UAA Soccer

[SierraFD3soccer]

Paul,

this year, most all of the UAA did poorly out of conference, this caused the Strength of schedule for UAA to fall across the board and then the in-conference games didn't carry any significance nationally.

the opposite was true for NESCAC, all did well out of conference so then they all are beating each other and getting bonuses for quality wins.

UAA needs to be better in the first part of the season if they hope to go another 20 years with getting multiple bids (last time with one bid was 2004).

I know this isn't the test but I wonder if most folks think Wesleyan and Hamilton are better than or at least equal to every single UAA.  Remember, if not for an AQ, UAA would have had zero.  Rochester, for example, finished just about where they always do...9-4-4 (3-2-2) with their usual well above average non-conference schedule.

Will it take the UAA teams a number of years till it becomes a premier conference again?  Can it be fixed by scheduling and winning against top out of conference teams?  For instance, with W&L's scheduling and success, it could be argued that it has dragged ODAC to a two or three team qualifier?

[Kuiper]

Paul,

this year, most all of the UAA did poorly out of conference, this caused the Strength of schedule for UAA to fall across the board and then the in-conference games didn't carry any significance nationally.

the opposite was true for NESCAC, all did well out of conference so then they all are beating each other and getting bonuses for quality wins.

UAA needs to be better in the first part of the season if they hope to go another 20 years with getting multiple bids (last time with one bid was 2004).

I know this isn't the test but I wonder if most folks think Wesleyan and Hamilton are better than or at least equal to every single UAA.  Remember, if not for an AQ, UAA would have had zero.  Rochester, for example, finished just about where they always do...9-4-4 (3-2-2) with their usual well above average non-conference schedule.

Will it take the UAA teams a number of years till it becomes a premier conference again?  Can it be fixed by scheduling and winning against top out of conference teams?  For instance, with W&L's scheduling and success, it could be argued that it has dragged ODAC to a two or three team qualifier?

The UAA's status as a multi-bid conference was artificially boosted by the Regional Ranking system of selection. It was unique among conferences in having teams in several different regions, some of which were fairly weak or lesser populated in men's soccer.  That meant that a lot of UAA teams were regionally ranked pretty regularly by the time they got to conference play and UAA teams had several chances to amass wins against regionally ranked opponents that simply were not available to teams during conference play in conferences where all teams were part of the same region.  Those wins against ranked teams were like the Quality Win Bonuses of today's NPI and few conferences had teams with the travel budgets to compete with the UAA in racking them up.

Under the NPI, UAA is going to have to adjust its scheduling in non-conference games in order to survive as a high-achieving conference.  It no longer has a built-in advantage over other conferences.  Indeed, it now has a built-in disadvantage because the back-loaded conference schedule requires them to find a lot of early non-conference games, which might be harder to do when they don't have something to offer like a regionally ranked win prospect. Now, it's just the risk of a loss against a team that might not be highly ranked for NPI purposes. 

My guess is UAA will pivot from strong early schedules to more of a mix of finding wins in the first half of the season before conference play.  Although the NPI was ostensibly structured by the Men's Soccer Committee to encourage strong scheduling, the reality is that if you are in a conference with strong teams, you may be better off scheduling primarily weaker non-conference opponents, with a few teams playing strong local opponents mixed in that they can beat, like NESCAC does for the most part, knowing that if everyone arrives to conference games with good records, they're going to amass NPI points during conference play.  It's the strong teams in weak conferences that need to find better opponents to guard against missing out completely if they are upset in the conference tournament.

[deutschfan]

Ignominious end for the UAA with Emory being shut down in first round. Chicago has to be biggest disappointment from national champ in 2022 to sub .500 in two years. After the Emory loss the coaching staff mentioned in their press release the possibility of a NCAA bid. After the Wash U loss the coaching staff declined to even issue a recap of the game. That was total sour grapes.

[Hopkins92]

Paul,

this year, most all of the UAA did poorly out of conference, this caused the Strength of schedule for UAA to fall across the board and then the in-conference games didn't carry any significance nationally.

the opposite was true for NESCAC, all did well out of conference so then they all are beating each other and getting bonuses for quality wins.

