2025 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Another Mom]

100% agree. They need goals and it isn't clear where they are coming from.

[jknezek]

100% agree. They need goals and it isn't clear where they are coming from.

And I won't know since that's probably the last game I'll watch. Shame, it was fun watching them come together last year. But maybe I'll get some tourney games to watch. Can't say I'm going to be checking boxscores. Just not that interesting.

[SimpleCoach]

If you haven't seen Denison's first goal against Stockton... sorry for the spoiler.  It is a bomb.  Ok, I just made a video and posted.  Just outstanding.

Hope you enjoy.

SC.

[Hopkins Walk-On]

Sewanee played a very aggressive press. Hopkins lost their freshman starting center back 2 minutes into the game and never recovered. As previous posters have said, first two goals were the result of Sewanee pressure and poor Hopkins play in the back. Third was a penalty that looked like feet getting tangled but it was in the box so no real complaint. Last one was Hopkins crumbling mentally.

Two players I would have expected to start or play significant minutes, CJ Feldman and Jason Pang, didn't play this weekend. I am guessing they are nursing injures.

[Kuiper]

!! Win of the day !!

Warren Wilson 5 - Mississippi University for Women 0

After 26 games without a win over the last three seasons, Warren Wilson has a win!  The last time Warren Wilson won a game was Oct 8, 2022.  They were 0-14 in 2023 and 0-6 in 2024 before the rest of their season was cancelled because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene last fall in western North Carolina.

This wasn't a cheap win either.  WW outshot MUW 26-4.  Of course, the last time MUW won a game was Oct 15, 2023, so Warren Wilson can mostly brag that they aren't the worst team in DIII anymore (to be fair, they weren't before - Lewis & Clark still holds that mantle).

[SierraFD3soccer]

Rowen 2 v. F&M 1.  Rowen deserved to win 4 or 5 to 1. Definitely played much better. F&M keeper had some good saves which he also did yesterday. Both F&M goals came from pks. Like many other teams right now, it needs to have someone to step up and finish. Don't know if that is going to happen any time soon. Going 0-2 to Ohio will probably be very, very bumpy. Not a big stretch to think that they'll come back 0-4.

[Ron Boerger]

Trinity(TX) up 2-0 on St Thomas(TX) after 24' but with storms moving in and the game already in a weather delay this may go quite late or get cancelled.

Narrator:  It was.

[Kuiper]

!! Win of the day !!

Warren Wilson 5 - Mississippi University for Women 0

After 26 games without a win over the last three seasons, Warren Wilson has a win!  The last time Warren Wilson won a game was Oct 8, 2022.  They were 0-14 in 2023 and 0-6 in 2024 before the rest of their season was cancelled because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene last fall in western North Carolina.

This wasn't a cheap win either.  WW outshot MUW 26-4.  Of course, the last time MUW won a game was Oct 15, 2023, so Warren Wilson can mostly brag that they aren't the worst team in DIII anymore (to be fair, they weren't before - Lewis & Clark still holds that mantle).

Incidentally, if you're tracking Lewis & Clark's winless streak, it reached 47 today with a loss to Bushnell (NAIA) 4-0.  They were outshot 21-5. Lewis & Clark has failed to win a game since it re-started the program in 2022 (it was originally cut in 1991), going 0-46-1 during that period.  The lone tie came on October 25, 2023 against George Fox by a 0 to 0 score.  Since then, Lewis & Clark has lost 24 games in a row, which now appears to be the longest current losing streak in the country after Warren Wilson's win. 

[Crossit4fun]

If you haven't seen Denison's first goal against Stockton... sorry for the spoiler.  It is a bomb.  Ok, I just made a video and posted.  Just outstanding.

Hope you enjoy.

SC.

A rocket shot! Well struck

[FBALLISLIFE]

So I went to Atlanta for the W&L games. It wasn't good. Last year when I saw those first two games I said they had talent but no idea how to play the way a new coach wanted them to play. As the season went along, coach and team adjusted to each other and the talent shown through.

That was not the problem this weekend. This weekend they played the system fairly well, better against Ogelthorpe than Emory, but well enough. I just don't ont think they know where the goals will come from.

If they push the two in off the post and crossbar they likely tie Emory and beat Ogelthorpe, so it wasn't a disaster, just unlucky. They really controlled Ogelthorpe for all but about 20 minutes of the second half, a 20 minutes that W&L seemed to be deep into their bench, and the PK Ogelthorpe scored on was pretty soft.

But that game shouldn't have been 1-0. They need a scorer, and I'm just not sure who it could be.

The game against Emory was not great. Emory played a high line with a lot of pressure and W&L lacked patience. Every transition was pushed up as fast as possible and resulted in aton of lost possession and having to get back on defense. No midfield patience hurt and eventually conceded a goal Emory earned. Emory deserved the win, but W&L had chances.

Anyway, W&L will be dangerous to everyone. They have midfield and defensive talent, but unless someone steps up to score 10 goals or so, it's going to be a tough season with a lot of these "could have been" games slipping away.

I thought I saw you there.  Were those your two boys?  I was in a conversation with someone when I saw you and then you were gone when I looked up again. 

