Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

Some NWC action on Sunday

Pacific 2 - Lewis & Clark 1

On Friday, Lewis & Clark was tied with George Fox and conceded a PK with 1 minute and 22 seconds in the game to lose the game.  Today, they were tied with Pacific 1-1 and conceded a goal with 24 seconds left in the game to lose the game.  L&C is getting really close to its first NWC point since 2023.  In this game, the L&C goalkeeper was a bit naive about what was at stake.  He had a free kick inside his own box with 40 seconds left in the game and he just tried to kick it long, perhaps hoping to find the game winner.  In reality, as often happens with a long goal kick, it only found the head of a defender and went right back to the Pacific attackers.  Adam Landy collected it and drove down the left side and tried to loft it over the L&C GK, who got both hands on it, but was about two steps too far off his line and wasn't able to push it over the goal, instead pushing it back into the goal. Heartbreak for the perennially winless Lewis & Clark and jubilation for Pacific, which gets its second win of the season and in the NWC.

Puget Sound 3 - Willamette 1

One win Willamette punched above its weight in securing a 3-3 tie against Pacific Lutheran on Friday with a 76th minute goal, but ran out of magic against Puget Sound after scoring first in the 13th minute.  PS followed that up with three straight goals, two in the second half, to secure its 4th victory and to go 3-1 in the NWC.  The positive is that freshman Ky Iliev scored his 4th goal of the season, but Willamette doesn't really have any other reliable source of offense.  Puget Sound got a brace from Rhys Foote to raise his goal tally to 6 games.

Whitworth 1 - Linfield 0

I had my eye on this game.  Linfield is winless, but Whitworth has been inconsistent, losing 3-1 to rival Whitman last week. In this game, Whitworth got a quick goal in the 15th minute and then spent the rest of the game searching for an insurance goal.  I suspect that will be a common theme for Whitworth this year after losing Cole Fries.  Dominic Gusman scored the winning goal in this game and scored the lone goal against Whitman, but after him they don't really have any scorers.

[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

Region X coaches have come up with a new regional ranking.  Only change is that Whittier jumps over Whitman. You might make an argument that St. Thomas should have been rated or received votes after beating Mary Hardin-Baylor 3-1, but UST is only 2-1 against NCAA teams and lost to Texas Lutheran.  I show in brackets the records if you count non-NCAA D3 results. 

Region X - Poll 2 - September 16, 2025
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Trinity University (Texas)    NR    5-0-0
2    Southwestern University    NR    5-0-1
3    Colorado College    NR    3-0-3
4    Pomona-Pitzer Colleges    NR    2-0-1 [4-0-1]
5    University of California Santa Cruz    NR    4-1-0
6    University of Mary Hardin-Baylor    NR    3-1-2
7    Whittier College    NR    3-0-0 [5-0-0]
8    Whitman College    NR    1-0-3

Pomona-Pitzer and Whittier jump Colorado College.  Whitman and Mary Hardin-Baylor jump UC Santa Cruz

REGION X - POLL 3 - SEPTEMBER 23, 2025
Rank   School   Prev   W-L-T
1   Trinity University (Texas)   NR   6-1-0
2   Southwestern University   NR   7-0-1
3   Pomona-Pitzer Colleges   NR   3-0-2
4   Whittier College   NR   4-0-0
5   Colorado College   NR   3-0-3
6   Whitman College   NR   3-0-3
7   University of Mary Hardin-Baylor   NR   5-1-2
8   University of California Santa Cruz   NR   4-3-0

St. Thomas enters the poll, Pomona-Pitzer drops from 3 to 6, Colorado College jumps Whittier (and P-P) to go to 3, Whitman jumps to 5

Region X - Poll 4 - September 30, 2025
Rank   School   Prev   W-L-T
1   Trinity University (Texas)   NR   7-1-0
2   Southwestern University   NR   8-0-2
3   Colorado College   NR   5-0-3
4   Whittier College   NR   5-0-1
5   Whitman College   NR   5-0-3
6   Pomona-Pitzer Colleges   NR   4-1-2
7   University of Mary Hardin-Baylor   NR   7-1-2
8   University of Saint Thomas (Texas)   NR   6-1-0

[Kuiper]

Occidental 5 - Caltech 1

Oxy breaks a four game winless streak and puts in what is probably its best game since its win at MIT in the season's opening weekend.  It wasn't even that Oxy dominated Caltech in all facets of the game.  The stats were more even than the score.  The difference was that Occidental was clinical in the final third and it gang tackled, which is one way to shut down a possession-oriented team like Caltech.  Remarkably, this is Occidental's first SCIAC win, raising its record to 1-2-1 in conference and 3-4-2 overall.  Caltech drops to 5-4 and 2-2 on conference.

