@Ozil123 My son went through D3 Men’s Soccer recruiting, working with programs like Vassar, Grinnell, Bates etc. With your junior year stats, you might expand your search to include test optional schools and perhaps consider outside NESCAC, Liberty and Centennial Leagues, if continuing to play soccer is a top priority. A 3.6 and a sub 30 ACT are going to be tough, for a mid-range, not break-out player, at NESCAC, Vassar, Hamilton etc range schools. You might find more interest from schools like Gettysburg (coach is a former D1 coach, seems like a great guy, from what my kid found), and some of the midwest LACs like Wooster, Earlham (both have terrific, new young head coaches, great energy), Lawrence, Beloit – coaches at those programs are good people, and they are all test optional schools. Vassar is very much a program on the rise, looking to win the Liberty league, and Hamilton finished well in NESCAC last year. Those are very competitive schools, for admissions purposes, and very competitive soccer programs. A player without substantial elite club experience, and without tippy top, as opposed to very solid, stats, is going to have a more difficult time at the elite D3 level. Broadly, there is tremendous quality, and parity, in terms of recruiting, at probably the top 100 D3 programs so I’d encourage your to expand your search.
@RightCoaster look at Future 500, Bucknell, peak performance, to see which coaches are scheduled. For any camp, contact the coach in advance with academic and soccer stats so you are not leaving it to chance that they happen to watching you. Tufts just won the national championship for the 2nd time in 3 years so recruiting will be very competitive for them . . …
I agree with @Midwestmomofboys that you should expand your list to consider schools a notch or two less competitive than Vassar and Hamilton.
oops, correcting my earlier post to say Wooster is not test optional, but a mid to high 20s ACT will be fine for Wooster.
@Midwestmomofboys thanks for the info. I am aware Tufts just won and recruiting will be competitive there. It’s just close to where we live, the coaches know my son already, so it doesn’t hurt to see where they’ll be this summer. My son probably will not go there though. I’m going to look at those camps you mentioned this morning and try to get some summer plans going.
@Ozil123 , good luck, keep working hard!
Just a general observation/suggestion for folks thinking about D3 Men’s Soccer recruiting – you can google d3soccer boards and get a very good website which has a message board, with topics for many conferences, coaching changes, recruiting etc. On the “news” part of the site, there is a link for recruiting announcements, often with video (self-reported, by player, usually); last year’s announcements are still up, so you can see where freshman recruits came from, in terms of geography and often club play.
Also, particularly for @Ozil123 who is just starting to consider D3 recruiting opportunities, broadly speaking, there are stereotypes/reputations for the style of play at different schools and conferences – NESCAC generally and Amherst especially, are considered highly physical, athletic, (and correspondingly, less technical), than some other conferences/schools. Some other highly successful programs, like Messiah and more recently Calvin, play a more technical game. It is worth watching game film, almost always available on the team’s website, or just on youtube, to get a sense of the style of play of schools of interest. A small to medium sized player with great technical skills is not going to be compelling for some schools, but could be highly desired by others. A big challenge in D3 recruiting is finding schools which are academic AND soccer fits for that specific student/player.
@RightCoaster, you may want to check out some of the camps run by the big DI northeast soccer schools even though his focus is not DI. Ray Reid’s camp at UConn usually has a lot of coaches from both DI and DIII schools in the region. BU, BC and Syracuse are others to look into. Your son may want to e-mail the recruiting coach at the schools he is interested in, express his interest in the school and the team, and ask them what camps they will be at this summer. That will get your son on the school’s radar and mailing list and also get him some accurate information.
There used to be a one or two day clinic held in Hanover MA during February that attracted a lot of DIII coaches. My son did it three years ago, but we are no longer on the mailing list so I don’t know if it still happens.
Personally I don’t know many players recruited through camps. Most were recruited as a result of being seen in tournaments. Assuming your son plays club he should focus on letting coaches know when and where he’ll be playing (both regular season and tournaments) and invite them to come watch him. We had a lot of local coaches at my son’s academy games.
Good luck.
