Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Ron Boerger]

#16 Southwestern 2 UMHB 2

After giving up a goal in the 30th minute to UMHB's Karsen Macias, Southwestern dominated run of play and thought they had their twelfth victory of the season in hand when Greyson Pinto's sixth of the season put the Pirates up in the 82nd minute.  But with time running down, Yannis Banae found the net in the 88th to give the Cru (10-1-3) possibly their best result of the season.

Southwestern (11-0-3) outshot UMHB 25-11, doubled their SOG 10-5, but Brett LaPorte made seven saves to keep the Cru in it. 

[Kuiper]

#16 Southwestern 2 UMHB 2

After giving up a goal in the 30th minute to UMHB's Karsen Macias, Southwestern dominated run of play and thought they had their twelfth victory of the season in hand when Greyson Pinto's sixth of the season put the Pirates up in the 82nd minute.  But with time running down, Yannis Banae found the net in the 88th to give the Cru (10-1-3) possibly their best result of the season.

Southwestern (11-0-3) outshot UMHB 25-11, doubled their SOG 10-5, but Brett LaPorte made seven saves to keep the Cru in it. 

I would add that Southwestern had multiple good chances in the early going of the first half and might have put the game away then if they could have finished.  Once UMHB scored first, though, Southwestern had to take more chances and UMHB got some confidence. 

Both teams will have a little difficulty playing the way they did in this game against Trinity in San Antonio (which plays UMHB Wed 10/29 and Southwestern Saturday 11/1).  I tend to think they will sit back more and try to counter, which is generally more effective against Trinity than high pressure.  They aren't immune to the high press, but that unlocks their counter-attacking and transition game, which is really strong.

[Freddyfud]

Been meaning to ask for awhile.  Is there a reason Friday nights seem to have many region X contests?  And are there any good ones tonight?

[Kuiper]

Been meaning to ask for awhile.  Is there a reason Friday nights seem to have many region X contests?  And are there any good ones tonight?

The SCAC is the Region X conference that regularly plays on Fridays. They are a big conference (12 schools this year), so there are always a lot of games. 

The reason they play on Fridays is because Texas is really big and most teams aren't close enough to each other to allow for mid-week games.  Moreover, in many cases they are too far away to easily play games two days in a row considering travel time between locations. As a result, they play Friday-Sunday games in the SCAC.  For example, last weekend Texas Lutheran played at Colorado College on Friday, presumably flying out of San Antonio airport (3 hours if they got a direct flight, longer if they stop in Dallas), and then flew back to Dallas on Saturday to play University of Dallas on Sunday, before completing the trip from Dallas to San Antonio.  Tonight, Hendrix plays at University of St. Thomas in Houston, which is about a 7-8 hour drive, and then has a four hour drive to Shreveport on Saturday to play Centenary on Sunday early afternoon before making the 3.5 hour drive back to Hendrix on Sunday after the game. 

There are also occasional ASC games on Fridays, but it's not very common because those schools will never play on Sunday for religious reasons so it either has to be a one-off game or a Friday-Saturday pairing (meaning it will only work if the schools are reasonably close together).

They happen in the NWC every so often too because every school has a travel/hosting partner.  If all four schools are close together, they choose Friday-Sunday, or if one pair has to travel far, they sometimes choose Friday-Sunday to get that day off in-between.  The most common pattern, however, is Saturday-Sunday.

Tonight, Hendrix v. St. Thomas might be the most interesting game since they are tied for 5th in the SCAC.  St. Thomas is coming off 2 losses and Hendrix is coming off 2 wins.  Colorado College at Austin College also might be interesting.  Austin knocked off St. Thomas last weekend, but then was crushed by Centenary.  Maybe they get up for the big opponents?

[BTXCru18]

And just as you were saying Kuiper... SCAC is wild tonight.

Austin College 1 - Colorado College 0 12' left in first half
Hendrix 1 - UST 0 at half

and 1 more for good measure

Schreiner 1 - Concordia 0 at half

[Kuiper]

And just as you were saying Kuiper... SCAC is wild tonight.

Austin College 1 - Colorado College 0 12' left in first half
Hendrix 1 - UST 0 at half

and 1 more for good measure

Schreiner 1 - Concordia 0 at half

FINAL:  Hendrix 1 - St. Thomas 0

St. Thomas outshot Hendrix 17-3, but a combination of strong Hendrix goalkeeping and poor shooting made a 27th minute Hendrix goal stand up.  And Hendrix keeps moving up the standings and St. Thomas keeps dropping.

