SLU Women's Soccer Thread

[courtside]

On 10/24/2025 at 8:46 AM, courtside said:

33.

It’s 33 today. It’s more challenging to move the RPI later in the season. Initial move to 31, was bumped back up slightly. Lighter schedule than usual for a Thursday. Loyola has a top 70 RPI for Sunday’s game. SLU should be in the RPI 20’s as long as they keep winning. 

Prior to yesterday’s game, Top Drawer Soccer had SLU as an at large invite team, winning the rest of its games except the conference tourney final. 5 of the 8 teams have qualified for the A10 Conference Tourney. Dayton, SLU, Duquesne, Rhode Island, Loyola Chicago. 3 spots left out of 5 teams possible. 

3 different predictions, from 3 different places. 

33

SLU’s RPI is 33 heading into this week. A few conferences still have regular season games this week before they begin their conference tourneys. Many have moved on to conference tourneys, later this week. 

SLU will host Loyola at 2pm Saturday in the A10 Quarterfinal. The A10 re-seeds during conference tourneys depending on results. 

RPI’s

SLU 33

Lpyola 62

Duquesne 73

Fordham 124

Dayton 29

La Salle 141

Rhode Island 72

VCU 157

[TheA_Bomb]

[courtside]

Bubble Watch:

SLU can exclusively focus on its next game, as they have their hands full with that. 

For those that like to watch the bubble:

Big Ten Conference.

First, it should be notes that in 2 years of adding new West Coast teams to the Big Ten, a West Coast team has won the Big Ten both years. Last year was USC, with 3 of the top 5 being West Coast teams. This year Washington won the Big Ten, with UCLA not too far behind. T

Big Ten Conference Tourney:
Eliminated: Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, Rutgers, Maryland, Oregon.

10 teams made the conference tourney. 2 play in games for the Quarterfinals to be played on campus. The semifinals and finals of the Big Ten Tourney will be played at Energizer Park in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Play in game number 1: 

(46) Illinois vs (37) Ohio State. 

They are both bubble teams. It would be better for both to lose. First year Illinois HC Katie Hultin is having a strong season. SLU defeated Illinois in a Spring game. 

The expectation is Ohio State will win, and Illinois will be eliminated from the bubble. Either way the loser “should” be out of NCAA bubble contention. 

Play in Game number 2:

Parenthesis=RPI

(60) USC vs(31) Northwestern 

It wouldn’t take much for the committee to want to add USC to the field. They are out as of now. Better to keep it thet way. Northwestern has already done enough to be in the NCAA Tourney after previously being a bubble team. 

Quarterfinals:

(37) Washington vs  the winner of Illinois and Ohio State. 

(16) Iowa vs (25) Wisconsin. (Always root for the teams you play against, and SLU played against Iowa.)

(8) Michigan State vs the winner of USC and Northwestern. 

(20) UCLA vs (27) Penn State. (Always root for the teams you play against and SLU played against Penn State)

It would be best for SLU to see Iowa meet Penn State in the finals. Bubble teams at the moment are Illinois, Ohio State, USC.

[courtside]

Bubble Watch:

SEC Conference. 

Arkansas won the SEC Regular Season Title for the 5th time in the past 7 seasons. 

SEC Tourney, all games are in Pensacola, FL:

Eliminated:

Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M.

First Round, all neutral site games:

(30) South Carolina Vs (36) Alabama

Alabama is a bubble team. A Bama loss “should” remove them from the bubble. 

(56) Kentucky vs (58) Florida. Both are bubble teams. But it would be better for Kentucky to win.

(35) Mississippi State vs (42) Oklahoma. 

The Sooners are a bubble team. An OU loss “should” remove them from the bubble. 

(24) LSU vs (79) Auburn.

Auburn isn’t a bubble team yet. Let’s keep it that way. 

Rooting against Bama, Florida, Oklahoma, Auburn.

It would be better for 2 seed (6) Vandy to defeat (40) Georgia, another bubble team in the semis. And it would be better for (5) Tennessee to face Arkansas in the other semis.

Bubble teams: Alabama, Kentucky, Florida, Oklahoma, Auburn, (not yet) Mississippi State. (likely in)

”Should” means more likely but not 100% guaranteed.

[billikenfan05]

39 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

"Duquesne" isn't a complete sentence. We need to protect our children from poor grammar. 

[courtside]

34 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

"Duquesne" isn't a complete sentence. We need to protect our children from poor grammar. 

