Men's D3 Soccer

Athletic Recruits
1

I am a junior in high school who is looking into playing Division 3 soccer and had some questions. I have played on my varsity team for 3 years, and played soccer for around 6 or 7 years. This season was really my breakthrough, my team finished our league season 12 wins and 3 losses and made it deep into playoffs. I started just about every single game this season except for when I was injured and I really proved my abilities to myself and my coach.

Once my school season ended I tried out for a nearby academy team and made the team being one of the best players there, however the team didn’t work out so I am without a club at the moment. My varsity team is full of skilled, experienced players and I am one of the best on the team however I lack some of the experience they have. A few of my friends play on a premier club that is highly ranked in the state, I would play for this team but it is to far and I am involved in to many other activities. I am now beginning to look at colleges and due to my performance this season would like to play division 3 soccer. I have been in contact with a few schools such as Vassar, Hamilton, and Skidmore. I plan to attend some of their ID camps / clinics but am a little bit nervous as to the competition. I don’t want to underestimate myself but I also do not want to overestimate myself so I am a bit conflicted. How good are the players that attend the clinics? How prestigious are Division 3 teams and how skilled are their players? I have been told if you are very disciplined as well as have some technical skill you have a good shot at playing division 3 is that the case? Also, is it a massive disadvantage if I am not playing on a club / premier team?

Thanks

2

Division 3 soccer is all over the map. Some teams are quiet strong and spots are very competitive, other teams not so much. It can be a disadvantage not playing outside of your school team as high school soccer is only seasonal. Kids playing on club/premier/academy teams will have much more practice and playing time than you which will often equate to more experience, ability, and fitness.

3

I am not so worried about the lack of training and fitness as I am the inability to showcase my skill at tournaments throughout the year. I am working out and playing all year round, I also play lacrosse in the spring so fitness isn’t an issue.

4

Put together a tape. See if you can get coaches to come see your senior year games. Some teams will take on guest players for the June recruiting tournaments if good enough and they need numbers.

Playing all year round/playing lacrosse vs. playing at soccer at a highly competitive level year round will be different, IMO. Very few high school teams are competitive at the same level as top notch club teams. I do feel there is a difference. Some players can overcome that, some can’t. It really depends on your talent level and athletic ability.

5

Doschicos is right, D3 soccer covers a wide range of talent/competitiveness. I recently saw the current D3 men’s champion in one of its playoff games and it was some very good soccer. You may also want to look at a college ID clinic put on by an organization like TopDrawer. That would put you in front of a lot of coaches at the same time. It would also help you know what to expect when you go to a camp at one of the schools you are targeting. I suggest you check and see if any of the schools you are interested in will be appearing at an ID clinic near you.

It sounds like you are busy and may have transportation issues, but I recommend you try to get on a club team near you. It is hard to put together a recruiting tape if you aren’t playing any games you can film. Club coaches may also be able to reach out to college coaches for you.

Good luck.

6

Not playing club in the spring will make D3 recruiting more challenging, since the spring club tournaments and state/regional championships are attended by D3 coaches. The first step is to put together a recruiting tape – 5 -10 minutes is plenty, according to the programs we talked to. Email both the head coach and assistant coach at your schools of interest, attaching the film or, since file size can be a problem, my son had a youtube site (not public), and he sent coaches the link to his film. In the body of the email, include academic info – gpa, rank, testing plus soccer info – usually your height, weight, preferred position on the field, right foot or left foot dominant and high school experience and any awards, recognition etc. Some players put together a soccer “resume” which can be attached – if your google it, you will find suggested formats. Tell them you are interested in learning more about their program and needs for '21. You will get a response, which probably asks you to fill out their online recruiting questionnaire.

Vassar is a very competitive program, in a very competitive league, the Liberty league (Skidmore also plays in the same league, strong program, improved a lot over the last few years, I believe). Hamilton is NESCAC, and NESCAC recruiting is always competitive, even far down the conference standings (Hamilton finished around 5th or so this year, so not one of the weaker NESCAC schools). Take a look at current player rosters for schools you are interested in and see what the player’s high school experience was, to see how you compare.

