Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

NWC action on Saturday

Willamette 1 - Lewis & Clark

The pain marches on for Lewis & Clark.  It was 0-0 until Willamette found the back of the net in the 79th minute.  The Pioneers (soon to be River Otters) continue to search for their first win and they may have their best chance of the season tomorrow afternoon against 1-win Linfield at home.  Willamette gets only their second win of the season. 

Pacific Lutheran 1 - Whitman 1

PLUS was up 1-0 for a long time after scoring in the 14th minute, but Whitman has gotten comfortable with giving up early leads and scoring late.  This time, they find the equalizing goal in the 51st and the two teams played to a stalemate from there.  Whitman remains on top in the NWC with a 6-0-1 record (7-0-4 overall), while Pacific Lutheran is second at 5-0-2 (6-3-2 overall).

Whitworth 1 - Puget Sound 1

Whitworth looked like it was cruising to a victory until Puget Sound found a goal in the 89th minute off a rebound that was put back in to come away with a tie.  Whitworth remains in 3rd in the NWC with a 4-1-2 record and Puget Sound is right behind them at 4-2-1.

George Fox 4 - Linfield 2

Two teams just above Lewis & Clark in the bottom of the table left defense at home and went for a win in this game.  The game looked like it would end 2-1 for GF, but GF scored what it thought was an unnecessary insurance goal in the 82nd to make it 3-1.  Turns out it was needed as Linfield scored a goal in the 89th and George Fox came back with a late goal of its own in the 90th.

[Kuiper]

SCIAC conference games after dark were crazy tonight

Whittier 3 - Redlands 3

For regular readers (are there any? as if! ), you know that I've been saying for the last few weeks that Redlands has missed Zachary Darmanyan on offense.  He provides some playmaking ability and he draws defenders away from Anders Beckton.  Lo and behold, first game Darmanyan is back since 9/24, Redlands goes out to a quick 2-0 lead with goals in the 13th and 18th minutes, both off of Darmanyan assists.  Whittier picks up a goal in the 25th minute to make it 2-1, but Redlands gets a third goal in the 28th to take a 3-1 lead, which they held onto for 50 minutes.  Darmanyan's return, however, didn't magically do anything for Redlands' defense.  Whittier scored in the 79th and 85th to salvage the tie and drop from 1st to a tie in 2nd with La Verne in the SCIAC.  Redlands loses a chance to move up and remains in second to last.

Occidental 3 - CMS 3

Like the Redlands-Whittier game, the beginning of the game was bonkers.  Two teams desperate to get back into the SCIAC conference tournament race came in with a game plan of throwing everything forward (and dispensing with defense).  By the 16th minute, it was 2-2.  Even crazier, they alternated goals and they were both braces.  CMS' John Laidlaw scored in the 2nd and 11th minutes.  Oxy's Devin Bening scored in the 9th and 16th minutes. The second half started like the first half.  CMS scored in the 48th and Oxy scored in the 57th to make it 3-3.  Then, in the 59th, Oxy's Matt Shea, who had the assist on Oxy's 3rd goal, got a straight red card and Oxy had to change its tactics and CMS couldn't break them down despite being a man up.  The tie does move Oxy past Pomona-Pitzer for the 4th and final SCIAC tournament slot, while keeping CMS just behind Pomona-Pitzer for the 5th spot with the two teams playing each other next week in the 6th street rivalry game.

Chapman 1 - Pomona-Pitzer 0

Very tight game, but Chapman had a moment of quality in the 53rd minute and that was the difference.  Chapman vaults to the top of the SCIAC table with the teams ahead of it tying or losing and Pomona-Pitzer drops out of the last tournament slot.

[Kuiper]

ASC action tonight

Mary Hardin-Baylor 1 - Hardin-Simmons 0

Mary Hardin-Baylor has been the class of the ASC this year with a 9-1-2 record overall, while Hardin-Simmons has struggled 3-6-1 record.  Nevertheless, any game between the two "Hardin Children" is going to be a hard fought match.  This was no different.  The game was a statistical dead heat, but the difference was a Cru goal in the 50th minute.  They go to 2-0 in the ASC, and first place, while H-S is in last place in the ASC with an 0-2-1 record after losing to Howard Payne last game and tying East Texas Baptist the game before.  Fortunately, with only 4 teams, H-S will have chance for revenge against everyone the second time through the conference.

