UAA battles; NESCAC tourney upset

A testing weekend for the University Athletic Association (UAA), and the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), homes to five and three nationally ranked teams, respectively, as it marks the beginning of the road for some, and the potential end for the rest.  The UAA teams will fall just one match shy of a season-concluding weekend, with only one winner promised a berth in the national tournament, leaving the rest hoping for the committee's late-night call.  As a player, I've twice been there, once receiving, and the other dooming.  

On the other hand, the NESCAC begins a season-concluding tournament to mark the beginning of the end of teams vying for the automatic bid into the national tournament.  With ten teams in the conference, eight qualify for the conference tournament.  Assuming one of Bowdoin, Williams, and Middlebury (the top-25 teams) win, the remainders will be sure to find themselves pervading in their post-season play, but the NESCAC has been known for shock wins from the minnows (one can think back recently to Wesleyan's dream-run in 2005).  Chances are the committee won't want an imbalance in the tournament, therefore, a little temerity from Bates or Tufts to defy odds, and one of those teams could find themselves ruing missed opportunities.

The Michigan Intercollegiate (MIAA) and Northwest Conference (NWC) also began their winding-down phases to draw near-conclusive results to their automatic bid recipients, while Oshkosh finished out the season the only unbeaten team in the nation. 

Friday's slew of UAA and NESCAC matches for the men's promised thrill, skill, and some form of closure to the conference season full of topsy-turvy soccer; the NESCAC provided just that, while the UAA brought the skill and thrill, closure was not on the docket for these teams as Case Western failed to adhere to the top-25 polls, and Emory and Washington ran riot.  Rochester, who is currently No.15, but has found themselves high-flying, and successively struggling all throughout the season, kicked the weekend off with Emory ... and capitulated.  Rochester dominated almost the whole first half and on into the second, but Nao Masuda breached Rochester's defense from a corner to draw first blood for No. 6 Emory.  Then, in the 74th minute, he scored for a much-needed two goal lead.  Three minutes later, Nick Jones began the route with a goal.  Not completely finished with demoralizing Rochester, Nao Masuda scored just two minutes later to complete the route, claim a mighty treble, and sink Rochester to a temporary 5th place in the table.

Emory shot up to second in the conference, until NYU pulled off an away win at Chicago.  No. 24 New York University, who has seen an incredible second half of the season resurgence place them top in the UAA, made sure they continued on their path of destruction to down a tough Chicago side. Washington maintained pace on the leaders, however, with a brilliant 4-1 win against Brandeis.  At first, it didn't seem like a brilliant win on the horizon, as Washington conceded early on thanks to a Lee Russo strike, but a 42nd minute goal from Dylan Roman drew the match level, and a Jeremy Kirkwood brace with goals two minutes apart from each other killed off Brandeis' hopes of an upset.

It was Case Western, however, who provided the true excitement to wrap-up Friday's matches.  Case was forced to travel to Pittsburgh for a tough match against Carnegie Mellon, who is currently ranked 9th in the nation.  After a bore first half draw, Case started the second half with pace, and it was Kyle Alsup who provided the first stunner just two minutes in.  CMU looked for an equalizer, but their lone goal of the match would be too little, too late, as Elliot Fishman's screamer found its way to the top right for a brilliant win.  Case was able to jump to third, while CMU's brilliant non-conference form has continued to contrast its awful conference form. With just one win, Friday's loss demoted them to a position at the bottom of the table with Chicago and Brandeis.

In today's matches, however, Emory was able to leapfrog Case and Wash U up the table to second spot following their 2-nil victory over Case.  A 0-0 draw between Wash U and NYU ensured that NYU would maintain their spot at the top with 12 points, but now Wash U and Emory trail with 11 apiece.  Not too far behind lies the rest of the pack with Case at nine points, Rochester, who defeated CMU to ensure their dismal run continued, at eight points, and Chicago, who defeated Brandeis this afternoon, at seven.  With the top three teams playing the bottom three, there is a good chance the tables remain in the same order, giving NYU the automatic bid.

In the North Atlantic Conference semis this afternoon, Lyndon State secured a shock-win over Castleton to progress to the conference championship, where they will play Thomas. After going down 1-nil to Castleton, Patrice Lumumba bagged a brace to grab the lead for Lyndon State.  With Castleton pushing for the equalizer, Andrew O'Brien hammered home the winner in the dying moments of the match to secure a massive win.  Thomas also won 3-1 in their match with Maine-Farmington. 

No.17 UW-Oshkosh remained the only unbeaten team this weekend after they played conference rival No.11 UW-Whitewater to a 1-1 draw.  Good enough for both outstanding teams, as they enter Pool B for a bid into the tournament with an almost guaranteed spot in the national tournament. 

