Go WEST young man (and NORTH)

[Ejay]

Agreed on Azusa Pacific. I think they'll be a regular top 20 team in the not to distant future.

[SimpleCoach]

Agreed on Azusa Pacific. I think they'll be a regular top 20 team in the not to distant future.

I've watched a few of there games, and you could make a case that if they were eligible, Azusa are already a Top 20.  They have a couple of ugly losses, but overall they are worthy of our attention. 

SC.

[Kuiper]

Conference tournament time.  Here are the seedings for the Region X (and Region X involved) conferences that have announced schedules thus far (Northwest Conference doesn't have a conference tournament and instead plays a round robin regular season schedule that continues through this week and next weekend):

SAA

All games at Oglethorpe in Atlanta

Quarterfinals:  Thursday 11/5

1. Southwestern - First Round Bye
2. Trinity - First Round Bye
3. (Berry) v. 6 (Oglethorpe)
4. (Rhodes) v. 5 (Sewanee)

Semifinals:  Friday 11/6 

Southwestern v. Rhodes/Sewanee winner
Trinity v. Berry/Oglethorpe winner
             
Finals:  Sunday 11/8

The single site location nullifies some of the advantage of being a higher side, but the two teams with the farthest to travel earned the first round byes anyway, so that equalizes things and may make a difference in terms of wear and tear in later rounds.

SCAC

All games are at the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex north of Austin

Quarterfinals:  Thursday 11/5

1. Colorado College - First Round Bye
2. Concordia  - First Round Bye
3. LeTourneau v. 6. Dallas at 8 pm
4. St. Thomas v. 5. Texas Lutheran at 5 pm

Semifinals:  Friday 11/6

Colorado College v. St. Thomas/Texas Lutheran winner at 5 pm
Concordia v. Letourneau/Dallas winner at 7:30 pm

Finals:  Sunday 11/8 at 2 pm

Colorado College, despite beating Concordia and finishing above them in the standings, probably has the harder draw.  It definitely has the worse travel, especially considering Concordia plays its home games at the Round Rock Complex, despite it technically being a neutral site since it's not on their campus.

ASC

Quarterfinals:  Tuesday, 11/3 (hosted by the higher seeded team)

1. Mary Hardin-Baylor - First Round Bye
2. Hardin-Simmons - First Round Bye
3. (East Texas Baptist) v. 6 (McMurry)
4. (Schreiner) v. 5 (Howard Payne) at 6:30 pm central

Semifinals:  Thursday, 11/5 at Mary Hardin-Baylor

Mary Hardin-Baylor v. Schreiner/Howard Payne winner at 5 pm
Hardin-Simmons v. East Texas Baptist/McMurry winner at 7:30 pm

Finals:  Saturday 11/7 at Mary Hardin-Baylor at 1 pm

Mary Hardin-Baylor was the top seed the last two tournaments, but Hardin-Simmons won the ASC championship both years.  Question is whether UMHB can get over the hump this year and get back to the NCAA tournament.

[Kuiper]

SCIAC

First Round:  Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 2 pm

#4 Pomona-Pitzer v. #5 Whittier

Semifinals:  Thursday, Nov. 5

#1 Redlands v. Pomona-Pitzer/Whitter winner
#2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps v. #3 La Verne @ 7 pm

Final:  Sunday, Nov. 8

Redlands is in good shape to make it back to the NCAA tournament, but its one SCIAC loss this season was to Pomona-Pitzer, 2-1 on 10/24, and it could face them again in the semifinals.

[Ron Boerger]

SAA

All games at Oglethorpe in Atlanta

Quarterfinals:  Thursday 11/5

1. Southwestern - First Round Bye
2. Trinity - First Round Bye
3. (Berry) v. 6 (Oglethorpe)
4. (Rhodes) v. 5 (Sewanee)

Semifinals:  Friday 11/6 

Southwestern v. Rhodes/Sewanee winner
Trinity v. Berry/Oglethorpe winner
             
Finals:  Sunday 11/8

The single site location nullifies some of the advantage of being a higher side, but the two teams with the farthest to travel earned the first round byes anyway, so that equalizes things and may make a difference in terms of wear and tear in later rounds.

Both Trinity and Southwestern have already travelled twice back east in SAA play, going 3-0 (although two of the teams both played didn't make the playoff). I doubt the travel will phase either since they only have to play two games tops with the second possibly but not assuredly against each other. 

