Just got a look at UW-Oshkosh's schedule for 2007. NCAA National Finalist from '05, Gustavus, and '06, Wheaton are on the schedule.

UW-OSHKOSH MEN'S SOCCER SCHEDULE 2007
DATE TIME OPPONENT SITE
Fri. 8/24/07 7:00 p.m. UW-Madison (exhibition), Madison
Sun. 8/26/07 2:00 p.m. UW-Green Bay (exhibition),Green Bay
Sat. 9/1/07 3:00 p.m. St. Norbert College, Oshkosh
Sat. 9/8/07 21st Valley Cup Invitational
12:00 p.m. St. Olaf College (MN) vs. UW-Oshkosh, Oshkosh
2:30 p.m. Gustavus Adolphus College vs. St.Norbert College, Oshkosh
Sun. 9/9/07 21st Valley Cup Invitational
12:00 p.m. St. Olaf College (MN) vs. St. Norbert College, Oshkosh
2:30 p.m. Gustavus Adolphus College vs. UW-Oshkosh, Oshkosh
Sat. 9/15/07 11:00 a.m. University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Platteville
Sun. 9/16/07 1:00 p.m. Clarke College, Dubuque, IA
Wed. 9/19/07 7:00 p.m. Marian College, Oshkosh
Sun. 9/23/07 1:00 p.m. Carroll College, Waukesha
Wed. 9/26/07 7:00 p.m. Lawrence University, Oshkosh
Sat. 9/29/07 5:00 p.m. University of Wisconsin-Superior, Oshkosh
Sun. 9/30/07 3:30 p.m. Wisconsin Lutheran College, Wauwatosa
Fri. 10/5/07 7:00 p.m. Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL
Sun. 10/7/07 2:00 p.m. Aurora University, Aurora, IL
Sat. 10/13/07 7:00 p.m. Wheaton College, Oshkosh
Mon. 10/15/07 3:30 p.m. Lakeland College, Sheboygan
Sat. 10/20/07 11:00 a.m. Edgewood College, Madison
Tue. 10/23/07 3:00 p.m. Ripon College, Ripon
Fri. 10/26/07 4:30 p.m. Concordia University Wisconsin, Oshkosh
Sat. 11/3/07 7:00 p.m. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Oshkosh

UW Whitewater has a challenging schedule as well,



August 27 Lawrence Whitewater 5:00

September 1 Wisconsin Lutheran Tournament, Wisconsin Lutheran Milwaukee 00

September 2 Wisconsin Lutheran Tournament, Wartburg Milwaukee 5:00

September 8 Finlandia Whitewater 12:00

September 9 Edgewood College Whitewater (Family Day) 2:00

Spetember 12 Illinios Wesleyan Bloomington, IL 4:30

September 16 Lakeland College Sheboygan 1:30

September 18 St. Mary's University Whitewater 4:00

September 23 Univeristy of St. Thomas Saint Paul, MN 12:00

September 27 Luther College Decorah, IA 5:00

September 29 Ripon College Ripon 4:00

September 30 St. Norbert College St. Norbert College (DePere, WI) 3:00 p.m.

October 3 University of Chicago University of Chicago (Chicago, IL) 3:00

October 7 Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN

October 11 Aurora University UW Whitewater 3:00

October 14 UW-Whitewater Alumni UW-Whitewater 1:00

101707 UW-Platteville UW-Whitewater 1:00

October 20 UW-Superior UW-Whitewater 12:00

October 21 Concordia University UW-Whitewater 3:00

October 24 Dominican University UW-Whitewater 3:00

November 3 UW-Oshkosh UW-Oshkosh (Oshkosh, WI) 7:00

what does the whitewater side look like for the 07 season?

Whitewater graduates all region players forward Nate Hass and defender Andrew Steive as well as starting midfielders Schuettpels and Cotter.

The good news is they have a lot of experience from the bench coming back and have some recruits coming in who may actually be more talented than some of the departing seniors, although they will obviously lack experience. All in all I expect UWW to be a good but not great team next season.

Chadder, any idea how UWO will fare this coming season?

UWO should take care of business pretty well this year. I see about a 15-5 season and a Pool B bid. Some of their schedule looks a bit cakey but they will have their serious challenges also. Experience will be on their side.

Do you mean this part of ther schedule Mr. Knowitall?

