SLU Women's Soccer Thread

[Lord Elrond]

#1 scoring offense in the nation

#4 In goals against in the nation

#9 defense in the nation

Roll Bills!

[Taj79]

Curious .... what is the ladies SOS?  Outside of Arkansas, Notre Dame and Xavier, the A10 is a rather weak conference, yes?  Outside our 17 an 1 record, the conference is 87-96- 63.  

[Lord Elrond]

Their RPI is currently #9 

SoS looks like 114. Yes, the A10 is a weak conference in womens soccer

 

[courtside]

2 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

#1 scoring offense in the nation

#4 In goals against in the nation

#9 defense in the nation

Roll Bills!

This was already posted 4 posts prior to this post. 

[courtside]

2 hours ago, Taj79 said:

Curious .... what is the ladies SOS?  Outside of Arkansas, Notre Dame and Xavier, the A10 is a rather weak conference, yes?  Outside our 17 an 1 record, the conference is 87-96- 63.  

Is there a point in there somewhere?

It’s been a while since you trolled a soccer thread. It’s also been a while since the NCAA tourney consisted of 8 teams and you were attending Philadelphia Textile games as a college student. 

I suppose it gets quiet in the Men’s soccer thread when SLU’s 17th best offense nationally is helping lead them to the A10 regular season title, and a 19 RPI.

………..but back to Women’s soccer in the SLU Women’s Soccer thread because I know you are a big positive fan of SLU Women’s Soccer. So let’s take a look.

……………….

You forgot Nebraska. They are an NCAA bubble team. Nebraska finished 4th in the Big 10 out of 14 teams, a half game out of 3rd. No team on their schedule scored 5 goals against them besides SLU. And they have gone unbeaten against 4 projected NCAA Tourney teams. (possibly more depending on the bubble) 

Arkansas has won the last 3 SEC Regular season titles, while losing to SLU both times they have played in the past 3 seasons. (I just recently watched the Arkansas game at then number 2 Alabama. Very enjoyable)

Arkansas defeated the regular season Big 10 Champion, Michigan State, and they have gone unbeaten against 4 other likely NCAA tourney teams. (possibly more depending on the bubble) At minimum they will likely finish in the top 4 of the SEC out of 14 teams. 

Notre Dame is in 1st place in the ACC and they will likely either win the ACC or share the league title. They also have wins against 4 likely NCAA tourney teams and possibly more. 

Xavier who will make the NCAA Tourney, will finish 2nd in the Big East. They have not lost a game since they lost at home to SLU. That’s 11 games ago.

……………

VCU is a projected NCAA Tourney team. SLU beat them. Dayton is a projected bubble team. SLU beat them for the 10th straight time. Both are top 55 RPI. Loyola is top 100 and SLU will play them first in the conference tourney. This of course is a team SLU has also defeated. SLU may get Davidson, another top 100 RPI team, or UMass (very recently an NCAA bubble team) or Duquesne, both of whom SLU defeated, and, both of whom sot just outside the top 100 RPI. So that’s 7 of the 9 A10 teams that did just fine this year. 

…………………

The A10 similar to other A10 sports that have some bad RPI teams at the bottom of the league. The top 9 teams did just fine. 

We can walk through non top 100 RPI teams in Power 5 leagues next if you’d like. Sounds fun. 

………………..

SLU has an RPI of 9.

3 different polls that don’t agree on much have had them in the top 10 as high as 5th. 

Massey has them 13. 

……………..

 

 

 

[Bills By 40]

13 hours ago, courtside said:

This was already posted 4 posts prior to this post. 

*bad post*

[Bills By 40]

13 hours ago, courtside said:

……………….

You forgot Nebraska. They are an NCAA bubble team. Nebraska finished 4th in the Big 10 out of 14 teams, a half game out of 3rd. No team on their schedule scored 5 goals against them besides SLU. And they have gone unbeaten against 4 projected NCAA Tourney teams. (possibly more depending on the bubble) 

Arkansas has won the last 3 SEC Regular season titles, while losing to SLU both times they have played in the past 3 seasons. (I just recently watched the Arkansas game at then number 2 Alabama. Very enjoyable)

Arkansas defeated the regular season Big 10 Champion, Michigan State, and they have gone unbeaten against 4 other likely NCAA tourney teams. (possibly more depending on the bubble) At minimum they will likely finish in the top 4 of the SEC out of 14 teams. 

