparently didn't play at a college anywhere last season, but DI UCLA just announced Box as a late addition to its recruiting class. 

It looks like Box  never used his Covid year and then entered UCLA for grad school and may have walked-on in the Spring and then was asked to join the team for the fall as a late addition to the roster.  I assume they needed a practice GK since two other GKs from last season transferred to get a chance at playing time.  Even if that's all it is and he never gets to travel, it's pretty cool that he's able to keep his playing career going after a year off and at a major DI program like the Bruins.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Interesting D3 to D1 transfer news:

Kevin Box played three years as GK for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, starting 27 games (including all 17 his senior year in 2023).  He apparently didn't play at a college anywhere last season, but DI UCLA just announced Box as a late addition to its recruiting class. 

It looks like Box  never used his Covid year and then entered UCLA for grad school and may have walked-on in the Spring and then was asked to join the team for the fall as a late addition to the roster.  I assume they needed a practice GK since two other GKs from last season transferred to get a chance at playing time.  Even if that's all it is and he never gets to travel, it's pretty cool that he's able to keep his playing career going after a year off and at a major DI program like the Bruins.

Definitely interesting. He most likely will have much more experience than the other two keepers. So may be a viable starter depending how he does starting Aug. 1. Keeper experience can play a huge factor. It is also possible that UCLA lost a GK recruit late which would explain why he is there. They would only carry 3 keepers with the reduced rosters. Days of 4 keepers are gone.

Also interesting - of the 8 players announced as recruits for UCLA, 7 are transfers (6 from other D1 programs) and one freshman who is from Spain. The Spaniard will be 20 at the start of the season as well so your typical int'l freshman. All 8 will be 20 or older and several 23 or 24. Another interesting thing with UCLA in the Big Ten, they'll have to take at least 7 plane rides to play a game. https://uclabruins.com/news/2025/7/22/mens-soccer-announces-eight-additions-to-incoming-recruiting-class

[Kuiper]

A few more commitment posts from Oxy just dropped

Occidental

Enzo Bernales F/M Ballistic United MLS Next (Piedmont, CA)
Joshua Lang Wingback Silicon Valley Soccer Academy MLS Next (Union City, CA)
Torben Kroeger CB De Anza Force MLS Next (Mountain View, CA)
Noah Armour F Concorde Fire ECNL (Atlanta, GA)
Ted O'Brien M Utah Avalanche ECNL (Salt Lake City, UT)
Sawyer Benedict CB Legends FC ECNL (San Diego, CA)

Oxy announced a few additional recruits on Instagram.   

Elijah Edelman M Portland, OR/Macalester (transfer)
Alex Yu D Eden Prairie, MN/St. Olaf (transfer)
Isaac Wright D Takoma Park, MD/Potomac SC ECNL
Kent Ortiz M Victorville, CA/FC Golden State MLS Next

The two transfers are of most interest to me.  Both are junior transfers, which isn't very common in D3 given the difficulty of fulfilling general education and major requirements in small liberal arts colleges.  Yu is a big (6'3") defender who hasn't gotten a ton of playing time at St. Olaf, only playing 9 games over two years.  Edelman, however, has played 36 games the last two years, starting 22 (including 17 of 18 last season) and was honorable mention All-MIAC his freshman year.  He's also scored 8 goals and had 7 assists over the last two seasons.
 

[Kuiper]

East Texas Baptist

ETBU was probably the best of the bottom half of the ASC last season, but the ASC didn't have many schools and there was a huge gap between the top and the bottom of the ASC teams.  Still, ETBU had some exciting games, including a loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor where they were down 5-0 at halftime and scored 4 goals in the second half only to fall short 5-4, so they were often fun to watch.

Key Returners:

Junior Lopez scored 9 goals as a freshman last season in 17 starts and 18 games overall.  He'll likely be counted on to carry the scoring load for the team.  Defender Jacob Wenzel (6'3") comes back after starting 16 games last season to anchor the defense along with Edwin Jimenez and GK Ryan Lord, who started almost every game last season at GK as a freshman.

Key Departures:

Almost everyone?  They had 30 on the 2024 roster and only 11 returned.  They only had a couple of seniors, so I don't know what happened.  That's an epic amount of turnover.

Freshman:

They have an astounding 40 freshman listed on the 2025 roster.  With 51 players, I assume they are playing a reserve team, but that still leaves a bunch of freshman getting significant playing time this season.  Seems like a red flag for the program or the university, but I'm not sure what's going on.

[Kuiper]

Texas Lutheran

Texas Lutheran wasn't as strong in 2024 as it was in 2023 when it finished 14-3 in 2023, but it was still a tough out for teams in the SCAC, actually losing fewer games and finishing 9-2-5 with a paltry 0.63 GAA.  The issue was with the offense, which only produced 24 goals in 2024, compared with 38 goals in 2023.  The question in 2025 is whether they can survive a ton of graduations of key players, especially on defense.

Key Departures:

Almost the entire starting defense.  GK Noel Pena leaves after playing every minute at GK last season and almost every minute the year before as well. They don't have a single returning GK who has played a minute as a college GK. They also lose starting defenders Diego Roman, Nathan Roy, and Noah Harris, as well as Louis Hart, who played a lot on defense and led the team in scoring (with 4 goals).  On midfield, they lose a ton, including regular starters Jack Manke, Erick Lopez, and Gavin Edwards, who also played at forward.

Key Returners:

It's actually hard to identify many.  Defender Carson Allredge is the one returning starter from the backline.  Forward Preston Huff had 9 goals/3 assists in 2023 and was All-SCAC Honorable Mention, but he only played 3 games in 2024 before missing the rest of the season with an injury.  If he can return to form in 2025, he is going to be counted on to drive the offense.

Freshman:

They have 14 freshman on the roster, but the one who caught my eye is a GK, partly because the position seems to be wide-open, but mostly because of the guy's size.  Ernesto Avila's listed height and weight is 6'2" and 260 lbs. That's . . . that's a big man.