Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

It is going to be a sloppy game in San Antonio tonight between Kalamazoo and Trinity.  We've had rain most of the day (remnants of a hurricane that hit the Pacific coast of Mexico) and the weather stations in that area have already reported 1-2" of rain with more on the way.

They are playing, but the wet conditions may be affecting play.

HALF:  Trinity 0 - Kalamazoo 0

Kalamazoo's counterattacking and speed are giving Trinity some problems, especially since the weather isn't doing any favors for Trinity's possession style.  Kalamazoo had one chance 1 v. 1 in the box that was called offside (although the GK made a great kick save anyway) and Trinity had a PK for a handball called back on a scrum in the box that appeared to hit the defender's upper chest/arm, rather than the forbidden area, but the referee reversed his call after consulting with the AR.

UPDATE: Trinity 1 - Kalamazoo 0 53rd minute

Trinity makes some adjustments coming out of half and a simple cross and finish for Knutsen gives Trinity the lead.

FINAL:  Trinity 3 - Kalamazoo 0

Trinity runs away with it in the second half with Samuel Theiss scoring a brace in the second half and Kalamazoo running out of gas

[Kuiper]

In addition to the Trinity-Kalamazoon game, here are the results of some other action in Region X on Sunday

Gettysburg 1 - CMS 0

Hard to believe that of the four non-conference games CMS played in Texas and Pennsylvania, the only one they won was Messiah away.  CMS was pretty dominant in the first half, out-shooting Gettysburg 10-0, but a combination of good goalkeeping and compact defense kept CMS off the board as Gettysburg parked the bus and looked for a counterattack.  They got it in the 53rd minute when a breakaway led to a PK and the only goal of the match.  CMS comes home with a 1-3 record and still looking for a player who can unlock defenses that concede possession in the middle third of the field.

Colorado College 0 - Mary Hardin-Baylor 0

Colorado College is undefeated, but at 2-0-3 and one game left before it opens conference play, it is still a team that looks vulnerable.  It has either given up a late goal, or only salvaged a tie with a late goal, in two of the ties, and lost a late chance for a game-winner in this one.  Part of the difficulty for both teams is that they were running on fumes, with UMHB playing their second game in three days at altitude and CC playing their third game in four days.  The game's finish was also choppy with a 30 minute lightening delay with 7 minutes left in the game disrupting any momentum either team had for a fantastic finish.  It probably favored UMHB, though, by allowing them to get some rest to resist CC's final push.  Even then, UMHB relied on a goal line clearance from a defender to preserve the tie.  UMHB travels back to Belton undefeated as well, with a 2-0-2 record and still looks like the safe prediction for the ASC auto bid with Hardin-Simmons already stumbling against both Texas Lutheran and St. Thomas.

Texas Lutheran 5 - Howard Payne

TLU took care of business against winless Howard Payne, scoring 4 goals in the first 26 minutes after Howard Payne went down a man in the 3rd minute because of a straight red card.  By the second half, TLU pretty much emptied the bench.

Christopher Newport 2 - Redlands 1

Like CMS, Redlands played 4 games on the east coast, played all them close (indeed, all four of Redlands' games have been decided by 2-1 scores), and will be limping home with a 1-3 record to show for it.  CNU got on the board first in the 18th minute and the game was 1-0 going to halftime.  Anders Beckton tied it up for Redlands in the 52nd minute and held CNU to only 1 shot in the second half, but CNU's one shot was the game winner in the 70th off a header from a long throw-in.

Whittier 3 - Willamette 0

As I said with Pomona-Pitzer yesterday, don't look now, but Whittier is 4-0 after only winning 6 games all last season. In fact, Whittier and Pomona-Pitzer, the teams that finished 7th and 9th in the SCIAC last season, are sitting 1-2 in the conference right now.  Willamette was on the losing end of wins by each of those teams and was particularly toothless in this game, getting out-shot 25 to 10, with Whittier pressuring them all over the field and disrupting any rhythm with 21 fouls (to 7 for Willamette).  This completed a clean sweep of Whittier's three NWC opponents. 

Caltech 3 - Concordia Chicago 0

Caltech salvages a split of its Chicagoland games this weekend, beating Concordia Chicago in a fairly dominant performance, a phrase you would have been hard-pressed to ever use in a Caltech athletic performance over the past few decades.  They held Concordia to 1 shot on goal and 1 corner kick.  Etienne Casanova got his 3rd goal of the campaign in the 21st minute and most starters played a little over half.  Caltech was able to empty the bench and get first-ever goals from first years Kyler Williams and Gavin Slocum.