Notre Dame is in 1st place in the ACC and they will likely either win the ACC or share the league title. They also have wins against 4 likely NCAA tourney teams and possibly more. 

Xavier who will make the NCAA Tourney, will finish 2nd in the Big East. They have not lost a game since they lost at home to SLU. That’s 11 games ago.

……………

VCU is a projected NCAA Tourney team. SLU beat them. Dayton is a projected bubble team. SLU beat them for the 10th straight time. Both are top 55 RPI. Loyola is top 100 and SLU will play them first in the conference tourney. This of course is a team SLU has also defeated. SLU may get Davidson, another top 100 RPI team, or UMass (very recently an NCAA bubble team) or Duquesne, both of whom SLU defeated, and, both of whom sot just outside the top 100 RPI. So that’s 7 of the 9 A10 teams that did just fine this year. 

…………………

The A10 similar to other A10 sports that have some bad RPI teams at the bottom of the league. The top 9 teams did just fine. 

We can walk through non top 100 RPI teams in Power 5 leagues next if you’d like. Sounds fun. 

………………..

SLU has an RPI of 9.

3 different polls that don’t agree on much have had them in the top 10 as high as 5th. 

Massey has them 13. 

……………..

*good post*

[Billiken Rich]

40 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:

*good post*

Same old Courtside.  You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all and there you have........Courtside

[courtside]

8 minutes ago, Billiken Rich said:

Same old Courtside.  You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all and there you have........Courtside

This is the SLU Women's Soccer thread. Since you have nothing productive to add to the thread, and haven't the entire season, it's time to run along now. (head pat) Troll in a different thread. But thanks for being a loyal reader of the soccer threads. 

[Taj79]

I ignore everything courtside says so whatever he said 4 or 40 posts ago .... meh.

I asked a factual question on the women's SOS.  Lord Elrond factually answered it.  What's the problem?  I pointed out that the A10 women's record is relatively weak overall.  Fact?  Lord Elrond confirmed that.  

I revel and applaud the women for their record, their goal scoring prowess, their national rankings.  The pretenders not so much.  While Dayton is 6-1-1 outside of conference, VCU is 2-1-5.  Fourth place Davidson is only 5-2-3 in conference but they are 7-0-1 outside of conference.  Davidson is the only other A10 squad with double digit wins.  Maybe Lord Elrond can tell me their (Dayton, VCU, Davidson) SOS?

The women are entertaining.  I hope they go far.

[courtside]

28 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

I ignore everything courtside says so whatever he said 4 or 40 posts ago .... meh.

I asked a factual question on the women's SOS.  Lord Elrond factually answered it.  What's the problem?  I pointed out that the A10 women's record is relatively weak overall.  Fact?  Lord Elrond confirmed that.  

I revel and applaud the women for their record, their goal scoring prowess, their national rankings.  The pretenders not so much.  While Dayton is 6-1-1 outside of conference, VCU is 2-1-5.  Fourth place Davidson is only 5-2-3 in conference but they are 7-0-1 outside of conference.  Davidson is the only other A10 squad with double digit wins.  Maybe Lord Elrond can tell me their (Dayton, VCU, Davidson) SOS?

The women are entertaining.  I hope they go far.

 

Many of your timely posts are more Negative Nancy than Positive Paul.

My posts don’t support the things you are overvaluing and undervaluing, similar to the recent Men’s Soccer thread discussion.

Since you posted in the SLU Women’s Soccer thread, instead of sending Lord Elrond a private message to answer your question, let me help you, or perhaps the others reading can send you a message to help you. 

Ready?

You actually have it backwards here in your post. VCU’s non-conference schedule results have more value than Dayton’s. non-conference results. Why? 1) VCU has a win and a draw against 2 top level 10 national teams. (Virginia and Pittsburgh) Dayton does not. VCU also added an additional strong RPI game, they didn’t get the result but they played tougher teams and had better results. Dayton did have one tough RPI game and struggled, and they tried for another and fared better there. but that team unfortunately had a worse than expected season. 