Southwestern, seventh in NPI, will make the NCAAs regardless of this weekend's outcome.  Trinity, 35th overall and currently 20th of 22nd on the projected at-large list probably has to at an absolute minimum win their first match but even that won't make the NCAAs a sure thing.  The only hope for the other four participants (Sewanee, 90th; Berry, 92nd; Rhodes, 96th; Oglethorpe, 157th) to play in the post-season is to win it all.

[Kuiper]

Region X - Poll 8 - November 3, 2026
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    Southwestern University    NR    15-1-1
2    Colorado College    NR    13-2-2
3    Trinity University (Texas)    NR    10-2-5
4    University of Redlands    NR    11-3-5
5    Whitman College    NR    12-3-3
6    Pacific Lutheran University    NR    11-2-5
7    Claremont-McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges    NR    10-5-3
8    University of Mary Hardin-Baylor    NR    12-2-2

[Kuiper]

Region IX - Poll 8 - November 3, 2026
Rank    School    Prev    W-L-T
1    St. Olaf College    NR    16-0-3
2    Saint John's University    NR    15-2-2
3    Gustavus Adolphus College    NR    12-3-3
4    Luther College    NR    10-2-4
5    University of Wisconsin-Platteville    NR    9-4-4
6    University of Wisconsin-Superior    NR    14-3-3
7    Wartburg College    NR    10-3-3
8    University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire    NR    8-3-6

Also receiving votes: University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Dubuque

[Kuiper]

In the play-in game in the SCIAC:

FINAL:  Whittier 2 (5) - Pomona-Pitzer 2 (4)

Pomona-Pitzer came back to tie Whittier 2-2 in the 84th minute and the two teams played to a stalemate over the two OT periods.  Whittier, however, was just a little better than Pomona-Pitzer in the shootout.  P-P's GK got his hand on one ball in the shootout that would have kept them in it, but couldn't keep it out of the net.

Whittier advances to play at Redlands on Thursday.

[Gray Fox]

In the play-in game in the SCIAC:

FINAL:  Whittier 2 (5) - Pomona-Pitzer 2 (4)

Pomona-Pitzer came back to tie Whittier 2-2 in the 84th minute and the two teams played to a stalemate over the two OT periods.  Whittier, however, was just a little better than Pomona-Pitzer in the shootout.  P-P's GK got his hand on one ball in the shootout that would have kept them in it, but couldn't keep it out of the net.

Whittier advances to play at Redlands on Thursday.

Similar to the Oxy/Chapman womens game on Monday.

[Kuiper]

The favorites won in the ASC in the quarterfinals

Schreiner 2 - Howard Payne 1

Schreiner gets the game winner in the 89th minute

East Texas Baptist 5 - McMurry 1

This is the kind of score you get when everyone in the conference makes the conference tournament.  McMurry won 1 game all season and was 0-9-1 in the ASC.  Plus, they lost to East Texas Baptist 5-0 and 4-1 the two previous times they played each other this season.  The ASC should have done what the SCIAC does and have a 4 v 5 play in game and eliminate the 6th team.

In the semifinals on Thursday, Mary Hardin-Baylor plays Schreiner and Hardin-Simmons plays East Texas Baptist

[pioneer27]

American Rivers SemiFinals last night.

Simpson(5) advances on PK's over top seeded Dubuque after 0-0 game.
Loras (3) secures away win over preseason favorite Wartburg(2) 1-0.

[pioneer27]

Today MIAC semifinals
St Johns(3) at Gustavus(2) and Carleton(4) at St Olaf(1).

Friday WIAC Semifinals
Stevens Point(5) at Platteville(1) and Eau Claire(3) at Whitewater (2)

MWC Semifinals are Saturday (hosted by Luther)
Luther (1) vs Lake Forest (4)
Illinois College (2) vs Grinnell College (3)

UMAC Finals Saturday at UW Superior
UW-Superior (1) host Bethany Lutheran (2)

[Kuiper]

SCIAC Semifinals tonight. 

La Verne at CMS @ 7 pm PST

The two teams played a month ago at La Verne on 10/3 and CMS won 2-1.  CMS comes in with two straight wins to end the season, against Cal Lu and Whittier, but immediately after an embarrassing 5-1 loss to Caltech on 10/24, which followed an impressive 5-0 win over Occidental on 10/17.  Not sure if they have righted the ship, mentally and physically.  I don't think it's complacency, but sometimes they get sped up and play a little out of control.  We'll see which team shows up tonight.