Camps can be competitive and intense, you might try a “commercial” camp in order to see how you compare to the talent level. I think Nike and Adidas both sponsor camps which bundle coaches from a range of programs, many are offered in metro areas over the winter and spring, typically a weekend. Camps offered by individual schools are basically tryouts, and often some of the players there have existing relationships with the coaches through club play, so are not being seen for the first time. My kid attended a NESCAC school’s recruiting camp – I can’t recall how many kids there were, maybe 75-100. It was clear that the head coach and assistants had been following a handful of players on the Academy circuit for at least a year, and knew the players well. Kids (like mine) who had met the coach on campus visit, had their film seen, and been invited to camp, had to impress the heck out of the coaches in a short time. That is a lot of pressure if it is your top school, getting some camp experience under your belt before hitting your top choices helps make it easier.

As others noted, there is a wide range of competitiveness across D3 programs. Some schools (Bard, Sarah Lawrence) are not particularly competitive. Others are fierce (Amherst and most of the NESCAC schools, many of the schools in Centennial Conference, Liberty League, NCAC). If you want to play, you can probably find a school where you will have the opportunity. The challenge is finding an academic fit that is also a soccer fit (and affordable). Good luck!

7

As noted repeatedly, D3 teams and leagues are not all created equally. Not only that, but individual teams do have individual personalities. For example, there are the teams composed of speedsters, the creative teams, the intelligent teams and the teams with size. I am guessing that there are still some videos lurking around from the NCAA D3 national championship playoffs that can give you a sense of the top level of D3 play. It is very high, and probably would match up to the low to (perhaps) mid D1 level.

The best indicia for you is whether and where the top players on your high school team landed. In our fairly competitive geographic area for soccer, with a few exceptions, the best kids (i.e., All Region, All State) went to D3 schools and flourished.

I agree that tapes are a great idea. Did your high school tape your games? If at all possible, I would get a professional skills tape done and then piece together a game highlight reel and send it on to a broad range of schools. I would not be afraid to ask coaches “what do you think?” If you are really trying to figure out whether you can compete at a D3 school, I would push the coach if he does not respond to the question. That can be quite telling.

Sometimes kids get recruited because they don’t give up. Coaches like this as a team trait. So, if this is what you want, don’t give up.

8

Yeah, I am reaching out to a few premier clubs in the area now. I do have some recording although it’s pretty low quality. I am going to attend as many camps as possible especially those with multiple teams attending. My highschool coach had spoken to me about playing in college so I certainly feel as if I could play at a lower tier D3 college.

9

@gointhruaphase has a good point about team playing styles and personalities. Some of the NESCAC schools are known for big, athletic guys who play a very physical game. Other teams are more technical. You can find videos of specific programs on their websites, spend some time watching to see how you align with their style of play. There are also message board sites (search for D3 soccer boards), where you can read posts about teams within different conferences, to learn more about their reputation for style of play. Of course, if you talk with a coach, you can ask about that.

The tape doesn’t need to be high quality - some of my kid’s game film was from my phone. It really is a few minutes to give the coach a sense of a player’s skill level and the level of competition they have been playing so the coach can see whether it is worth the time to continue the conversation. Very few coaches will decline completely, as they are all about keeping the options open. NESCAC, Liberty League and Centennial conference are very strong conferences, there are not going to be many “lesser” teams in that group (apart from Bard and Sarah Lawrence, in Liberty league). Midwest schools, like Earlham, Lawrence, Beloit etc. are likely to be more open to a player who doesn’t bring Academy, state championships, All Region etc.