UAA needs to be better in the first part of the season if they hope to go another 20 years with getting multiple bids (last time with one bid was 2004).

I know this isn't the test but I wonder if most folks think Wesleyan and Hamilton are better than or at least equal to every single UAA.  Remember, if not for an AQ, UAA would have had zero.  Rochester, for example, finished just about where they always do...9-4-4 (3-2-2) with their usual well above average non-conference schedule.

Will it take the UAA teams a number of years till it becomes a premier conference again?  Can it be fixed by scheduling and winning against top out of conference teams?  For instance, with W&L's scheduling and success, it could be argued that it has dragged ODAC to a two or three team qualifier?

The UAA's status as a multi-bid conference was artificially boosted by the Regional Ranking system of selection. It was unique among conferences in having teams in several different regions, some of which were fairly weak or lesser populated in men's soccer.  That meant that a lot of UAA teams were regionally ranked pretty regularly by the time they got to conference play and UAA teams had several chances to amass wins against regionally ranked opponents that simply were not available to teams during conference play in conferences where all teams were part of the same region.  Those wins against ranked teams were like the Quality Win Bonuses of today's NPI and few conferences had teams with the travel budgets to compete with the UAA in racking them up.

Under the NPI, UAA is going to have to adjust its scheduling in non-conference games in order to survive as a high-achieving conference.  It no longer has a built-in advantage over other conferences.  Indeed, it now has a built-in disadvantage because the back-loaded conference schedule requires them to find a lot of early non-conference games, which might be harder to do when they don't have something to offer like a regionally ranked win prospect. Now, it's just the risk of a loss against a team that might not be highly ranked for NPI purposes. 

My guess is UAA will pivot from strong early schedules to more of a mix of finding wins in the first half of the season before conference play.  Although the NPI was ostensibly structured by the Men's Soccer Committee to encourage strong scheduling, the reality is that if you are in a conference with strong teams, you may be better off scheduling primarily weaker non-conference opponents, with a few teams playing strong local opponents mixed in that they can beat, like NESCAC does for the most part, knowing that if everyone arrives to conference games with good records, they're going to amass NPI points during conference play.  It's the strong teams in weak conferences that need to find better opponents to guard against missing out completely if they are upset in the conference tournament.

Solid explainer, kuiper.

[Kuiper]

Cross-posting from the 2025 Schedules thread.  A couple of UAA school schedules have dropped.  At least from these two schools, I'm not seeing the shift to a few more easy non-conference wins that you might expect now that the UAA needs to build their records up before conference play and can't rely upon regional ranking points.  It may be that some of these new opponents were set up before the NPI system or they think that they actually need more solid non-conference opponents because they can't count on the UAA opponents to be strong enough.

Rochester

Hosts Cortland to open the season and then four straight away games. Only difference in opponents between this season and last is they replace Stevens with York and Oswego State.  The big difference in UAA play is that they had only three games at home last season, where they were 6-0-3, and only one after Oct 12 and they have four at home in 2025, all of which are Oct. 18 or later.  They had the best overall record in the UAA last season, but the late season UAA losses/ties are what prevented them from getting the NCAA bid (their only win in their last four conference games was the only one they played at home).

Brandeis

Drops Vassar, Union, Western New England, and Eastern Connecticut State and picks up Coast Guard, Regis, Wesleyan, John Carroll, and Anna Maria.  Seems fairly similar, depending upon how good Wesleyan and John Carroll are this year.

[kansas hokie]

The shift in Emory's schedule certainly appears to be moving in the direction of more wins. There's four top 60 NPI OOC matches (once Oglethorpe is scheduled) and the rest of OOC opponents are under 150 (more wins, less ties/upsets). Gone are the 60-100 teams that are closer in strength. Overall, the UAA needs to do much better in OOC if there's a chance to go back to multiple at-large bids. Last year was first in 25 years with just one UAA team in NCAA, we'll see what this year brings.

[DagarmanSpartan]

CWRU's schedule is out.

https://athletics.case.edu/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

The out of conference schedule consists mostly of Ohio and Western PA small colleges.  Nothing too strenuous.

Although several of the teams have changed, the Spartans basically used that same scheduling strategy last season as well.