La Verne can compete with anyone, but they don't have the players to dominate or put them team on their back.  Alex Bastidas is their leading scorer with 6 goals, including 1 against CMS during the regular season, but their leading assist man, Juan Manzano with 6 assists, hasn't played since October 10.  They are also only 2-3-5 away from home, compared with 5-2-2 at home. 

Whittier @ Redlands @ 7 pm PST

These teams played once in a non-conference game that was the season opener for both teams and again during the regular season.  They tied 1-1 in the non-conference game at Whittier and Redlands won the regular season game, also at Whittier, 2-1.  So, this will be the first time Redlands gets to host.  Considering that they were 7-2 at home during the season and only 2-1-5 away, the home field advantage in the playoffs may not be meaningless.  Redlands has been pretty inconsistent down the stretch, though, crushing Occidental and Chapman by 4-0 scores, but losing to Pomona-Pitzer 2-1 and UC Santa Cruz by a 3-1 score on senior day.  Zach Darmanyan (12g/3a) and Anders Beckton (4g/5a) are the players to watch, but 6'5" forward Thomas Lyden, a transfer from D2 Pace who started at D1 New Haven, also has 6 goals and draws away defenders on anything coming into the box.

Whittier has underwhelmed this year.  The only time they beat a SCIAC opponent who made the conference tournament was against CMS on 9/16. Two of their 4 wins were against Caltech and they only squeaked by Pomona-Pitzer in the 4/5 game in PKs.  The two Caltech wins were their only wins in the last 9 games of the regular season.  So, they aren't exactly riding a wave of good form, although they've done just enough to survive this long.  They have a diverse group of scorers, but no one who is dominant.  Niles DeJardin and Jack Hindmarsh are the most reliable vets in the group.  Fun fact: fully half of their roster - 20 players - are international players, with the largest contingent from Sweden (10 players).

[Kuiper]

In the first ASC semifinal, things are crazy already

Schreiner took a quick 1-0 lead over Mary Hardin-Baylor on a free kick at the top of the box in the 8th minute that took a deflection and sent the UMHB keeper the wrong way.

UMHB tied it up in the 14th minute on a cross into the box that found the foot of Alex Betheke who slotted it past the Schreiner keeper at the left post.

Then UMHB took the lead 22 seconds later on shot that the Schreiner keeper parried to his right, but not far or wide enough and Jesus Vasquez shot the rebound past the keeper

UMHB 2 - Schreiner 1 (17th minute)

UPDATE:  That escalated quickly

UMHB 4 - Schreiner 1

UMHB gets goals in the 33rd and 36th minutes to take a commanding lead with still about 7 minutes to go until halftime.

UPDATE:  Mary Hardin-Baylor is going to be well rested for the ASC finals.  Most starters have played less than 40 minutes.  They really need to put in the backup GK so he can say he played in the conference tournament.

UMHB 6 - Schreiner 1 (67th minute)

[Kuiper]

In the first ASC semifinal, things are crazy already

Schreiner took a quick 1-0 lead over Mary Hardin-Baylor on a free kick at the top of the box in the 8th minute that took a deflection and sent the UMHB keeper the wrong way.

UMHB tied it up in the 14th minute on a cross into the box that found the foot of Alex Betheke who slotted it past the Schreiner keeper at the left post.

Then UMHB took the lead 22 seconds later on shot that the Schreiner keeper parried to his right, but not far or wide enough and Jesus Vasquez shot the rebound past the keeper

UMHB 2 - Schreiner 1 (17th minute)

UPDATE:  That escalated quickly

UMHB 4 - Schreiner 1

UMHB gets goals in the 33rd and 36th minutes to take a commanding lead with still about 7 minutes to go until halftime.

UPDATE:  Mary Hardin-Baylor is going to be well rested for the ASC finals.  Most starters have played less than 40 minutes.  They really need to put in the backup GK so he can say he played in the conference tournament.

UMHB 6 - Schreiner 1 (67th minute)

UMHB 7 - Schreiner 1

Mary Hardin-Baylor brought in the backup keeper (and he'll still get around 20 minutes unless they decide to bring in the 3rd string keeper too)!

FINAL:  UMHB 7 - Scheiner 1