The NESCAC's Friday matches brought little difference, but at provider the obvious closure to an equally up-and-down conference with No.23 Bowdoin claiming their first regular season title ever.  Going into Friday's matches, it was No.22 Middlebury who commanded the top spot, but with Bowdoin and No.10 Williams hot on their heels, they needed a win to solidify their place.  To make things more challenging, however, their match was against none other than conference stalwart, and final four team Williams.  Middlebury choked.  Williams cruised to a 3-0 win with Kiel Bonhomme scoring early in the 12th minute.  Bowdoin ensured their spot at the top after a 54th minute goal from Nick Powell dealt a resilient Tufts a 1-0 defeat.

Today's quarterfinals produced a true shocker much bigger than Bowdoin's claims to the top spot.  With Bowdoin kicking-off tournament play, they proceeded in dominating style to formally justify their top spot with a humiliating 5-2 win against Bates.  Middlebury recovered from their Friday set-back, countering with a win over Tufts to challenge Bowdoin's status as No. 1 in the conference, while Amherst did the same in their quarterfinal against Colby.  Williams, however, provided no such challenge, suffering a shock 2-1 loss to Wesleyan.  Williams, which scored just before the break, seemed to have the game under control, until Zach Dixon found himself on the receiving end of a rebound, and proceeded to coolly slot home the equalizer with just seven minutes left. It didn't take long for Evan Hazelett to find the space he needed on the flank to cross into danger for Walter Rodriguez to slam home for the winner.  Probably not the end of the road for Williams, but are now relegated to a reliance on the committee, rather than themselves for their destiny. The NESCAC tournament continues on Saturday.

The turbulence that has defined the MIAA has seen a significant lull as typical stalwarts Hope and Calvin have landed themselves at the top, but just one point clear of the chasing pack.  Calvin scored in the 38th minuted to breeze to a comfortable 2-0 lead later in the match.  Lucky for No.15 Calvin, their last three matches fell to the bottom three teams, while the table-topper Hope hasn't been afforded such luxury.  While Calvin play Trine and Albion in their remaining matches, Hope must defeat a once-conference leader Kalamazoo and a tough Olivet to ensure they have a stake in the national tournament.  Without a tournament, the regular season winner receives the heavily coveted automatic bid to the tournament, and if that isn't Hope, chances are the MIAA will be sending only one team.  Conference play resumes on Wednesday.

The West Coast, which has been relatively quiet this campaign, is near to producing a team for the national tournament. The NWC, who also doesn't hold a tournament to produce a champion for the automatic bid, is close to sending Pacific as their champion.  Pacific has maintained a lead throughout the majority of the conference campaign, and is now just nearly a game shy of clinching its berth.  Sitting atop the conference standings, Pacific all but nailed down their berth following this afternoon's 1-0 victory over Puget Sound, despite second place Pacific Lutheran's lopsided victory over George Fox. Regardless of Pacific Lutheran's challenge, Pacific will finish their season against George Fox and surely clinch their spot in the tournament.

Trinity continued their dominance of the SCAC this weekend with a successful double win, although the manners in which they won were heavily polarizing.  On Friday, Sewanee needed divine intervention to spare them utter humiliation against the No. 3 team in the nation.  It didn't come.  Tommy Barros opened Trinity's account in the 7th minute.  A minute later Zachary Garcia doubled the lead, and Trinity just kept scoring.  In the end, the 12-nil scoreline kept Trinity at the top.  In today's game with Ogelthorpe, however, Trinity needed a lifeline to prevent an overtime fiasco. Thanks to Kyle Porter's 84th minute goal, Trinity was able to defeat Ogelthorpe and stay top with just two games left against a stellar DePauw on Friday and then Centre on Sunday.  With no conference tournament, Trinity has all but sealed their place in the national tournament as conference champions, although it would be a shock if No. 14 DePauw didn't find themselves competing as well.

The SUNYAC kicked-off this weekend as well, pitting No.25 Brockport against Cortland, and Plattsburgh against Geneseo. The conference, who typically has a team run deep into the national tournament struggled to establish a top team, as their were three teams tied for first on the final day of the campaign.  With Oneonta and Fredonia gaining the first and second spots, respectively, based on their head-to-head results, nationally-ranked Brockport was forced to play an extra match en route to an automatic bid into the national tournament.  In their match against Cortland, Brockport scored early to ensure the win and maintain their endurance for the following two matches.  Mike Breman's free-kick screamer from 35 yards out proved all that was necessary for Brockport to advance. Brockport will now test their strength against Fredonia, to whom they suffered last weekend, and handed them the potentially crucial bye.

