NCAA Tournament 2025

[SierraFD3soccer]

Very late goal for Denison with about 3 min left. Tough one.

Will Joseph, W&L's keeper, tough to end his career. Over his 4 years, 2 straight semis, one round of 16 along with many post season pk shootouts. Solid keeper.

[Hopkins92]

Ball game at Cortland. PK for the Cards winner.

[Hopkins92]

Lots of great games tomorrow.

Dickinson v. Denison (in Carlisle)
Tufts v. Brandeis
ConnC v. Babson

So many more, but those jump out to me.

[Maine Soccer Fan]

Amherst's last of 23 fouls happened in the box and that's the game.

[SierraFD3soccer]

Amherst's last of 23 fouls happened in the box and that's the game.

Are you saying that they finally went too far?? Too soon?? Hahaha. 

Saw the rain coming down, that was a lot. Lucky they played on turf with another game tomorrow.

2 of 4 final 4 from last year are out. Maybe a wide open tournament?

[camosfan]

The reffing seems to be stricter than in the past!

[Kuiper]

HALF:  Trinity 2 - Hardin-Simmons 0

As expected, H-S conceded possession with a low block and held off Trinity for about 42 minutes of the half, but Trinity's Luke Mayfield got around to the endline and lofted a beautiful chipped cross to Luke Chandler, who hit a header that forced H-S GK Carson Null to make a full stretch one-handed save to his left that left the ball in front of the net and Hodge McDonald slammed it in the roof of the net for a goal.  That broke the dam, so-to-speak, and Trinity got a second on a PK a minute later after Joey Perryman hustled in front of a H-S defender who was chasing down a long ball and drew the foul in the box.  Alex Ramirez hit it in the top bin for the second score.  Feisty half.

[camosfan]

The following games are too early in the tournament: Was U v Chicago, Lynchburg V Chris Newport!

[Kuiper]

HALF:  Trinity 2 - Hardin-Simmons 0

As expected, H-S conceded possession with a low block and held off Trinity for about 42 minutes of the half, but Trinity's Luke Mayfield got around to the endline and lofted a beautiful chipped cross to Luke Chandler, who hit a header that forced H-S GK Carson Null to make a full stretch one-handed save to his left that left the ball in front of the net and Hodge McDonald slammed it in the roof of the net for a goal.  That broke the dam, so-to-speak, and Trinity got a second on a PK a minute later after Joey Perryman hustled in front of a H-S defender who was chasing down a long ball and drew the foul in the box.  Alex Ramirez hit it in the top bin for the second score.  Feisty half.

UPDATE:  Trinity 3 - Hardin-Simmons 0

Trinity's Samuel Theiss scores on a PK after they passed the ball around the box and a H-S defender took down the Trinity attacker who was driving for the endline

UPDATE:  Trinity 4 - Hardin-Simmons 0

Trinity scores another goal quickly after the third in bizarre fashion.  Hardin-Simmons has two defenders go up on a Trinity corner and they pop the ball back up across the goal.  Meanwhile, three more H-S defenders are near the GK and end up shielding him from getting to the ball, allowing a Trinity player to jump over the GK's reach and head the ball into the goal.

UPDATE:  Trinity 5 - Hardin-Simmons 0

Joey Perryman scores on a beautiful shot to the far post after receiving a pass from the left side of the box

FINAL:  Trinity 5 - Hardin-Simmons 0

[Falconer]

Amherst's last of 23 fouls happened in the box and that's the game.

Amherst's last of 23 fouls actually called (there were at least a dozen more, 2 or 3 of which should have been carded) happened in the box and that's the game.

An ironic and appropriate ending.

[LetteroftheLaw]

Amherst's last of 23 fouls happened in the box and that's the game.

Are you saying that they finally went too far?? Too soon?? Hahaha. 

Saw the rain coming down, that was a lot. Lucky they played on turf with another game tomorrow.

2 of 4 final 4 from last year are out. Maybe a wide open tournament?

