SAA 2024

[creasecranker]

The SAA looks to be very competitive this year. Centre, Sewanee, and Rhodes are very evenly matched. The Sewanee defense might put them over the top this year. They have the best D in the league. It looked impenetrable, led by Joe Orem.

[StevieUAlum]

Sewanne with 7/10 SAA All-Confercne selections returning. They were a decent referee crew away from winning the SAA last year, but we will let sleeping dogs lie on that issue.

They have arguably the best player and pole in the league in Sellner. Their strengths will be defense and faceoffs. Can't hurt having the best FOGO in the conference.

Offensively I expect DiBernardo to go back to a more traditional look with this offensive group. Maheras, Moran and Root all are young talents with some game experience from last year.

Expect Sewanee to compete and win the SAA in 2024. They're my pick.

[creasecranker]

Looking at SAA schedules... Does anyone know why Berry scheduled Salisbury and CNU? Or, more interestingly, why would they schedule Berry? Seems like a waste with both sides knowing what the outcome will be. On the opposite side, Centre and Sewanee have rather weak out of conference schedules.

[creasecranker]

On another note - look out for stud freshman Manoli Loupassi (all-name team). After a week he's been added to Creasecranker's SAA newcomer of the year watch list, which includes Josh Tamarkin of BSC.

[Cardinal19]

Agree top 3 is looking like Rhodes, Sewanee, and Centre in some order. BSU may still make some noise with the offense but lack of depth and defense may be their undoing. Hard to figure Berry. Thought they should have beat Piedmont if they were going yo live up to preseason 4th conference ranking. It’s early and a lot of things will change.

[Cardinal19]

Any thoughts on this weekend's games?
Friday
Birmingham at Piedmont - Piedmont beat Berry last week so should provide insight on BSU vs Berry. Concerned BSU only beat Guilford by 3. Leaning BSU in a close one.

Saturday
Rhoades at Hampden Sydney. Another test for Rhoades. Will someone other than Downes show up on Offense against a quality team? HS by 7-8
Centre at Southern Virginia. Centre win over Baldwin Wallace did not look good but maybe second thoughts after Kenyon beats Baldwin by one. Centre by 5-7
Sewanee vs Illinois Tech. (Neutral) Going Sewanee hear, Not sold on Offense, but Defense is solid. Close game.

Sunday
Sewanee vs Carthage. (Neutral)Last weekend Sewanee played lower quality teams and won. Step up in Quality hurts them playing back-to-back. Carthage by 3.

[creasecranker]

Gimmee....
BSC by a decent margin. Their offense is going to be too much for Piedmont.

Hampden Sydney by 8. Rhodes is not in the same tier and Hampden Sydney is on a roll.

Centre in a 1-2 goal game.

Sewanee to go 2-0 this weekend. Yes, the back-to-back might be hard for Sewanee but lefty attackman Zach Crain can carry the team. I hear people are calling him the Ryder Garnsey of the SAA. They will also get Joe Orem (undisclosed illness) back to solidify the D.

[creasecranker]

Wow. Would you look at that, Sewanee starting 5-0, the only team in D3. Wouldn’t be surprised to see some top 20 votes in this week's poll. Perun was automatic going almost 70% from the X this weekend. The stud midfield duo of De Von Root and big-bodied Massachusets native Niko Maheras came in clutch with late goals to seal the wins. Orem and company will look to keep their momentum against Piedmont on Saturday. Will be interesting to see how Rhodes and Hendrix do vs Carthage. Creasecrankers current SAA rankings (based on the eye test):
1.) Sewanee
2.) BSC
3.) Centre
4.) Rhodes

Thoughts???

[cooley0193]

Unfortunately thinks it still way too early for any SAA teams to get any votes but sewanee has definitely looked good thus far. BSC’s competition has been weak so will interesting to see how they do against stronger competition. Centre hasn’t looked the prettiest but keeps winning, next weekend against Kenyon will be a good gauge. Rhodes has the toughest schedule so may be the most battle tested come conference play. Order I’m thinking is 1.Sewanee 2.Centre 3.Rhodes 4.BSC

[Cardinal19]

Cranker love your bravado for Sewanee. I think its splitting hairs on Sewanee, Rhoades, and Centre at this point, an argument could be made for each. The one thing I agree with Cooley on is BSU. Rhoades beat Southwestern 15-3, BSU beat them 22-18. BSU has good offensive players, but their lack of depth may hurt them later. Winter and Fracchia are on wing on faceoffs and getting stuck on Defense, which will be tough to sustain against better teams. Surprising to see Centre has received votes in each USILA poll so far. Not sure that is warranted yet for anyone.

[Cardinal19]

Are the Sewanee games from this past weekend anywhere. I saw they had the games with their announcer from the neutral site the week before on their site but not this weekends.

[HornsLax]

Seems like the more reasonable look would be to do 1. Centre 2. Rhodes/Sewanee 3. Everyone Else.

Sewanee off to a strong start, but nothing telling in their 5 games says they deserve to take the throne from Centre. Rhodes lost two games to two arguably top 20 teams to start the season. Offense has not been an issue for either team so far, but early season defense and unforced errors are hurting them.

As usual, the SAA will be a very close race highlighted by one of these three teams winning a championship in April.

Disappointing to see how little Gilbert has done for Berry. This conference is total low hanging fruit when it comes to an AQ, and Berry hasn't been close since 2019 (a championship appearance in which they were huge underdogs). Would like to see BSC, Berry, and Hendrix elevate to bring some legitimacy to the conference as a whole.

[HornsLax]

Sewanee drops a disappointing matchup in OT to Piedmont. Centre loses a disappointing matchup to Kenyon, a team that needed OT to beat Capital (losses to Sewanee and Rhodes already this season). Rhodes wins games against Capital and Carthage.

