"Who's gonna take it all this year, B Division"

[LAX SAMURAI]

After watching Pepperdine this weekend vs. LMU, I will say their chances of competing in the WCLL B look great this year. Impressive D pole in #4, and strength at the midfield and in the cage.

[champlaxer]

The CCLA is looking strong and rightfully so. IUP, Grove City, and Calvin are all very talented. This weekend Calvin will take on Bethel College, WI-Eau Claire, WI-Stevens Pt at the NMU Tournament. Calvin will have solid contribution from a highly experienced incoming class. But they will have to work hard to get anywhere this season.

[naptownlax]

it'll be nice to see how things come out of those ooc games out west comin up. wish there was some way to mix it all up a little better even, cause when it comes to comparing those teams from the wcll and such to ccla teams or other east cost programs, there really isn't any common ground. i think the picture will be a lot clearer out west, but it seems like things will still be kind of muddled when comparing teams from the east. i know that calvin (us) is starting out the season this weekend with some games against some ooc wisconsin teams, so that'll probably help with some of it probalby. but in all, i'd agree that you'd have to give pretty much any of the teams from div B a pretty open shot at winning it all...especially with new teams coming into the conference from the ncll that no-one has any idea about. in any event...it'll be fun

[WOULAX21]

GO PNCLL Teams!

[ktrost58]

Div. B. seems like a mystery at this point, no one knows who has what, but my question is this: Why is Calvin starting the season at #1 and what legitimate opponents are they going to play to show the nation what they really have? What top teams do you have scheduled at this point?

[cjwilhelmi]

Calvin plays #18 Grove City and #13 Indiana U. of PA

[naptownlax]

you're right...there's not a whole lot to compare anything to, so the rankings are a little bit arbitrary. in terms of preseason rankings, calvin finished in the top 5 in pretty much every poll (according to laxpower.com) at the end of the season. problem was last year we didn't really play anyone out of of conference. this year, as far as opponents go, this weekend we'll be playing a couple of B team from wisconsin (W- E. Clair, Bethel) which will play#4 St. John's later in the year (same conference). obviously no one can really go by comparing how two different teams did against the same team, but maybe it'll give at least some indication. we'll also be playing w-steven's point, an A division team. even though thats not an official game, it'll help at least a smidge for comparison's sake. as far as other games in season, the ccla has 2 other teams in the top 20 (grove city and iup - two new teams from the ncll), so those will be respectable matchups. in any case, not that much in terms of rankings really makes a heap of difference - i'd say (obviously) the national tournament will really be the true litmus test for all these teams, as no one really has too much of an idea about anyone. i know at calvin we're not putting too much stake or pride in a preseason #1 ranking...we know its fairly arbitrary right now and that its something that first has to be earned to really be deserved

[Andy Sharp]

I plan to do what I can to get a look at several of the top B teams, during two of my trips with Colorado State as their photo/web guy. They should give me a look at the top 5 B teams and throughout the season I'll catch 12 of the current top 25 teams, weather permitting.

I'll be in Arlington, TX next weekend for the games down there. #4 St. Johns vs #5 TX-Arlington along with games including #15 Trinity, #22 Southwestern, #23 Nicholls St., UC-Irvine, Ferris State, and TX Christian.

In mid March I plan to head out to LA to cover the UCSB vs CSU game along with the #10 San Diego vs #2 Fort Lewis OOC game and the #10 San Diego vs Occidental and Pepperdine vs UC-Irvine games, before heading back through Utah/Colorado where I'll cover the CSU vs BYU game and then the key RMLC-B game: #2 Fort Lewis vs #3 Utah Valley State along with the OOC between #5 TX-Arlington and both of these teams.

Those are my travel plans for the spring, even if I can't bring my team along, I hope to have a better basis for judging the rankings.

Andy Sharp
Coach of Calvin

[ktrost58]

we know its fairly arbitrary right now and that its something that first has to be earned to really be deserved

Great comment. I feel that calvin deserves to be there right now...its too bad that you guys can't be there when FT. Lewis/UVSC/TEXAS ARL play, but sounds like your coach will be. I'm hearing great things being said for Ft. Lewis and their program this year...that should be a great weekend.

[mcneito]

Andy, we look forward to what you have to say about the B division. It is great to hear that someone will be looking deeply into the B division. All I hear about in the RMLC is how good Ft. Lewis is looking this year. They will be tough to beat. A solid team yet again. There is big talk of Pacific Lutheran and PSU being a team to watch for the national title. IT should be exciting.

[Gary Robinson]

I haven't heard much about GRLC or SELC B division teams yet this year. Can someone from those conferences chime in as to who should be a contender for the national title from those conferences?

[bste_lax]

I would throw Harding's name out there for GRLC.

[JerkStore]

My money would be on Claremont. I think the WCLL is the strongest conference and they are the best WCLL B team (although San Diego may have something to say about that). I'm surprised the top WCLL B teams aren't ranked higher in the national poll.

[cjwilhelmi]

I haven't heard much about GRLC or SELC B division teams yet this year. Can someone from those conferences chime in as to who should be a contender for the national title from those conferences?

From my point of view there are three teams with legitimate shots at taking a trip to Blaine; Harding, Dordt, and Creighton.

Harding returns virtually their entire roster and added 9 or so new Freshmen and transfers, some who will be challenging for starting spots.

Dordt lost Van Eps from last year who was their leading scorer. They are an extremely physical team and always have some real good athletes.

Creighton beat Dordt by 6 or so (Coach Gilner you want to chime in on this?) They also returned their entire team and I'm sure that they added some new athletes who will contribute right away.

Big matchups for these three teams (I'm not including the Div A matchups):

Feb 19 - Creighton v Harding
Feb 26 - Harding v Texas Arlington
Apr 1- Creighton v Dordt

[ktrost58]

Congrats to Calvin for a strong showing this weekend. Its always good to start the season off with a couple of wins. Andy, were you impressed with the way your offense played? Great start to a promising season!