2026 D3 Men's Soccer National Perspective

[Kuiper]

Another DIII transfer to DI story and one that has to sting for Gustavus Adolphus:

Kieran Mahan, a freshman forward for Gustavus who scored 12 goals and had 6 assists last season and was named MIAC Rookie of the Year, MIAC All-Conference Team, MIAC All-Playoff Team, and Second Team All-Region IX, is transferring to Drake University (DI) according to a post last month from Drake Men's Soccer Instagram

[eaglesoccerdad]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dLtP9rIl80 little video about Josh Kirkland and his journey to landing with the Richmond Kickers

[blue_jays]

Another DIII transfer to DI story and one that has to sting for Gustavus Adolphus:

Kieran Mahan, a freshman forward for Gustavus who scored 12 goals and had 6 assists last season and was named MIAC Rookie of the Year, MIAC All-Conference Team, MIAC All-Playoff Team, and Second Team All-Region IX, is transferring to Drake University (DI) according to a post last month from Drake Men's Soccer Instagram

Interestingly, Drake is coached by Pat Flinn, who coached at UChicago (head and asst.) during their emergence as a national power.

[Kuiper]

Top Drawer posted a Top 10 players list for DIII Men's Soccer.  The article is paywalled, but an Instagram post gives the player names.

Do you agree with it?  Who have they left off?  For me, not including Adam Knutson or Samuel Theiss from Trinity is a miss.

1. Bijan Akhtarzandi-Das (Tufts)
2. Ryan Bechtel (St. Olaf)
3. Connor Gage (Edgewood)
4. Alex Michael (Pfeiffer)
5. Christian Hodges (Augsburg)
6. Kasdan Blattman (Macalester)
7. Matthew Torrell (Calvin)
8. Alex Depperschmidt (Mt. Union)
9. Ethan Wirtschaffter (Wash. U)
10. Brady Leitner (Hobart)

[SierraFD3soccer]

A bit beyond the topic, but relevant imo. Also the narrator talks about law school, but pretty applies to all undergrad and grad school. Very scary and a good financial correction imo. Something to think about when going to college with a major that requires a grad school. Money is king.

https://www.youtube.com/live/R8lsOqQo5rU?si=iwiTJOJgZmAM-53_

[Kuiper]

Despite former Western Connecticut (D3) men's soccer player Patrick Agyemang scoring for the USMNT today, they're going to find a way to blame us for that awful 5-2 defeat today to Belgium, right?

I can hear it now:

"Turner wasn't even good enough to be recruited for Muhlenberg!" (for the backstory, see this)

[Kuiper]

Crazy story out of Rowan University.  Kind of makes you wonder if any DI to DIII transfers in men's soccer have been because of drug test issues (do they even drug test in DI men's soccer?).

Championship Wins Resurface Rowan runner's Doping Allegations

a runner in Rowan University's Track and Field program, won both the 3000-meter and 5000-meter events at this year's NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Alabama. In the 5000 meters, the junior from Haddonfield set a meet record with a time of 13:35.55, and won by almost 30 seconds compared to the runner-up.

As [the runner] accepted his award, the second through eighth place competitors stepped off the podium and refused to participate in the group photo thereafter. Instead, they took their own separate picture in protest, Canadian Running Magazine reported.

After that, [the runner] went on to win the 3000 meters by over 10 seconds. Again, his competitors opted to step off the podium rather than take a photo with the 22-year-old.

Why, exactly, were these other students stepping off the podium in protest? It was in response to allegations that [the runner] — a transfer from Division I Iowa State University who joined Rowan this spring — used banned substances in the fall of 2025.

The university never publicly released the names or specific reasons for suspension, in compliance with FERPA — a federal law protecting the privacy of student education records — but his sudden absence from team events suggested his involvement. Records can only be released publicly if a release form is signed by individual students.

The Whit attempted to catch up with [the runner], but wasn't able to set up an interview before publishing this article.

A petition started by Emmanuel Leblond, a runner from Johns Hopkins University, has garnered over 750 signatures from collegiate track and field athletes across the country, demanding a full investigation into the doping allegations against [the runner].

Leblond addressed the petition to Shawn Tucker, director of athletics at Rowan University, and Terry Small, commissioner of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), the collegiate conference Rowan is a part of.

[Ron Boerger]

This was a huge deal in the D3 T&F world.

Rowan won the D3 NCAA indoor championship by *one* point.  This slob fine young gentleman earned them 20 of them.