Week 4 Flybys, weekend edition

By Christan Shirk

In what may or may not be a regular feature this season, we will run down a variety of results from across the nation, "flybys" if you will, with comments that hopefully are informative, insightful, and interesting.  The intent is to give snapshots of the D-III soccer landscape, covering top teams and important high profile matches but also going off the beaten path as much as possible as we criss-cross the country.

Click here for Week 4 midweek flybys.  Scroll down for a list of Saturday's and Sunday's top matches.

Friday, September 21

• No. 16 Wheaton (Ill.) 3, No. 18 Washington U. 0 - After just edging Greenville midweek with a stat sheet that made the two teams look like equals, the Bears returned to St. Louis for just their second home game of the campaign.  And just like Loras was clearly superior (shots 23-7, SOG 8-2, corners 9-2) in the earlier home match, Wheaton held the upperhand throughout (shots 16-7, SOG 6-2, corners 3-2).  Two goals by the Thunder (6-2-0) in two minutes midway through the opening stanza meant there would be no repeat of the very fortunate 0-0 tie against Loras.  It will be interesting to see how the Bears (5-1-1) fare in UAA as they go in search of their first quality win.

• St. Olaf (4-2-1) 2, Carthage (6-2-0) 1 - Carthage scored less than four minutes in and made that stand-up for the next 68 minutes as they truned aside the next 14 shots by the visitors.  But after the second half opened as an even back-and-forth affair, the Oles finally broke down the Red Men defense with two goals in as many minutes and for the remaining 15 minutes of the game it was all St. Olaf (4-2-1). A win here a week after their road win over Hope very well may have pushed Carthage (6-2-0) into the Top 25.

• No. 2 Trinity (Tx.) 4, Univ. of Dallas 1 - Give the Dallas defense some credit here: after conceding 3 minutes into the contest they held high-octane Trinity scoreless over the rest of the first half despite facing 21 shots.  But the total domination continued for the full 90 (shots 40-9, SOG 12-4, corners 12-2) with All-American candidate Yuri Ribeiro leading the charge.  After assisting on the earlier goal, his two second half goals gave the Tigers (7-0-1) the cushion they deserved.

• Colorado Col. 4, Southwestern  0 - Well, I guess we know who Trinity's challenger for the SCAC crown is going to be.  It is just the decisive and confidence-building result that visiting Colorado (7-2-0) could use ahead of going to Trinity Sunday for the backend of their Texas roadtrip in SCAC action.

• Roanoke 3, Va. wesleyan 2 - In a back-and-forth battle between teams that used to duke it out for the ODAC title, there was little to separate the sides and when Roanoke (3-3-0) took the lead for the third time with just 2-1/2 minutes remaining there wasn't time for Va. Wesleyan (2-5-1) to respond yet again with an equalizer.  What a false dawn the Marlin's 3-0 whitewash of defending champion Ohio Wesleyan opening weekend is proving to be.

Saturday, September 22

Flyby Picks
Wesleyan (3-1-1) at No. 22 Williams (4-0-0), 12:00 p.m. ET
Bowdoin (3-1-0) at Middlebury (3-1-0), 12:00 p.m. ET
Dickinson (6-1-0) at No. 14 Swarthmore (5-1-0), 4:00 p.m. ET
Claremont-M-S (4-2-1) at Redlands (2-2-2), 1:00 p.m. PT
Olivet (7-0-1) at Hope (5-2-0), 6:00 p.m. CT
St. Olaf (3-2-1) at North Park (3-2-1), 7:00 p.m. CT