FINAL:  Schreiner 2 - Concordia TX 0

Schreiner only won 3 games all season coming into this game and Concordia just came back from a dramatic 1-1 tie against Colorado College.  So, naturally, Schreiner wins 2-0.  They did have help because Concordia went down a man due to a red card in the 61st minute, but Schreiner was already up 1-0 at that point and added an insurance goal in the 87th that you could probably attribute to Concordia chasing the game down a man.  The SCAC conference standings is getting jumbled tonight!  I'll update after the Colorado College - Austin game.

[Kuiper]

Colorado College 1 - Austin 1

Colorado College ties it up in the 87th minute!  After out-shooting Austin 32-6, they finally got one past the GK (who has 11 saves)

UPDATE:  Final:  Colorado College 1 - Austin College 1

Colorado College was calm and composed.  They weren't taking panic shots.  Austin is just really good at desperation defense and their GK made some great saves.  That said, Colorado College REALLY misses Curtis Hale.  They don't have that guy who can get you a goal against a team that is parking the bus just by lobbing the ball into him in the box.

FINAL:  Centenary 2 - Ozarks 0

Fairly simple game for Centenary, which scored in each half to coast to victory.

FINAL:  Texas Lutheran 1 - McMurry 0

TLU outshot McMurry 20-2, but only got a goal in the 69th minute.  That was all they needed however.

FINAL:  LeTourneau 6 - Dallas 0

LeTourneau blew up a 1-0 game at the half, scoring 5 in the second half against winless Dallas

[Freddyfud]

Been meaning to ask for awhile.  Is there a reason Friday nights seem to have many region X contests?  And are there any good ones tonight?

The SCAC is the Region X conference that regularly plays on Fridays. They are a big conference (12 schools this year), so there are always a lot of games. 

The reason they play on Fridays is because Texas is really big and most teams aren't close enough to each other to allow for mid-week games.  Moreover, in many cases they are too far away to easily play games two days in a row considering travel time between locations. As a result, they play Friday-Sunday games in the SCAC.  For example, last weekend Texas Lutheran played at Colorado College on Friday, presumably flying out of San Antonio airport (3 hours if they got a direct flight, longer if they stop in Dallas), and then flew back to Dallas on Saturday to play University of Dallas on Sunday, before completing the trip from Dallas to San Antonio.  Tonight, Hendrix plays at University of St. Thomas in Houston, which is about a 7-8 hour drive, and then has a four hour drive to Shreveport on Saturday to play Centenary on Sunday early afternoon before making the 3.5 hour drive back to Hendrix on Sunday after the game. 

There are also occasional ASC games on Fridays, but it's not very common because those schools will never play on Sunday for religious reasons so it either has to be a one-off game or a Friday-Saturday pairing (meaning it will only work if the schools are reasonably close together).

They happen in the NWC every so often too because every school has a travel/hosting partner.  If all four schools are close together, they choose Friday-Sunday, or if one pair has to travel far, they sometimes choose Friday-Sunday to get that day off in-between.  The most common pattern, however, is Saturday-Sunday.

Tonight, Hendrix v. St. Thomas might be the most interesting game since they are tied for 5th in the SCAC.  St. Thomas is coming off 2 losses and Hendrix is coming off 2 wins.  Colorado College at Austin College also might be interesting.  Austin knocked off St. Thomas last weekend, but then was crushed by Centenary.  Maybe they get up for the big opponents?

Makes sense thank you.  Caught the last 20 minutes of the UST vs Hendrix game. Pitch was immaculate.  Is Texas is holding out on some of the best natural grass playing surfaces in the country?

[Kuiper]

Been meaning to ask for awhile.  Is there a reason Friday nights seem to have many region X contests?  And are there any good ones tonight?

The SCAC is the Region X conference that regularly plays on Fridays. They are a big conference (12 schools this year), so there are always a lot of games. 

