Blog

Week 7

Men's Game of The Week
This week, the men's game of the week comes from the most overlooked conference in d3 soccer, the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Last year's NJAC champion, Montclair State University, managed to go undefeated in NJAC play, make it all the way to the sweet 16, and finish the season with a 20-1-1 record after losing a penalty kick battle with Dominican University. This year, no team will go through NJAC play undefeated and untied, but New Jersey City University shares the top spot with Montclair State, and both teams will meet for a huge battle in Jersey City. This game is a must win for NJCU, who learned the hard way last year, that they will have to earn their way into the national tournament with a conference tournament championship.

Prediction: NJCU 2 MSU 1

Men's Offensive Game of the Week
When was the last time that a UAA team went undefeated and untied in conference play? On any given day, any UAA team can beat any other UAA team. This year, Emory University and Case Western University (ranked 13th and 14th respectively) meet for a UAA battle that doesn't really mean that much. Let's face it, both of these teams have plenty more games to lose before they start worrying about Pool C bids (last year U Chicago made it with a 10-5-3 record). And these teams don't have to worry about winning any conference tournament trophies because, well, there is no UAA conference tournament. Is it that important to win a conference regular season championship in a conference where everyone beats everyone else anyway? Enough rambling, look for a good game between good teams that score lots of goals.


Prediction: Case 2 Emory 1

Men's Defensive Game of the Week
Last year's NCAA tournament runner up, Wheaton College-IL, is having the exact season that I expected them to have ("they are who we though they are" kinda thing). The 8-2-1 Thunder have been pretty good, but aren't giving us any reason to expect to see them back in the national championship (even though they entered last year's NCAA tournament with 7 losses). Despite the mediocrity, they have 5 shutouts, and will be playing another tough defensive team in the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who boasts an impressive 7 shutouts, and a .5 goals against average. This game will be a hard fought battle, but I think it will mean more to Oshkosh than Wheaton, who will rely on this game to earn them a Pool C bid, while Wheaton will probably decide to wake up come playoff time once again.

Prediction: UWO 1 Wheaton 0

Women's Game of The Week
Last years national champion, Wheaton College-IL, is having a stellar season once again. So far this year they defeated the cream of the crop in several different conferenes including the WIAC, the IIAC, the NAC, the MIAA, and the NCAC. This Saturday, they will play one of the top teams in the MIAC conference in the College of St. Benedict. The 12-1-0 Blazers are off to a remarkable start, especially for a team that didn't make its conference tournament the previous season. The problem is that Wheaton is THAT good. Yeah, they are.

Prediction: Wheaton 3 CSB 1

Women's Offensive Game of the Week
14th ranked Washington and Lee University averages 4.3 goals per game this season, and you can expect a slug fest when they head to North Carolina's sixth largest city, and home of 20th ranked Methodist University, Fayetteville. Methodist averages more than 4.7 goals per game this season, so you can expect to see the ball hit the back of the net on multiple occasions in this game.

Prediction: Methodist 3 W&L; 2

Women's Defensive Game of the Week
With nearly every UAA team having a blemish on their schedule, it looks like this year's UAA champion might be able to take the crown with a loss or two on their schedule. Two teams looking to do just that will meet in the Big Apple this week for a UAA matchup between #8 Washington University and #24 New York University. The teams combined have allowed just ten goals on the entire season.

Prediction: Wash U 2 NYU 1

Last Week's Prediction Record: 3-3

Overall: 18-11

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