[Kuiper]

Hardin-Simmons 2 - East Texas Baptist 2

ETBU was up 2-1 in this game after scoring in the 77th minute, but H-S found the equalizer in the 80th minute and was able to avoid the loss.  ETBU is 0-0-1 in the ASC and 5-5-1 overall, while H-S is  3-5-1 overall and 0-0-1 in the ASC.  I think both teams are playing for second place to Mary Hardin-Baylor in the ASC, but they've showed some fight.

[Kuiper]

Late SCIAC action tonight

Chapman 1 - CMS 1

After beating Redlands 2-0 over the weekend, CMS couldn't keep the wins coming.  Chapman scored first in the 57th and then CMS equalized in the 63rd in a game where the teams combined for only 12 shots total.  CMS is now 2-5-4 and 1-2-2 in the SCIAC and Chapman is 4-2-3 and 3-0-2 in the SCIAC.

Redlands 1 - Cal Lutheran 1

Redlands battled to a 1-0 lead with a goal in the 85th, but lost it on an own goal in the 88th when a Cal Lu cross into the Redlands box was chested into the goal by a Redlands defender.  Not sure if he thought his GK would get it or he just ran into the ball, but a disappointing way to give up points for Redlands.  To be fair, it was a really nice cross by the Kingsmen and if the Redlands defender had trailed his man, it was well set-up for the Cal Lu attacker to score anyway.  Redlands is now 3-5-2 and 1-2-1 in the SCIAC and Cal Lutheran is 2-5-2 and 1-2-2 in the SCIAC.

Whittier 2 - La Verne 1

Whittier's unbeaten streak continues as Rowan Slater scores the game-winning goal in the 77th minute for his 6th goal of the season after La Verne had tied the game at 1 only 6 minutes earlier.  Whittier is now 8-0-2 and 2-0-2 in the SCIAC, while La Verne is 3-4-3 and 1-3-1 in the SCIAC.
 

[Kuiper]

One NWC game this evening

Willamette 1 - Linfield 1

For what I think is the third game in a row, Willamette's Ky Iliev gets them off the a fast start, this time with a goal in the 4th minute.  Linfield, however, ties it up in the 66th minute and held on to secure its first point of the season, raising its record to 0-8-1 and 0-4-1 in the NWC.  Willamette, which has to be disappointed it couldn't get all 3 points against Linfield after tying Pacific Lutheran over the weekend 3-3, goes to 1-5-5 and 1-2-4 in the NWC.  At this point, Willamette isn't good enough to take any team lightly, including perpetually winless Lewis & Clark, which it plays on Saturday.

[Kuiper]

Mary Hardin-Baylor 2 - Belhaven 1

Pretty even game.  UMHB went down very quickly on a goal in the first minute of regulation, but it clawed its way back with goals less than a minute before halftime and then again in the 53rd minute.  UMHB goes to 8-1-2 overall and plays ASC foe East Texas Baptist on Saturday (it may even be going there directly from this game and arriving a day early since it's on the way back to Belton, more or less).  Its biggest remaining tests may not come in conference, though, although games against Hardin-Simmons are always tough regardless of team records, but from its remaining non-conference games at Southwestern and at Trinity.

EDIT: I should add that under NPI, there is an unusual dynamic going on in Region X among Whitman, Colorado College, and UMHB.  At an early season round-robin at Colorado College, UMHB and Whitman tied 2-2, Whitman and Colorado College tied 2-2, and UMHB and Colorado College tied 0-0.  All three are in the lead for their conference titles and therefore should have a large number of wins and at least a couple of ties (half-wins) against high-ish NPI schools because of these early season ties in Colorado Springs.  That might not matter for those three schools if they each win their conference auto-bids, but it could help them if they don't.  Moreover, it could help other teams.  St. Thomas has beaten UMHB, which could be valuable if they are not the SCAC champion although UMHB has the toughest remaining schedule because it still plays Trinity and Southwestern.  Moreover, if Trinity and/or Southwestern do beat UMHB, that could give them an NPI boost too.   