Uh oh, it appears you need to revisit junior high school English. But I do appreciate longtime faithful readers bumping the SLU Women’s Soccer thread. 

[courtside]

Congratulations to SLU’s Izzy Luebbert for making Honorable Mention, Top Drawer Soccer, National Team of the Week.

Well earned. 

[RollBills82]

So, looking like we have to win the tourney or we’re out?

[courtside]

8 minutes ago, RollBills82 said:

So, looking like we have to win the tourney or we’re out?

Not necessarily is the short answer.

[courtside]

On 10/20/2025 at 7:24 PM, courtside said:

23

This week’s predicted end of season NCAA RPI for SLU. 

This has SLU as the Atlantic 10 Automatic Qualifier.(AQ) It has SLU as an unseeded NCAA Tourney team just beyond the top 32 seeds but ahead of bubble teams and other AQ teams. That would mean NCAA Tourney, round 1 on the road in a pretty even matchup. He also has Dayton in the NCAA Tourney as an at large team. 

……………

A different, but also respected RPI consultant has SLU projected on the wrong side of the bubble. Close, but no NCAA Tourney despite a good RPI. This is based heavily on RPI top 50 wins, something SLU lacks. This (obviously) has SLU as not the A10 AQ. No at large given in this scenario. 

In his system he puts the current top team within a league as the AQ. That would be Dayton right now. SLU is listed as out, just beyond last 5 in and last 5 out. This is if SLU loses in the conference tourney. 
……………

The two disagree slightly on two bubble teams. One, (the top one that I use weekly here), has two A10 teams in the NCAA Tourney. The 2nd one only has one A10 team in the NCAA Tourney. And they also disagree on another bubble selection. So, two teams in and out differ between the two. The rest is the similar. 
………………

Many games are still to be played by SLU, and by other bubble teams. 
……………..

27

This week’s predicted end of season RPI for SLU is 27. 

SLU is predicted as finishing with the best RPI of any bubble team out of a list of 31 bubble teams. RPI 27 through 57. 

If SLU can win all 3 games, and be the A10 AQ, they can improve their RPI closer to 20.

[courtside]

It’s also officially coaching carousel season. I won’t be posting every coaching change which is usually 40-45 annually. But a few are worth noting here and there.

G Guerrieri “retired” at Texas A&M after 33 seasons.

28 NCAA Tourneys in the past 31 seasons, including 26 straight at one point. They missed 3 of the last 5 NCAA Tourneys.

10 Regular Season Conference Titles

8 Conference Tourney Titles. 

16 Sweet Sixteen appearances

7 Elite Eight appearances

1 College Cup Final Four

In recent years, Texas A&M has had among the largest budgets in Women’s College Soccer. $5 million in annual operating expenses. (more than 50 football four programs are North if $2 million annually with some closer to the A&M range)

Texas A&M is also one of several football four programs to commit to fully funding all 28 Women’s Soccer Athletic Scholarships.

Guerrieri total compensation, salary plus bonus plus other, was just under $625k

 

[courtside]

Former Billiken Associate Head Coach, Colleen Corbin, has led Kansas State to its best season in program history. And, she has done it in year 1. 

She has the Wildcats on the NCAA Tourney bubble. They are currently tied for the final spot in the Big 12 conference tourney. This will be the first non losing season in K-State’s brief program history of ten years. It’s also their most wins in a season. Former Billiken Maddie Sibbing has started all 17 games and she has played all 1530 minutes in goal. 

Colleen was instrumental helping to secure SLU’s 2026 recruiting class.  

[courtside]

Loyola Ramblers Part 2.

There were few if any surprises from Loyola when they played SLU last weekend. SLU did a lot of things well except finish in the final 3rd.

Loyola changed their formation during their game at Duquesne. They previously played 4 on the back line. They moved to 3. They added an extra central defensive midfielder in front of them. And, they have stayed with that ever since. 

If anyone watched the Netherlands U17 team defeat the USYNT team in the World Cup round of 16, that game had a few examples of how to attack that type of defense. Several times in the game, The Netherlands played it up the line, then to the middle, then to the opposite side in space for Liv Pennock. She uses her pace and angle to get past Schmidt, while Brewer was late with help defense. It’s how they scored their goal, and nearly how they scored a few others. Execution needs to be sharp. 

Larson, Simon, Miller, have to win the battles v Case, Perritano, Schmidt etc…in the middle of the field. 