[Gray Fox]

SCIAC conference games after dark were crazy tonight

Whittier 3 - Redlands 3

For regular readers (are there any? as if! ), you know that I've been saying for the last few weeks that Redlands has missed Zachary Darmanyan on offense.  He provides some playmaking ability and he draws defenders away from Anders Beckton.  Lo and behold, first game Darmanyan is back since 9/24, Redlands goes out to a quick 2-0 lead with goals in the 13th and 18th minutes, both off of Darmanyan assists.  Whittier picks up a goal in the 25th minute to make it 2-1, but Redlands gets a third goal in the 28th to take a 3-1 lead, which they held onto for 50 minutes.  Darmanyan's return, however, didn't magically do anything for Redlands' defense.  Whittier scored in the 79th and 85th to salvage the tie and drop from 1st to a tie in 2nd with La Verne in the SCIAC.  Redlands loses a chance to move up and remains in second to last.

Occidental 3 - CMS 3

Like the Redlands-Whittier game, the beginning of the game was bonkers.  Two teams desperate to get back into the SCIAC conference tournament race came in with a game plan of throwing everything forward (and dispensing with defense).  By the 16th minute, it was 2-2.  Even crazier, they alternated goals and they were both braces.  CMS' John Laidlaw scored in the 2nd and 11th minutes.  Oxy's Devin Bening scored in the 9th and 16th minutes. The second half started like the first half.  CMS scored in the 48th and Oxy scored in the 57th to make it 3-3.  Then, in the 59th, Oxy's Matt Shea, who had the assist on Oxy's 3rd goal, got a straight red card and Oxy had to change its tactics and CMS couldn't break them down despite being a man up.  The tie does move Oxy past Pomona-Pitzer for the 4th and final SCIAC tournament slot, while keeping CMS just behind Pomona-Pitzer for the 5th spot with the two teams playing each other next week in the 6th street rivalry game.

Chapman 1 - Pomona-Pitzer 0

Very tight game, but Chapman had a moment of quality in the 53rd minute and that was the difference.  Chapman vaults to the top of the SCIAC table with the teams ahead of it tying or losing and Pomona-Pitzer drops out of the last tournament slot.

I assume that the SCIAC will again have the 4/5 first round matchup.

[Kuiper]

SCIAC conference games after dark were crazy tonight

Whittier 3 - Redlands 3

For regular readers (are there any? as if! ), you know that I've been saying for the last few weeks that Redlands has missed Zachary Darmanyan on offense.  He provides some playmaking ability and he draws defenders away from Anders Beckton.  Lo and behold, first game Darmanyan is back since 9/24, Redlands goes out to a quick 2-0 lead with goals in the 13th and 18th minutes, both off of Darmanyan assists.  Whittier picks up a goal in the 25th minute to make it 2-1, but Redlands gets a third goal in the 28th to take a 3-1 lead, which they held onto for 50 minutes.  Darmanyan's return, however, didn't magically do anything for Redlands' defense.  Whittier scored in the 79th and 85th to salvage the tie and drop from 1st to a tie in 2nd with La Verne in the SCIAC.  Redlands loses a chance to move up and remains in second to last.

Occidental 3 - CMS 3

Like the Redlands-Whittier game, the beginning of the game was bonkers.  Two teams desperate to get back into the SCIAC conference tournament race came in with a game plan of throwing everything forward (and dispensing with defense).  By the 16th minute, it was 2-2.  Even crazier, they alternated goals and they were both braces.  CMS' John Laidlaw scored in the 2nd and 11th minutes.  Oxy's Devin Bening scored in the 9th and 16th minutes. The second half started like the first half.  CMS scored in the 48th and Oxy scored in the 57th to make it 3-3.  Then, in the 59th, Oxy's Matt Shea, who had the assist on Oxy's 3rd goal, got a straight red card and Oxy had to change its tactics and CMS couldn't break them down despite being a man up.  The tie does move Oxy past Pomona-Pitzer for the 4th and final SCIAC tournament slot, while keeping CMS just behind Pomona-Pitzer for the 5th spot with the two teams playing each other next week in the 6th street rivalry game.

