2025 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Kuiper]

UPSET ALERT

Roger Williams 1 - Babson 0 (73rd minute)

Field looks like it may be wet (not sure), so the weather may be affecting this game, but interesting to see Roger Williams out-shooting Babson 12-3 (6-1 on goal) with 3 corners to 0 for Babson

[Kuiper]

UPSET ALERT

Roger Williams 1 - Babson 0 (73rd minute)

Field looks like it may be wet (not sure), so the weather may be affecting this game, but interesting to see Roger Williams out-shooting Babson 12-3 (6-1 on goal) with 3 corners to 0 for Babson

FINAL:  Roger Williams 1 - Babson 0

Not sure if this is a major upset, but Rogers Williams is now 5-0-1 and Babson suffers its first loss.

[BaboNation]

UPSET ALERT

Roger Williams 1 - Babson 0 (73rd minute)

Field looks like it may be wet (not sure), so the weather may be affecting this game, but interesting to see Roger Williams out-shooting Babson 12-3 (6-1 on goal) with 3 corners to 0 for Babson

FINAL:  Roger Williams 1 - Babson 0

Not sure if this is a major upset, but Rogers Williams is now 5-0-1 and Babson suffers its first loss.

On this night RW was unquestionably the better team and deserved the W.  Even after the early second half goal they largely controlled play and dispossessed most every attack through the midfield.  Until the final 10 minutes or so Babson looked very lackluster.  Credit to RW.

[stlawus]

Have to say I'm liking all the non-con parity this year.  Should make conference play much more interesting.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Franklin has a win! They've defeated Heidelberg 4-0.  
After being outscored 35-3 in six games this year, and going 0-25-6 since they beat Mount St Joseph 23 1/2 months ago they've finally found the win column. So happy
Hopefully I don't have to wait until 2027 for the next win.

[HelloMrEvil]

Watched Haverford absolutely dominate #2 Rowan the other day. Team is undefeated heading into conference play. Would attribute much of their success this year to the acquisition of assistant coach Don Norton. Know him from his Camden days, brilliant football mind and is most definitely a large reason for the resurgence of Haverford.

[SimpleCoach]

Watched Haverford absolutely dominate #2 Rowan the other day. Team is undefeated heading into conference play. Would attribute much of their success this year to the acquisition of assistant coach Don Norton. Know him from his Camden days, brilliant football mind and is most definitely a large reason for the resurgence of Haverford.

Definitely out of the relegation zone.  May have an early SC Coach of the Year candidate....

SC.

[Chargers96]

I watched the stream of the CNU - Trinity game (3-2 to CNU).  Kuiper with good analysis/recap in the Go West thread. Agree with that post -- CNU had a great game plan and executed.  You can see why Trinity is so highly rated -- they should go far if they can tighten up on defense.  CNU could/should have put a couple more in the back of the net.

[Gotberg]

Nice goal scored up in whitewater:

https://x.com/VikingsNPU/status/1969219523778670844?t=LWWBWxIPMOrH4QqkdkTYqA&s=19

[Footy]

The MAC Commonwealth is even worse than normal this year so Messiah will still probably go undefeated in conference play (York could potentially give them a game). 

Has Messiah been switching things around, playing freshman, etc in recent games?  That's what I've been seeing from some other traditionally strong schools out west who lost a string of non-conference games and now appear to have conceded that they won't have a chance under the NPI of getting a bid unless it's the automatic conference bid.  They appear to be re-setting their goals for conference play and using the last few non-conference games to heal up, rotate some players, and try some things.  Still trying to win, of course, which is important for mentality if nothing else, but doing more things to set themselves up for conference play than to scrap out non-conference wins.

I'm not sure Messiah et al would do anything differently if it was still under the old committee selection process, but I suspect the NPI, being just an algorithm, is very unforgiving if you don't have enough wins no matter how good your strength of schedule is or how great you are trending after a poor start.  In that sense, it would make sense if they have already turned their focus to the conference season and are just viewing the remaining non-conference games as like preseason games.

The irony of Messiah, Mary Washington, Franklin & Marshall, St. Lawrence, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Redlands, Occidental etc being not as strong straight out of the gate is that if they don't pick things up in conference play, a bunch of schools that thought they were going to get a SoS bump playing them under NPI are going to end up empty-handed or hurt by playing them.  By contrast, other schools that thought they were playing an easy schedule might get an SoS bump from unexpected sources.

The magic  of Dave Brandt is gone, and McCarty has simply been running his playbook for years. The problem is that this playbook was largely succesful because Messiah simply out recruited everyone.  With the parity increasing in D3 soccer, McCarty is showing his weakness as a coach, and his inability to adapt.  Messiah has always been predictable, but in the past, it didn't matter, as their personnel was simply better. Not the case anymore.  They should still be able to handle a very non competitive Mac Commonwealth, but I think the national power is fading.....They only lost 3-4 starters from last season, and haven't seen to be able to adjust. The freshman seem to have potential- but McCarty is going to need to show an ability to field a team based on talent and his opponent verses running the only game plan he seems to know.

[Ejay]

The magic  of Dave Brandt is gone, and McCarty has simply been running his playbook for years. The problem is that this playbook was largely succesful because Messiah simply out recruited everyone.  With the parity increasing in D3 soccer, McCarty is showing his weakness as a coach, and his inability to adapt.  Messiah has always been predictable, but in the past, it didn't matter, as their personnel was simply better. Not the case anymore.  They should still be able to handle a very non competitive Mac Commonwealth, but I think the national power is fading.....They only lost 3-4 starters from last season, and haven't seen to be able to adjust. The freshman seem to have potential- but McCarty is going to need to show an ability to field a team based on talent and his opponent verses running the only game plan he seems to know.

Interesting take. Wish Falconer was around to chime in.

[BigSoccerFan]

When did they start doing VAR in D3 soccer?

[paclassic89]

The magic  of Dave Brandt is gone, and McCarty has simply been running his playbook for years. The problem is that this playbook was largely succesful because Messiah simply out recruited everyone.  With the parity increasing in D3 soccer, McCarty is showing his weakness as a coach, and his inability to adapt.  Messiah has always been predictable, but in the past, it didn't matter, as their personnel was simply better. Not the case anymore.  They should still be able to handle a very non competitive Mac Commonwealth, but I think the national power is fading.....They only lost 3-4 starters from last season, and haven't seen to be able to adjust. The freshman seem to have potential- but McCarty is going to need to show an ability to field a team based on talent and his opponent verses running the only game plan he seems to know.

Interesting take. Wish Falconer was around to chime in.

There was a hazing issue that just got resolved this past spring.  Mccarty was suspended from coaching for half of the spring season and an alum was suspended from volunteering with the team during the summer.  I don't think it's coincidence that they're off to such a poor start

[Footy]

A coach with limited ability and creativity , a broken culture, and an arrogance not to know the difference.......yes, not a suprise at all that they are off to the start that they are.

[laker4141]

When did they start doing VAR in D3 soccer?

Last year. The stipulation was that the host institution had to be able to supply it. It was of course implemented at the Final Four but several teams used it throughout the year.