I can assure as long as VCU does not fall flat on its face in the conference tourney, which of course is entirely possible in a short tourney, it will help their NCAA Chances. 

Dayton’s only blemishes in A10 play are against 2 good teams, SLU and VCU. They don’t have bad results in the league, so their league play is helping them. VCU league play? They have a couple of draws against a few of those bottom of the league level teams in RPI. And that has hurt them.

Davidson? Great record. Why aren’t they considered and NCAA team or bubble team just yet? 

They didn’t schedule a strong non-conference schedule. And they have 2 draws against those bottom few level teams we discussed. That combination has them for now on the outside looking in for an NCAA invite. 

You don’t seem to understand how it works. Number of wins and SOS are limited statistics taken by themselves without context. Thankfully those that rank teams, make NCAA decisions etc understand that. 

It’s like shots on goal. By itself without context it has little meaning. Some of the very best scoring chances of a game can be shots over the goal, wide, off of the crossbar, or may not even be a shot at all. And. shot on goal can be rolled in from 40 yards. But if you combine that with several other related statistics, as well as the context of the game. you get a more informed understanding of how much or how little any individual stat tells an accurate and complete story of the game. Seems straight forward enough. 

SLU consistently plays among the best non-conference schedules in the country. And they are getting results. 4 to 5 strong RPI games annually, as many as opponents are willing to play. That’s a big deal, not to be glossed over. It has been a very difficult, challenging grind to get strong opponents to play home and games with SLU. 

And despite SLU’s wishes to mix in non-conference games throughout its season, the league hasn’t been particularly helpful with scheduling, as in not at all. 

The top 9 of the league was fine this season in the A10. 

It’s great that you are enjoying SLU Women’s Soccer. Worthy entertainment. Good for you. Perhaps you’ll also enjoy the Men’s team too. 

 

[Billiken Rich]

1 hour ago, courtside said:

This is the SLU Women's Soccer thread. Since you have nothing productive to add to the thread, and haven't the entire season, it's time to run along now. (head pat) Troll in a different thread. But thanks for being a loyal reader of the soccer threads. 

Was I wrong?

[Lord Elrond]

35 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

I ignore everything courtside says so whatever he said 4 or 40 posts ago .... meh.

I asked a factual question on the women's SOS.  Lord Elrond factually answered it.  What's the problem?  I pointed out that the A10 women's record is relatively weak overall.  Fact?  Lord Elrond confirmed that.  

I revel and applaud the women for their record, their goal scoring prowess, their national rankings.  The pretenders not so much.  While Dayton is 6-1-1 outside of conference, VCU is 2-1-5.  Fourth place Davidson is only 5-2-3 in conference but they are 7-0-1 outside of conference.  Davidson is the only other A10 squad with double digit wins.  Maybe Lord Elrond can tell me their (Dayton, VCU, Davidson) SOS?

The women are entertaining.  I hope they go far.

Comparing SLU, VCU, Dayton, Davidson and Loyola-Chicago from Masseyratings.com: (note, they use their own rating formula, not RPI)

Team        Rating     Strength of Schedule

SLU             13                    114

Dayton        59                   108

VCU            110                   116

Davidson    145                  292

Loy-Chi       134                 141

note, these are just their ratings based on their formulas.  They rate SLU, VCU and Dayton as having roughly the same strength of schedule, Loy-Chi a step below that, and they don’t rate Davidson’s SOS very highly at all. As far as their ratings go, they don’t seem to value a tie as highly as RPI does. Interesting that they rate Loyola-Chicago as a better team than Davidson, but that’s where their formula’s lead them.

