It’s Official – John Carroll Now Part of the NCAC
The rumor has finally come true. John Carroll University and the North Coast Athletic Conference have finally said the quiet part out loud. The Blue Streaks are officially part of the NCAC. They will officially begin NCAC participation in the 2025-2026 academic year. According to the press release –
“The expansion brings the core NCAC membership to 10 NCAA Division III institutions spanning Ohio and Indiana. John Carroll joins Denison University (Granville, OH), DePauw University (Greencastle, IN), Hiram College (Hiram, OH), Kenyon College (Gambier, OH), Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH), Ohio Wesleyan University (Delaware, OH), Wabash College (Crawfordsville, IN), Wittenberg University (Springfield, OH) and the College of Wooster (Wooster, OH). The NCAC also includes four field hockey affiliate members in Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania: Allegheny College (Meadville, PA), Earlham College (Richmond, IN), Transylvania University (Lexington, KY) and Washington & Jefferson College (Washington, PA).”
For the John Carroll women’s team, they are going into a a situation that looks like they will be moving to a conference that should be no less of a gauntlet than the OAC. Against NCAC teams in 2023, JCU went 2-0-3 with wins against Wittenberg (3-1) and Ohio Wesleyan (1-0) and tying Kenyon (2-2), Denison (1-1), and Wooster (1-1).
| SCHOOL | PTS | CONF | CONF GF-GA | OVERALL | GF-GA | STREAK | L10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio Wesleyan | 16 | 5-1-1 | 16-6 | 10-6-3 | 35-25 | L1 | 5-4-1 |
| Wittenberg | 16 | 5-1-1 | 14-8 | 7-7-5 | 27-24 | L1 | 5-3-2 |
| DePauw | 12 | 3-1-3 | 10-6 | 11-4-5 | 33-18 | L1 | 5-2-3 |
| Denison | 11 | 3-2-2 | 8-7 | 8-5-6 | 22-19 | L1 | 5-3-2 |
| Wooster | 10 | 3-3-1 | 11-7 | 11-3-3 | 36-14 | L1 | 5-3-2 |
| Kenyon | 7 | 2-4-1 | 11-12 | 7-5-5 | 34-20 | W1 | 4-4-2 |
| Oberlin | 7 | 2-4-1 | 10-12 | 7-8-2 | 25-26 | L1 | 4-5-1 |
| Hiram | 0 | 0-7 | 1-23 | 4-11-2 | 12-43 | L9 | 1-9 |
In 2023, John Carroll were the OAC regular season and the Tournament champions, and made it to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals before falling to Messiah in a tough 1-0 game.
| Conference | Overall | ||||||
| GP | Record | Win % | GP | Record | Win % | ||
| John Carroll | 9 | 8-0-1 | 0.944 | 23 | 16-2-5 | 0.804 | |
| Otterbein | 9 | 8-1-0 | 0.889 | 18 | 12-4-2 | 0.722 | |
| Ohio Northern | 9 | 7-2-0 | 0.778 | 20 | 10-9-1 | 0.525 | |
| Capital | 9 | 5-2-2 | 0.667 | 20 | 10-6-4 | 0.600 | |
| Baldwin Wallace | 9 | 4-4-1 | 0.500 | 20 | 8-8-4 | 0.500 | |
| Wilmington | 9 | 3-5-1 | 0.389 | 19 | 10-7-2 | 0.579 | |
| Marietta | 9 | 2-5-2 | 0.333 | 16 | 5-9-2 | 0.375 | |
| Mount Union | 9 | 2-7-0 | 0.222 | 16 | 5-10-1 | 0.344 | |
| Heidelberg | 9 | 2-7-0 | 0.222 | 16 | 4-10-2 | 0.313 | |
| Muskingum | 9 | 0-8-1 | 0.056 | 18 | 2-13-3 | 0.194 | |
For their part, the JCU Men are “stepping out of the fire and into the frying pan” … as someone told me. After coming in 4th in the regular season, behind regular season champion Otterbein, Ohio Northern and my Purple Raiders of Mount Union, JCU missed out on the Tournament Finals, losing to Otterbein in PKs.
| Conference | Overall | ||||||
| GP | Record | Win % | GP | Record | Win % | ||
| Otterbein | 9 | 8-0-1 | 0.944 | 20 | 12-4-4 | 0.700 | |
| Ohio Northern | 9 | 7-1-1 | 0.833 | 23 | 13-6-4 | 0.652 | |
| Mount Union | 9 | 6-2-1 | 0.722 | 20 | 16-2-2 | 0.850 | |
| John Carroll | 9 | 6-3-0 | 0.667 | 22 | 14-6-2 | 0.682 | |
| Capital | 9 | 4-4-1 | 0.500 | 18 | 10-7-1 | 0.583 | |
| Marietta | 9 | 4-5-0 | 0.444 | 19 | 6-12-1 | 0.342 | |
| Baldwin Wallace | 9 | 3-5-1 | 0.389 | 19 | 7-10-2 | 0.421 | |
| Wilmington | 9 | 3-5-1 | 0.389 | 17 | 4-11-2 | 0.294 | |
| Muskingum | 9 | 1-8-0 | 0.111 | 18 | 3-14-1 | 0.194 | |
| Heidelberg | 9 | 0-9-0 | 0.000 | 18 | 3-14-1 | 0.194 | |
Moving into the NCAC, clearly there will be a whole new set of challenges for the Blue Streaks. With the like of Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, and Denison, John Carroll will have to be playing it’s best soccer if it wants to be a part of the top 3. Not to mention having to play tough competition like DePauw, Wittenberg and Wooster. The conference may become the toughest part of their schedule.
| SCHOOL | PTS | CONF | CONF GF-GA | OVERALL | GF-GA | STREAK | L10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenyon | 24 | 8-0 | 22-3 | 16-4-1 | 49-22 | T1 | 8-1-1 |
| Ohio Wesleyan | 18 | 6-2 | 18-9 | 13-6-1 | 36-19 | L1 | 6-4 |
| Denison | 14 | 4-2-2 | 12-4 | 12-5-3 | 33-17 | L1 | 5-3-2 |
| DePauw | 12 | 3-2-3 | 20-15 | 7-7-4 | 36-27 | L1 | 3-4-3 |
| Wittenberg | 11 | 3-3-2 | 14-12 | 8-4-4 | 28-20 | W2 | 5-3-2 |
| Wooster | 10 | 3-4-1 | 10-15 | 6-8-3 | 26-29 | L1 | 4-5-1 |
| Wabash | 7 | 2-5-1 | 11-12 | 6-7-4 | 26-23 | W1 | 3-5-2 |
| Oberlin | 6 | 1-4-3 | 7-17 | 3-8-6 | 15-34 | L2 | 2-5-3 |
| Hiram | 0 | 0-8 | 3-30 | 4-13-1 | 18-45 | L8 | 1-9 |
In 2023, JCU went 4-1 against NCAC opponents. They beat Oberlin (2-1), Kenyon (4-0), Wooster (4-1), and Ohio Wesleyan (3-1). Their only NCAC loss was to Denison (2-1).
Regardless, knowing John Carroll coaching staffs and their continued pursuit of excellence, something tells me that Coach Dejan Mladenovich and Coach Michael Marich will be ready… You can join the conversation over that the community boards.
And really, coming from this Purple Raider, the important thing about this move … maybe John Carroll will win the conference… in Football…
SC.