Chapman 1 - Pomona-Pitzer 0

Very tight game, but Chapman had a moment of quality in the 53rd minute and that was the difference.  Chapman vaults to the top of the SCIAC table with the teams ahead of it tying or losing and Pomona-Pitzer drops out of the last tournament slot.

I assume that the SCIAC will again have the 4/5 first round matchup.

Good point.  I keep forgetting about that.

[Kuiper]

Colorado College 1 - Concordia TX 1

Absolutely bonkers ending to this game.  I have seen referees fail to make calls in games at the end of games because they don't want to insert themselves into a game and take it away from the players.  That can be problematic because an infraction isn't less of an infraction because of the time of the game.  This was a game where the referee actively inserted himself into the final seconds and decided the game. It was problematic because something that wasn't an infraction became an infraction only in the last minute and in a way that gave the minimum amount of notice to the player that the game was being refereed differently at that moment.  More generally, I wouldn't be surprised if this event is used to justify getting Coach Brendan Bianco and the Soccer Rules Committee to adopt the IFAB rule in this occasion, since the NCAA rule was never designed to be different than the IFAB rule.  They are just out of sync right now.

Here's the situation:  Colorado College opened the scoring in the 10th minute on a seemingly overcooked corner kick to beyond the back post that the CC player got a monster header to deliver to the front post where his teammate headed in.  And it stayed 1-0 until 24 seconds left in the game.

In the 90th minute, Colorado College's GK collected a harmless ball on the far right part of the box near the endline with his feet, a Concordia player came over and challenged the GK and he picked it up and then jogged it over diagonally to the far left part of the box away from the touchline.  Maybe he was holding the ball too long and maybe the ref warned him about that all game, but this wasn't an egregious amount of time, relative to the time it took for goalkeepers to distribute the ball at other times during the game.  There was a Concordia player running toward him as he was going for a punt, so the GK at least had an argument that he was being impeded, although that's a judgment call and he wasn't so close that distribution was impossible.  Nevertheless, he was definitely there to try to prevent the GK from distributing the ball normally.  In any event, Ref called for an indirect free kick for holding the ball too long (which is 6 seconds under the old NCAA rule or 8 seconds under the new IFAB rule).

The ref never called a foul on CC's GK during the game (or Concordia's GK for that matter) and I guarantee you they took more than 6 seconds on occasion to get off punts, so it seems like he was applying the rule differently in the last minute of the game.  Moreover, if the ref was counting down the time, he normally should have had his hand in the air, but his hands were at his side and his whistle in his mouth, so he could not have been providing a signal that he was counting, nor could have properly indicated the count with the whistle in his mouth (refs think players can hear them when their mouth is full and they are standing 20 meters away on a windy field, but that's usually a poor assumption, which is why hand signals are proper form if a referee is trying to communicate with players).  Those are the IFAB rules, though, so notice may not be necessary under NCAA rules yet, although they aren't prohibited either, so it's not like the referee couldn't have provided visual notice.

Since the Concordia player was tracking the CC GK by standing nearby him (which is the argument for impeding him), he ran up and grabbed the ball after the whistle blew, set it down and kicked it laterally to another Concordia striker at the center of the box who kicked it into an open net with no defenders near him.  There were no defenders because they had moved forward for the punt and were not in the box.  The other Concordia attacker was near the box because he had run over to make the GK pick the ball up originally.

Technically, the ref doesn't have to blow the whistle for a restart on an indirect free kick, but, under the rules, the referee could have told the Concordia player to wait for his whistle.  That could be to let the GK return to his spot in front of the goal or to give a second or two for the defenders to come back to their position.  He did not though, perhaps because he thought he was applying the letter of the law, but in reality it looked like the ref was mad and decided to punish the GK and the Colorado College team.  That's just bad refereeing in my opinion.  You can't let your emotions get the better of you as a referee.

Final thoughts (on this too long post - sorry!)

1.  Credit to the Concordia players for understanding what this all meant and taking advantage of the situation.  They didn't do anything wrong.  Colorado College players were standing farther away and they didn't seem to understand what was called or the significance of it. 

2.  Lesson for goalkeepers.  The seconds you waste in your box are risky. You save just as many seconds gathering yourself for a kick that is high, far, and away from anyone else on the field as you do holding onto the ball closest to your own goal.