Top 25 in action
Thomas More (4-0-3) at No. 8 Ohio Northern (7-2-0), 1:00 p.m. ET
No. 9 Carnegie Mellon (6-1-0) at Bethany (1-4-0), 1:00 p.m. ET
Kean (5-3-0) at No. 12 Rutgers-Camden (6-1-0), 1:00 p.m. ET
No. 15 York (Pa.) (6-1-1) at Neumann (3-2-2), 1:00 p.m. ET
No. 21 Ohio Wesleyan (5-1-1) at Capital (4-2-1), 1:00 p.m. ET
No. 24 Plattsburgh St. (8-0-0) at Potsdam St. (2-5-0), 1:00 p.m. ET
No. 1 St. Lawrence (6-0-0) at Skidmore (5-1-1), 2:00 p.m. ET
Mary Washington (4-3-0) at No. 25 Salisbury (6-1-1), 2:00 p.m. ET
Hamilton (1-3-1) at No. 6 Amherst (3-0-0), 2:30 p.m. ET
No. 20 Babson (5-2-1) at Clark (4-3-0), 2:30 p.m. ET
Colby (0-2-1) at No. 23 Tufts (4-0-0), 3:00 p.m. ET
Drew (5-1-2) at No. 17 Susquehanna (6-1-0), 4:30 p.m. ET
Geneva (4-3-1) at No. 4 Messiah (6-0-1), 5:00 p.m. ET
No. 11 Whitworth (5-0-1) at George Fox (0-6-1), 2:30 p.m. PT
TCNJ (4-5-0) at No. 5 Montclair State (6-1-0), 6:00 p.m. ET
Haverford (3-4-0) at No. 13 Franklin and Marshall (6-1-0), 6:00 p.m. ET
No. 19 DePauw (5-0-2) at Hiram (7-1-0), 6:00 p.m. ET
Buena Vista (5-1-1) at No. 3 Loras (7-1-1), 7:00 p.m. CT
No. 16 Wheaton (Ill.) (5-2-0) at Webster (3-3-0), 7:00 p.m. CT

Keep an eye on
Bowdoin (3-1-0) at Middlebury (3-1-0), 12:00 p.m. ET
William Paterson (4-3-0) at Richard Stockton (3-3-1), 1:00 p.m. ET
Nazareth (5-1-0) at Elmira (6-0-0), 1:00 p.m. ET
RPI (4-2-1) at Vassar (5-3-0), 2:00 p.m. ET
Augsburg (6-2-1) at St. Thomas (4-2-2), 1:00 p.m. CT
St. John's (3-2-2) at Gustavus Adolphus (5-1-1), 1:00 p.m. CT
Maryville (Tenn.) (3-1-1) at Christopher Newport (4-1-2), 3:00 p.m. ET
North Central (Ill.) (6-1-0) at Chicago (4-1-1), 2:30 p.m. CT
DeSales (5-2-1) at Alvernia (5-1-2), 4:00 p.m. ET
Methodist (7-1-0) at Greensboro (3-2-1), 4:00 p.m. ET
Johns Hopkins (3-3-0) at Muhlenberg (4-1-0), 7:00 p.m. ET

Sunday, September 23

Flyby Picks
Berry (7-0-0) at Allegheny (6-1-0), 12:00 p.m. ET
No. 6 Amherst (3-0-0) at Middlebury (3-1-0), 2:30 p.m. ET

Top 25 in action
Colorado Col. (5-2-0) at No. 2 Trinity (Tx.) (6-0-1), 11:00 a.m. CT
Connecticut College (1-0-2) at No. 22 Williams (4-0-0), 12:00 p.m. ET
No. 23 Tufts (4-0-0) at Trinity (Conn.) (2-1-1), 1:00 p.m. ET
UW-Superior (6-2-0) at No. 3 Loras (7-1-1), 12:00 p.m. CT
Manchester (1-7-0) at No. 8 Ohio Northern (7-2-0), 2:00 p.m. ET
SUNY Canton (2-3-0) at No. 1 St. Lawrence (6-0-0), 3:00 p.m. ET
No. 11 Whitworth (5-0-1) at Pacific (2-5-0), 2:30 p.m. PT

Keep an eye on
UW-Platteville (7-1-1) at Carroll (4-3-0), 1:00 p.m. CT
Maryville (Tenn.) (3-1-1) at Eastern Mennonite (4-3-1), 3:00 p.m. ET
Carthage (6-1-0) at Wartburg (2-3-1), 2:00 p.m. CT

Comments or feedback for the author?  Email Christan Shirk.