SLU’s wings need to win the 1v1 wide battles with Lanni and Cryan. Forwards have to win the battles with Sudkamp. Positioning, physicality, pace. Strong on the ball. 

SLU needs to find the final third pass in traffic more central to the goal. Previous game, Loyola decided they were going to win, lose, or draw by giving up wide to the end line service, and set pieces, corners/fouls. Convert those with more efficient passes and stronger runs inside the 18. And combine it with 2v1 edge of the box combination play to the more central part of the field.

Defensively, Loyola is going to take central top of the box shots from 20 yards with Rossie, Schmidt, Pistorious. Have to block shots in that part of the field. Luebbert and Schreiber 1v1 defending with Hevey and Harris. Harris scores in space behind the defense with speed, and being quick to 2nd 3rd chances inside the 18. Hevey will try to cut back the majority of the time on the left wing while playing with pace. 

Loyola will defend first. 3 then 2 but also both pace wings. 

Loyola is a bottom of the bubble team. RPI 62. They have a lot for which to play. 
……………….

A reminder that OT conference tourney wins count as a full RPI win. PK wins do not. PK wins/losses count as a tie/draw for both teams. 
………………

[courtside]

Big Ten Tourney.

Illinois 1 Ohio State 0 Final. 

Prior to this giveaway goal, shots were 20-3 in favor of Ohio State early in the 2nd half:

https://x.com/illinisoccer/status/1984015878111850907?s=46

Playoff Soccer.

[willie]

Soccer more than any sport I know of the best team doesn’t always win. 

[courtside]

10 hours ago, willie said:

Soccer more than any sport I know of the best team doesn’t always win. 

It’s a mix of anything and everything. SLU has had some recent playoff magic. 

This one is an all timer for you. Nov 24, 2023. NCAA Quarterfinal. BYU 4 UNC 3. Field Storm in the snow.  North Carolina led 3-0 with less than 30 minutes left in the game. All 7 goals right here. South Field in Provo was electric.

https://youtu.be/xIhbq4cg19E?si=u4GBbwS1I0d0MTLx

[courtside]

SLU’s RPI today is 32. Loyola’s RPI  is 60. 

[courtside]

Bubble Watch:

The following teams saw their bubbles burst, and their NCAA Tourney hopes evaporate on Thursday:

Arizona State, Kansas State, USC, SMU, Utah. They are all out. 

Still on the bubble from Thursday: 

Cal, Illinois, Ohio State. 

……………………

ACC and Big 12 Conference Tourneys are now set. And all of the teams in it are likely to make the NCAA Tourney. Six teams in the ACC make their conference tourney. Additional NCAA Tourney teams not in the ACC Tourney include North Carolina, Clemson, Wake Forest. Their question is whether or not they open on the road. 

All 8 in the Big 12 tourney should receive an NCAA invite. BYU and UCF have likely done enough to get in to the NCAA Tourney. 
………………..

Bubble watch:

Big East. UConn. They need to make the Big East Final to have a chance. That means they have to get a win over either Georgetown or Xavier, in the semis, which would make it more interesting. 

Big 10: Illinois and Ohio State. Illinois plays Washington this weekend. Ohio State has a long wait.

Ivy: Brown. They likely have to win the conference tourney to make it. So probably not a bubble factor.

SEC: LSU, Mississippi State, Georgia are all likely in the NCAA Tourney. Alabama and South Carolina are closer to the good bubble vs the bad bubble. Losses in SEC Tourney could change that. Oklahoma and Kentucky, still have some work to do first to get into the NCAA Tourney. They are both squarely on the bubble. They need a couple of wins. Florida is no longer on the bubble, but they could make a big run in their tourney to make it interesting. They need that or else they are out.

WCC: The question is whether they get 2 bids or 1 with St. Mary’s and Pepperdine. 

[courtside]

Congratulations to former Billiken Sam DeLuca, who was named the Southern Conference Player of The Year.

She helped lead Samford to the SoCon Conference Regular Season Title with 12 goals, 4 assists. They are a heavy favorite to win their conference tourney. They also have an RPI of 67. 

Two additional former Billikens play for Samford, Clare Nicholas, and Isa Moreno. 

[courtside]

A10 Quarterfinals.

Dayton 3 La Salle 1

If you had La Salle Head Coach Paul Royal getting ejected from the A10 Quarterfinal before the 22nd minute, you are a winner. 