3.  Lessons for all players.  Don't argue about a call.  If you are closest to the ball, stand in front of it and disrupt the restart while your team gets in position.  Coaches need to do a better job of teaching that probably, but I can tell you from experience that the Hispanic kids know at a very early age to step in front of the ball and delay a restart, while the kids from wealthier backgrounds get out their legal pads and complain to the authority figure at the injustice of a call.  That's an overgeneralization and I don't mean to offend, but it kind of described the difference between the soccer street smarts of these two teams.  The Concordia players ran for the restart and the Colorado College players all put out their arms and went to speak with the referee, leaving the GK to try to cover two players at the top of the box by himself.  I know impeding a restart is a yellow card, but if referees are going to impose the "death penalty" for a foul like this because the restart rule allows them to shoot on an open goal, then players are going view the yellow card as worth it. 

4.  The NCAA Men's Soccer Competition Committee needs to adopt the IFAB rules if they haven't already (and if they did and I missed it, then the ref really screwed up because he got the restart wrong).  Under the new IFAB rules that went into effect this year, the ref has to countdown the 8 seconds with his hand in the air AND the restart is a corner kick and not an indirect free kick in the box.  The corner kick is a goal-scoring opportunity in DIII to be sure, but at least the two teams compete equally on that dangerous play.  The current rule, as applied to a GK infraction for holding onto the ball too long on a punt, almost by definition can be applied by the attackers without the other team back to defend.  That's why the IFAB changed the restart on this kind of infraction.  There's simply no reason why the NCAA should impose a more draconian penalty for this foul than the pros do.

In any event, rant over.  I don't have any affiliation with either school and a tie isn't the end of the world for either team.  It actually makes the SCAC more exciting.  Colorado College is still in first, but Texas Lutheran and Concordia are both within a point or two.

UPDATE:  Here's video of the goal from Concordia's Instagram page.  It doesn't show you the lead-up to the ref's call, but was happened at that point.

[Kuiper]

UPSET? Alert

Linfield 4 - Lewis & Clark

Linfield was up 4-1 at halftime and Lewis & Clark went down a man with 40 minutes to go in the game.  And it started raining.  Like Portland, Oregon raining.  You can see the drops bouncing off the track kind of raining.  And yet Lewis & Clark has scored 3 goals in the second half, down a man, to tie it up.  4th goal was a free kick own goal by a Linfield defender who tried to head it out and instead it skimmed off his head and over his GK.  Can L&C get their first win ever?  Stay tuned

FINAL:  Linfield 4 - Lewis & Clark 4

Valiant effort by L&C to score three goals in the second half in the pouring rain, down a man, to secure the tie.  A historic game.  This is Lewis & Clark's first point earned in a Northwest Conference game since October 25, 2023 when they tied George Fox 0-0 and only their third point earned in their modern history.  It's also the first time they have ever scored 4 goals in a game.  Before this game, they had scored 5 goals in 11 games in 2025.  In 2023 and 2024, they scored 7 goals the entire season (20 games each season, since the NWC play double round robins and no conference tournament).  Of course, the point means nothing to either team from a conference perspective.  They are last and second-to-last in the conference with 5 points (Linfield) and 1 point (Lewis & Clark).  Still, Lewis & Clark has to feel pretty good about its progress this season.  Amazing what having a dedicated head coach (instead of a dual men's and women's head coach) can do for a team.

[Kuiper]

The rest of the NWC action from Sunday (the Linfield-Lewis & Clark instant classic got a post all to its self)

Whitman 4 - Puget Sound 0

After barely beating Linfield, having to stage comebacks to beat George Fox and Lewis & Clark, and tying Pacific Lutheran, Whitman seemed to be losing its form.  And when Whitman conceded a 18th minute goal and Puget Sound held on to that 1-0 lead for the next 56 minutes or so, it looked like Whitman was in trouble.  This time, however, it woke up a little earlier, scoring goals in the 73rd, 76th, 80th, and 85th to complete the rout and move to 8-0-4 overall and 7-0-1 in the NWC.  It now has a comfortable 4 point advantage over second place Pacific Lutheran, which conceded points again today.

