Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

HALF:  Trinity 0 - Texas Lutheran 0

Trinity has had some nice possession, but TLU is really strong at tracking the ball carrier, clogging the passing lines, and staying compact in the box.  Trinity has out-shot Texas Lutheran 6-1, including 3 shots on goal, but TLU has gotten some offensive opportunities on counters.  This just feels like a typical physical Trinity-Texas Lutheran battle where Trinity is going to eventually break through and that will open the game up for both teams.  Right now, Trinity has to find a way to get Knutsen and Theiss in positions to be the ones who take the shot.  Thus far, TLU has bottled them both up and neither accounted for any of the team's 6 shots.  It's a bad sign that Jeremy Siau, a DI transfer defender from Presbyterian/Lipscomb, is leading the team in shots and shots on goal when he hadn't taken a shot for the team at all thus far this season.

FINAL: Trinity 1 - Texas Lutheran 0

Trinity finally breaks through with a goal by Zach Anderson in the 86th minute after the shot count was already up to 15-2 in Trinity's favor.  Sometimes you just have to grind and probe and swing it around and be patient against a team that's committed to its defensive game plan and Trinity managed to come out on top.

[Ron Boerger]

TLU keeper Ernesto Avila took a hard shot to his head trying to stop that goal - apparently hitting the goal frame - and hopefully does not have a concussion with their game at Southwestern on Sunday. 

Trinity held their opponent without a SOG for the third straight game.   

[Kuiper]

TLU keeper Ernesto Avila took a hard shot to his head trying to stop that goal - apparently hitting the goal frame - and hopefully does not have a concussion with their game at Southwestern on Sunday. 

Trinity held their opponent without a SOG for the third straight game.   

I was kind of hoping for more information before writing anything about that.  It's so brutal when goalkeepers throw themselves toward the pipes.  Didn't look good, but at least he walked off.

[Kuiper]

Occidental 1 - Hope International 1

Hope International is one of the stronger NAIA programs in the area and they played a gritty game that prevented Oxy's offense from getting untracked.  Part of the disjointed nature of Oxy's game may have been that they played a lot of players.  No one other than the GK played a full 90 and lots of relatively unused subs got significant time.  With conference play starting on Wednesday, Coach Rod may have been using this game as a last chance to get players some time before the games started to really count.

Concordia (TX) 0 - Southwestern 0

Southwestern's win streak ends at 4 in a game that was for the goalkeepers (and the crossbars!), but not because there was a lack of offense. You usually don't see a game end in a scoreless tie when the teams combine for 42 shots and 23 shots on goal!  Concordia's keeper made 10 saves and Southwestern's made 13 saves.  Both teams was also saved by the crossbar on at least one shot.

Pacific 1 - Linfield 0

In the NWC opener for these teams, Linfield was holding its own in this game in the first half, but Pacific scored a 57th minute goal and Linfield had no answer.  Pacific gets its first win of the season while Linfield continues to look for one.

Willamette 1 - George Fox 1

George Fox seemed to be on its way to opening conference play with a victory after scoring in the 35th minute and Willamette going down a man due to a straight red card in the 58th minute.  The game has to feel like a big victory for Willamette as it found the back of the net for the tying goal in the 84th minute on a 1 v. 3 breakaway.

 

[Kuiper]

[68th minute] UC Santa Cruz 1 - Caltech 0

Pretty even game after UCSC scored a goal in the 6th minute. Caltech has like 980 undergraduates and UC Santa Cruz has about 17,800, so it feels like it should be David and Goliath, but Caltech is hanging tough despite being outshot 12-1.

FINAL:

UC Santa Cruz 1 - Caltech 0

Caltech got a little offense at the end, but mostly staved off more attacks and got some good goalkeeping. UC Santa Cruz is now 4-1, with its only loss at Pacific Lutheran, while Caltech falls to 3-2 and likely falls out of the Region X rankings, which was probably its first ever time being regionally ranked.

Field note:  UC Santa Cruz's field plays really slow.  It looks nice on the stream, but they either aren't cutting it low enough or it grows very quickly because of the regular moisture from being so close to the ocean.  Definitely was affecting the pace of passes and even the ability of teams to dribble.

[Kuiper]

Pomona-Pitzer 1 - Redlands 0 (22nd minute)

Nic Ulrich opens the scoring for P-P hitting a PK after an aggressive Redlands defense fouled a Pomona-Pitzer player on the right side of the box.

UDPATE:  Pomona-Pitzer 1 - Redlands 1

Zach Darmanyan scores a worldie, driving from one side of the box past the defenders and shooting the ball to the opposite top corner in the 32nd minute.

HALF:  Pomona-Pitzer 1 - Redlands 1

Redlands were the more threatening side after the PK, but couldn't find the back of the net.