For RPI from NCAA.com, we get the following: (they don’t give out Strength of Schedule on their website)

SLU - 9

VCU - 53

Dayton - 55

Davidson - 88

Loy-Chi - 101

They also don’t give out conference RPI (at least not on the free stuff I can find, maybe behind some paywall they have it)

For a rough Conference comparison:

 A10 RPI’s are right now: 9, 53, 55, 88, 101, 105, 112, 123, 197, 211,216,229,264,278,282

the ACC has 7 teams in the top 25, 6 more in the top 100, and only 1 team over that (worst RPI is 110)

the SEC has 3 teams in the top 25, 9 more in the top 100, and 2 teams over 100 (worst RPI is 189)

However, the A10 does compare favorably to many others, looking at two conferences with local interest

the MVC has only 1 team with an RPI lower than 200 (Missouri State-157) 6 teams below 300 (SIUC-200), and 4 teams above 300

the OVC has only 2 teams with an RPI lower than 200 (best is Tenn Tech- 137, SIUE-171), 3 teams below 300, and 4 teams above 300 (Lindenwood-314)

What’s amazing to me is how well SLU gets bigger non-conference teams to schedule them.

 

[BIG BILL FAN]

15 hours ago, courtside said:

This was already posted 4 posts prior to this post. 

you are such a loser...who cares if it was posted earlier??? unbelievable that you are worried that someone may take away part of your glory....get some help.....

[courtside]

37 minutes ago, BIG BILL FAN said:

you are such a loser...who cares if it was posted earlier??? unbelievable that you are worried that someone may take away part of your glory....get some help.....

Reading comprehension and context are unsurprisingly failing you. And yet here you are, finding your way to my posts, psychologically projecting your keyboard anger from a safe distance. Thanks for being a loyal reader.

Again, this is the SLU Women's Soccer thread. Feel free to send me a message.

 

 

 

[HenryB]

9 minutes ago, courtside said:

Reading comprehension and context are unsurprisingly failing you. And yet here you are, finding your way to my posts, psychologically projecting your keyboard anger from a safe distance. Thanks for being a loyal reader.

Again, this is the SLU Women's Soccer thread. Feel free to send me a message.

 

 

 

Have you no self-awareness whatsoever?

[BIG BILL FAN]

51 minutes ago, courtside said:

Reading comprehension and context are unsurprisingly failing you. And yet here you are, finding your way to my posts, psychologically projecting your keyboard anger from a safe distance. Thanks for being a loyal reader.

Again, this is the SLU Women's Soccer thread. Feel free to send me a message.

 

 

 

Context???? I understand the context fully… you’re obsessed with your importance to the women’s soccer program and are not going to allow anyone to interfere with it. 

[Bills By 40]

18 hours ago, courtside said:

This was already posted 4 posts prior to this post. 

@courtsidethis was not a productive post, please stick to constructive women's soccer content because this is the women's soccer thread. 

[Taj79]

Again, thanks to Lord Elrond for this latest information on RPI ratings scale and the like.  It's all very interesting.  The Lord answered the question without the mundane arguments that usually permeate when folks try to read between the lines.  Just from the numbers alone, it must be tough to play women's soccer in the ACC.  Those are some gaudy numbers.  

[Lord Elrond]

18 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Again, thanks to Lord Elrond for this latest information on RPI ratings scale and the like.  It's all very interesting.  The Lord answered the question without the mundane arguments that usually permeate when folks try to read between the lines.  Just from the numbers alone, it must be tough to play women's soccer in the ACC.  Those are some gaudy numbers.  

True, it is tough competition. But on the other hand, the ACC put 8 teams in the NCAA tournament last year, whereas SLU was the only one from the A10.  That’s why winning the A10 Tournament is so important, it’s the only way to guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament. While SLU is probably going to make it with their RPI so high and their rankings, I’d rather not put the theory to the test. 
 

I do think it’s remarkable how SLU gets to get so many higher ranked teams to play them, and even gets them to come play them at Hermann Stadium. In non-revenue sports, the travel budgets are so tight a lot of team’s won’t come to play SLU if it’s farther away than a bus ride there and back the same day. 

[Taj79]

No argument here.  As for this year, Arkansas is a bus ride.  So is Notre Dame (although I don't know what such a power devotes to their non-revenue sports if there are such at ND given their NBC contract).  Nebraska might be a bus ride but what do I know.  Last year, we got Louisville, Xavier and Iowa.  The year prior, it was Oklahoma State (although I list them as a Power Five conference team).  The year before that Iowa State and Purdue came to Hermann.  All seem to meet ypur criteria as potential bus rides.  

