Midwest Roundup - Week 1

By D3soccer.com Staff Writer

As expected, the opening weekend of Division III soccer was filled with lots of excitement and even some surprises. While there will be no conference championships won in September, there was still plenty of drama through the first few days of the season. There were dozens of games across the Midwest and we will review several matchups from each of the region’s conferences.

North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC)

Over the opening weekend, the NCAC posted an impressive record of 11-5-1 in non-conference match-ups that made up the entirety of the schedule. The most notable result came when Ohio Wesleyan lost their opener against Calvin. The Bishops rebounded for a win over Hope behind two goals from All-American Colton Bloecher, including the OT game-winner.

Kenyon had a valiant display in their first two games, knocking off Carnegie Mellon by a score of 3-0 and following that up with a 4-0 rout of LaRoche. All-NCAC senior Tony Amolo had 3 goals and 1 assist in the two games. The Lords look primed for a big season.

DePauw also had a pair of exciting games, knocking off John Carroll 1-0 before falling to OAC foe Ohio Northern 3-2 in double overtime. All-American Andy Morrison had 2 goals and 1 assist on the weekend.

Allegheny split their games (win vs. RIT, loss vs. Nazareth), Denison went 1-0-1 (tie vs. Hendrix, win vs. Sewanee), and Oberlin opened the season with a convincing 4-0 win over Mt. Union, extending their home unbeaten streak to 10 games.

Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC)

The Heartland had a tough opening weekend, with favorite Rose-Hulman and darkhorse Manchester the only two teams to come out unbeaten after the first few days of competition. RHIT went 1-0-1, first battling through 110 minutes of scoreless soccer with Alma before upending Kalamazoo 2-0 in their second game of the weekend. Manchester beat Andrews University, a USCAA school, 3-2 on Monday.

At the Transylvania Classic in Lexington, KY, Hanover and Transylvania both took on Berry and Berea. On Saturday, Transy thumped Berea 6-0 before Hanover dropped a tight 1-0 match to Berry. On Sunday, the Vikings of Berry then beat the hosts 2-0 before Hanover rebounded with a 1-0 win over Berea.

Elsewhere, Mount St. Joseph split two games, beating SLIAC opponent Fontbonne 1-0, then falling 2-1 to Thomas More.

St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC)

The opening weekend for the SLIAC had mixed reviews with conference teams posting an overall record of 6-11-0. While the top half of the 2013 table performed well, the bottom half brought their struggles from last year into this campaign’s opening weekend.

Greenville came out on top, winning both of their opening games against HCAC opponents (1-0 vs. Earlham, 4-0 vs. Anderson) and claiming the Raven-Quaker Soccer Classic title in the process. Spalding also came out unbeaten after opening weekend, beating the OAC’s Muskingum 1-0 in their lone game. All-SLIAC forward Abdullahi Abdullahi had the Golden Eagles only goal.

Last year’s champs Westminster (Mo.) split their two games, losing 4-1 to Culver-Stockton before knocking off Rhodes by a score of 2-1. All-SLIAC midfielder Drew Cook scored the GW goal against Rhodes. Elsewhere, Webster dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Rhodes before earning their first win of the season, 1-0 over Edgewood, on Frank Verdu’s first half tally.

Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC)

Conference favorite Ohio Northern kicked-off the 2014 season in style, thumping Muskegon by a score of 9-0 before dramatically beating NCAC rival DePauw 3-2 in double overtime. All-NCAC forward Matt Kinkopf had two goals in both games for the Polar Bears, who won their own ONU Invitational.

Marietta had a great start to the 2014 campaign led by senior forward Wes Riley who earned conference Player of the Week honors. Riley had both goals in Marietta’s 2-1 win over Piedmont and followed that up with two more goals in their 3-0 win over NCAC foe Wooster. With the pair of wins, the Marietta Soccer Classic title went to the hosts.

Heidelberg won both their games, beating Albion 2-0 and Adrian 6-2. All-NCAC midfielder Hamid Shariff had 2 goals and 1 assist on the weekend. Baldwin-Wallace split two games, losing to Penn State-Behrend 3-0 before topping Houghton 2-1. Wilmington drilled Franklin 4-0 in their lone match.

Southern Athletic Association (SAA)

2013 regular season champion Millsaps opened the year with two victories, defeating Louisiana College 3-2 and LaGrange 8-0, while several other SAA teams kicked off their season taking part in invitational tournaments.

In Atlanta at the Sonny Carter Invitational, Centre battled host Emory to a 1-1 draw. The Eagles of Emory saw two players red-carded in overtime, but hung on for the draw. Connor Reed scored a late equalizer in regulation for Centre. The Colonels took the field the following day against Covenant but saw the game cancelled due to severe weather before the required 70 minutes were played to make it official.

Birmingham-Southern went unbeaten in their invitational, winning versus Texas-Dallas by a score of 2-0 before tying Huntingdon 1-1 in their second game. Oglethorpe split against the same two teams, beating Huntingdon 3-0 but losing 3-0 to Texas-Dallas.

Berry won the Transylvania Classic in Lexington KY, beating both Hanover (1-0) and the hosts (2-0), to start the season with two victories. Zak Wallingford had a goal in each game to lead the Vikings to their undefeated weekend.

Elsewhere, Sewanee dropped both of its opening weekend matches, leaving new head coach Tony Pacella still looking for his first win. The Tigers fell 1-0 to Denison and lost 3-0 to Washington & Lee.

Other notable performances . . .

From around the Midwest

• Washington & Lee started the 2014 campaign 2-0-0 with convincing wins over Hendrix and Sewanee. The Generals, who compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), are led by first-year head coach Mike Singleton, who joined the program after a successful stint at MIT. He replaced the legendary Rolf Piranian, who had served as head coach at W&L for the previous 38 seasons. The Generals will have a real test at Catholic in their next contest.

• Chicago, of the University Athletic Association (UAA), is now 3-0-0 after wins at Dominican and at home verus Benedictine and Knox. The Maroons will look to take this early momentum and carry it throughout the season, making up for a disappointing 3-4-0 mark in the UAA in 2013. We should know their quality after upcoming games against Aurora, Olivet, and Loras.

• Luther is off to a fast start, going 2-0-0 during the first weekend of the 2014 season. The Norse of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) beat Lawrence by a score of 2-1 and Marian by a score of 2-0. After receiving an at-large bid, Luther fell to Loras in PKs in the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. They will seek revenge against UW-Platteville next week, who beat them during last year’s regular season.

"Outside the Area"

• St. Lawrence kicked off the season with solid wins over Cortland State and Moravian. After a 5-2 win vs Cortland State, the Saints of the Liberty League had four different goalscorers in their rout of Moravian. Their game this week at Rochester will be a true test of their early season form.

Upcoming Games to Watch . . .

More excitement ahead in the coming days! Here are some games to check out throughout the Midwest region:

Wednesday, September 3

Wabash at Earlham

North Central (Ill.) at Dominican

Rose-Hulman at Greenville

Friday, September 5

Kenyon at Otterbein

Spalding at Thomas More

Capital at Carnegie Mellon

Calvin at Wheaton (Ill.)

Carleton at Loras

Defiance at Centre College

Saturday, September 6

Emory at Ohio Northern

DePauw at Principia

Oglethorpe at Lynchburg

Aurora at Grinnell

Wartburg at Webster

Millsaps at Covenant

Sunday, September 7

Knox at Coe

Mt. Union at Transylvania

Ohio Northern at Berry

Alma at Illinois Wesleyan