[Kuiper]

HALF:  Trinity 0 - Oglethorpe 0

Oglethorpe is playing in a low block on defense with five across the back line and four more in front of them and they are giving Trinity no easy options although Trinity has gotten off 9 shots.  On offense, Ogelthorpe is trying to counter whenever possible, mostly to no avail, but they had a couple of good forays forward toward the end of the first half.  It will be interesting to see if either team changes anything for the second half because it's mostly a stalemate.  Trinity has to do more one-touch passing and movement off the ball if it wants to break through on the ground.  Alternatively, it will need to do a counterpress to catch half the Oglethorpe players bombing forward without the ball.

HALF:  Southwestern 0 - Berry 0

Same scoreline in the other SAA opener, although even less offense, with Southwestern having the only shot on goal.

[Ron Boerger]

In Trinity's first SAA road trip to Georgia, freshman Brandon Gongora gets his second straight start in goal.  Trinity held a 6-2 SOG and 7-0 corner advantage in the first half but has not been able to break through, as Kuiper noted.  Leading scorer Adam Knutson was held to two shots, one on goal. 

Jayden Schell, who started in goal for Trinity the first seven games of the season, has not been seen on the pitch for the Tigers after conceding three goals to Christopher Newport (playing the full 90) on the 19th of last month.  Gongora and fellow freshman Luis Yenta have split time in goal since then. 

[Kuiper]

UPDATE:  Trinity 1 - Oglethorpe 0

Trinity gets a PK call in the 49th and Theiss scores on the rebound after the GK saves his first attempt.  We'll see if this opens up the game.  It was a case of aggressiveness run amuck for the Oglethorpe defense as it pursued the Trinity attacker in the corner of the box along the endline as he had turned safely away from the goal and the defender basically ran up his back when he just needed to keep him from turning back the other way.

UPDATE:  Trinity 1 - Oglethorpe 1 (81st minute)

Oglethorpe scores in a scramble in the box after a corner kick.  There was a lot of traffic there, but the Oglethorpe scorer managed to find a lane for his shot through the bodies.  Doubt the Trinity GK had a clean view of that

UPDATE:  Trinity 2 - Oglethorpe 1 (87th minute)

Trinity scores on a free kick from the left side of the goal just at the corner of the box.  It lands in the six and skips past everyone, including the GK, for the goal

FINAL:  Trinity 2 - Oglethorpe 1

Oglethorpe had a great chance on a long ball in the dying minutes where the attacker had a step on the defense and chipped it over the onrushing GK, but the Trinity defender wisely went to the goal line when his keeper comes out (too few defenders understand to do that) and he intercepted the chipped below before it got to the goal and kicked it out. 

Nice introduction to the SAA for Trinity.  Sounded like a spirited crowd too.

[Kuiper]

In Trinity's first SAA road trip to Georgia, freshman Brandon Gongora gets his second straight start in goal.  Trinity held a 6-2 SOG and 7-0 corner advantage in the first half but has not been able to break through, as Kuiper noted.  Leading scorer Adam Knutson was held to two shots, one on goal. 

Jayden Schell, who started in goal for Trinity the first seven games of the season, has not been seen on the pitch for the Tigers after conceding three goals to Christopher Newport (playing the full 90) on the 19th of last month.  Gongora and fellow freshman Luis Yenta have split time in goal since then. 

For what it's worth, Trinity brought in Schell for the second half, so it may just be that Trinity has an open competition at goal or the coach has decided to play multiple goalkeepers.  Frankly, I wish more schools did that regularly.  Caltech is one of the few I can think of that regularly has goalkeepers split halves.  Whether splitting halves or alternating games, teams that play only one goalkeeper until they suffer in form or get injured not only deprive backups of the ability to develop, but usually end up worse off over the long run.

Incidentally, former CMS keeper Kevin Box (who has been the third string keeper all season) gets the start and his first DI action for UCLA tonight against #18 Maryland.  After a half, Box has a clean sheet as it's 0-0.

[Kuiper]

FINAL:  Southwestern 1 - Berry 0

It wasn't easy, but Southwestern's Cooper Pero finds a goal in the 85th minute to nab the victory.

[Kuiper]

SCAC action tonight. 

If these games are representative, the conference is a bit more wide open than I thought with Trinity and Southwestern out of the picture.  Maybe the underdogs were just energized by Friday night conference action, but none of the teams looked truly dominant over 90 minutes.

St. Thomas 2 - University of Dallas 0

Dallas is 0-7-1 and has given up at least 3 goals or more almost every game.  So, how is St. Thomas was only up 1-0 until the last few minutes of the game when it scores on a PK?  From what I saw, Dallas was hustling and trapping St. Thomas players, but UST should have been able to adjust to that with quick passing and movement and I didn't see enough of that.

