Three key matches were settled by shoot outs today: Williams over York, Christopher Newport over Stevens, and Calvin over Transylvania. Yesterday, the Wash U women advanced past Wheaton in the same manner.

Adding to the excitement today was Messiah’s 3-2 double overtime win over Johns Hopkins, and Dominican’s last minute overtime victory over Loras.

Has parity arrived in Division III soccer? It sure looks that way!

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Great weekend in Division III soccer. Most of the Top 25 teams advanced, but Ohio Wesleyan and Trinity (Texas) both fell unexpectedly. But in OWU’s case, perhaps everyone underestimated Transy. they have played good soccer this season, but not with a tough enough schedule to get them ranked too highly in the NCAA regional polls. Nor did they capture the fancy of the Top 25 weekly voters. But Transy deserved some attention as they have performed well in this post-season; the team is well coached and has strength in the net. And while not a high scoring team, they have come through when needed. Now for a match on Saturday against No. 11 Swarthmore.

Hardin-Simmons might be even less likely to be in the Sweet 16. While Trinity did lose one match early on, the Tigers had been playing well enough to get through the first two rounds. And HSU was coming off a bruising battle with Mary Hardin-Baylor. But the Cowboys were convincing with a 2-0 win. This is a new mark for the American Southwest Conference as no at-large bid has ever been picked out of the conference – and thus no at-large bid has ever made it into the third round. In their match against No. 25 Whitworth on Saturday, the Cowboys do have a shot at advancing. It may be that Trinity will be a great warm up for the Northwest Conference champs.

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With all but the Dominican/Elmhurst results in, it looks like a first round whitewash so far. All six matches that started at 11:00 were shutouts. It appears that these matches were easy victories for the winner. That certainly wasn’t the case with last night’s first round match at Wheaton. Calvin and rival Wheaton played a well fought match that really was really in play through the the 89th minute. Calvin won their first ever at Wheaton, 2-1 and advances to face Wartburg today at 6:00. It will be Knights versus Knights in that one.

Calvin’s Alex McKenzie won the match in the 77th minute with a perfectly placed shot from 15 yards. It was a 3 touch ball and was a hard hit ball. The Wheaton keeper had a chance but couldn’t stop the shot as it was high and in the right corner.

So this first round match was a close one, and a great one to watch. Let’s see what happens this afternoon and evening.

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Well, the 2009 post-season is upon us. The brackets are out, the analysis has started, and now the matches are ready to begin.

After writing the preview of the Thursday matches, it seemed empty without some sort of prediction. So putting our the great relationship we enjoy with the coaches at risk, here is our take on the matches tomorrow:

1. Mary Hardin-Baylor over Hardin-Simmons by 1 goal. While HSU attacks the goal well, UMHB finishes stronger. The ASC final was a great match and it ended in a draw. But in a replay, this one goes to the team that had a 2.00/.61 goal per match ratio – and had a tougher schedule.

2. Ohio Northern over Brockport State by two goals. We think that ONU has a stronger and more skilled attack and has ground their teeth on better opponents. The SUNYAC is no cakewalk and Brockport has shown their ability to play a tight defense, but the Polar Bears are smarting after that PK loss to Capital and they will come out swinging.

3. Capital over Transylvania by one goal in overtime. Transy plays strong defense. ONU played a tougher schedule but lost most of those matches. This will be a close match, but the OAC plays tougher soccer these days than does the HCAC.

4. Bowdoin over Plattsburgh in PKs. This is going to be an interesting match as Bowdoin has played the typically tough NESCAC schedule, but didn’t have much success. And as referenced above, the SUNYAC is tough as well. But we think that as well as Plattsbugh has been playing, Bowdoin will be ready with a tested defense. But in the end, both teams have struggled to score against strong opponents, and that will happen tomorrow.

5. Stevens over York by three goals or more. If this was the Big Dance, this would be the No. 3 seed playing the No. 13 seed. York has had a good season, but they will not be able to stick with Stevens, who has played well against some tough company. York has no answer for Terrence Johnson and the Duck’s experience in post-season play.

Comments?

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INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Division III Men’s Soccer Committee has released its third regional poll with records through Nov. 1. The top teams in each of the eight regions are listed below. The committee ranks 15 percent of the eligible teams in each region.

The first record is in-region record, followed by overall record.

Central
1. Wheaton (Ill.) 12-2-2 13-3-2
2. Dominican 13-1-3 13-1-3
3. Chicago 10-3-2 11-3-3
4. Elmhurst 10-2-3 12-3-3
5. Hope 11-3-2 12-3-2
6. Calvin 12-4-1 13-4-1

East
1. RPI 13-1-2 13-1-2
2. Rochester 11-1-2 12-1-2
3. Hobart 12-3-2 12-3-2
4. Stevens 13-3-1 13-3-1
5. Plattsburgh State 12-2-3 12-2-4
6. Oneonta State 11-4-2 12-4-2
7. Nazareth 10-4-2 10-4-2
8. Hamilton 9-4-1 9-4-1

Great Lakes
1. Ohio Wesleyan 17-0-2 17-0-2
2. Carnegie Mellon 12-2-0 14-2-0
3. Ohio Northern 14-2-2 14-3-2
4. Capital 13-2-1 15-4-1
5. Baldwin-Wallace 12-4-1 12-6-1
6. Denison 9-3-2 10-4-3
7. Kenyon 13-4-1 13-4-1

Mid-Atlantic
1. Messiah 13-1-0 17-1-0
2. Swarthmore 13-1-2 14-1-2
3. Merchant Marine 15-2-0 15-2-0
4. Johns Hopkins 11-2-2 13-3-2
5. Muhlenberg 11-3-2 11-3-2
6. Dickinson 11-3-2 12-3-2
7. Catholic 14-3-1 14-3-1

New England
1. Wesleyan (Conn.) 11-0-4 11-0-4
2. Williams 12-2-1 12-2-1
3. Bowdoin 11-3-1 11-3-1
4. Amherst 11-3-1 11-3-1
5. Middlebury 9-3-2 9-4-2
6. Wheaton (Mass.) 16-3-1 16-3-1
7. Trinity (Conn.) 10-4-1 10-4-1
8. Babson 12-5-1 13-5-1
9. Keene State 13-4-0 13-6-0
10. Eastern Connecticut 14-4-1 14-4-1
11. Western New England 14-5-2 14-5-2

North
1. Loras 15-1-1 15-1-1
2. St. Olaf 13-3-2 13-3-2
3. UW-Whitewater 8-4-2 10-5-3
4. Carleton 14-4-0 14-4-0
5. Carroll 14-1-3 14-1-3
6. UW-Oshkosh 12-3-2 13-3-2
7. Dubuque 14-3-1 14-3-2

South Atlantic
1. Montclair State 14-1-1 15-1-2
2. Christopher Newport 16-1-0 16-2-0
3. Salisbury 13-2-1 14-2-1
4. York (Pa.) 13-1-4 13-1-4
5. Virginia Wesleyan 14-2-2 14-3-2
6. Hampden-Sydney 16-3-0 16-3-0
7. Lynchburg 13-2-2 14-2-2

West
1. Trinity (Texas) 12-1-1 13-1-2
2. Whitworth 11-1-3 12-2-3
3. Mary Hardin-Baylor 13-3-0 13-3-0
4. UC Santa Cruz 10-2-2 13-3-2
5. Pacific Lutheran 12-4-0 13-5-0
6. Pomona-Pitzer 12-2-2 13-3-2

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