W&L's diamond midfield and lack of width in the Emory game is hopefully a short-lived experiment.  Unfortunately, the lack of a quality striker for the first time since 2019 likely won't be. 

[jknezek]

I thought I saw you there.  Were those your two boys?  I was in a conversation with someone when I saw you and then you were gone when I looked up again. 

W&L's diamond midfield and lack of width in the Emory game is hopefully a short-lived experiment.  Unfortunately, the lack of a quality striker for the first time since 2019 likely won't be. 

If I was the shortest and roundest of the three of us, then yes, that was likely me. W&L Tshirt and hat both days. I did meet Kansas Hokie, and partook of the wonderful Emory tailgate before/during the first game, but I didn't know you were there! Those Emory parents are very kind and the tailgate is wonderful.

We stayed at the tailgate in the first half of the Emory game then went down to the field. The second game we sat in the stands, or at least I did. My boys sought some shelter in the building when they were getting burnt alive since dad didn't not remember sunscreen.

I didn't find the formation that bad, I found the pace awful in the first game. I know you beat a high line by moving quickly, but when it just leads to constant turnovers you have to slow down a bit. I also much prefer #16 out wide as opposed to up top, but I think Coach is looking for anyone who can play up top right now. I wasn't a fan of playing Agbeyegbe up top last year either, as I thought he was better running at defenders as opposed to receiving with his back to goal, but I think he was the best option on the roster. This year I'm with you, I'm not sure there is an option on the roster.

[Kuiper]

Is Illinois Tech for real?  They are 2-0 and just beat Hope 5-3 tonight. 

Illinois Tech was decent last season, going 9-7-3, but they were crushed by the NACC's top teams, Edgewood and Milawukee School of Engineering, whenever they played them.  Hope beat Ohio Wesleyan 3-0 in its opener and was 14-3-3 last season, losing in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament to Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Illinois Tech was not in the least bit intimidated though.  Illinois Tech's sophomore forward Cal Graham scored a hat trick in the first 19 minutes and freshman forward Matteo Secaria had two goals and an assist to absolutely blitz Hope.  IIT had 21 fouls to 7 for Hope, so I'm wondering if this is a situation like Sewanee v. Johns Hopkins where an aggressive press was applied and forced a bunch of mistakes. 

[kansas hokie]

I thought I saw you there.  Were those your two boys?  I was in a conversation with someone when I saw you and then you were gone when I looked up again. 

W&L's diamond midfield and lack of width in the Emory game is hopefully a short-lived experiment.  Unfortunately, the lack of a quality striker for the first time since 2019 likely won't be. 

If I was the shortest and roundest of the three of us, then yes, that was likely me. W&L Tshirt and hat both days. I did meet Kansas Hokie, and partook of the wonderful Emory tailgate before/during the first game, but I didn't know you were there! Those Emory parents are very kind and the tailgate is wonderful.

We stayed at the tailgate in the first half of the Emory game then went down to the field. The second game we sat in the stands, or at least I did. My boys sought some shelter in the building when they were getting burnt alive since dad didn't not remember sunscreen.

I didn't find the formation that bad, I found the pace awful in the first game. I know you beat a high line by moving quickly, but when it just leads to constant turnovers you have to slow down a bit. I also much prefer #16 out wide as opposed to up top, but I think Coach is looking for anyone who can play up top right now. I wasn't a fan of playing Agbeyegbe up top last year either, as I thought he was better running at defenders as opposed to receiving with his back to goal, but I think he was the best option on the roster. This year I'm with you, I'm not sure there is an option on the roster.

Great to meet you and your boys! We have some local parents that make that tailgate such a wonderful experience, all credit to them! Great weekend for Emory, can easily say that they had the best of it in both games but many of those didn't go our way last year (most painful - colorado college at their place, we were better that day). Emory will be favored in every other out of conference match now so record could be something you need to make a long run at the end of the year, we'll see. Emory has the pieces up and down the team, we'll see if they gel into a special year or not, first weekend looked good though.

[Kuiper]

Someone with a user handle of  D3SoccerWorld has been posting fairly frequently on X on at least men's soccer and posted the following "way too early" rankings.  It's frankly already out of date even though it was just posted, but it's not crazy either

Top 25

1. Middlebury
2. Denison
3. Tufts
4. Amherst
5. Trinity TX
6. Conn College
7. Wisconsin Eau Claire
8. Gustavus Adolphus
9. Babson
10. Cortland
11. Ohio Northern
12. Vassar
13. Emory
14. Colorado College
15. St. Olaf
16. Rowan
17. MSOE
18. Swarthmore
19. Wisconsin Platteville
20. Williams
21. Southwestern
22. Dickinson
23. Kenyon
24. Washington & Lee
25. Mary Washington

[Hopkins92]

Hopkins steals one on the road in Gambier. 1-0 off of a weird indirect set piece inside Kenyon's 18. I wasn't really watching so I don't know what the call was, but the keeper was very annoyed with the AR.

Hopkins travels to Denison for a match-up against Denison. The D3 poll had Hop with an 18 percent chance to win. I get that losing to Sewanee 4-0 in TN looked bad, but I wonder what the numbers would be with this information available to the hive mind.