Photo: Courtesy of Franklin & Marshall Athletics

While Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end to summer, it is also the beginning of competitive Division III soccer play. Many predictions and preseason polls came out last week week, and you can see our preview and conference predictions for the Centennial, MAC Commonwealth, MAC Freedom, and Landmark conferences here.

In response to readers’ comments, the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) and the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) have been added to our weekly review. All teams will be listed alphabetically within their respective conferences. If there are other local Division III teams or conferences you would like me to consider adding, please comment below.

Capital Athletic Conference

Christopher Newport University’s Aug. 30 season opener ended in a 2-0 defeat against Randolph-Macon before losing 3-2 against Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday.

Frostburg State stayed perfect on opening weekend defeating Grove City 1-0 Friday in double overtime before taking on Pitt-Greensburg Saturday and winning 2-0.

Marymount’s weekend games both ended in defeat. Eastern Mennonite got the better of the Saints in a 3-1 loss Friday, and Marymount lost 5-1 to Randolph on Saturday.

Mary Washington started their season Friday losing 3-0 to Randolph. The Eagles defeated Eastern Mennonite 3-0 on Saturday.

Penn State Harrisburg played one game over the opening weekend, losing 2-1 to Elmira.

Salisbury defeated MAC Freedom side Manhattanville 1-0 and then crushed Hunter 10-0 a day later on Sunday.

Southern Virginia’s first game is September 4th against Washington and Lee.

St. Mary’s (Md.) got the better of Hunter, scoring with 4 seconds left in the second overtime period to win 1-0 before losing to Manhattanville 3-2 on Saturday.

Wesley was only able to find one goal over their two weekend games. They lost to Virginia Wesleyan 2-0 Friday and Randolph-Macon 2-1 on Saturday.

No. 9 York (Pa.) started their 2013 season the same way they did last season by going undefeated in their first week of action. The Spartans defeated MAC Commonwealth side Lycoming 1-0 before coming away victorious against North Carolina Wesleyan 3-0. York jumps up two spots to No.7 in the latest NSCAA poll.

Centennial Conference

Dickinson defeated Landmark side Catholic 5-3 behind a pair of Javier Mena goals. On Sunday, Dickinson earned a 4-0 shutout win against Freedom side Misericordia. With two impressive wins, Dickinson sits at No. 17 in this week’s NSCCA Poll.

Franklin & Marshall came out of the weekend with a pair of 2-0 victories against Medaille and Utica. Ben Beaver scored a goal in each game.

Gettysburg opened against Bridgewater (Va.) for the second-straight season, but this time around lost 1-0.

Haverford gave up a goal 33 seconds after the opening whistle against Drew and wast down 2-0 within the first seven minutes, but came back to win 3-2 behind two Ford Bohrmann goals. On Saturday, Haverford scored three more goals to defeat Geneseo St. 3-1. Ford Bohrmann scored two more goals to give himself two braces — and two game-winning goals — on the weekend.

Johns Hopkins saw the lead disappear twice against SUNY Geneseo and tied 2-2. Danny Reategui scored both of Hopkins’ goals. On Saturday, Hopkins fell 3-1 to Drew.

McDaniel scored 16 total goals in two days and handsomely defeated Southern Vermont 10-1 Friday before dispatching La Roche 6-2 Saturday. Junior Shane McCracken was named NSCAA Player of the Week with eight goals and an assist on opening weekend. He currently leads all of Division III soccer with 17 points.

Muhlenburg lost to Rutgers-Camden 2-1 and then came back with a quality 2-0 victory against Neumann.

No. 15 Swarthmore started the weekend in style, defeating Penn State Altoona 6-0. After going down 2-0 to Eastern Connecticut, Swarthmore scored two unanswered goals before both teams exchanged goals again. In the end, Swarthmore held on for a 3-3 tie. The weekend’s results saw Swarthmore fall out of the NSCCA Top 25 Poll, but they still received some top 25 votes.

Ursinus fell 2-1 to Freedom side Misericordia in their only match of the opening weekend.

Washington College took on Shenandoah and came away victorious in a 2-1 double overtime victory.

Colonial States Athletic Conference

Baptist Bible had no chance against Landmark side Moravian, losing 5-2.

Cabrini and Freedom Conference side King’s College played to a scoreless draw on Friday. One day later, Cabrini scored 10 minutes in against Landmark side Scranton before conceding the equalizer 43 minutes later. The 0-0 draw was not a bad result for Cabrini.

Cairn, formerly Philadelphia Biblical University, defeated King’s (NY) 6-1 in their lone opening weekend match.

Centenary (NJ) defeated Landmark side Susquehanna 1-0 Friday before losing to Commonwealth side Lebanon Valley 5-0 the next day.

Gwynedd Mercy lost 3-2 against Penn State Abington in their lone match.

Immaculata lost 2-1 against Alvernia on Friday.

Keystone lost 5-1 against Freedom side Wilkes.

Neumann, best known for upsetting Messiah College in the 2011 NCAA Second-Round, started their weekend off on the right foot. They defeated Freedom side Desales 1-0 before falling 2-0 to Muhlenburg.

Despite registering 15 shots on goal, Marywood played to a scoreless draw against Commonwealth side Arcadia.

Rosemont gave up a goal 14 seconds in but scored six unanswered goals en route to a 6-1 beating of Hampden-Sydney.