Sat. 9/15/07 11:00 a.m. University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Platteville
Sun. 9/16/07 1:00 p.m. Clarke College, Dubuque, IA
Wed. 9/19/07 7:00 p.m. Marian College, Oshkosh
Sun. 9/23/07 1:00 p.m. Carroll College, Waukesha
Wed. 9/26/07 7:00 p.m. Lawrence University, Oshkosh
Sat. 9/29/07 5:00 p.m. University of Wisconsin-Superior, Oshkosh
Sun. 9/30/07 3:30 p.m. Wisconsin Lutheran College, Wauwatosa
Fri. 10/5/07 7:00 p.m. Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL

The overall UW-O schedule was surprising to me. Probably the easiest schedule they have had in quite some time. I would say they set this up for obvious Pool B reasons. They have challenges at the beginning of the year and a tough last few weeks otherwise mid-season is a joke. I believe that Jonesee's outlook on UWW is accurate as well. Tough loss in Haas or Hass...

To be fair, over half of their games are against teams that had a .500 or better record. But some of those over .500 teams got blasted for their weak schedules, like UW-Platte. But, that middle of the schedule should be a confidence builder for UWO.

So your saying UWO is going to be the UW-Platteville this year?

I believe you just said that...I said some of their schedule was a cakewalk. UWO has given itself a stern test early and late in the next season. UWP met Loras and Augustana in their last game's last year as their toughest test. If you disagree, tell me why. And I said UWO would earn a tourney berth. Last year UWP did not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2007 08:04PM by mr.knowitall.

UWO only loses Kevin Murphy to Graduation. So they have a lot of young players who gained some valuable playing experience this last season. I have been told there are several high quality recruits coming in as well. It will be interesting to see. I know there are some spring scrimage games coming up against UW Greenbay and UW Milwaukee, both D1 sides, will post results when I get them.

As far as the schedule goes, its certainly not as tough as last seasons, but its certainly no cake walk. It should be an interesting year for UWO. I believe they have a lot of talent, and if they can get someone who consistantly puts the ball in the back of the net, they are going to be a very good team.

I agree, Oshkosh will be a very good team. In their games I saw last year though, Murphy was a huge part of their offense and really put pressure on with his size and speed. I think that will be a significant hole to fill, but I also saw an abundance of talent on the team and think they will be a better team this year than last.

Agreed. Murphy was tough...very physical and fast...but I think the players who will be stepping into his role have far more skill and raw talent. If UWO can move the ball like they did during certain games this last season (i.e. @ Wheaton) consistently, they will fill the void left my Murphy with little trouble. I think UWO tried to force the play through Murphy too much, and got themselves in trouble b/c this became very predictable. Although his physical presence will be missed on the field, I think UWO will play a more possession style of game, and this will allow the creativity of the younger returning players to really shine.

UWO had a scrimmage game against some alumni (a loaded squad with a couple former d3 All American/Region players as I understand it) this afternoon. I haven't gotten any results, will post if I hear anything.

Should be an interesting fall for the Titans. they definitely have a lot of talent. I will be anxious to see if they can put it all together...

I think there's a reason SNC is (allegedly) coming in as #1 in the RPI. The schedule this year is pretty tough (I think RPI is based off schedule strength). Keep in mind that the Midwest Conference expanded schedules by 2 games in 2007 to allow for 18 contests.

Sat., Sept. 1 at UW-Oshkosh

Sun., Sept. 2 Edgewood College 3 p.m.

S-S, Sept. 8-9 at UW-Oshkosh Valley Cup
9/8 - vs. Gustavus Adolphus College 2:30 p.m.
9/9 - vs. St. Olaf College Noon

Sat., Sept. 15 Carroll College 1:30 p.m.

Sun., Sept. 16 at Univ. of Chicago

Sat., Sept. 22 at Carthage College 2 p.m.

Sun., Sept. 23 at Lake Forest College 3:30 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 29 at Beloit College

Sun., Sept. 30 UW-Whitewater 3 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 6 at Monmouth College 1:30 p.m.

Sun., Oct. 7 at Illinois College

Sat., Oct. 13 Ripon College Noon

Sun., Oct. 14 Dominican Univ. 1 p.m.

Fri., Oct. 19 at Lawrence Univ. 3:30 p.m.

Sun., Oct. 21 at Washington (Mo.) Univ. 1 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 27 Knox College 2 p.m.