Whitman 2 - Cal Lutheran 1

Whitman salvages a win out of its three game Colorado Springs trip (where it tied the other two games) and salvages some pride for the NWC by notching the conference's first win in 8 games this year against SCIAC opponents.  For the third straight time on Whitman's Colorado trip, they found a late game goal to get a result.  This time, however, it was to regain the lead after taking it originally on a goal in the 2nd minute.  Cal Lu returns home winless from its two games in Colorado, letting in goals in the first few minutes in both losses.  It will need to clean up its focus from the first kickoff in conference play because it doesn't have the offensive firepower to keep playing from behind.

Southwestern 3 - Schreiner 0

Southwestern moves to 4-0 on the season with an easy win over winless Schreiner.  If there is criticism of Southwestern's performance, it's that it did not win by quite a bit more.  When you outshoot a team 15-2 in the first half and 30-7 overall, you probably expected to score more than 3 goals.  It seemed like the players were a bit impatient and quick to shoot (perhaps to notch some stats), which will come back to bite them against better opposition.  The next two games against Concordia and Texas Lutheran should provide better measures of whether Southwestern is for real or has just faced a combination of weaker opponents and those weakened by long travel and early season issues.

Pacific Lutheran 2 - UC Santa Cruz 1

Big victory for PLU, which desperately needed a result against a credible opponent before heading to NWC play after losing the first three games of the season to pretty good opposition.  UC Santa Cruz came into the game undefeated after beating three straight NWC opponents without allowing a goal, so this was a good measuring stick for the Lutes.  The game was tied 1-1 at half until PLU got the winner in the 69th minute.  Pacific Lutheran then withstood a barrage of shots as its keeper (Chris Jamrock, a UC Santa Cruz transfer who was 2nd team all C2C in 2024) made 8 saves in the game.

[D3Navy]

It is going to be a sloppy game in San Antonio tonight between Kalamazoo and Trinity.  We've had rain most of the day (remnants of a hurricane that hit the Pacific coast of Mexico) and the weather stations in that area have already reported 1-2" of rain with more on the way.

They are playing, but the wet conditions may be affecting play.

HALF:  Trinity 0 - Kalamazoo 0

Kalamazoo's counterattacking and speed are giving Trinity some problems, especially since the weather isn't doing any favors for Trinity's possession style.  Kalamazoo had one chance 1 v. 1 in the box that was called offside (although the GK made a great kick save anyway) and Trinity had a PK for a handball called back on a scrum in the box that appeared to hit the defender's upper chest/arm, rather than the forbidden area, but the referee reversed his call after consulting with the AR.

UPDATE: Trinity 1 - Kalamazoo 0 53rd minute

Trinity makes some adjustments coming out of half and a simple cross and finish for Knutsen gives Trinity the lead.

FINAL:  Trinity 3 - Kalamazoo 0

Trinity runs away with it in the second half with Samuel Theiss scoring a brace in the second half and Kalamazoo running out of gas

The assist from Knutson on the 3rd goal was perhaps the finest I've seen.  Incredible skill and patience with a seemingly effortless culminating little toss to Theiss for the goal. 

[Kuiper]

First Region X rankings from the United Soccer Coaches.

I mostly agree with it, although I think Pomona-Pitzer and Whittier have benefited from the fact that the NWC teams have been getting steamrolled and that Occidental, CMS and Redlands opted for harder competition in Texas and the east coast.  The fact that UC Santa Cruz's one loss was to Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma may be an indication that PLU's record is a reflection of playing a strong non-conference schedule, most of which was away from home.

Region X - Poll 1 - September 9, 2025
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Trinity University (Texas)    NR    1-0-0
2    Southwestern University    NR    4-0-0
3    Colorado College    NR    2-0-3
4    Pomona-Pitzer Colleges    NR    2-0-0
5    University of California Santa Cruz    NR    3-1-0
6    University of Mary Hardin-Baylor    NR    2-0-2
7    Whitman College    NR    1-0-3
8    Whittier College    NR    3-0-0

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity is 3-0-0, not 1-0-0.

[Kuiper]

Trinity is 3-0-0, not 1-0-0.

I just cut and paste the USC Region X rankings, but it looks like they got it right on the national rankings, where Trinity is #6.

Frankly, they should be 4-0 because they were well on their way to beating St. Thomas before the game was suspended.