His right back was called for a common foul from behind on an ordinary foul play. Ref made it a yellow card. Paul went flying down the line and he received his first yellow. After being asked to step back, he walked away but he kept talking while doing it. Boom red card, done. 

La Salle scored earlier in the game on a PK to take the lead. Reda tackled Williams edge of the box, inside the box. Nice ball over the top from Henson to Williams. She split the center backs Fields and Raimondo and she beat Reda to the ball. 

La Salle keeper came out on a Smith cross and she missed the ball at the 6. Grenda headed the cross off of the post, and she then tapped in her own rebound. Smith was able to force a turnover from Henson for the cross. 1-1

Mendoza back post diagonal cross to Baca who volleyed it in for 2-1. Rules offsides by the linesman standing right there. But ref video review reversed the call. Controversy. 

78th minute. Ferguson left footed wide service for Smith who volleyed it in the corner. Two textbook volley shots off of crosses in the game. 

It was a little dicey for Dayton for a long time in the game, down a goal and then tied until the 68th minute. The  physicality of La Salle bothered them. La Salle just doesn’t have enough offense. Two of La Salle’s best players were injured in the game, including their best defender who missed most of the game. 

Dayton’s RPI improved to 22. 

……………..

A10 Quarterfinal

Rhode Island 2 VCU 1

Ir was a tale of two very different halves, Very gusty winds game. Team with the wind dominated both halves.  Rhode Island improved to RPI 62. 
………….

[TheA_Bomb]

Glad he's busy posting tonight 

[courtside]

On 10/31/2025 at 8:45 AM, courtside said:

SLU’s RPI today is 32. Loyola’s RPI  is 60. 

27.

After Saturday, and heading into a busy Sunday of games, SLU has an RPI of 27. 

[courtside]

 

SLU 6 Loyola 0.

For the 2nd time in less than a week, SLU dominated Loyola. 

Loyola 3-2-4-1 & 4-2-3-1

SLU 4-1-4-1

Available: Audrey Smith was back (ankle) after missing last Sunday’s game vs Loyola. And she made a difference. 

No constant windy cold rain this time.

SLU was sharp. passing was sharp, finishes were sharp, decision making was sharp, tweaked a few strategies. 

7th minute. Good settle and distribution pass from Schreiber to Kim after a Rambler goal kick. Hope 1v1 with Cryan right side of the goal. instead of taking it to the end line and drawing a corner or an end line cross, Hope cut it back to her left foot and dribbled well inside the 18. Drop pass to Miller as the trailer from 15 central to the goal. Millie one timed a left footed shot upper 90 near side. 1-0. 

Miller was the 14th different goal scorer this season for SLU. 10 different players have assists. Ashley was asked to play the defensive midfield this season. But her support offense is needed and valuable too. And not only has she done well in the defensive midfield, she is often the only defensive midfielder playing. SLU switched to 1 instead of 2 in part because of the confidence with her play. Strong tackling, passing, and hold up play this season. 

SLU’s outside backs did well to step into diagonal passes to pace wingers Harris and Hevey. SLU’s center backs gave good support defense on the wings. And SLU’s wings were strong with two way play. Too much 1v1 isolation last game. 

13th minute, Good middle of the field transition from Smith to Schreiber up to Kim again on the right side. Again, inside the 18, right side of the box. Initial pass to Smith was defended, but Smith and Chier kept the play alive inside the 18. Simon’s left footed shot from 15, was going in on the far post. Sudkamp put her arm up inside the 6 to knock it down. Easy PK call. Julia converted the PK for 2-0. It was the 4th ball keeping the play alive that drew the PK. 

20th minute, Schreiber again down the right side, after forcing a turnover from Hevey. Good ball in space to a cutting Smith. Strong pass with pace to Kim 12 yards out but Hope fanned on the finish. 

23rd minute. Smith and Larson forced a turnover from Cryan. Larson took it wide of the 6, centering pass with pace was cleared by Lanni, but one timed a rocket far post, from the 6 off of the clear. 3-0

SLU continued to double and triple team the Loyola wings. 

25th minute. Welker over the too to Schwartz. Her driving header went just over the bar. 

35th minute. Strong build up Hockett wide left sideline to Gary, to Larson cutting into the 18. Hannah made a nice square pass to Schwartz who was unable to get enough on the finish from 12 yards far post, diving save by Desrdorff. 

Heavy SLU pressure a minute later around the 6 again. Much better and much more short interior combination play central to goal. And when SLU had the ball wide, they cut inside dribbles deep into the the side of the 18 to make higher percentage passes and more dangerous plays. 

