’22 D3 Week 1 Midwest/East Matchup Talk

I’m starting with NE Region teams and working gradually south and westward as far as Iowa teams (limiting the overlapping with my West Region connection):

ECSU/Manhattanville: This East region opening night matchup is very interesting. ECSU upset Plymouth State in the Little East Conference tournament in ’21 before losing in that final, and Manhattanville was a Skyline Conference power team in ’21. (Valiants were in a real dogfight with USMMA and Farmingdale State during regular season.) Somethin’s gotta give right off the bat here.

CNU Invitational: Juniata, CNU, Hollins, UW-Oshkosh

Elite 8 power Juniata, as somewhat expected, leads off mostly with teams at or just below its’ level. The PA area squad’s matches vs. CNU (22-10 in ’21) and UW-Oshkosh (19-12, 4-3 in the always tough WIAC) are of the highest interest here. Hollins (4-18 in ’21) upgraded its’ opening weekend schedule and will end up getting a big-time test early.

Greg “Gio” Giovanazzi Memorial Tournament (at Johns Hopkins): Johns Hopkins, Stevens, St. John Fisher, Marymount VA.

If you like underdog squads, Marymount-VA is the team to root for here. (14-15 in ’21). Tufts ended Johns Hopkins’ long unbeaten run in the ’21 NCAA Tourney and Stevens and St. John Fisher were also ’21 NCAA entrants.

Hope-MI opens up with a Great Lakes Crossover with Muskingum, Bethany-WV, Baldwin-Wallace and Hiram. No pushover squads here. Terriers are the on-paper underdog.

Calvin opens up with an at home Labor Day Invitational with NACC power Concordia-WI, MSOE and Wheaton-IL. The Raiders also made the NACC tournament in ’21. Marquee matchup here is Concordia-WI/Calvin. Underdog-Wheaton-IL

Denison opens up at home with a key matchup with ONU. The Big Red will want to make a statement after taking the NCAC regular season title-only to be upset by Wooster in the conference tournament. A lot of people felt Denison got snubbed by the NCAA,

Clarkson opens at Plattsburgh State vs. Plymouth State. The significance here is that in ’21, Plymouth State was on the way to having an extremely strong season-only to be upset by E CT ST in the Little East Tournament. Right there’s your motivation.

Haverford hosts Atlantic East ’21 AQ Cabrini and NJAC squads Stockton and NJCU. Cabrini ran the table in the AEC and Stockton was in the NJAC playoff hunt. NJCU is the on-paper underdog here, having got off to the best start in team history in ’21 and finishing up 15-10 overall. Gothic Knight chances improve if Paola Toledo returns.

Defending champ UW-Eau Claire begins its’ title defense against formidable opponents Trinity-TX and Berry. Fellow WIAC rival UW-Stout is also in this thing. A top 25-followers’ dream come true, with an underdog who knows the favorite well, to boot.

(I hope I didn’t intrude into my West Region Connection’s territory too much).