And did better out of conference than in conference.

[Kuiper]

With the ODAC announcement, I thought it was worth posting the UAA announcement here, just in case anyone missed it.  We're getting to the point where it's probably not if, but when, your conference is going to sign with Flo for the majority of conferences.

FloSports and UAA sign exclusive media rights deal

FloSports and the University Athletic Association (UAA) have entered into an exclusive five-year media rights agreement that will begin in the fall of 2025, bringing eight elite universities to the FloCollege platform. Through the agreement, FloSports will provide a global platform to live stream over 650 regular-season and postseason events annually. The partnership further reinforces FloSports commitment to supporting Division III athletics adding a sixth to the FloCollege portfolio and the 15th NCAA conference to the platform.

The UAA is composed of eight prestigious member institutions and is the only DIII conference where all members are elite research institutions, they include: Brandeis University, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, Emory University, New York University (NYU), University of Chicago, University of Rochester, and Washington University in St. Louis (WashU).

"I speak on behalf of all eight UAA institutions when I say how excited we are to partner with FloSports and bring UAA content to FloCollege," commented Sarah Otey, Commissioner of the UAA. "UAA student-athletes are second to none in their academic and athletic successes – and we are grateful to have a streaming network that will give us an opportunity to appropriately promote them. This agreement will allow our institutions to ensure they can stream UAA competition and promote the UAA brand in a manner that best reflects the exceptional nature of our UAA student-athletes."

[Kuiper]

I'll post some roster analyses/season previews as they become available and I have time.

Chicago

Uncharacteristically weak season for Chicago, finishing 7-8-3 (2-2-3 in the UAA) and missing the NCAA tournament after starting the season 5-1.  They lose a lot of key parts, including the last key contributing links to their NCAA title run in 2022.  They still have significant talent, but the question is whether Philip Kroft can properly take advantage of that talent so they can get back to the consistency of the last decade or so.

Transfers: 

Charlie Wagner is a D3 transfer from Colorado College who had eligibility because he missed his freshman year due to injury.  A 6'2" midfielder/defender and 2-time All-SCAC selection in his two years of action at Colorado College, he played 37 games and started 34 of them over the last two years (although he went out with an injury early in the NCAA game against Pacific Lutheran and missed the second round game against CMS).  Given his high-level experience, including in the NCAA tournament, he could be an impact player for the Maroons if he's healthy.  He certainly shouldn't have trouble adjusting to the UAA travel schedule after playing with Colorado College.

Louis Bock is a D1 transfer from Coastal Carolina who is originally from Luxembourg.  A 6'6" defender who played 33 games, starting 15, during his time there.  He was named Male Scholar Athlete of the Year at Coastal Carolina in 2023-2024, so I'm not surprised he graduated early and decided to spend his last year of eligibility at Chicago getting a Master's in Finance.  You never know how much D1 transfers are going to be focused on soccer when they come to DIII for a grad degree, but he certainly will add a size dimension for the Chicago defense.

Recruits:

D Eli Weene (6'1") - Los Angeles, CA, LA Breakers ECNL
F Giovanni Casselli (6'3") - London, England, City of London HS
D Vaughn DeRath (5'10") - Okemos, MI, Michigan Wolves MLS Next (formerly Columbus Crew Academy)
M William Stewart (5'10") - Atlanta, GA, Southern SA MLS Next
M Drake Wenger (5'6") - Jacksonville, FL, Jacksonville Armada MLS Next (formerly Orlando City Academy)

Key departures:

They lose leading scorer Danny Mendoza, but he only had 7 goals and 4 of them were scored very early in the season in blowouts against Kalamazoo and North Central.  Biggest losses are most of the last contributors to the national championship run, including Lyndon Hu, who was a fixture in the midfield the last 4 years, starting 79 of 84 games in which he played, including during Chicago's national championship run.  He was second in the team in minutes played last year behind GK Dhirpal Shah, who also graduated.  Other key '22'ers departing include Jack Leuker, who was another key fixture on defense and, like Hu, started 79 of 84 games he played over 4 years and was UAA defensive player of the year in 2023 and midfielder Robbie Pino, who departs after finishing a disappointing grad year that was cut short by injury.