The reason they play on Fridays is because Texas is really big and most teams aren't close enough to each other to allow for mid-week games.  Moreover, in many cases they are too far away to easily play games two days in a row considering travel time between locations. As a result, they play Friday-Sunday games in the SCAC.  For example, last weekend Texas Lutheran played at Colorado College on Friday, presumably flying out of San Antonio airport (3 hours if they got a direct flight, longer if they stop in Dallas), and then flew back to Dallas on Saturday to play University of Dallas on Sunday, before completing the trip from Dallas to San Antonio.  Tonight, Hendrix plays at University of St. Thomas in Houston, which is about a 7-8 hour drive, and then has a four hour drive to Shreveport on Saturday to play Centenary on Sunday early afternoon before making the 3.5 hour drive back to Hendrix on Sunday after the game. 

There are also occasional ASC games on Fridays, but it's not very common because those schools will never play on Sunday for religious reasons so it either has to be a one-off game or a Friday-Saturday pairing (meaning it will only work if the schools are reasonably close together).

They happen in the NWC every so often too because every school has a travel/hosting partner.  If all four schools are close together, they choose Friday-Sunday, or if one pair has to travel far, they sometimes choose Friday-Sunday to get that day off in-between.  The most common pattern, however, is Saturday-Sunday.

Tonight, Hendrix v. St. Thomas might be the most interesting game since they are tied for 5th in the SCAC.  St. Thomas is coming off 2 losses and Hendrix is coming off 2 wins.  Colorado College at Austin College also might be interesting.  Austin knocked off St. Thomas last weekend, but then was crushed by Centenary.  Maybe they get up for the big opponents?

Makes sense thank you.  Caught the last 20 minutes of the UST vs Hendrix game. Pitch was immaculate.  Is Texas is holding out on some of the best natural grass playing surfaces in the country?

If the weather has been cooperating (no drought and no downpours), Texas has some of the best grass pitches to play on in the country.  The grass in Texas isn't the kind that grows very long, so it's usually like a pool table.  St. Thomas has the extra benefit of playing at the home of the Hoston SaberCats pro rugby team's stadium, so they have professional groundskeepers.

[Kuiper]

As a result of the games tonight, Texas Lutheran is now at the top of the table in the SCAC, with Colorado College and Centenary tied for second and Concordia a full game behind them.

That's a bad half loss (tie) for Colorado College under the NPI.  Austin was ranked #235 coming into this game.

[Kuiper]

One result from the ASC last night.  Equally as crazy as the SCAC games.  Friday night lights in Texas and all of that I guess.

Hardin-Simmons 3 - East Texas Baptist 2

Hardin-Simmons has had a rough season, coming into this game with a 6 game winless streak, a 3-8-1 overall record, and no wins in the ASC, including a 2-0 loss to woeful Howard Payne two weeks ago.  Glimmers of light, however, in a 1-0 loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor last week suggested that they might still be able to offer meaningful resistance to the Cru.  This game, however, demonstrates that it's going to be a challenge every game for this team and it's going to take some craziness. 

And CRAZY describes this game.  ETBU was up 2-1 at halftime and it looked like H-S might once again fall in conference.  Then, in the 70th minute, H-S came up with something really special ***KLAXON Alert** a Goalkeeper Goal!  H-S' goalkeeper, Carson Null (a great surname for a goalkeeper by the way) scored on a long free kick to tie up the game.  Then, 20 seconds later, there's a dust-up between players, leading to a yellow for the H-S player and a red to an ETBU player.  With the man advantage, H-S scores the game-winner 6 minutes later.  The two teams are now tied for second to UMHB in the ASC standings.

[Kuiper]

UPSET ALERT

Lewis & Clark 1 - Pacific Lutheran 0 (30th minute)

Way too early to call this a potential upset, but one of these days (years? decades?) Lewis & Clark is going to win a game.  They scored a goal in the 26th minute in this game and are playing PLU reasonably evenly.

Cancel the alert

Pacific Lutheran 2 - Lewis & Clark 1 (75th minute)

[Kuiper]

Results in games involving some of the top contenders in Region X today:

Pacific Lutheran 3 - Lewis & Clark 1

Lewis & Clark scored first and had a 1-0 lead at the half, but PLU scored 3 in the second half to make it easier than it looked.  The Lutes are 6-0-3 and in second in the NWC, just behind Whitman, which is 7-0-2 after today's results.  Lewis & Clark also lost goal scorer Ben Schwartz to a straight red card in the 78th minute, which will hurt them in their game against Puget Sound tomorrow.