Conversely, we don't go very far either.  Of the schools mentioned above, it appears we have had them in and gone to their place the following year(s) or thereabouts.  The only other school that sticks out (again Power 5) is Kansas.

So goes the plight of the mid-major, I guess.  Given Coach Shields' success, it's a large gamble for these teams to come to town.

[courtside]

38 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

True, it is tough competition. But on the other hand, the ACC put 8 teams in the NCAA tournament last year, whereas SLU was the only one from the A10.  That’s why winning the A10 Tournament is so important, it’s the only way to guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament. While SLU is probably going to make it with their RPI so high and their rankings, I’d rather not put the theory to the test. 
 

I do think it’s remarkable how SLU gets to get so many higher ranked teams to play them, and even gets them to come play them at Hermann Stadium. In non-revenue sports, the travel budgets are so tight a lot of team’s won’t come to play SLU if it’s farther away than a bus ride there and back the same day. 

Not for Power 5 schools. Many Power 5 Women’s Soccer schools fly charter to away games. Just a few examples:

Florida:

https://twitter.com/sambagg/status/1572674264435945472?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

Arkansas:

https://twitter.com/razorbacksoccer/status/1574188618515726336?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

Mizzou:

https://twitter.com/mizzousoccer/status/1577796872613367809?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

Purdue:

https://twitter.com/purduesoccer/status/1566589583546060800?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

Florida State:

https://twitter.com/fsusoccer/status/1578454138727198720?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

and so forth.

…………………..

Some Power 5 teams schedule SLU because they know they are scheduling a strong opponent that will have a good RPI. Some programs like to challenge themselves, and SLU is respected. Some other SLU opponents happen because of long term relationships built over time through overlapping coaching stops, clinics, showcases, and so forth. You see the same people a lot at different regional and national events. And every coach has a circle of coaching friends. Some schedule SLU because they recruit St. Louis. This happens often. 

The majority of teams arrive at minimum the day before a game and sometimes two. Example: When SLU played at UMass, SLU made a weekend of it in Boston, trained at Harvard, where Katie Shields played and coached. One of her former assistant coaches when she played there, is once again an assistant there. 

Sometimes recruiting stops take place on the weekend of an out of town game or a home game, and some coaches can get separated a bit until game day It all depends. Chris watched games with me until the later afternoon before catching a flight back out for the game at Richmond. Last weekend was a KC recruiting weekend before the home game vs St. Joe’s. It all depends.

Speaking of KC, Carol Kelly’s family has been nice enough to host the team at their farm in Kearney the past few years when SLU is playing anywhere near there. The team even trained at Carol’s high school the day before to train on turf. Olivia Silverman’s family hosts when SLU is in Cincinnati etc….so these aren’t usually same day trips for SLU.

…………………….

SLU doesn’t have to win the A10 tourney to make the NCAA tourney. It may negatively affect their chance at a 2 or 3 seed in their bracket region of they don’t or don’t make the finals.

………………….

 

 

[RUBillsFan]

14 hours ago, Lord Elrond said:

True, it is tough competition. But on the other hand, the ACC put 8 teams in the NCAA tournament last year, whereas SLU was the only one from the A10.  That’s why winning the A10 Tournament is so important, it’s the only way to guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament. While SLU is probably going to make it with their RPI so high and their rankings, I’d rather not put the theory to the test. 
 

I do think it’s remarkable how SLU gets to get so many higher ranked teams to play them, and even gets them to come play them at Hermann Stadium. In non-revenue sports, the travel budgets are so tight a lot of team’s won’t come to play SLU if it’s farther away than a bus ride there and back the same day. 

IMO SLU women's soccer right now is like mid 2000s Gonzaga in men's basketball.  Sure they aren't in a great conference, but they've proven to be a top level team & the class of their mid-level conference.  They've done enough & have been reliably good enough that they can get highly ranked teams to play them.  Gonzaga has maintained their dominance for 2 plus decades now.  I think/hope Katie can keep the train moving in a similar fashion.

