July 25, 2009
By: Kim Deal
Preseason Midwest Conference Rankings:
1.) St. Norbert College
Returning 9 starters which include all 4 from the league’s top defense (3 goals against in conference play; 0.33 per game). They also have returning Adam Sanchez who was tied for the league lead in goals (10). St. Norbert loses two starters in Ben Vanden Avond and John Cremer. Neither will be easy to replace with talent similar to the talent that the Green Knights have had over the years. However as is almost always true with St. Norbert, there will be players ready to step in and contribute.
2.) Carroll University
After graduating almost their entire midfield, aside from Conference Player of the Year Craig Carlson, Carroll looks to replace 3 All Region players in the same season. To add to their losses defenders Bram Daelemans (second team All-Conference) and Nate Lembke-Windler (first team All-Conference) have also graduated. Despite the heavy losses in the midfield, the Pioneer’s are returning all but one from their back line, starting goal keeper and both starting forwards from their 2008 campaign.
It will be interesting to see if Carroll can maintain their dominance from 2008 despite the heavy losses. As an outsider looking in, I see their shots per-game dropping dramatically but their defense stepping up to help the Pioneers to another conference playoff berth.
3.) Grinnell College
Trying to build on their 6-2-1 conference record and second round exit from the Midwest Conference Tournament, Grinnell graduated All-Region player Andrew Walsh and his 23 conference points. Despite the loss of Walsh, the Grinell Pioneers are returning two other All-North Central Region players in JP Prouty and Alex Exarhos who scored 3 and 2 goals respectively.
Although Grinnell finished their conference schedule second in shots, they were still a distant third in goals scored. If their shooting percentage is not raised in 2009, they may have to rely more heavily on one of the conference’s best goal keepers in Ben Schemper and inside defender Andrew Mullins.
4.) Beloit College
The 2008 Buccaneers had a difficult time defending shots, giving up 59 in conference play. This ranked them third after Monmouth and Knox, two teams that combined for two conference wins. Nathan Lipps was continually asked to keep the games close by having to defend countless shots. Thanks to a late season surge, the Bucs almost snuck into the conference tournament missing out to an overachieving Lawrence squad.
Look for Beloit, by losing only 2 players, to make a move into the conference top four teams, unless they continue giving up as many shots as the previous season.
5.) Lawrence University
Lawrence featured one of the league’s better out of conference schedules, locking horns with Aurora, Oshkosh, Wheaton and Carthage. Their results showed a team that needs a lot of work but having such a difficult schedule made them ready to face the vastly improved Midwest Conference. The regular season ended with Lawrence beating every team that missed the conference playoffs and losing to every team that made the playoffs. It is clearly a team dedicated to getting better and may be the surprise team in 2009.
Having only one player in the top ten in shots (Tristan Lipe) and none in the top 10 for goals or points means Lawrence needs to find more fire power on the offensive side of the ball. Having graduated Chris Carlson who led the team in shots, while only making 9% of them, may be a blessing in disguise. Three other seniors graduated with Carlson, thus making Lawrence one of the conference’s younger teams.
Ranking the rest of the conference is as challenging as actually playing the games. So many teams in the Midwest Conference struggle with player retention and recruitment that the season really needs to be played out to get a feel for where a particular team truly stands. Soccer has always been a game of numbers and talent; the more players one has, the more competitive a team can become. Three teams have new head coaches, Ripon College (Lance Gordon), Lake Forest (Chris Bergmann) and Knox College (Jeff Bernhardt). All three are looking for resurgence of their respective teams and a ticket to the Midwest Conference playoffs.
By all counts, 2009 will be a good year for any one of a number of teams to make a push to take the conference crown. The top three or four teams have all lost significant talent, at multiple positions, and may be primed to fall from the Midwest Conferences elite.