[Kuiper]

Concordia (TX) 1 - Hardin-Simmons 0

Hardin-Simmons came out on the front foot and out-shot Concordia 19-11 (10-4 in the first half), including 10-4 on goal and had 8 corners to 3 for Concordia.  But Concordia focused on the counter attack and in the only stat that matters, Concordia scored in the 63rd minute on a well worked pass to the top of the box and a rocket shot to the top left side of the goal and then relied on their GK's 10 saves to hold on and secure a big road win.  Concordia is now 2-0 going into a big weekend against Southwestern and Trinity, while Hardin-Simmons is 2-3 and has to be questioning whether its offensive strategy makes sense.  It has crushed weak opposition (4-0 over Schreiner and 7-1 over McMurry), but lost all of its games against stronger SCAC teams.  The issue is that if a press attack isn't able to get through a low block and the defense is susceptible to being beaten on the counter, you're going to lose against good teams.

Austin 2 - Dallas Christian 2

After Dallas Christian surprised Austin with a goal in the 4th minute, Austin responded quickly, scoring goals in the 5th and 6th minutes.  Up 2-1, late in the game, though, it failed to see out the game, giving up the tying goal in the 85th minute.  Dallas Christian is a mid-table NCCAA team that is probably at the level of Centenary (which it tied 0-0 this season) or University of Dallas (which it beat 1-0 last season), so while Austin should have won, this is probably just confirmation that Austin is likely bottom half of the SCAC this year.

Caltech 4 - Life Pacific 1

Life Pacific is a bottom end NAIA team that already lost to Chapman 5-0, but any win is a good win for Caltech, which goes to 3-1 with this win.  It was the second comfortable victory in a row, with Caltech up 3-0 by the 28th minute.  Caltech is now 3-1 on the season.

[SimpleCoach]

Caltech 4 - Life Pacific 1

Still amazed how far Caltech has come over the last 3-4 years.  Just remarkable.  Certainly a case study for how to turn a program around.

SC.

[Kuiper]

Augsburg just beat Wisconsin-Eau Claire 1-0 to move to 6-0 on the season.  They've only played one game on the road (at Luther) this season, but they might be the team to watch in the NORTH this season.

Carver Tierney, who is a transfer from D2 Mercyhurst and played 19 games in his first two seasons at DI St. Thomas (MN), already has 8 goals and 2 assists in 6 games.

[Freddyfud]

Carver Tierney, who is a transfer from D2 Mercyhurst and played 19 games in his first two seasons at DI St. Thomas (MN), already has 8 goals and 2 assists in 6 games.

Mercyhurst moved to D1 two years ago.

[Kuiper]

Carver Tierney, who is a transfer from D2 Mercyhurst and played 19 games in his first two seasons at DI St. Thomas (MN), already has 8 goals and 2 assists in 6 games.

Mercyhurst moved to D1 two years ago.

Thanks for the correction.

[Kuiper]

HALF:  Chapman 0 La Verne 0

First conference game in the SCIAC, which for some reason is a week before many other teams are starting conference play.  Pretty even game thus far, although Chapman had the momentum toward the end of the half.  Neither team looking potent yet.

UPDATE:  La Verne 1 - Chapman 0

La Verne strikes first in the 57th minute on a ball driven down the sideline and turned in the endline that the GK came out for and was out of position for the pass to the late runner in the box who put it home.  Well worked sequence by ULV.

FINAL:  La Verne 1 - Chapman 0

ULV didn't exactly dominate, but they were very stout defensively, taking a lot of good angles to balls to allow them to cut out forward runs, and Chapman really didn't really threaten the ULV GK much in the second half despite a decent number of shots on goal.

So, at least until Saturday when Pomona-Pitzer plays Redlands, La Verne will be alone atop the SCIAC standings.

CORRECTION:  This wasn't considered a conference game (and neither is the Pomona-PItzer-Redlands game). The teams just needed an additional non-conference game and so they scheduled these games.

[Hopkins92]

I come here for the Caltech journey.

Here's a link to the Simple Coach's interview with Coach Gillis in 2023.

Might be fun to circle back with him.