[Lord Elrond]

14 hours ago, courtside said:

Not for Power 5 schools. Many Power 5 Women’s Soccer schools fly charter to away games. Just a few examples:

Florida:

https://twitter.com/sambagg/status/1572674264435945472?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

Arkansas:

https://twitter.com/razorbacksoccer/status/1574188618515726336?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

Mizzou:

https://twitter.com/mizzousoccer/status/1577796872613367809?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

Purdue:

https://twitter.com/purduesoccer/status/1566589583546060800?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

Florida State:

https://twitter.com/fsusoccer/status/1578454138727198720?s=21&t=79E9zYTB0OIbwgO46HsbDg

and so forth.

…………………..

Some Power 5 teams schedule SLU because they know they are scheduling a strong opponent that will have a good RPI. Some programs like to challenge themselves, and SLU is respected. Some other SLU opponents happen because of long term relationships built over time through overlapping coaching stops, clinics, showcases, and so forth. You see the same people a lot at different regional and national events. And every coach has a circle of coaching friends. Some schedule SLU because they recruit St. Louis. This happens often. 

The majority of teams arrive at minimum the day before a game and sometimes two. Example: When SLU played at UMass, SLU made a weekend of it in Boston, trained at Harvard, where Katie Shields played and coached. One of her former assistant coaches when she played there, is once again an assistant there. 

Sometimes recruiting stops take place on the weekend of an out of town game or a home game, and some coaches can get separated a bit until game day It all depends. Chris watched games with me until the later afternoon before catching a flight back out for the game at Richmond. Last weekend was a KC recruiting weekend before the home game vs St. Joe’s. It all depends.

Speaking of KC, Carol Kelly’s family has been nice enough to host the team at their farm in Kearney the past few years when SLU is playing anywhere near there. The team even trained at Carol’s high school the day before to train on turf. Olivia Silverman’s family hosts when SLU is in Cincinnati etc….so these aren’t usually same day trips for SLU.

…………………….

SLU doesn’t have to win the A10 tourney to make the NCAA tourney. It may negatively affect their chance at a 2 or 3 seed in their bracket region of they don’t or don’t make the finals.

………………….

 

 

When playing in conference in a power 5 conference, charter fights are probably a necessity, and staying overnight or longer is also a necessity.  To call the Power 5 conferences “geographically challenged” is an understatement. However, in non-conference games, where you can pick and choose your opponent, budgets do seem to be a concern. Example, SLU opponent Norte Dame plays in a power 5. They scheduled 3 away non-conference games this year, 2 of them were Indiana (which ended up getting cancelled and not rescheduled) and Purdue, both within easy travel distance of South Bend. SLU was the only non-conference game they scheduled that a chartered flight or overnight stay would be needed or considered.  Everyone else had to travel to South Bend.  Xavier in the Big East, chose to schedule 4 non-conference away games, one with Louisville (about an hour and a half from Cincinnati), one with Ball State (a little over 2 hours from Cincinnati). The other two were the only road trip long road trip (to Chicago) when they played Loyola-Chicago on Thursday night and Northwestern on Sunday afternoon before Labor Day. Not sure you need a charter flight for the trip between Chicago and Cincinnati, especially when you have to take off Thursday and Friday either way, and you don’t need to get back for class on Monday. I’m sure they could stay at the same hotel the entire time, and they would have to find somewhere to practice, but that seems doable. So only 1 non-conference away trip, everyone else travels to Cincinnati.  So budgets are a concern at Power 5 conferences, and that does represent a barrier to getting a team to come here.
 

You are right about SLU being in regardless, but consider VCU last year. After going 9-0 in the A10, and getting ranked in the top 25 in at least one poll at that point, they lost a meaningless conference game to St Joseph’s 1-0, then lost again to St Joseph’s in the quarterfinals of the A10 tournament. They didn’t make the NCAA tournament. It is tough for a non-power 5 conference to get more than 1 bid. Given a choice I would rather SLU won the A10 tournament and let VCU and Dayton sweat it out on selection Sunday.