10

Like others have said, D3 soccer is all over the place depending on the school/league etc. I think you will find it a more difficult task to attract coaches’ attention as college coaches typically do not recruit out of high school. In our area, even the best high school teams are not remotely competitive with premier or academy teams. Vassar is quite competitive- one of my son’t teammates from his premier team plays there and was highly recruited among D1 schools- he chose to play at Vassar because of the academic program there. You definitely will need a highlight video- we were told that many coaches won’t even look at an e-mail unless there is a video attached. Look at some of the videos on YouTube to get an idea of what a good one looks like. It might help to have an on-line profile;I don’t think they do a lot of good as far as some coach just randomly seeing it, but it is nice to have it to refer a coach to when you are interested in that program. If you attend any camps, be sure to contact the coaches first and send them your video and profile so they are familiar with you when you get there. In all honesty, your best bet is to start playing with as high a level club team as you can manage. It is not just a matter of fitness. It is that you really can’t know how competitive you are unless you are playing against top level players. The level of play in high school soccer just doesn’t prepare you to compete against players who have been playing at a high level of club. Best of luck!

11

Take a look at Wingate University in North Carolina. They are D2 and just won the national championship

12

You also need to ask yourself how strong your motivation is to play soccer vs. the academic profiles of colleges. I’ve seen kids prioritize finding a roster spot over academic quality - not a path I would suggest. My own kid focused on pursuing schools that were a good fit both in terms of vibe and seeking out a quality academic environment. If soccer could work also that was a great 3rd consideration but definitely wasn’t driving the decisions. Nobody is going to pay you to play D3, obviously, and I don’t get the sense that you are at a level to be considered a strong “impact player” (maybe I’m wrong :slight_smile: ) so it is doubtful that soccer will be a hook getting you pull into a college a level above your academic qualifications.

How are your academic chops?

13

@ironcity50- my son’s team just played Wingate in the NCAA Div. 2 Final 4. They are a very skilled team that is very heavy with international players. I imagine it would be very difficult to be recruited to this team!

14

I just looked at Wingate’s roster out of curiosity. Out of 30 players, only 7 are from the USA.

15

We were told during D3 soccer recruiting that the high end D3 programs overlap substantially with lower tier D1 programs. There are a couple of college soccer ranking sites, one is called hero sports, and there is another – the name which escapes me, but starts with M – if someone else can help with that name – they use different algorithms for ranking so there can be some differences, but are useful to get a sense of the competitiveness of programs. Top 50 programs are going to be very competitive for recruiting, and then 50-100 are always jostling within their conferences so not easy to get recruited there. There are something like 400 D3 Men’s soccer programs.

I’d encourage you to try a single day, winter ID camp in order to get some feedback on the types of programs you might be competitive for. If there are college programs within your area, they often run winter ID camps – even if you aren’t interested in that program, attend so that you get the feedback. Exact sports runs single day and weekend recruiting camps in major metro areas in the winter, you might search for one of their camps near you – my kid never attended one, they seemed a bit "high pressure sales " to us – but they do bundle a bunch of different schools together and you get an evaluation at the end of the program. At this point, I think getting a realistic assessment of the type of program you might be competitive for would be an important starting point. Good luck, it is a long process.

16

My D is a soccer recruit who generated several D1 offers, but who, by the examples of her siblings, chose to combine small college academics and D3 soccer for the reasons given. Had she been recruited by Stanford or Harvard, then maybe we would have reassessed, but as has been stated, she is well aware that nobody will ever pay her to play beyond a living stipend, and even that is unlikely.

My view, which I could write on about for 50 pages, is that the camps are a tough way to go. Of course they want you to come - that shows them how serious you are and it helps them make $$. But you can’t always show what you can do playing with a bunch of strangers, and you’re often played out of position when you start the 11 v. 11 part of the camp, which is where most of the deciding takes place.