@RightCoaster , check out Union. They do a spring camp, I think. Does Franklin & Marshall have engineering? I’ve known kids who have ejoyed both for soccer and academics. Have also known quite a few who played at Swarthmore although most there played only through sophomore year…
@Rightcoaster – for engineering, if you are willing to go midwest, you might take a look at Rose Hulman. We’ve seen them play when my son was looking at the team they were playing against, and they are an excellent team, winning the conference and the conference tournament frequently, and that tournament win means an automatic bid to NCAA tournament.
Thanks for the input on camps everyone! I appreciate the help. I’ve been through the recruiting process with my older son and lacrosse and have a good understanding of the whole process. I’ve just spent more time focusing on that, but now my younger son is starting to get together a list of colleges he’s interested in. He’s not quite D1 caliber, but plays on a competitive regional club team and is a starter on a successful high school team in a tough league. He should be able to play D3 if he picks the right schools. We just started the process of emailing coaches, setting up his Recruit Spot info, will get some video this spring, etc.
He went to a camp at one of the Ivy schools last year, and there were some other school’s coaches in attendance too. He has been in contact with a few of them already, so he is just starting the ball rolling. He’s a very good academic student with some very good ECs’ and sports, so he should be a decent potential recruit.
Sorry for thread hijack! Thanks again.
Went through soccer recruiting process two years ago with my oldest son (currently a sophomore, playing D3 in the Northwest), doing the same now with #2. Learned a lot the first time through making the 2nd time a bit easier/economical.
My advice/thoughts:
You need to make a video.
Identify a list of schools with the major you want to study (or schools that have options, say if engineering isn’t really what you end up wanting to do. The overlap of D3/Engineering options in the Northwest/West is very small)
Contact the schools HC and AC, send them the video and personalize your communication as to why you are a good fit academically for their institution.
You need to play on a club team and go to “Showcase” events this Spring/Summer…as others mention, HS soccer doesn’t really count for much.
Attend camps hosted by the schools on your list in order to meet the coaching staff (sometimes everything on paper fits but you don’t like the coach – happened to my older son).
Don’t get hung up on D1, D2, D3, NAIA…but do look at the rosters at schools you think you might be interested in. This helped my oldest as D1 school rosters were mostly DA kids who were 6’ 185lbs and valedictorians and helped run a non-profit (slightly joking!). He applied and got in to D2, D3, NAIA schools and could have played at any of them.
The other thing that you need to consider is whether you are ok not playing as a freshman or even as a sophomore. Research online how much the coach plays freshman or sophomores… does he recruit Juco players? All factors to consider.
Finding the right mix of all that is a challenge… and I didn’t even mention anything about being able to afford your choice 
Hey everyone, so the past few months I’ve been contacting coaches and registering for some clinics and ID camps. The schools I’ve been in contact with and are registered to go to their camps are the following:
- Connecticut College
- Colby
- Vassar
- Northeast Elite (Colgate and many other D1, D2 and D3 schools)
- SUNY New Paltz
- Trinity College (met with coach)
- Trinity University
- Dickinson
I was told by one of my coaches who played at Connecticut that I could very well play there. I obviously know schools such as Vassar and other NESCAC schools are long shots but I don’t see the harm in trying. Other schools I am looking into are:
- Bard
- Gettysburg
- St Lawrence
- Skidmore
- Hobart
- Occidental
- Bridgewater
If you have any information on any of these teams please inform me. I am curious how St Lawrence and Gettysburg compare to programs such as Vassar and Trinity. I also am curious whether or not Skidmore is a very competitive program, I’ve heard mixed things about them. I am going to Texas during spring break and will be visiting Trinity University. Their coach arranged for me to practice with his players as I am unable to attend their ID camp. Does anyone know anything about their program? Any info is helpful. I’d also like to branch out to some not as competitive schools and teams. I don’t necessarily want to be playing on a super competitive team like Trinity or Vassar, but I don’t want to go to a school simply because of soccer. I want somewhere where I will get a good education while continuing to play D3 soccer, any suggestions?