Note:  Seth Lawrence replaced Brady Bachman in goal for Redlands and has already made some good saves in the second half.  Lawrence has been at Redlands for what seems like forever, making the SCIAC first team in 2023.  He started in 2020 and got a Covid year in 2024 when he started a 2-year grad program at Redlands.  Unfortunately, he was injured and missed 2024 and so he came back in 2025.  I particularly like the honesty as he's gotten older.  He started listed at 5'8", but grew to 5'9" according to his bio in 2021 and stayed there through 2023.  When he came back as a grad student, though, he apparently shrunk (or embraced his size/physique in his old age) and has been listed at 5'8" the last two years.

UPDATE:  Pomona-Pitzer 2 - Redlands 1 in the 78th minute

Big mistake by Redlands leads to the go-ahead goal.  A Redlands player directs the throw-in in the Redlands half back toward his center back, but a Pomona-Pitzer player intercepts, takes it to the middle of the box, and passes it into the corner of the goal.

UPDATE:  Pomona-Pitzer 2 - Redlands 2 in the 79th minute

Redlands drives right down the field after the P-P goal and a P-P player sticks his leg out in the box and a PK is called.  Anders Beckton slots it home for the tying goal.  This game is in the crazy zone now!

FINAL:  Pomona-Pitzer 2 - Redlands 2

P-P's four game winning streak ends and Redlands goes to 1-3-1.  Redlands outshot P-P 17-8, several of which required fantastic saves from Jasper Broad, but Redlands' GKs had to dig deep for heroics of their own.  Probably a fair result, although the reality is that both goals for Pomona-Pitzer were attributable to Redlands mistakes at some level, which is something Redlands has to clean up to success in-conference since it does not appear to have the offensive firepower to overcome mistakes this season.

[Kuiper]

A review of some SCAC/ASC results from Saturday:

Mary Hardin-Baylor 3 - Austin College 0

After losing 3-1 to St. Thomas, UMHB gets an easier game against UST's fellow SCAC member Austin College.  UMHB dominated in the first half, going into halftime up 2-0 and with a 7-1 advantage in shots, and then tacked on an insurance goal in the 84th minute.  UMHB goes to 3-1-2 and Austin is 1-1-1.

East Texas Baptist 5 - Schreiner 2

ETBU (3-3) snaps a three game losing streak by beating up SCAC cellar dweller Schreiner (1-6).  It wasn't easy though.  There were 4 goals scored over an 8 minute period in the first half and it was 2-2 by the 34th minute.  It was all ETBU after that though.

Centenary (LA) 2 - Howard Payne 2

In a game where there were only 13 fouls between the two teams, it's hard to believe that there were 7 cards, including two reds.  Even crazier, Howard Payne scored the go-ahead goal on a PK after the second red card, but Centenary managed to tie the game up less than a minute later in the 85th minute despite being down two men.  Shades of St. Thomas-Texas Lutheran from a couple of years ago (the comeback despite being down multiple men, rather than the way they got the cards).  Howard Payne still has to be celebrating, though.  This result breaks their 5 game losing streak and moves them to 0-5-1.  Centenary is 2-2-2.

Colorado College 2 - Carroll 0

Colorado College put their shooting boots back on after the UMHB 0-0 tie and scored about 15 minutes into each half to raise their record to 3-0-3.  With Carroll (3-3) only putting one shot on goal, it was a fairly comfortable victory for the Tigers.

St. Thomas 2 - North American 0

UST continues its winning ways with a victory over NAIA-side North American.  Texas Refs also continue to be liberal with cards (or stingy with calling fouls) as the teams combined for 12 fouls and 8 cards.

LeTourneau 2 - Maryville (TN) 2

In the second game of a trip to Georgia to play in a Berry invitational, LeTourneau gives up a 2-0 lead in the 63rd minute by conceding goals in the 71st and 89th minutes to settle for a tie.  LeTourneau goes to 0-1-3 and continues to search for its first win.

[Kuiper]

A couple of NWC games on Saturday

Corban (NAIA) 2 - Lewis & Clark 0

After snapping its 25 game losing streak with a tie against NAIA side Northwest last Saturday, the Pioneers returned to their losing ways (and extended their winless streak to 51 games).  The positive is that they held Corban to only 1 goal until the 87th minute. The negative is that they gave up a second goal after Corban went down a man because of a second yellow/red. 

Carroll (MT) (NAIA) 2 - Whitworth 0

Carroll is one of the stronger teams in NAIA, going 15-4-3 last season and winning its conference tournament last season before losing in the second round of the NAIA national tournament to the #2 team in the country.  Nevertheless, one of its losses was to Whitworth by a 2-1 score.  Indeed, Carroll, which plays Whitworth pretty regularly, hasn't beaten Whitworth since 2019, although it tied them in 2023 and 2022. This loss isn't a horrible result and it was only 1-0 until Carroll scored in the 84th minute, but with the game in Spokane rather than Helena, and it only being an exhibition for Carroll for NAIA purposes, I consider it to be a bit of a bad sign of where Whitworth may stand this season. I'm waiting to see where their goals are going to come from with Cole Friesen's transfer back to Southern California, especially withe next three leading point getters from last season graduated as well.  In this game, Jordan Voigt led the team with two shots on goal and he's the leading scorer returning, but he only had 4 goals, so we'll have to see how he does when defenses are keying on him.

