NCAA Tournament 2025

[Ejay]

One way to answer the latter question is to think about the wins against regionally ranked teams factor used under the old Selection Committee approach and apply it to a few teams that might have at least gotten a careful look under the old system (which is not the same as the teams that the NPI would have placed close to the line).  The Regional Rankings we have available are through Nov. 4th, so they don't reflect the conference tournament results.

Oooh, fun game.
University College (8-5-3) - Very good schedule, but only 2 of 8 wins vs. regionally ranked teams. Combined team record of remaining 6 wins was 35-44-20. Lost in QF of conference tournament to team that lost in Semi-Final of said tournament.

[Kuiper]

Two games on Friday (involving teams that need to play Friday-Saturday rather than Saturday-Sunday, for religious reasons)

I think this game could be interesting

Calvin (NPI #37) v. Grove City (NPI #50) @ Hobart Friday at 1:30 pm EST

Calvin is 16-3-1 and a traditional power.  Grove City is 15-2-2, but it is definitely not a traditional power.  This is its first PAC championship in two decades and the PAC isn't exactly a top league.  Nevertheless, there are reasons to wonder if Grove City can surprise here.  First, Grove City is hot.  It's coming in on a 10 game winning streak and a 15 game unbeaten streak and has 12 shutouts overall this season.  Second, Grove City has shown that it is competitive with teams that have NCAA experience and/or are in stronger conferences.  It tied Carnegie Mellon 1-1 in early September and it beat Buffalo State 1-0 in mid-September in one of the few games where a team held Buffalo State's Diego Rivera (the D3 Men's Soccer golden boot winner during the regular season this year) off the scoresheet and without a shot on goal.  Third, Calvin and Grove City have one common opponent - Hope - and both Calvin and Grove City beat it by the identical 2-0 score.  Finally, Grove City and Calvin actually played against each other this season on 9/20 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and the game was called on account of lightening after 57 minutes.  Calvin was winning 1-0 at the time, but I found a few highlights of the game (from a Grove City perspective) and it looked like both teams had some chances.  Although that game was almost two months ago, neither team is going to come into this game flying blind and, most importantly from the perspective of the underdog, Grove City will likely not be in awe of Calvin given that experience going toe-to-toe with them earlier in the season.  One player on Grove City to watch might be Aidan Eck, a senior midfielder.  He's not the leading scorer, but he is on a hot streak of his own, scoring goals in 5 of the last 6 games.

[Mr_November]

Loads of responses! JHU, F&M, Kenyon, OWU, VA Wesleyan, St. John's, Haverford, Buffalo State, Pfeiffer, and many others miss out on the NCAAs this year.

Kuiper - thank you for the detailed breakdown. Very interesting read accompanying each program you listed

[LibbyMoore]

Love these back stories, keep them coming! Thanks for all the time you put in here!

[Kuiper]

Love these back stories, keep them coming! Thanks for all the time you put in here!

If you want more back stories on the Calvin - Grove City game, Eli Ribbe, who has been an assistant coach at Grove City for the last four seasons, graduated from Calvin, where he was a three year captain of Calvin's JV soccer team. 

Here's a great story from the Calvin school newspaper about the experience of playing JV that includes several quotes from Ribbe, who also graduated summa cum laude from Calvin.  His connection may be how Grove City came to travel to Michigan to play Calvin and Hope for the first time ever this season, and also puts non-varsity teams in a positive light, which isn't a perspective you often hear.

[D3SoccerTalker]

Does anyone know whether it was a foul or an offside call in the build up to the Messiah goal? If offsides—that makes sense. If a foul—then the center can't rely on his AR to call that back correct?

[Kuiper]

Does anyone know whether it was a foul or an offside call in the build up to the Messiah goal? If offsides—that makes sense. If a foul—then the center can't rely on his AR to call that back correct?

The play-by-play on the NCAA website lists it as a foul.

[Mr_November]

Does anyone know whether it was a foul or an offside call in the build up to the Messiah goal? If offsides—that makes sense. If a foul—then the center can't rely on his AR to call that back correct?

The play-by-play on the NCAA website lists it as a foul.

It seemed as though legs got tangled at the top of the box. I replayed it a few times and I think this call could have gone either way, but it was probably the correct call. There might have been a slight push as well but couldn't see from the angle given by the camera.

[Mr_November]

HALFTIME: Hobart 0-0 Messiah

Messiah had a disallowed goal and a quality shot from #10 that smacked the post and bounced out. Hobart had a good chance as well from around the PK spot. Shot was on frame and on the ground toward the far post but Messiah keeper made a good save.

This is a tight contest so far and I could see it going either way. Messiah have probably had better looks and are pressing Hobart well. Hobart, on the other hand, look dangerous every time they go forward. They've been able to break Messiah's press at times through their crafty dribblers.

[Kuiper]

As to whether a center can "rely on" his AR to call it back, the CR, not the AR, makes the ultimate call, but there's nothing that prevents the CR from consulting his AR about a possible foul.

[ExiledInTexas]

Love these back stories, keep them coming! Thanks for all the time you put in here!

If you want more back stories on the Calvin - Grove City game, Eli Ribbe, who has been an assistant coach at Grove City for the last four seasons, graduated from Calvin, where he was a three year captain of Calvin's JV soccer team. 

Here's a great story from the Calvin school newspaper about the experience of playing JV that includes several quotes from Ribbe, who also graduated summa cum laude from Calvin.  His connection may be how Grove City came to travel to Michigan to play Calvin and Hope for the first time ever this season, and also puts non-varsity teams in a positive light, which isn't a perspective you often hear.

The Calvin/Grove City game is also a family affair.  Older brother Athan Ladas (Calvin) faces his younger brother Luke Ladas (Grove City).

[Hopkins92]

Huh.  Seems odd there's only one game today. Is it just me?

[Kuiper]

Love these back stories, keep them coming! Thanks for all the time you put in here!

If you want more back stories on the Calvin - Grove City game, Eli Ribbe, who has been an assistant coach at Grove City for the last four seasons, graduated from Calvin, where he was a three year captain of Calvin's JV soccer team. 

Here's a great story from the Calvin school newspaper about the experience of playing JV that includes several quotes from Ribbe, who also graduated summa cum laude from Calvin.  His connection may be how Grove City came to travel to Michigan to play Calvin and Hope for the first time ever this season, and also puts non-varsity teams in a positive light, which isn't a perspective you often hear.

The Calvin/Grove City game is also a family affair.  Older brother Athan Ladas (Calvin) faces his younger brother Luke Ladas (Grove City).

I missed that!  Love it.  The crazy thing is that the two are from Parsippany Hills (or maybe Morris Plains), New Jersey.  They had to by-pass a lot of DIII men's soccer programs to end up at Calvin and Grove City.

[Kuiper]

Huh.  Seems odd there's only one game today. Is it just me?

Two games.  Grove City v. Calvin is next.

It's because Calvin and Messiah can't play on Sundays, so they had the Hobart pod be the Friday/Saturday pod

[Hopkins92]

Huh.  Seems odd there's only one game today. Is it just me?

Two games.  Grove City v. Calvin is next.

It's because Calvin and Messiah can't play on Sundays, so they had the Hobart pod be the Friday/Saturday pod

Yeah, I meant only one pod... very poor wording. I feel like in years past we've had more games on Friday. Probably some Mandela-effect thing for me.