Sun., Oct. 28 Grinnell College 1 p.m.

If SNC can make it out of a TOUGH September, they've still got Dominican and WashU in October. It's hard to believe there's a tougher schedule for anyone out there that's not on the E. Coast or in the UAA.

PhantomD,

I have heard the UW-Whitewater coach was very unhappy not to get a bid last fall, especially since it ended a streak of 5 consecutive years of post-season bids. He said there were some "minor chemistry issues" that led to a couple of "underachieving results" in tight matches against UWO, Aurora, & St. Norberts in particular. He also said he was disappointed to see Aurora get pounded in the NCAA post-season tourney 4-0. He was sure even with their "minor chemistry issues" no team would have beaten UWW by 4 goals in the post-season... but he realized they did not post regular season results and left the door open for the NCAA to leave UWW home.

From what I have heard he is re-tooling the program and doing so in a hurry & with a lot of incoming talent. I heard he released 4-6 players from last years roster that would have been returners next fall. I heard 2 of them were to be seniors in 2007. Apparently the 14-15 returners had a very productive spring semester. I saw their spring play matches and the group played much more cohesively this spring and looked better than last fall even without some of those "all-region seniors" that graduated.

Regarding the '07 recruiting class, I have heard that it is the most talented and deepest incoming group of newcomers that UW-Whitewater has ever seen. I know of about 10-12 of the best graduating seniors from WI are attending UW-Whitewater next fall, and 2 of them turned down significant D1 scholarships to go to UWW. I heard they had commitments from several top-quality Chicago players as well. Also from what I have heard, they will surprise many coaches and others watching D3 soccer with several incoming international players. I believe 3 from west Africa (1 of them was in his country's national pool), a good midfielder from Australia, and a strong forward from Croatia/Serbia. This 2007 team could be a very dangerous team, as I am sure the returners that make the roster will be very hungry to get back to where they were prior to 2006. Pair these returners with a lot of talent from the young kids to supplement where needed and it will certainly be an interesting group to watch...

one change on the SNC schedule is that they no longer are playing University of Chicago. The game was cancelled and SNC is looking for another game, but that will be tough to find this late in the year.

WOW!

What exuberance for UWW. But frankly I have heard very similar comments, but in a more toned down manner. I heard It was one D1 recruit who turned down UW-Madison to come to UWW. I heard that it was one player coming from Africa and yes he is on his national team.

Coach Henschel is saying this is his best recruiting class ever, but how they mesh on the field is another matter. I know he was hoping to sneak up on some teams who would not realize the talent he was getting in, but it sounds like the cat is kinda out of the bag.

However I think UWO showed last season how hard it is to make it to the tournament with a lot of freshman talent, even if they are very good.

Calling UWO's 2006 freshman class "talented" is certainly a stretch. From what I saw out of them last year, that class was not very deep either, and it seemed to lack any real "difference makers." They were solid D3 players but nobody seemed to make any significant contributions.

I did not know that UWW had a player that turned down UW-Madison for UWW, the two players I had heard about turned down UW-Milwaukee and UW-GB. I do know that 3 of their 2007 newcomers are 20+ years of age. So it would be unrealistic to compare a very average D3 level 2006 UWO true freshmen group with the 2007 UWW group of newcomers that sound like they are a bit more mature and could be "difference makers."

Time will certainly tell this fall.

Can't wait to see if St. Norbert College can put it together again this year... as well. Certainly an interesting opening match with UWO, as they have outplayed UWO the last 2-3 years.

I was told that the National team player from Africa was offered at UW-Madison,
I don't know if it was a scholarship or a team spot offered.

I am excited, as I think UWW had a very good class come in last year and with this years class, look to be very tough in the future.

I do think UWO's freshman from last year are a real good class, more so in numbers than in individual talent, maybe that is what you were getting at, I think they will also be tough in the future.

Yes, that is pretty much what I was getting at. No one really seemed to "stand out" of that UWO freshman group and many of them had lots of time last fall to show what they had. All of those freshmen ran around the field and worked fairly hard, but no one seemed to have NCAA post-season soccer skill or soccer mind. We all know that at 18-19 yrs. of age what you have in your "soccer bag" is primarily what you have, it's not going to change that much in a college career.