Here is what generated results for my D starting in 8th grade, when Vassar and Wellesley began recruiting her:

  1. Club - to your question, nobody really recruits from HS soccer. The coaches just don't take it seriously. Get on a club with a national name if at all possible. D plays for Crossfire. It helps.
  2. Play on the highest team available. D played ECNL for several years and found that it didn't match up well with a full IB load and dropped to the A team. That meant that UCLA was not going to come knocking, but Skidmore, Kenyon, Vassar, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury and a boat load of other great programs in Diii didn't give a damn about the difference. Neither did the lesser D1s like Holy Cross or even Colgate.
  3. Make sure that the team you join goes to the regional showcase tournaments. This is where the magic happens:

a. Make sure your grades are solid and that you have course rigor.

b. Write a good e-mail and talk about the grades and course rigor. I can PM you my D’s form e-mail if you’d like; it worked really well for her, even generating a few compliments from coaches (really, you can stand out right away by just not sending a crap e-mail).

c. Tell them which tournaments you’ll be at. Don’t give up. Keep writing and keep telling them. 95% of the coaches write back. Which ones do and don’t often makes no sense. Why the Macalester coach had no interest in D and Colorado College (D1) did is well beyond me, but that’s how it rolls.

d. When you are at the tournaments, PLAY YOUR A$$ OFF and make a showing. THAT is where you will impress a coach. The camps, IMO, are a hard place at which to seal the deal as I said. There’s no substitute for a coach seeing you play in your position on YOUR team in live action.

e. Push for a visit - tell them you’ll come.

Seriously, that is the formula, along with being a damn good player, that garnered my D more DIII opportunities than you can shake a stick at.

Back to the tournament advice, a couple more things to amplify:

  1. There are ways in addition to your play with which you can attract a coach's attention. Against Elk Grove, the #4 G98 team in the nation, my D's team was getting drilled. The entire Elk Grove roster was full of ACC, SEC and P12 recruits. Seriously ... all of them. California is just ridiculous. Anyway, one of their players got drilled and was down for several minutes. My D's team, down 0-2 at the time, seemed poised for the onslaught. D, the captain, gathered her teammates during the injury time out and pulled them together in a huddle on the field. They went on to tie Elk Grove through the last minute and gave up a crappy goal to lose 2-3. More than half the coaches there to see her separately brought that up (the huddle) as a huge point of interest for them. LEADERSHIP!!!
  2. In the same Elk Grove game, Dwas marking a girl who had committed to Stanford as a sophomore and a girl who was headed to Clemson. As the Skidmore coach told me on our visit,

"I was there [Vegas Players Showcase] with an old teammate who was also there to see [Sally], and when we realized we were recruiting the same kid, we laughed and said, ’ hey there’s our girl shutting down the Stanford commit. I think she’ll do just fine in Liberty League.’ "

So when you have the chance to show what you can do, there is no substitute for showing it … the coach wants a player. But the other stuff has to be there, and the leadership part I think is super important as well.

PM me if you want more info. This has been my life for several years now.

17

“We were told during D3 soccer recruiting that the high end D3 programs overlap substantially with lower tier D1 programs.”

On the women’s side, this is true.

The women in the Liberty League next year will be playing against at least one D1 recruit who will be a Skidmore Thoroughbred. :slight_smile:

18

“We were told during D3 soccer recruiting that the high end D3 programs overlap substantially with lower tier D1 programs.”

This is true in several sports. Many kids are recruited by schools in all 3 divisions (and NAIA).

D3 has the most difference within its own division. Some D3 schools take on D2 and lower D1 schools, and win. Some D3 schools aren’t better than a top high school team.

19

Thanks for the feedback everyone, @MiddleburyDad2 if you could PM me the email format that would be great. I am currently training with a premier team and am going to be going to some tournaments this winter. In regards to my academics I have a 3.6 GPA, this year I am taking 3 AP classes (Chemistry, English & US), last year I took APUSH. I got an 1190 on the PSAT and a 27 on the practice ACT. I am getting tutored for both and will be taking them later this year. I also signed up for a few ID camps already, Vassar, Hamilton and the Northeast Elite hosted by Colgate which many other schools attend.

20

Good info on this thread, thanks.

Can any of you all let me know of any camps you know of that are located in the Northeast and have coaches from the Northeast schools with engineering ( i.e RPI, Cornell, WPI, Tufts, etc. ). I know Cornell isn’t D3 but my son is interested in looking at it. He wants to go to a few overnight camps this summer that have coaches from a variety of schools, but not Liberal Arts types schools really. Thanks for any info, I appreciate it.