[courtside]

1 hour ago, Lord Elrond said:

When playing in conference in a power 5 conference, charter fights are probably a necessity, and staying overnight or longer is also a necessity.  To call the Power 5 conferences “geographically challenged” is an understatement. However, in non-conference games, where you can pick and choose your opponent, budgets do seem to be a concern. Example, SLU opponent Norte Dame plays in a power 5. They scheduled 3 away non-conference games this year, 2 of them were Indiana (which ended up getting cancelled and not rescheduled) and Purdue, both within easy travel distance of South Bend. SLU was the only non-conference game they scheduled that a chartered flight or overnight stay would be needed or considered.  Everyone else had to travel to South Bend.  Xavier in the Big East, chose to schedule 4 non-conference away games, one with Louisville (about an hour and a half from Cincinnati), one with Ball State (a little over 2 hours from Cincinnati). The other two were the only road trip long road trip (to Chicago) when they played Loyola-Chicago on Thursday night and Northwestern on Sunday afternoon before Labor Day. Not sure you need a charter flight for the trip between Chicago and Cincinnati, especially when you have to take off Thursday and Friday either way, and you don’t need to get back for class on Monday. I’m sure they could stay at the same hotel the entire time, and they would have to find somewhere to practice, but that seems doable. So only 1 non-conference away trip, everyone else travels to Cincinnati.  So budgets are a concern at Power 5 conferences, and that does represent a barrier to getting a team to come here.
 

You are right about SLU being in regardless, but consider VCU last year. After going 9-0 in the A10, and getting ranked in the top 25 in at least one poll at that point, they lost a meaningless conference game to St Joseph’s 1-0, then lost again to St Joseph’s in the quarterfinals of the A10 tournament. They didn’t make the NCAA tournament. It is tough for a non-power 5 conference to get more than 1 bid. Given a choice I would rather SLU won the A10 tournament and let VCU and Dayton sweat it out on selection Sunday.

I think you are blending and mixing Power 5 and non Power 5 here. Many Power 5 schools schedule far away non-conference games sometimes because they can and want do so. Some Examples will be below. This is different from non-Power 5 travel and scheduling. Every school, including Power 5 will play regional opponents in addition to this as well. 

1) Travel. SLU, a non-Power 5 school, will often arrive the day before or two days before playing an away opponent. I gave some of several examples. There are exceptions such as SIUE or the game at Illinois State last year, etc…So to be clear when I see things such as in and out the same day, that is not happening much of the time.

Example: SLU arrived Friday October 7th for a game Sunday October 9th at UMass. They made a weekend of it in Boston and trained at Harvard. 

Example: When SLU played at Xavier, they spent part of the day before training in Cincinnati, and, part of it with Olivia Silverman’s family.

Speaking of Xavier, they of course are not a Power 5 team. Playing 2 teams in Chicago Thursday/Sunday allows for Xavier to make a long weekend out of it, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Chicago for team bonding and activities. It’s not just about soccer. It also allows the staff an opportunity to recruit as Chicago is a big recruiting market for them. (Eclipse, Sockers, Inter Red, FC United and so forth)

Example: When SLU played at UMKC, they spent the morning before training at Carol Kelly’s high school in Kearney, and the rest of the day and night at the Kelly’s (super nice people) horse farm. (They do this when SLU plays in KC)

and so forth. These are 2 full day overnights or 3 depending on the situation. This is pretty standard. 

There is also flying back and forth between road games, such as Philly on a Thursday and to Richmond on a Sunday. (Chris needed to recruit)

All kinds of things. And this is SLU, not a Power 5 program.

By the way last week was a KC recruiting weekend in addition to the game. This weekend Macy Lutz will be in town playing two games, so recruiting will be more local.

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 2) Charter flights are common in Power 5 Women’s Soccer. If it’s needed, it gets done. Notre Dame your example, for example, flew to South Carolina and Clemson separately within a week a few years ago. One was a league game, but the other is because they wanted to play South Carolina. Sure many games are scheduled regionally (charter bus a day or two before a game etc…)at all levels of D-1 college soccer including Power 5. But that doesn’t mean that charter flights aren’t also common with Power 5 schools when needed or wanted. And it’s a perk, as are indoor practice facilities etc….