Note: I think it's kind of cool that a D3 team played a team in Helena, Montana, which is only about a 5 hour drive away, but probably feels like worlds away for most people associated with D3.

[Kuiper]

HALF:  Southwestern 1 - Texas Lutheran 0

Southwestern did something it couldn't against Concordia TX, which is score a goal, this time right before halftime in the 43rd minute.  They've outshot TLU 14-4, but that's kind of Texas Lutheran's game.  As the second half is just underway, we'll see if it breaks TLU out of its shell and provides more opportunities for Southwestern.

FINAL:  Southwestern 1 - Texas Lutheran 0

TLU's Avila makes 13 saves, but the offense didn't do enough to challenge Southwestern, which picks up the win after tying against Concordia.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity (TX) 3, Concordia (TX) 0

Adam Knutson had himself a game, scoring a brace in the first half against the visiting Tornadoes and earning an assist on the game's final goal.  Concordia (2-1-1) came in undefeated on the season after earning an 0-0 tie at undefeated Southwestern Friday night and were the first team since the opener to force the Trinity keepers to make a save with one SOG in each half. 

Knutson's first score came off a PK resulting from a handball in the box; less than four minutes later, he was a recipient of a pass from Kassen Dilworth that found him directly in front of goal.  He initiated the final goal which came when his pass to Alex Baltov on the wing forced the Tornado keeper out of the box only to have Baltov evade with a pass to  co-leading scorer Samuel Thiess in the box who evaded a diving tackle attempt by his defender to score.  Knutson and Theiss have combined for nine of Trinity's (5-0-0) 15 goals so far.

[Kuiper]

Trinity (TX) 3, Concordia (TX) 0

Adam Knutson had himself a game, scoring a brace in the first half against the visiting Tornadoes and earning an assist on the game's final goal.  Concordia (2-1-1) came undefeated on the season in after earning an 0-0 tie at undefeated Southwestern Friday night and were the first team since the opener to force the Trinity keepers to make a save with one SOG in each half. 

Knutson's first score came off a PK resulting from a handball in the box; less than four minutes later, he was a recipient of a pass from Kassen Dilworth that found him directly in front of goal.  He initiated the final goal which came when his pass to Alex Baltov on the wing forced the Tornado keeper out of the box only to have Baltov evade with a pass to  co-leading scorer Samuel Thiess in the box who evaded a diving tackle attempt by his defender to score.  Knutson and Theiss have combined for nine of Trinity's (5-0-0) 15 goals so far.

I mentioned in the Trinity-TLU game that Trinity needed to find a way to get Knutsen and Theiss some good looks at goal and they definitely did in this game!

Other observations about a few Sunday results in Region X

CMS 0 - Bethesda 0

At first glance, this is a shocking result, even more than CMS' 1-1 tie against La Sierra on Thursday.  Bethesda is an NCCAA team that is 0-5 thus far in 2025 and has already lost 4-1 to Caltech.  Last year, Bethesda was 3-10 and lost 9-0 to Occidental and 9-1 to La Verne.  A decent Bethesda SC (Maryland) U17 team might beat them.  On closer inspection, though, I think CMS and Oxy (which tied Hope International on Friday) have taken the same approach to these games. After coming back limping with their tails between their legs from their respective east coast trips, the coaches have used these non-NCAA games not to pump up their records, but to regroup, give top players a rest, and try different things.  They're still trying to win, but the games don't count for NPI purposes or for conference titles and the coaches are both pretty secure in their jobs.  When you look at who CMS played and for how long, it's pretty clear they fully treated it as a scrimmage.  CMS started a backup GK and substituted in another backup GK for the second half.  It gave first starts to seniors who had barely played this season and started/played freshman and sophomores in their first collegiate minutes and others got their first minutes of the season.  A few regular starters got some minutes off the bench, but most got the night off.  I can respect that.

Willamette 2 - Linfield 1

Linfield took the lead early in the 25th minute and went into halftime up 1-0, but Willamette scored two quick goals five minutes apart in the first 10 minutes of the second half to seal the victory.  Linfield was thoroughly outplayed in the second half and only had one shot on goal on two shots. Willamette finally gets its first win of the season and Linfield moves to 0-5, with it increasingly looking like the Lewis & Clark games may be its only chances for wins. 

George Fox 1 - Pacific 1

After consecutive 1-1 ties against Willamette and Pacific, it's pretty clear that this is not the same George Fox team that won 14 games last season and challenged for the NWC title.  Even after Pacific went down a man on a second yellow card in a scuffle after George Fox's tying goal in the 83rd minute that also resulted in yellows for a Pacific and another GF player, George Fox couldn't use the momentum and the man advantage to find the winner.