Given there are enough common opponent results here is how I would rank the top 3:

1. Centre (they simply have to lose an SAA game before they get moved from here)
2. Rhodes (common opponents set the Rhodes vs. Sewanee line at Rhodes -3)
3. Sewanee (can't lose to piedmont and call yourself the team to beat)
4. Berry (Curtis Gilbert's ceiling)
5. BSC (Could flip with a win against Berry)
6. Hendrix (Not Oglethorpe)
7. Oglethorpe (Oglethorpe)

[nylax323]

Sewanee drops a disappointing matchup in OT to Piedmont. Centre loses a disappointing matchup to Kenyon, a team that needed OT to beat Capital (losses to Sewanee and Rhodes already this season). Rhodes wins games against Capital and Carthage.

Given there are enough common opponent results here is how I would rank the top 3:

1. Centre (they simply have to lose an SAA game before they get moved from here)
2. Rhodes (common opponents set the Rhodes vs. Sewanee line at Rhodes -3)
3. Sewanee (can't lose to piedmont and call yourself the team to beat)
4. Berry (Curtis Gilbert's ceiling)
5. BSC (Could flip with a win against Berry)
6. Hendrix (Not Oglethorpe)
7. Oglethorpe (Oglethorpe)

Kenyon was definitely favored in the matchup with Centre so I wouldn't consider it too disappointing. Sure, they were close with Capital in freezing temperatures when a lot of the team was out (by the way it didn't even go to OT). That same team was also up 7-5 at the half against #5 Dickinson yesterday before a poor second half. Pointless to compare goal differential like that. A wins a win, especially in Feb/March. That being said Centre is definitely a solid team that I could see making an NCAA run if they tighten up their defense.

[HornsLax]

This whole forum is based on pointless comparisons, no? That's what makes this fun, as fans.

[Cardinal19]

Sewanee drops a disappointing matchup in OT to Piedmont. Centre loses a disappointing matchup to Kenyon, a team that needed OT to beat Capital (losses to Sewanee and Rhodes already this season). Rhodes wins games against Capital and Carthage.

Given there are enough common opponent results here is how I would rank the top 3:

1. Centre (they simply have to lose an SAA game before they get moved from here)
2. Rhodes (common opponents set the Rhodes vs. Sewanee line at Rhodes -3)
3. Sewanee (can't lose to piedmont and call yourself the team to beat)
4. Berry (Curtis Gilbert's ceiling)
5. BSC (Could flip with a win against Berry)
6. Hendrix (Not Oglethorpe)
7. Oglethorpe (Oglethorpe)

Kenyon was definitely favored in the matchup with Centre so I wouldn't consider it too disappointing. Sure, they were close with Capital in freezing temperatures when a lot of the team was out (by the way it didn't even go to OT). That same team was also up 7-5 at the half against #5 Dickinson yesterday before a poor second half. Pointless to compare goal differential like that. A wins a win, especially in Feb/March. That being said Centre is definitely a solid team that I could see making an NCAA run if they tighten up their defense.

After this weekends' games not sure the order changes much. I might put BSC above Berry after a decent showing against a supposedly top 20 Skidmore and Berry losing to Marymount. Rhodes getting killed by St J Fischer was not a good look. Sewanee needs to step up against Skidmore after bad loss to Piedmont. Centre bounced back after a "disappointing" loss to Kenyon. At least conference games start in the next 2 weeks to get some clarity.

[droliver]

1. Centre (they simply have to lose an SAA game before they get moved from here)
2. Rhodes (common opponents set the Rhodes vs. Sewanee line at Rhodes -3)
3. Sewanee (can't lose to piedmont and call yourself the team to beat)
4. Berry (Curtis Gilbert's ceiling)
5. BSC (Could flip with a win against Berry)
6. Hendrix (Not Oglethorpe)
7. Oglethorpe (Oglethorpe)


After this weekends' games not sure the order changes much.

Are we watching the same scores here? Centre is probably still the best roster but Rhodes is getting busted up by nearly 10goals regularly so far on a hard schedule, Sewanee lost to Piedmont and has two other 1 goal wins on a schedule of teams that are all below .500, and Berry seems likely to finish under .500 again. BSC’s roster is thin with the threat of closure, but based on the body of work and a competitive game against a top 20-25 on the road it seems odd to have them below 4 other teams so far.

[cooley0193]

After past couple weeks Centre looks to be top right now with “disappointing” loss coming in tough game where they were up going into 4th, just couldn’t finish game against a solid Kenyon squad. Next three probably Bsc, Rhodes, sewanee with no real clear order. On a side note Hendrix had a good win against Carthage and may be looking to be more competitive than usual when it comes to conference play. Should be in for a good late march/April

[Cardinal19]

After past couple weeks Centre looks to be top right now with “disappointing” loss coming in tough game where they were up going into 4th, just couldn’t finish game against a solid Kenyon squad. Next three probably Bsc, Rhodes, sewanee with no real clear order. On a side note Hendrix had a good win against Carthage and may be looking to be more competitive than usual when it comes to conference play. Should be in for a good late march/April

Sounds about right Cooley. Rhodes looked workman like against Transy today. Interested to see how Sewanee does against Skidmore Wednesday. BSC Achilles heel is at the faceoff X (35% on the year). They would get a goal or two back on Skidmore but could not maintain any momentum losing at the X so much (20%). Agree with the Hendrix win. Interesting to see if they can overtake Berry who seems to be down.

[HornsLax]

Wow! We have our first big surprise result of 2024 with Berry knocking off Centre 8-7. Anyone have insight to the result?