…………..

Half time 3-0

………….

Loyola switched to a 4-1-4-1 for the 2nd half. They previously played with 4 backs earlier in the season. 

After a Loyola chance at the other end, a few minutes later, Kim made a strong diagonal run from midfield. She drew 3 defenders and played it left side inside the 18 for Chier 1v1 with Lanni. Chier took it to the 6, short cross to Smit who found space at the 6, but a diving save by Deardoff saved a tap in goal. A low ground pass may have been a goal. 

SLU had several more minutes of sustained offensive pressure and chsnces. Eventually it paid off with goal number 4. 62nd minute, Larson won a  ball and played it wide to Broesder. Diagonal run through defenders all the way inside the 6 for a goal. 4-0. Lightning McQueen strikes again. 

In the rare occurrences Loyola tried to break up field, Larson and Miller were there defensively every time. 

It was good to see Rylee Howard score a Rylee Howard type of goal. 82nd minute. Fox to Stanciak, Diagonal pass left side for Howard who settled, cut it back from the defender, and calmly placed it low far side netting. Good work from Fox and Stanciak. 5-0.

83rd minute. More good work from Howard, Stanciak and a Luebbert down the left side. Luebbert end line cross was cut back to Fox who positioned herself well at the 6 for the driving header goal upper 90, new post. 6-0. 

This is the level of efficiency, execution, etc…that’s needed every game moving forward from the group. 

…………

Strong first season for Joe Sandoval at Loyola. He was hired late. He lost some transfers before he arrived. He didn’t have time to add players other than a few of his own. He was successful in D2 in Michigan. RPI of 64. That is a bubble team in his first season. They return most of their players and they add a few pieces too. They shutout Iowa and Purdue. They gave Northwestern a solid game. They are a solid A10 program. Good non conference schedule for them  this year too. 
…………

Rhode Island will be another team similar to Loyola and some other solid conference teams. 

………….

[courtside]

On 11/1/2025 at 11:50 PM, courtside said:

27.

After Saturday, and heading into a busy Sunday of games, SLU has an RPI of 27. 

28.

After Sunday’s games, SLU’s RPI is 28. There are games every day this week. 

[courtside]

Bubble Watch and RPI Watch

SLU has an RPI of 28 today. A win Wednesday will push that to the low 20’s. Two more wins for SLU and SLU is inside the top 20 with an auto bid and hopefully/likely a seeded home game in the NCAA Tourney. A split for SLU and its bubble madness. 

……………..

Season complete bubble teams waiting for possible NCAA Tourney Selection:

Ohio Stare, Illinois, Oklahoma. South Carolina, Cal.

 ……………..

Bubble teams still playing:

Kentucky, JMU, ODU, Pepperdine, UConn

……………..

If you want to follow the game of SLU RPI leapfrog, there are a few games today of interest:

Big 12 Conference Tourney:

Colorado vs UCF in Fort Worth, TX. UCF has an RPI of 25. A Colorado win helps SLU’s RPI. UCF is still likely in the field. 

TCU vs BYU in Fort Worth, TX. The Cougars have an RPI of 33, but they would leapfrog SLU in RPI with a win. They are also likely in the field either way. 
……………….

Two Sun Belt games:

ODU vs Georgia State

James Madison vs Texas State. 

You either want ODU or JMU to lose early in their conference tourney, or you want them to win their conference tourney. They both matter to SLU only for the purpose of stealing an at large bid over SLU if SLU lost in the conference tourney. 
…………………

SLU needs as good of an RPI as it can get, just in case it loses in the conference tourney. It is very possible SLU could have an excellent RPI in the 20’s, and get snubbed from the NCAA Tourney. So, win the conference tourney and leave no doubt, while also maximizing RPI.

…………..

Also, 3 SLU non-conference opponents are still alive in their conference tourneys. Kansas City, Missouri State, and Illinois State. You are rooting for those teams this week too. 
…………..

On a local note, the Big 10 Conference Tourney Semifinals are set for this Thursday, at Energizer Park in St. Louis:

Washington vs Wisconsin

Michigan State vs UCLA

(Meg Link gets to say hello to her previous school)

…………..

For SLU purposes: Big 12 and Sun Belt Monday, SEC and Conference USA Tuesday, A10 and WCC Wednesday, Big 10, Summit, Big East, and MVC Thursday.