Edit... Actual link would've been nice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCI2bpTmcIQ

[Kuiper]

What should have been a quiet Thursday night went sideways in Region X

The Masters 3 - Cal Lutheran 1

The Masters is a mid-table NAIA team.  Last week, Occidental beat The Masters 5-2 after being up 3-0 at half.  So, the fact that Cal Lutheran lost to The Masters 3-1 is not a good sign.  Maybe they're still tired from playing, and losing, two games in Colorado, but Oxy beat The Masters only a few days from returning from three games in Boston, so I'm not really buying that excuse.  There is one aspect of the game that does help explain the result.  Cal Lu's Jack Gominiak got a second yellow/red card in the 85th minute. Normally, I would think that would be too late to affect the game, but in this case, Cal Lu had just tied up the game 1-1 in the 83rd minute on a goal assisted by Gominiak and after he went out, The Masters scored goals in the 89th and 90th minutes to win the game.  Cal Lutheran now enters conference play with 1-3 and on a three game losing streak.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 1 - La Sierra 1

This is a real head scratcher.  Like The Masters University, La Sierra is a mid-table NAIA school in the GSAC.  CMS played this game on its home field.  These are the types of schools SCIAC teams typically beat fairly easily.  In this case, however, not only did CMS struggle, allowing an opening goal in the 26th minute before it tied it up in the 33rd minutes, but the result was a pretty fair one given how the game went.  CMS did rotate some, starting its backup GK, who hadn't played this season before this game, and two defenders who either hadn't played this season or hadn't had a start yet, as well as a freshman midfielder.  It also didn't play forward James Gomez.  Still, it had enough starters and goal scorers in the game, including starting forwards Ross and Laidlaw, who each had 3 shots on goal, that it should have come away with more than 1 goal.  CMS is now 1-4, with its only win a 4-3 triumph over Messiah in Grantham, which would have been something to hang your hat on in any year but the current one.  CMS has one more game against an even weaker NAIA team before it starts conference play.

McMurry 4 - East Texas Baptist 3

Not a good sign for East Texas Baptist that it lost 4-3 to a team that fellow ASC member Hardin-Simmons beat 7-1 a week ago and that was 4-13-1 last season.  It's a bitter pill to swallow considering that ETBU had just tied up the game in the 80th minute and then let in the game winner in the 85th minute on a goal by McMurry's Pedro Yanez to complete a hat trick for him on the night.   Both McMurry and ETBU are now 2-3 on the season.

Hardin-Simmons 4 - Centenary (LA) 2

Centenary scored first in the 15th minute, but H-S took the lead with goals in the 19th and 24th minutes and added to it with goals in the 68th and 70th minutes before conceding a late consolation goal.  This game seemed to continue H-S' pattern of scoring in bunches against bad teams, but leaving itself vulnerable in the back at the same time.

Schreiner 3 - Howard Payne 1

Pretty dominant performance as the bottom of the SCAC makes the argument that it is better than the bottom of the ASC.  Schreiner gets its first win to move to 1-6, while Howard Payne continues its losing streak and is now 0-4.

St. Thomas 3 - Mary Hardin-Baylor 1

This was the big game in Region X tonight that could be a preview of the NCAA Tournament Region X pod with the SCAC wide-open after the departures of Trinity and Southwestern and the ASC looking pretty barren with only four teams remaining. In a fairly even game, St. Thomas showed its skill in the place it matters the most - in front of goal.  St. Thomas scored early in the 14th minute, but only had a 1-0 lead at the half.  It broke the game open in the second half, scoring in the 51st and 67th minutes before UMHB got a consolation goal in the 77th minute.  In a continuing trend, St. Thomas only was called for 7 fouls, a massive difference from its experience a couple of years ago.  Coach Ernesto Ramirez should get credit for instilling some discipline in the team.  UMHB suffers its first loss of the season and goes to 2-1-2, while UST goes to 2-1 after beating Hardin-Simmons this past weekend.

[Kuiper]

Whittier 1 - Westcliff 0

A late game from Thursday.  Westcliff is another NAIA team (with zero other D3 teams in Southern California, NAIA is basically the only option if someone isn't traveling far).  Westcliff is one of the better NAIA teams in the area, having finished 12-2-2 last season.  It's also reasonably competitive with SCIAC teams, having beaten La Verne 3-2 this season and 2-1 last season.  In this particular game, Westcliff had the upper hand and Whittier was fortunate to come out with the win.  Whittier got the winning goal in the 90th minute (with 24 seconds left on the clock) on a well-struck free kick that went untouched into the left side of the goal.  Whittier had to be excited to come out on top despite Westcliff out-shooting them 15-6 and winning the corner kick battle 7-4.  Don't look now, but Whittier is 5-0.