Proud Catholic alum here. Historic win for the program taking down a strong program in Amherst and defending national champion. It did not come easy, enduring the typical reckless physicality and direct play from the overly emotional Mammoth, not to mention the two weather delays.
I think ultimately the weather delays benefited Catholic, as it gave them some time to regroup, and  interrupt the momentum that Amherst had going with long throw after long throw and corner after corner.
At the end of the day Amhersts chippy play cost them the match as Holden Woodings buried a clear penalty in the first overtime. With not much time to recover, the cards will have their hands full playing the host Cortland red dragons.
, but proud of this victory and happy there will not be a repeat champion this year. 

[stlawus]

I doubt I was the only one that noticed Nuhu from Amherst flailing and flopping around on the turf after getting barely touched seconds before the foul in the box.  Very fitting end, and karmic in a way.

[Kuiper]

Texas Lutheran 1 - Whitman 0 (31st minute)

TLU hits a great free kick from the far right side of the field that was headed to the back post by a strong header.

HALF:  Texas Lutheran 1 - Whitman 0

TLU has looked really strong, while Whitman did not have a single shot in the first half.  That may be due to Whitman's inexperience or because TLU is basically playing in front of a home crowd with no travel and it is hyped up.  Either way, it is definitely on the front foot. On the other hand, as often happens with Texas Lutheran, it lacks true goal scorers and it is still only up 1-0.  Whitman has the skill to score a goal against the run of play, especially on a free kick.

UPDATE:  Texas Lutheran 2 - Whitman 0

TLU starts where they left off on a play that Whitman may have hesitated because they thought TLU was offside on the initial pass, but they allowed the TLU shooter the time to trap the ball and shoot it the right corner of the goal.

UPDATE:  Texas Lutheran 3 - Whitman 0 (80th minute)

TLU is playing at a different speed.  Whitman thinks it's still playing Lewis & Clark and can come back whenever it wants.  They basically let TLU waltz through the box and put in a rebound

UPDATE:  Texas Lutheran 3 - Whitman 1 (81st minute)

Whitman gets one back on a great shot off a rebound from a corner

UPDATE:  TLU 3 - Whitman 2 (83rd minute)

Maybe Whitman can come back?

FINAL:  TLU 3 - Whitman 2

Comeback falls short.  Wonder if TLU has the energy to work this hard tomorrow v Trinity

[Kuiper]

Day 1 basically went according to form (pending the TLU-Whitman game).  Really high seeded teams beat pretty low seeded teams, but I think most of the At Large Teams (through #31 and through probably the 50s or 60s) would have looked good against some of those low seeded AQ teams.  Penn State Harrisburg (#217), Lyon (#228), St. Joseph's (CT) (#117), Hardin-Simmons (#231), Transylvania (#88), Lehman (#143) etc didn't offer much resistance, at least not for more than a half.

The "upset" games were largely in the middle involving teams at or below, but in the vicinity of, the cut line.  In that sense, they weren't really upsets.  The NPI creates very sharp numerical distinctions based on very small differences, but basically the competitive quality of teams are probably better thought of as ranges and most of these teams were in the same range (with the possible exception of Lake Forest, which I thought was overrated all season).  I tend to think you could have played any of these losing teams against the low seeded teams the high seeds played and these teams would have beaten them.

Edgewood (#30) over Gustavus Adolphus (#20)
Denison (#31) over Washington & Lee (#29)
Luther (#35) over Lake Forest (#14)
UMass Boston (#58) over Roger Williams (#49)
Babson (#63) over Oneonta (#42)

The one exception was really an anomaly.  I think this is one where the NPI methodology underrated Messiah because it doesn't distinguish between early and late season form/losses or the tournament experience of the players and coaches.  Even then, it went to OT, so it could have gone the other way.

Messiah (#107) over Hobart (#16)

[kansas hokie]

Great stuff Kuiper, really agree. i think the benefit of being top 4 or top 8 shows up in these first-round matchups. After first round, nearly every game is a fight, nothing is easy. Getting a top 8 seed allows you to see one of those weaker opponents in the first round and is huge for saving legs and making the path forward easier. As you note well, once you get in that 15-40 range of NPI, it so close and the margins aren't large at all.