Pacific Lutheran 1 - Whitworth 1

Second straight 1-1 tie for the Lutes.  It's always a tough road trip to play the Whits on back-to-back days, but PLU looked like it had the upper hand after scoring in the 24th minute and holding onto that 1-0 lead for most of the game.  As in the Whitman tie, they broke down after scoring first, this time conceding the tying goal on a free kick in the 80th minute.

Willamette 1 - Pacific 1

Willamette's Ky Iliev once again scored an early goal and the team once again conceded a response goal, denying Willamette a chance to climb into a tie for the top four in the conference.

[Kuiper]

SCAC games other than the Colorado College-Concordia game, which merited a separate post/rant above

LeTourneau 3 - St. Thomas 1

I don't know what has happened to St. Thomas, but it isn't good.  After losing to Austin College 2-0 on Friday, they lost to LeTourneau in ridiculously bad fashion.  LeTourneau scored in the 17th minute and held that 1-0 advantage for the rest of the first half (including saving a UST PK in the 39th minute) and the first part of the second half.  With the frustration and pressure building from not scoring for about 150 minutes between the two games, a UST defender got a straight red card in the 62nd minute on a DOGSO foul as the team was caught on a counter attack.  Despite being down a man, UST scored the tying goal in the 73rd minute on a rocket shot from way outside the box.  In the 80th minute, however, UST's GK was red carded for a hand ball outside the box and they went down to 9 men.  LeTourneau took advantage, scoring in the 80th and 85th to win 3-1.  Perhaps more impressively from LeTourneau's perspective, freshman Henry Shore scored all three goals for Letourneau's first hat trick in six years and freshman Leandro Ferreira got an assist on all three goals.  LeTourneau has been very inconsistent this year, losing to Centenary, beating McMurry, and tying Schreiner in the games that preceded this one, but the future looks bright for the team.

Centenary 4 - Austin 1

Austin's celebration at beating St. Thomas Friday was short-lived as Centenary jumped out to a 3-0 lead, including a PK, and then, after conceding an Austin goal to cut the lead to 3-1, took advantage of a straight red card handed to an Austin player in the 71st minute to score a fourth goal in the 80th minute.  Centenary has quietly crept into the SCAC conference tournament conversation with its third win in a row.  It is now solidly in 4th place and the SCAC is going to a 6 team tournament this year with the expanded 12 team conference.  Austin is hanging on to the last spot in 6th.

Texas Lutheran 3 - Dallas 1

After losing to Colorado College 2-0 on Friday and coming down from altitude to play Dallas on Sunday, TLU started slow, conceding a goal in the 13th minute.  It quickly righted the ship, though, equalizing in the 17th minute and adding two more tallies before and after halftime.  With UST's collapse, TLU now sits in second in the SCAC with a 4-1-1 record.

Hendrix 3 - McMurry 2

Despite conceding two PK goals and two yellows to the Hendrix bench and a red card to its head coach, they hung on to beat McMurry.  They are now tied with St. Thomas and Austin, but sit just outside the conference tournament line on tie-breakers.

Schreiner 2 - Ozarks 1

In a battle of teams trying to stay out of the bottom of the SCAC, Schreiner built up a 2-0 lead and hung on after Ozarks scored one of its own in the 74th minute.

[Kuiper]

NPI Top 20 in Region X (something new to brag about on social media!).  Remember that (1) Trinity and Southwestern are technically no longer in Region X because of their move to a non-Region X conference, and (2) only NCAA games are counted in NPI rankings, which means a bunch of results against NAIA, NCCAA, and USCAA teams, which are common in Region X because of the difficulty of finding local non-conference opponents, are not reflected in their records or the rankings.

1. Colorado College (7-0-5)
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor (10-1-2)
3. Whitman (8-0-3)
4. Whittier (7-1-3)
5. Concordia TX (6-2-4)
6. Pacific Lutheran (6-3-3)
7. UC Santa Cruz (6-5-1)
8. Chapman (4-3-3)
9. Pomona-Pitzer (4-2-3)
10. Occidental (4-4-2)
11. Texas Lutheran (6-4-2)
12. St. Thomas (5-3-1)
13. Whitworth (4-1-3)
14. La Verne (4-4-3)
15. Redlands (3-6-4)
16. Claremont MS (3-6-3)
17. LeTourneau (3-4-5)
18. Puget Sound (4-4-2)
19. East Texas Baptist (7-6-1)
20. Austin (4-5-1)

[Kuiper]

Compare and contrast the NPI top 8 with the United Soccer Coaches Top 8 for Region X.  Obvious difference is that USC includes Trinity and Southwestern in Region X, but in addition to that USC has Whitman ahead of Mary Hardin-Baylor, doesn't rank Concordia TX and has Pomona-Pitzer in the top 8, while NPI has Pomona at 9 and UC Santa Cruz and Chapman in the top 8 in the absence of Trinity and Southwestern.

