Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Kuiper]

A couple of Region X games that caught my eye

Southwestern 1 - Centre 0

Southwestern wins it on a 72nd minute goal for its ninth game without a loss.  True to form, Southwestern doesn't generate much offense (it has only scored 20 goals in 11 games), but it also doesn't give up many goals (only 4 thus far this season).  Centre is a bigger mystery to me.  They are 2-7-3 and 0-3 in the SAA, but one of their two victories is a 2-0 win over Denison.

Colorado College 5 - St. Thomas 1

CC dominates UST, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first half and then, after UST closed the gap to 3-1, blowing the game open with 2 more after UST went down to 10 men because of a second yellow.  CC doesn't feel as dominant as in years past, but is quietly putting together a strong season and remains the odds-on favorite to win the SCAC.

Linfield 3 - Pacific 3

Pacific was up 3-1 early in the 2nd half before Linfield came roaring back with two late goals.  At 2-3-2, Linfield has already equaled its win total from a year ago and is showing real improvement on the field.

[Kuiper]

FINAL:  Pacific Lutheran 1 - Whitman 0

Lots of fouls and a tight game.  The Lutes pull it out on an 85th minute goal.  Home field may have been the advantage, so this just makes Pacific Lutheran's trip to Walla Walla to play Whitman on the last game of the regular season that much more important most likely.

[Kuiper]

Redlands already up 2-0 over Whittier in the 13th minute after goals by Beckton and Darmanyan (who was just named USC midfielder of September for DIII men's soccer).

[Kuiper]

UPSET WATCH!

Hardin-Simmons 1 - Mary Hardin Baylor 0 (85th minute)

H-S scores in the 78th minute to take the lead after playing down a man since the 50th minute due to a red card.

UPDATE:

Hardin-Simmons 1 - Mary Hardin Baylor 1 (86th minute)

UMHB ties it up a few minutes after H-S scored.

[Kuiper]

UPSET WATCH!

Hardin-Simmons 1 - Mary Hardin Baylor 0 (85th minute)

H-S scores in the 78th minute to take the lead after playing down a man since the 50th minute due to a red card.

UPDATE:

Hardin-Simmons 1 - Mary Hardin Baylor 1 (86th minute)

UMHB ties it up a few minutes after H-S scored.

Holy Cow!

FINAL: UMHB 2 - Hardin-Simmons 1

UMHB scores the game-winning goal with 53 seconds left in the game!

Credit to H-S for surviving virtually the entire second half down a man and even scoring a goal to take the lead for a few minutes.

Big sigh of relief for UMHB

[BTXCru18]

UPSET WATCH!

Hardin-Simmons 1 - Mary Hardin Baylor 0 (85th minute)

H-S scores in the 78th minute to take the lead after playing down a man since the 50th minute due to a red card.

UPDATE:

Hardin-Simmons 1 - Mary Hardin Baylor 1 (86th minute)

UMHB ties it up a few minutes after H-S scored.

Holy Cow!

FINAL: UMHB 2 - Hardin-Simmons 1

UMHB scores the game-winning goal with 53 seconds left in the game!

Credit to H-S for surviving virtually the entire second half down a man and even scoring a goal to take the lead for a few minutes.

Big sigh of relief for UMHB

Wasn't able to watch this one for context, but HSU goalkeepers(starter received the red for DOGSO I assume) were credited with 13 saves. Another 5 "team" saves for a total of 18. UMHB had 20 shots on frame. Pulled out the win just barely, HSU still gritty as ever in their post-Bankhead era.

[Kuiper]

FINAL:  Redlands 2 - Whitter 1

Redlands scored two quick goals early in the game and then held on as Whittier got one back in the 84th and made a game out of it.  Redlands is now 8-1-4 and 5-0-2 in the SCIAC and pretty firmly in control.  Only concern might be bench depth.  They don't have a lot behind their starters, with 8 going the full 90 and 2 more going 82 minutes.

[Kuiper]

FINAL:  CMS 2 - Occidental 1

CMS scored the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute to stay in the SCIAC race.  Oxy had one last chance to equalize on a shot by Andrew Lee with a minute left that was saved and led to a corner, but couldn't capitalize on the chance.  CMS is now 7-3-3 and 4-2-2 in the SCIAC, while Oxy falls to 4-4-4 and 2-3-3 in the conference.

[SimpleCoach]

FINAL:  Pacific Lutheran 1 - Whitman 0

Lots of fouls and a tight game.  The Lutes pull it out on an 85th minute goal.  Home field may have been the advantage, so this just makes Pacific Lutheran's trip to Walla Walla to play Whitman on the last game of the regular season that much more important most likely.

Thought it was an ugly game with all the fouls and cards.  Kind of hard to watch and never seemed to have a flow.  Give the Lutes the game because I do think they were trying to get the game.

SC.

[Kuiper]

Colorado College 2 - Centenary 1

Not CC's best game, but they pull away from Centenary who, in fairness, looked a little better than I expected playing away in Colorado Springs.

Big story of the game, however, which took the wind out of everyone's sails most likely, was a full-speed collision going for a free ball in the 12th minute between Centenary's Aidan Miller and Colorado College's Dylan Stapley.  Both required medical attention after a lengthy delay, with the announcer later reporting that Stapley needed stitches and Miller had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.  Hope both players are OK.

[Kuiper]

Other early Region X action today that caught my eye

Trinity 4 - Centre 0

Centre continues to struggle after its early season defeat of Denison and Trinity took care of business for its first SAA win with Cade Dougan scoring a brace in the 2nd half off of 2 assists from Joey Perryman.

St. Thomas 3 - University of Dallas 1

Decent bounce-back after getting crushed by Colorado College 5-1 on Friday on what is a really hard road trip in the SCAC (fly from Houston to Colorado Springs for a Friday game, fly to Dallas, and then play there on Sunday and fly home).  Regular readers of my posts (are there any? LOL) might remember that I though Hani Ahmadie's return for St. Thomas was pretty significant if they were going to start generating some offense.  Ahmadie scored the winning goal against Centenary last Saturday in only 9 minutes of action and he also only played 9 minutes against Colorado College.  So, clearly they are bringing him back slowly.  It's therefore encouraging that he played 22 minutes and scored the opening goal of the game for the Celts.  Two goals in three games (40 minutes of action) is also encouraging.

[Kuiper]

Chaos potentially erupting in the NWC

Whitworth 1 - Pacific Lutheran 0 (83rd minute)

Whitman 3 - Puget Sound 3 (84th minute)

[Kuiper]

Chaos potentially erupting in the NWC

Whitworth 1 - Pacific Lutheran 0 (83rd minute)

Whitman 3 - Puget Sound 3 (84th minute)

FINAL:  Whitman 4 - Puget Sound 3

Whitman gets a goal right after I posted that it was tied to secure first place atop the NWC on its own after a wild game against Puget Sound.  I confess that I didn't think Puget Sound was a legit member of the "Yet to Lose" club, based primarily on the fact that they started the season with one win (v. Lake Forest, which was great last season, but less so this year) and 4 ties, but they've now tied Pacific Lutheran and hung tough with Whitman.  They could still be a dark horse in the NWC on the second round through the conference, although they won't catch anyone by surprise now.

FINAL Whitworth 1 - Pacific Lutheran 0

Massive win for Whitworth, which suffered the worst loss of the season by being the team that allowed Lewis & Clark to break their winless streak.  Pacific Lutheran dominated everything but the final score in this game, outshooting Whitworth 18-6 and 11-3 on goal and getting 8 corners to Whitworth's 1.  Credit to Whitworth's Owen Hart for making 10 saves.