Hendrix 2 - Concordia TX 2

Hendrix just lost 7-0 to Colorado College this past Sunday (admittedly, in Hendrix' first trip to play at altitude since they just joined the conference), so I was surprised that they played Concordia to a tie.  And Hendrix was up 2-0 before Concordia reeled off goals in the 53rd and 68th minutes to bring them back level.

Austin 1 - McMurry 0

Two teams that will likely be battling to stay above the bottom of the conference.

Texas Lutheran 4 - Ozarks 1

It's not often that you see Texas Lutheran score 4 goals in a game.  TLU was up 2-0 by the 16th minute, but conceded a goal in the 24th to go into halftime up only 2-1.  They rectified that in the second half, though, with a couple of deep subs scoring in the 64th and 83rd minutes.  Not a major differential in shots (12-8), but TLU was clinical, which they haven't always been.

Colorado College 3 - Centenary 1

This game was closer than the scoreline.  Centenary scored first in the 24th minute and then Colorado College equalized in the 33rd minute.  It stayed at 1-1 for a LONG time, until CC found the game winner in the 82nd minute and then scored an insurance goal from a slaloming run by Ewan Robertson into the box that drew a PK.  CC outshot Centenary 17-3, but it felt like the Tigers had trouble connecting passes and tried too hard to win through individual brilliance rather than strong team play.

Schreiner 1 - LeTourneau 1

Another game between two teams fighting to stay out of the bottom of the standings.  Schreiner salvages a tie with a late first half PK.

[Kuiper]

Lewis & Clark 1 - Whitman 0 (32nd minute)

Chaos in Portland.  Lewis & Clark's Dylan Weinstein scored a banger under the cross bar from just outside the box.  Apparently, this is the first time Lewis & Clark has ever led Whitman in a game.

(I also learned that this is the last season Lewis & Clark will be known as the Pioneers.  Starting in the winter sports they will switch over to their new nickname - the River Otters)

HALF:  Lewis & Clark 1 - Whitman 0

Whitman has controlled possession, but shots and other offensive and defensive stats are even.  L&C is legitimately ahead for only the second time this season and ahead at the half of a game for the first time ever as far as I can tell (at least since the program shut down in the early 1990s).

UPDATE:  Lewis & Clark 2 - Whitman 0 (48th minute)

L&C put in a free kick into the box from about 40 yards out. Whitman's keeper came out and tried to punch or catch it and either muffed it or it skimmed over his knuckles and it bounced behind him where a L&C striker put the ball home.  First time L&C has ever been up 2-0 and only the third time they have scored multiple goals in a game ever.  Wow!

UPDATE:  Lewis & Clark 2 - Whitman 1 (67th minute)

Beautiful give-and-go sequence leads the Whitman striker to receive the ball 1 v. 1 with the keeper and the keeper takes out the attacker with his trailing foot and Whitman hits the PK.

UPDATE:  Lewis & Clark 2 - Whitman 2 (70th minute)

Whitman lobs the ball into the box and finds a freeman on the left side of the box who puts it home to bring the team's level.  The L&C announcer laments that the players are in a very unfamiliar place with a 2-0 lead and weren't able to manage it.

UPDATE:  Whitman 3 - Lewis & Clark 2 (89th minute)

Blasted outside shot from the right to the left side netting with about 1 minute 24 seconds to go puts Whitman ahead.  L&C defenders were gassed and Whitman finally just drove and shot rather than trying to pass it in the net.

UPDATE:  Whitman 4 - Lewis & Clark 2 (90th minute)

Whitman gets a ball on the left side of the box and instead of taking it to the flag, centers it where a Whitman attacker shoots it into the roof of the goal for the exclamation point.

FINAL:  Whitman 4 - Lewis & Clark 2

The score flatters Whitman, which was in pass-back, no urgency, possession for possession's sake, hell for a long time before the players woke up and realized they were in a dog fight.  I said last game when Whitman beat Linfield 1-0 that if they played that way against L&C, they would be in trouble, and they were.  Their quality won out in the end though.  Heartbreak for Lewis & Clark, which is *this* close to a point in conference play.  They instead lose for the third straight game in a row on a goal scored in the 89th minute or later.

[Kuiper]

Caltech 1 - Cal Lutheran 0

Caltech bounces back from the 5-1 thrashing by Oxy to beat Cal Lu with a goal by Etienne Casanova right at the end of the first half for its third win in the SCIAC.