Over the past two months, two seniors from the Lawrence men’s soccer team have been working on a project that will change the face of Division III soccer for years to come.
Matt Wolin and Elliott Spruell are the cofounders of the new Web site D3Kicks.com.
In the vein of the widely-popular d3football.com and d3hoops.com, D3Kicks.com is set to become the online home of Division III soccer.
Once the soccer season starts in September, the site will feature scores updated daily and Top 25 rankings updated weekly.
Currently, the site hosts articles contributed by sports information directors of registered schools and a forum on a range of topics. Wolin and Spruell have also begun a feature called “Kickin It” which interviews various personalities within D-III soccer. All of these sections are unprecedented in the level of the sport.
“We should be reaching 7,000 hits later this week,” exclaimed Wolin.
The site will provide a nationally comprehensive database for Division III soccer information where there was previously none. Prior to this year, the only national sites available for information on D-III soccer were run by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the NCAA.
Wolin said the main impetus for the construction of D3Kicks.com was to form a readily available source of scores and other information. He said that neither the NSCAA nor the NCAA had been accomplishing this in the past.
According to a poll recently hosted by the site, visitors are most interested in the Top 25 rankings.
Beginning with a preseason poll in the fall, rankings will be computed by a 25-vote system, with 23 votes going to sports information directors from throughout the nation and the final two going to Spruell and Wolin.
So far, around 200 schools have posted team information, with more coming in every week.
“Around 30 schools already have direct links from their athletics pages,” said Wolin. “That’s a sign that people are taking this seriously.”
While the site has already seen early success, it is likely to take its true form in the fall when its operation will become somewhat of a part-
D3kicks.com