We have also established that these are not same day short trips. 

North Carolina for example traveled to play Texas and Baylor. (by choice) And they decided to stay Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday there. They also scheduled Tennessee, UCLA, TCU, all soccer powers in addition to their rugged ACC schedule. Did I also mention they flew to Mizzou to play them? as did Ohio State? Many Power 5 schools fly some distance to play games out choice because many of them can do so. 

So, some high level Power 5 teams schedule tough non-conference games. UCLA scheduled UNC, Duke, Iowa, Santa Clara. And when they played Carolina and Duke, they stayed Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday in the triangle. Or they sometimes schedule far away games as the can do so sometimes.

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3) Scheduling. If you are good, good teams will play you. (if one doesn’t another will) Home and road.

Santa Clara played TCU, UCLA, Penn State, Oregon, Cal, Stanford this season. RPI’s of 1, 10, 14, 38, 43. 

Portland played Utah, Nebraska, Washington State, Washington, Oregon. All top 70 or better RPI. 

Samford played Ole Miss, Auburn, West Virginia, UAB, Rice. All top 78 or better RPI. 

and so on. 

And non Power 5 schools with football such as

Memphis played Virginia, Louisville, Ole Miss, Indiana, UAB, Iowa State.

UCF played North Carolina, Texas. Ole Miss, Utah Valley, LSU, Florida. 

Being strategic as to which programs will likely have strong seasons is also a big factor when scheduling. I know it is for SLU. Some teams over perform, underperform, or are about expected.

SLU will also of course play other schools for a variety of other reasons. (geography, recruiting, friend of the program, etc..)

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4) A10. You mentioned VCU. They played a tougher schedule this year than last year, and, they were able to get some results too. 

Last year, 52, 61, 94, 95 were VCU’s best non-conference RPI wins. 

This year? They a 12 RPI win and a 7 RPI draw. 

So why is VCU in a similar situation to last year? Very similar RPI. 

Last year they lost back to back games to 224 RPI St. Joe’s to end their season. Those were not meaningless games. If you are a bubble team, you don’t get to lose your final two games to the 224 RPI team. Bad losses matter as do good wins.

This year they have a plethora of draws, including a few bad ones. But those 2 super strong non-conference results will help them as long as they can win a game or two in the conference tourney. 

This is a mid 50’s RPI bubble team two years in a row for different reasons. They had Wake Forest last year but this year they did a nice job having Virginia, Pittsburgh, NC State. And they played those teams tough, as they did vs SLU and others. Unfortunately they played down to their competition too often as they played up to the good teams.

Each year is unique. Last year is last year. His year is this year. Every year is different. SLU has an RPI of 9. They are in the NCAA Tourney. 

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5) SLU is doing well. It’s up to the University and its boosters whether or not SLU will stay “competitive” long term with the top teams in college soccer with regards to resources, facilities, budgets, staff compensation and so on. It’s an annual ongoing thing.

The competition outside of the league is Power 5 and the best teams in college soccer that are not Power 5, such as the Santa Clara’s of the world. SLU went 1 out 3 head to head to with Santa Clara in recruiting this cycle. Not bad. The competition is not mid major and low major teams. (as long as SLU wants a top level program) 

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6) In 2024 class SLU has already landed 6 very good players. The competition for those players included some of the following in no particular order:

Xavier, Michigan State, Indiana, Memphis, Mizzou, Mississippi State, Louisville, Santa Clara, Kansas, Florida, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Kentucky, Tennessee, UCLA, Pepperdine, Wisconsin, TCU, Iowa, Brown, Illinois, Alabama, Ole Miss, SMU, Miami (FL), Oklahoma, Arkansas, among others. 

SLU lost recruiting targets to the following schools in no order:

Alabama, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Purdue, South Carolina, Kansas State, Notre Dame, North Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, SMU, Santa Clara, Santa Clara, Utah, Illinois, Tennessee, Mizzou, among others.

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That’s the landscape.