Nowadays you have to have some "difference makers" out there to get into the post-season, just ask Gustavus, Wheaton, Dominican. Aurora was a classic case of a team that did NOT have any difference makers and got embarrassed in the post-season last fall.

Guru,
I think that was well put. The central region obviously offers a bunch of very talented teams. However, after seeing a fair amount of D3 soccer, especially in the central region over the past fews years, a 'difference maker' is what is needed. Wheaton obviously has had that the last few years. Gustavus made it to a final with theirs. Which is why, I think they got bounced 'early' in '06. Those are the guys who I think can make it happen, especially down the stretch in pressure situations. Should be interesting to see the Central head-to-head matchups this coming fall as it seems the top central teams will be playing each other this year more than ever.

Last year Gustavus got bounced in the second round by Wartburg... It was a case of Harrison (by the way whatever happened to him) being too much on one occassion. Look for GAC's Mike Butterworth to be a "difference maker" this year. Should be a solid weekend when SNC and UWO get a chance to face the Gusties. Does anyone else on this forum plan to go? I know myself, DoubleDeuce, and Chadder13 are all making the trip.

Ill try to make it to that one... Im sure that Elliott will go too, depending on Lawrence's schedule that weekend

It is nice to see the "top central region teams" trying to play each other. This trend has seemed to be occurring the past couple of years with these "top teams." I also noticed UWO missing 2 "key opponents" from their 2007 schedule which might have negative post-season implications... Dominican & North Park.

I saw Butterworth play a couple of times last fall. He produced goals for them, but more of them were from "hard work" than talent. You can certainly make a difference through hard work, but sometimes there is no substitute for talent... hence 2nd round exit from 2006 post season. Great that they got the bid though! I don't think that Wheaton had any significant difference makers, but many hard workers... they got handled by a team that had many difference makers in the finals. Great that they got to the finals though!

The '07 Oshkosh weekend tournament will be decided by the outcome of the SNC/GAC match... because GAC will beat UWO by 2 goals on Sunday.

Obviously you haven't seen Butterworth if you believe his goals were more hardwork then talent. Not to take anything away from Mike's work ethic but his talent level is tremendous. In the 2nd round last year he hit the post and had two balls cleared off the line, looks like the Wartburgs luck was the difference maker. Anyways, I believe that the 07' Oshkosh weekend will involve 1 goal games across the board, tough to predict the outcomes this early but I am going to say 2-1 GAC wins in both games.

I have to come to the defense of my boys here. No difference Makers for Wheaton? Wow, you must not have seen any game BUT the final. Steve Rigby was an All-American and is playing USl-2 in Cleveland right now, for one. Seocond of all, they did advance in a shootout, so apparently there was something different about their shooters than York's. Third of all, you don't beat five ranked teams in a row if that is not the case. And finally, no DOUBT Messiah was the better team, but recall, they also played a man up for 60 minutes in a 3-0 waxing while Wheaton battled a 1-0 90 minute win over OWU.
Having seen Butterworth play I would probably tend to agree more with garbage. And I think the implication he was trying to make is that another off seaso followed by a mor eincreasing role will probably see this guy be an impact player. And based on what I have seen, I would have to agree.

SoccerGuy1,

You have discredited your entire statement by saying there was something different about Wheaton's penalty kick takers from York's penalty takers. If Wheaton had "true difference makers" they would not have had 7 losses and 3 draws in 2006. Don't mistake this statement for someone saying Rigby was not a quality player for Wheaton, as he is a quality player...

I suppose Baggio was not a special player because he mis-hit an important penalty?

Every team is playing with the same level of players in D3 except Messiah. If Wheaton had "true difference makers" they too would have "waxed" OWU and rested players for the final match...

Garbagegoals,
If GAC gives up a goal to UWO, GAC could be in for a long 2007 season... GAC will shutout UWO and win by at least 2 goals.

Guru,
Completely fair in PKs. Stupid point, I agree. However, I think that Rigby was a 'difference maker' He was an All American, led the team in goals, was a captain, and was named the conference player of the year in a pretty good conference. Im confused as to what else someone needs to 'be a difference maker.' ??? Maybe the point then is that Messiah has more 'difference makers' I guess we are arguing over definitions, but I have to think regardless of the hair-splitting definition, at least Rigby has got to be in that category.

We are arguing over definitions... Rigby earned several accolades that deem him a difference maker.

haha, for my sanity, I appreciate it.