Region X - Poll 6 - October 14, 2025

Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Trinity University (Texas)    NR    10-1-0
2    Southwestern University    NR    11-0-2
3    Colorado College    NR    7-0-5
4    Whitman College    NR    8-0-4
5    University of Mary Hardin-Baylor    NR    10-1-2
6    Whittier College    NR    7-1-2
7    Pomona-Pitzer Colleges    NR    5-2-3
8    Pacific Lutheran University    NR    6-3-3

[Ron Boerger]

And I told USC that Southwestern and Trinity are now in NCAA Region 6.  Fools!

Just for fun, the Region VI NPI top ten:

1. Emory (10-0-2)
2. Lynchburg (10-0-2)
3. Southwestern (11-0-2)
4. Christopher Newport (8-1-4)
5. Trinity (TX) (10-1)
6. Hampden-Sydney (8-1-3)
7. Pfeiffer (6-0-2)
8. Virginia Wesleyan (7-4-1)
-- Colorado College slots in here
9. Washington & Lee (5-2-5)
10. Sewanee (8-2-3)

[Kuiper]

And I told USC that Southwestern and Trinity are now in NCAA Region 6.  Fools!

Just for fun, the Region VI NPI top ten:

1. Emory (10-0-2)
2. Lynchburg (10-0-2)
3. Southwestern (11-0-2)
4. Christopher Newport (8-1-4)
5. Trinity (TX) (10-1)
6. Hampden-Sydney (8-1-3)
7. Pfeiffer (6-0-2)
8. Virginia Wesleyan (7-4-1)
-- Colorado College slots in here
9. Washington & Lee (5-2-5)
10. Sewanee (8-2-3)

You figure Colorado College is in no man's land anyway, they might as well slot into any random region? ;-)

[Ron Boerger]

LOL.  Just showing the difference between the top of Regions 10 and 6.

[Kuiper]

Weeknight games in the SCIAC are always a little crazy.  Must be the traffic the teams have to endure to get there.

Whittier 3 - Caltech 2

Caltech led 2-0 at the half and allowed Whittier to score three straight goals, including the game-winner  in the 89th minute on a free kick that the Caltech GK blocked, but failed to parry wide, leaving it bouncing in front of the net for a Whittier play to tap in the net.

Redlands 2 - Chapman 1

Chapman entered the night atop the SCIAC standings, two points ahead of Whittier, and plays second-to-last Redlands.  They had to figure they could at least hold serve, but might even separate themselves from Whittier after seeing they were down 2-0 at half.  Instead, after going into half tied 1-1, Redlands scores the game-winner in the 58th minute and probably should have had 1-2 more.  Instead, Chapman drops into a tie for second while Redlands was so far back that the victory only moved them one spot to a tie with Caltech and CMS for 6th.

Pomona-Pitzer 2 - La Verne 1

Like Caltech, Pomona-Pitzer built a 2-0 lead going into halftime, but unlike Caltech, Pomona-Pitzer only conceded one second half goal and now moves into a tie with Chapman for second place, only one place behind Whittier.

Occidental 1 - Cal Lutheran 1

Oxy wasn't dominant, but it looked like it was in control holding a 1-0 lead for about 60 minutes of the game.  It then conceded a tying goal from Cal Lu in the 85th minute and instead of moving into a three-way tie for second place with Chapman and Pomona, Oxy is now four points off first place and only two points clear of 6th place.

Stanton 3 - CMS 1

In the lone non-conference game of the night, CMS looked like it would walk away with a 1-1 tie to undefeated NAIA side Stanton (a team that has 37 players on the roster and I don't think a single one is a domestic player - they are from Portugal, Germany, Italy, Chile, Brazil, France, England, and Iceland), but after a CMS player got a straight red card in the 62nd minute, Stanton scored goals in the 85th and 90th minutes to secure the victory.