Commonwealth Conference

Albright defeated Penn State-Berks 6-0 behind goals from five players.

Alvernia started off their 2013 with a 2-1 win against Immaculata.

Arcadia tied Marywood 0-0. They take on Swarthmore College on Wednesday night.

Elizabethtown took the lead twice against Scranton College but ended up with a disappointing 2-2 tie after giving up a late 87th minute equalizer. The Blue Jays would recover and get by King’s, 1-0, on Saturday.

Hood fell to Landmark side Goucher 2-0. Sorry Hood fans, but get used to more loses from your squad.

Lebanon Valley earned two wins on the weekend, topping St. Joseph’s (L.I.) 1-0 and then defeating Centenary (N.J.) 5-0. Reigning Commonwealth Rookie of the Year Cam Alexander scored once against Centenary.

Lycoming fell to No. 9 York 1-0 on Friday. On Tuesday, they fell 3-1 to Susquehanna in the 13th annual Battle of the Boot.

No.1 ranked and defending champions Messiah would go down after just 64 seconds against Utica sending fans at Shoemaker Field into shock. However, Messiah resolve did not falter and they fought back for a 2-1 victory. Reigning Division III Player of the Year Jeremy Payne scored the equalizer less than five minutes into the match. Sophomore Benji Kennel put Messiah up for good in the 72 minute off Aaron Myers’ corner kick. Ironically, this would be Messiah’s only goal from 32 corner kick opportunities. On Saturday, it would be all Messiah as they rolled 4-0 over Medaille. Freshman Danny Brandt — son of legendary division III coach and current Navy head coach Dave Brandt and brother of reigning Division III Women’s Player of the Year Alex Brandt — scored his first collegiate goal. Brandt is one Division III soccer players you should keep an eye on this season.

Stevenson outscored their opponents 9-1 this past weekend with wins against La Roche 3-0 and a 6-1 victory against Southern Vermont.

Widener earned two shut-out victories this weekend. On Friday, they defeated Penn State-Altoona 2-0 before defeating Eastern Connecticut 3-0 on Saturday.

Freedom Conference

Delaware Valley lost their lone match 1-0 against Penn State – York.

Desales lost 1-0 to Neumann before squandering Saturday’s lead against Rutgers-Camden twice and falling 4-3.

Eastern rolled over Penn State Brandywine 8-0.

FDU-Florham defeated Berkeley College (NY) 1-0 in their lone opening weekend match.

King’s College opened up their season with a scoreless tie against Cabrini and fell to Elizabethtown 1-0.

Manhattanville went 1-1-0 on opening weekend with a 1-0 double overtime loss against Salisbury and a 3-2 victory against St.Mary’s (Md.).

Misericordia defeated Ursinus 2-1 Saturday before falling to Dickinson 4-0 on Sunday.

Wilkes rolled over Keystone 5-1 behind two goals from Michael Turner.

Landmark Conference

Catholic fell 5-3 against Centennial foe Dickinson before rebounding with a 2-0 win against Greensboro.

Drew went up 2-0 before losing 3-2 to Haverford, but earned a hard fought 3-1 win against Johns Hopkins.

Goucher outscored opponents 6-0 with a 2-0 win against Hood and a 4-0 victory against Shenandoah.

Juniata won their lone match 3-0 against Thiel.

Merchant Marine went 0-2-0 over the weekend with a 2-0 loss to Rensselear and gave up a late goal against Union in a 2-1 loss.

Moravian took on both Baptist Bible and Lancaster Bible over the weekend defeating them 5-2 and 3-2, respectively. A late Saul Marcial header gave Moravian the win in the latter game. It was Marcial’s seconf goal of the game.

T-No. 10 Scranton didn’t live up to its national ranking and settled for two disappointing ties. In both games, Scranton gave up the lead first and had to play catch-up. They tied Elizabethtown 2-2 and Cabrini 1-1. You can’t win a game if you never lead it. Scranton has fallen out of this week’s NSCCA poll.

No. 16 Susquehanna was upset 1-0 by Centenary (N.J.) before rebounding with a 2-1 win against St. Joseph’s (L.I.).

Final Thoughts

Opening weekend of Division III soccer was eventful, and this week should be no different. Non-conference play continues in the next slate of games and a new set of coaches and conference polls should come out this week as well.

There are two women’s soccer matches worth mentioning. No. 1 Messiah hosts No. 7 Johns Hopkins Wednesday at 7:00p.m. before traveling to William Smith Saturday. William Smith dropped out of the top 25 this week after being ranked No. 13 in the pre-season poll.

Rutgers-Camden men’s soccer program had a historic weekend. Head Coach Tim Oswald won his 100th career game in Rutger’s season-opener 2-1 win over Muhlenberg. Mitch Grotti hit the 100 career point plateau with two PK goals against DeSales. Rutgers won 4-3.

NSCAA TV takes a look at Tuesday’s new Top 25 rankings on both the men’s and women’s side as well as a feature live from Messiah College. Division III coverage begins at the 18:40 mark with Messiah’s feature starting at 22:13. If you aren’t familiar will Messiah’s rich soccer history and success, this is a good educational piece.

D3soccer.com will be releasing their first top 25 poll next week.

That’s a wrap. Feel free to comment below with games worth watching, suggestions, reactions, predictions, or questions you may have about the national or local Division III Soccer scene.