Saturday's NJAC quarterfinals provided the potential for the derailing of higher-seeded teams, as both Richard Stockton and Kean played higher-seeded Montclair State and Ramapo, respectively.  Kean and Richard Stockton have had their share of spoils following bouts with some of the nation's top-ranked teams throughout their campaign.  In one week, Kean was dealt a heart-breaking loss to current No. 2 Christopher Newport, but then turned around to upset current No. 16 York, while Richard Stockton was the team responsible for dealing the mighty Swarthmore their first and only loss of the season.  Just following their win over Swarthmore, they proceeded to topple Montclair State, however, it was a result Montclair was not prepared to repeat, and Stockton suffered a heart-breaking 3-1 loss last night. Montclair grabbed a two goal lead with the goals just minutes apart from each other in the first half.  Stockton pulled a goal back with a penalty kick, but it wasn't enough to even mask the domination of Montclair, as they eventually yielded another. Kean on the other hand was able to stay in the hunt for the conference championship and the automatic bid with a 1-0 thriller over Ramapo.  In an otherwise even match, Kean sealed the win at the death with a Kharee Winslow solo effort with just over a minute left in the match.  On Tuesday, Montclair will face TCNJ, while Kean will play William Paterson.

In the GNAC, top team Lassell forged ahead in their close encounter with bottom-seed Johnson and Wales to win 2-1 as they hunt for the automatic bid into the national tournament.  The other top seeds Norwich, Albertus Magnus, and Suffolk also gained quarterfinal wins to advance to the conference semi-finals.  Lassell will face Suffolk on Tuesday, while Albertus Magnus plays Norwich.  While the Capital Athletic Conference is defined by its two consistently excellent teams, York and Salisbury, the leftovers vied for their chance to upend one of the big brothers.  With No.16 York and No.18 Salisbury gaining first round byes, St. Mary's battled with Mary Washington, while Stevenson did the same with Marymount.  This afternoon, Mary Washington took down St. Mary's with a 1-0 victory, while Stevenson advanced on penalties following a 1-1 draw.  Mary Washington will face York, while Stevenson faces Salisbury.  A tricky one for Salisbury though, as Stevenson defeated them earlier this season.

In the ODAC, Washington & Lee doomed Virginia Wesleyan to a probable abrupt end to the season with a shocking 1-0 victory at the death, thanks to an 86th minute Collin Hagenbarth shot.  Hampden-Sydney also punished Roanoke, who failed to bury the game.  After extra time, Hampden-Sydney came out on top in the penalty shootout.  Randolph defeated Guilford 4-2, while top-seeded Lynchburg trounced Randolph Macon 4-0.  On Wednesday, Washington & Lee and Hampden-Sydney will continue in the pursuance of their luck against each other to ensure there's one surprise finalist, and Randolph will play Lynchburg.

In other new around the nation, Messiah claimed a 3-1 margin in the heated-rivalry game against Elizabethtown. Messiah, who scored first and very early through Nick Thompson, maintained much of the possession and a substantial shot margin, shipped an equalizer not long after their initial goal. But a strong second half, and heroics from Nick Thompson enabled Messiah to win a game they dominated, with Thompson earning a treble.   The top teams in the NCAC, No. 4 Ohio Wesleyan and No.19 Kenyon, continued their short work on the conference.  OWU dealt Alleghany a severe loss, winning 5-0, with Tyler Bryant and Tyler Wall both bagging a brace.  OWU is top in their conference with Kenyon, who won 2-1 over Oberlin, sitting just below them at second place.  The tournament begins on Wednesday.

The top teams in the Centennial Conference all won their final games before heading into next Saturday's conference tournament.  Johns Hopkins demonstrated their prowess in front of goal - it has been lacking of late - by dealing Washington College a 7-0 loss.  Swarthmore proved they were the best, as they remained unbeaten in conference following their 2-0 over Haverford.  Franklin & Marshall condemned Dickinson, who was pursuing a place in the post-season, to the lower depths of the table, beating them 2-0 on Friday, and Muhlenberg rebounded from their loss to Swarthmore, beating Ursinus 3-0.

No. 2 Christopher Newport defeated Greensboro 3-1 to secure second in the USA South Conference.  The 3-1 win handed the No.2 team in the nation their fifth conference win, but it was North Carolina Wesleyan who claimed the top spot after felling Christopher Newport, dealing them their only loss of the season.  Conference play begins Friday with Christopher Newport playing a talented Averett, and North Carolina Wesleyan playing Methodist.