Regional College Roundup: Week 1

Last week we gave a preview of Women’s Soccer from around the region, this week the season is starting so let’s take a look at the next 7 days in college soccer. But first here is a bit of info on the Men’s side of the sport.

For Men’s Soccer there is no Division II conference that sponsors the sport and none of the 9 Minnesota schools have a Varsity Men’s Soccer team. However both the MIAC and the UMAC in Division III sponsor the beautiful game.

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (Division III)

Just like the women’s side, the MIAC is one of two conferences in Minnesota that competes at the Division 3 level of the NCAA. At this level players do not receive Athletic Scholarships and rosters are made up of a lot of local talent. The MIAC has 13 schools, 11 of which have men’s soccer teams (the two that don’t are the College of St. Benedict (CSB) and St. Catherine University (St. Kate’s), as their athletic departments only offer women’s sports).

The MIAC released it’s rankings this week and on the men’s side St. Thomas sits at #1, Macalaster at #2, and Augsburg at #3. The women’s rankings were also released with St. Thomas at #1, Augsburg at #2, and Gustavus Adolphus at #3. Nationally, the Tommies of St. Thomas are ranked #3 in Men’s Division III programs, while they sit ranked #1 in the North Region.

The men’s season contains 10 conference games that start on September 13th, but the teams will start play with Non-Conference games beginning September 1st. Following the regular season the top 6 schools will make the conference tournament that runs between October 31st and November 4th with the high seed hosting all games.

Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (Division III)

The UMAC is the other conference in Minnesota that competes at the Division 3 level. The UMAC comprises of 9 members, all of which have men’s soccer teams. Unlike the MIAC, which is entirely based in Minnesota, two of the schools in this Conference are from Wisconsin with Northland College in Ashland and UW-Superior in Superior.

While no teams in the UMAC are ranked either regionally or nationally, the conference did announce it’s preseason rankings. The men’s preseason rankings have St. Scholastica at #1, UW-Superior at #2, and Northwestern (St. Paul) at #3. The women’s rankings also has St, Scholastica at #1, Minnesota-Morris at #2, and Northland at #3.

The UMAC season will consist of 12 conference games beginning on September 13th with Non-Conference games starting September 1st. Following the regular season the best 5 teams will make the conference tournament that is hosted by the high seed and runs from October 30th to November 4th.

Week 1 Schedule

Due to the sheer amount of games links will be provided for the Conferences Schedule

NSIC Women’s

MIAC Men’s

MIAC Women’s

UMAC Men’s

UMAC Women’s