2023 D2 Women's Soccer

[laker]

MSU-Mankato picked for 1st place in NSIC soccer. Augustana 2nd, playoff champion Bemidji 3rd.
Mavericks Top NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll - Minnesota State University - Mankato Athletics (msumavericks.com)

[Randy]

The usual suspects are again at the top in the MIAA poll.

https://themiaa.com/news/2023/8/11/m...ches-poll.aspx

CentralMO plays at Mankato and at Augi.
Emporia plays Mankato in Kansas City.

[D2Rover]

National Poll: https://wwuvikings.com/news/2023/8/1...n-ranking.aspx

Western Washington and Columbus State looked like the two best teams at the Final Four last year, both lost some key players but still have a lot of returning talent.

Emporia basically brings back everything and was probably unfortunate not to go further last year, I think the potential for a National Championship is there. Looking forward to being in Mankato for the Sunday of that tournament to see how MSU, Central Missouri, and GVSU look this year.

[Randy]

Pitt State is adding women's soccer for the 2024 season.

[chapmaja]

I thought football rankings were F'ed up.

So far through two weeks, GVSU started the season ranked #8. Lost to unranked (at the time Ashland) and tied unranked Maryville. This dropped GVSU to unranked and not getting votes and moved Ashland to #16 in the country. GVSU's second weekend sees them win at Mary on Friday and than at #8 Minn St. on Sunday. Meanwhile Ashland beats #4 Ferris, plus SVSU and jumps to #1 in the country. Where does GVSU end up? They are still outside the top 25, despite losing only 1-0 to the #1 team in the country. What about Minn St, who lost to unranked GVSU at home 1-0? They move UP from #8 to #7 because they beat the #20 team in the country on Friday.

Just to recap, start #8, lose to now #1, tie an unranked team, beat the #8 team and get votes outside top 25. Beat #20, tie #16, lose unranked and at the time not getting votes, and move up to #7.

[laker]

I thought football rankings were F'ed up.

So far through two weeks, GVSU started the season ranked #8. Lost to unranked (at the time Ashland) and tied unranked Maryville. This dropped GVSU to unranked and not getting votes and moved Ashland to #16 in the country. GVSU's second weekend sees them win at Mary on Friday and than at #8 Minn St. on Sunday. Meanwhile Ashland beats #4 Ferris, plus SVSU and jumps to #1 in the country. Where does GVSU end up? They are still outside the top 25, despite losing only 1-0 to the #1 team in the country. What about Minn St, who lost to unranked GVSU at home 1-0? They move UP from #8 to #7 because they beat the #20 team in the country on Friday.

Just to recap, start #8, lose to now #1, tie an unranked team, beat the #8 team and get votes outside top 25. Beat #20, tie #16, lose unranked and at the time not getting votes, and move up to #7.

It didn't make any sense to me either. When I read the release that said the Mavs had moved up after the loss, I looked to see where GVSU was. I couldn't believe it was lower. Do the voters just throw darts at a wall? Like the ESPN rankings that had Alabama #1 AFTER the home loss to Texas.

[Randy]

I thought football rankings were F'ed up.

So far through two weeks, GVSU started the season ranked #8. Lost to unranked (at the time Ashland) and tied unranked Maryville. This dropped GVSU to unranked and not getting votes and moved Ashland to #16 in the country. GVSU's second weekend sees them win at Mary on Friday and than at #8 Minn St. on Sunday. Meanwhile Ashland beats #4 Ferris, plus SVSU and jumps to #1 in the country. Where does GVSU end up? They are still outside the top 25, despite losing only 1-0 to the #1 team in the country. What about Minn St, who lost to unranked GVSU at home 1-0? They move UP from #8 to #7 because they beat the #20 team in the country on Friday.

Just to recap, start #8, lose to now #1, tie an unranked team, beat the #8 team and get votes outside top 25. Beat #20, tie #16, lose unranked and at the time not getting votes, and move up to #7.

This reminds me of last season. CentralMO was #6 in the preseason poll. When the first weekly poll came out the Jennies were 3-0-1 with the tie being #1 (at the time) GVSU. The Jennies fell to #19 in that poll.

[laker]

This reminds me of last season. CentralMO was #6 in the preseason poll. When the first weekly poll came out the Jennies were 3-0-1 with the tie being #1 (at the time) GVSU. The Jennies fell to #19 in that poll.

I had a girls basketball team that won the district two years in a row. The second year we won something like 13 straight. For two straight weeks, we won a total of four games but kept going down in the polls. Yet our boys lost several games in that time period and went up. I'm sure that the voters got the two confused, but I did joke to the newspaper that if we kept winning that we would drop out of the poll altogether.

[D2Rover]

The D2 polls are always a bit of a joke. I saw the Sunday games in Mankato, Grand Valley is a top-10 team, and Central Missouri and Minnesota State are really close.

[D2Rover]

Emporia State gives Washburn their first loss of the year, 1-0. Kind of weird game with Washburn getting a red card away from the ball in the first half. Top of the MIAA finishes in a log jam with Washburn 9-1-1, Central 8-1-2, Fort Hays and Emporia both 8-2-1. All four are good enough to make a tournament run. Washburn and Central Missouri are both pretty complete teams; Washburn is a little more physical, but I'm a little more convinced by UCM offensively. ESU has the best goal scorer in the region and has some talent to support her, but is probably the least organized of the top 4 and a little calamity prone. Fort Hays is really good defensively (solid GK too) but isn't quite as threatening going forward. Conference tournament should be fun.

[laker]

From Inkblot:

[laker]

NSIC soccer playoffs

[Millsy]

Quarterfinal results:

St. Cloud 1, Minnesota Duluth 0
Bemidji 2, Augustan 1 OT
Mary 2, Northern 0
Concordia-St. Paul 2, Minnesota State 1

Semifinals at St. Cloud, 11/10/2023
#1 St. Cloud vs #4 Bemidji 2 PM
#6 Mary vs #7 Concordia-St. Paul 11 PM

Final at St. Cloud, 11/12/2023 at 1 PM

[Millsy]

Quarterfinal results:

St. Cloud 1, Minnesota Duluth 0
Bemidji 2, Augustan 1 OT
Mary 2, Northern 0
Concordia-St. Paul 2, Minnesota State 1

Semifinals at St. Cloud, 11/10/2023
#1 St. Cloud vs #4 Bemidji 2 PM
#6 Mary vs #7 Concordia-St. Paul 11 PM

Final at St. Cloud, 11/12/2023 at 1 PM

Mary advances to the NSIC Championship with a 1-0 victory over CSP.

[Millsy]

Bemidji State moves onto the NSIC Championship with a 2-0 victory over St. Cloud.