2026 Schedules

[Newenglander]

That's a long way from Rowan's murderers' row of 2024 (F&M, Hopkins, Cortland, Mary Washington, Christopher Newport, Messiah), but the game at Dickinson could be interesting.

agreed - that is a decent SOS drop for tournament purposes no?

[Kuiper]

Elizabethtown

After going 3-11-4 last season, E-Town is going to hope the team is better because the schedule hasn't changed much.  They do get F&M and Messiah at home and they trade out Ithaca for Marywood, but otherwise it's pretty similar.  They may, however, be better, or at least more experienced.  They do lose their top two point getters, but they accounted for 3 and 2 goals, respectively, as well as their starting GK,  but they had a lot of freshman and sophomores starting last season, so they will be at least more experienced.

Brandeis

First UAA schedule to drop.  Brandeis is likely looking for big things after a 10-4-5 finish and a second round NCAA tournament exit on an OT loss to eventual champion Tufts.  They'll have to replace their top three point getters and starting GK, but they have a lot of depth returning.  They add Hobart, Skidmore, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy and drop John Carroll, Bridgewater State, and Anna Maria.  Big changes are hosting Babson, Wesleyan and playing @Wheaton (MA), as well as ending UAA play hosting Chicago and NYU rather than playing them on the road.

[Kuiper]

Lewis & Clark

L&C is traveling to Southern California and playing CMS and Azusa Pacific on 9/6-9/7.  With CMS coming off a 4-10-6 record last season, I'm sure they won't mind if it turns out to be an easy win as they try to build confidence.  For Lewis & Clark, they are probably hoping that Azusa Pacific will be going through some transition between D2 and D3 and the loss of many key players will make the game more competitive.

Pacific University

Pacific is only playing two non-conference games - both against NAIA opponents (Bushnell and Evergreen State).  Last season, they played three, including two DIII opponents.  This is the kind of schedule that really hurts NWC under the NPI formula.  For teams that don't have the money or interest in traveling every season, they basically don't have any countable non-conference games unless schools travel to them.

Ohio Wesleyan

After finishing 7-5-6 last season, where they started winless in their first four games in the first non-Jay Martin season, I'm sure OWU would like to get off to a better start in 2026.  Not sure this schedule does them any favors, though.  Instead of playing @Hope, @Calvin, Otterbein, and Carnegie Mellon, they play @Case Western, Bethany, @Otterbein, @Ohio Northern.  Bethany is probably the only one of those four they can feel comfortable about.  They also drop Berea and add Adrian and Penn State Behrend.