St Lawrence is a superb team and program. They frequently win the very competitive Liberty League, last year was a bit of a down year. The talent on that team is phenomenal, they have been hobbled by a few serious injuries among impact players. While Vassar has been steadily improving as a program, St Lawrence is traditionally a much more powerful program. Hobart had a very strong year last year. Gettysburg is coached by a former D1 coach, I hear great things about him. I think I recall that Conn and Dickinson typically have big, powerful guys, not a lot of slippery, crafty players. Bard is generally going to be a less competitive team and therefore, an easier place to get a spot. Take a look at Massey ratings for one slice of how to compare the competitiveness of these teams. Hero Sports is another ranking system. There will be differences between how those ranking systems place specific schools, but it will give you a sense of how teams measure up. Any team in the top 50-100 is going to be very competitive. There are over 400 D3 Men’s soccer programs.
Its great that you are reaching out and connecting. At the same time, be aware that there is a big gap between being a strong enough player to play for a school and being THE player the coach wants to recruit. Roster needs, team fit in terms of culture, all come into play. It is a long conversation and a long process. Good luck!
I’d suggest giving some thought as well to what schools are a good personality fit. From Trinity College to Bard, there are very different vibes.
Yeah of course that will be factored in however it isn’t a big deal as I can function in really any kind of enviornment. Whether it is at the liberal & artsy Bard or down in Texas. I am more concerned with both being able to play soccer and get a good education.
@Ozil123 - I commend you for wanting to play soccer and get a good education but think you would be making a mistake not to give a high amount of consideration to the vibe of the school. In my opinion you are letting soccer play too large a role in the decision. Many kids do not play sports the whole way through college but even if you do you may not be happy if you pick the wrong setting.
Just my opinion…
I think you misinterpreted me, the vibe of the school does matter a lot and obviously when choosing which school to attend that will be a major factor just at this current time I’d rather have a wide variety of options and narrow it down from there.
Did you look at Massey ratings? Trinity TX is ranked 8th in the country. Conn Coll is 24, St Lawrence 56, Vassar 65, Dickinson 84. Hero Sports is another ranking system which juggles those numbers a bit.
Bottom line, many of the schools on your list are highly competitive soccer programs and are largely recruiting players from Academy programs whom they have seen play multiple times. If playing soccer is a top priority, then expand your search to look at Massey and Hero Sports to identify schools ranked 150 and beyond, and even those 100-250 can be competitive recruiting and competitive teams.
A good use of time and money is to guest play for a team at spring showcase tournaments, and to reach out to coaches who have registered to attend those tournaments. Tell them when, and on what field you are playing, what number and what position. A player will almost always “show” better when playing on a team they are comfortable with, in their preferred position. At camps, a guy is often playing with strangers, out of position, and everyone is trying to outshine the other guys there.
Yeah, I took a look at those ratings and judging by that the teams that I believe I would be able to play at are:
- New Paltz
- Skidmore
- Hobart
- Bard
- Occidental
As I said earlier I am also judging this a lot of what my coaches think. They said I’d be able to play at Connecticut I think I am a good player but honestly I don’t think I am that good. I am trying to get on a club this spring it’s just difficult as there aren’t that many in my area and I also play lacrosse in the spring. Should I approach clubs and ask if I’d be able to play as a guest player at tournaments?
Yes, now is the time to contact the coaches of club teams in the area and ask about guest play. In our experience, you need a player card issued by the state association, and that can be complicated for a player not already registered with another club.
Skidmore tied Vassar and beat St Lawrence last season, so it is no slouch, and Hobart won the very competitive Liberty League, so those are both programs which could have their pick of top recruits this year, based on last year’s performance. Additional schools to take a look at might be Muhlenberg, Susquehana, Clarkson, and Sarah Lawrence – if the Sarah Lawrence educational style appeals to you. If you are willing to look in the midwest, maybe take a look at Earlham, which has a wonderful young coach. Lawrence and Beloit could be quite happy to take a player, as they have trouble getting guys from the east coast, and the coaches at both schools are upstanding, good folks. Centre College in KY might also be worth a shot, or Rhodes in Memphis.