Whitman 1 - Willamette 1

Whitman continues to live dangerously, trailing 1-0 until they scored an equalizer in the 86th minute.  They stay in first in the NWC, but are once again unconvincing.

Mary Hardin-Baylor 2 - Howard Payne 1

UMHB went out to a 2-0 lead at the half and then held on despite conceding a goal about a minute into the second half.  After tying Southwestern on Wednesday and beating HP 6-0 earlier in the season, UMHB may have taken them a bit lightly.

Redlands 3 - Whittier 1

Ever since Zach Darmnayan returned for Redlands, the team has been on a tear.  He scored goals in the 8th and 9th minutes and then, when Whittier tried to mount a comeback with a goal in the 83rd minute, Darmanyan completed the hat trick with a goal in the 85th.  Whittier remains in first place in the SCIAC because all the other top teams lost as well, but Redlands climbs to a four-way tie for 5th place.

Caltech 1 - Chapman 0

After leading the SCIAC for a good portion of the season, Chapman has lost two in a row to bottom-half-of-the-table teams.  Etienne Casanova scored the lone goal for Caltech in the 36th minute and the team held Chapman off the board for the rest of the game. Caltech is now 7-7 and 4-5 in the SCIAC, while Chapman is tied for second and 4-3-2.

CMS 2 - Pomona-Pitzer 0

Today was revenge day in the Sixth Street Rivalry as CMS extracted payback for losing to P-P 2-1 earlier in the season at Pomona.  In front of a raucous crowd of 350 in the game on the other side of the street, CMS broke open a tight 0-0 tie with a goal in the 59th minute and then added an insurance tally in the 82nd while Pomona-Pitzer was pressing forward for the equalizer.  Pomona-Pitzer remains in a tie for second, while CMS jumps into a tie with Oxy, P-P, and Caltech for 5th. 

La Verne 1 - Occidental 0

Despite Oxy out-shooting La Verne 24-8, La Verne's 53rd minute goal held up.  La Verne's keeper saved a 61st minute Oxy PK, preserving the win for the Leopards.  La Verne jumps over Oxy for 4th place in the SCIAC, while Oxy falls into a 4 way tie for 5th.

The way the results have been going lately, it feels like the Redlands/CMS old guard in the SCIAC is mounting a late season challenge to get into the SCIAC tournament.  If they succeed, all bets are off given their experience in early November contests under the lights.

Not Region X, but still WEST:

Trinity 2 - Sewanee 1

I've said before that the way to play Trinity is likely to sit in a low block, be physical with Trinity players making darting runs, and intercept the ball and spring a counter-attack with a speedy forward.  Sewanee did all of that (including committing 15 fouls and earning 6 yellow cards), taking a 1-0 first half lead on a GK takedown of the Sewanee forward on a counter-attack in the box and scoring the resulting PK.  The problem with the strategy is that Trinity eventually wears down the defenders and finds an opening if you concede possession to them for a long enough period.  In this case, it found two in the second half in the 65th and 84th minutes to win the SAA contest.  Trinity is now 11-1 and 4-0 in the SAA, while Sewanee falls to 9-3-3 and 1-2-1 in the SAA.

[BTXCru18]

Mary Hardin-Baylor 2 - Howard Payne 1

UMHB went out to a 2-0 lead at the half and then held on despite conceding a goal about a minute into the second half.  After tying Southwestern on Wednesday and beating HP 6-0 earlier in the season, UMHB may have taken them a bit lightly.

Snuck it out in the end despite outshooting HPU 19(13) - 4(3)... UMHB also locks up their 5th straight regular season title in the ASC. Unlike last season, this clinches hosting rights for the conference tournament.

[Kuiper]

Mary Hardin-Baylor 2 - Howard Payne 1

UMHB went out to a 2-0 lead at the half and then held on despite conceding a goal about a minute into the second half.  After tying Southwestern on Wednesday and beating HP 6-0 earlier in the season, UMHB may have taken them a bit lightly.

Snuck it out in the end despite outshooting HPU 19(13) - 4(3)... UMHB also locks up their 5th straight regular season title in the ASC. Unlike, last season this clinches hosting rights for the conference tournament.

Finishing first should come with some benefit in the tournament and a bye isn't an option with only 4 teams in the conference this year.  So, hosting rights make sense.