September 25, 2023: Thoughts as we enter the final week of September

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We’re headed into the last week of September, which means the season is that much closer to tipping off. It is crazy that the regular seasons for fall sports are almost halfway complete.

We had a coaching hire announced just last week, as Spalding University hired Vermont State-Lyndon Head Coach Ben Arsenault. Arsenault led the program at Lyndon for four seasons, taking his team to the NAC Tournament in all three years in which it was held. The Hornets went 10-15 last season.

It’s a good hire for Spalding, especially this close to the season. Arsenault has experience recruiting at the D-III level, which I believe is key. He inherits a program that went 6-19 last year, so there will be some rebuilding necessary. I do think recruiting to Louisville, as compared to some of the other smaller cities within the SLIAC, gives Spalding a bit of an advantage on that front. But I also could be wrong on that. Anyhow, Arsenault’s hiring leaves us with two head coaching positions that are currently vacant in D3 WBB. One is Vermont State-Lyndon. The other is Knox. I’m unsure how easy it is to find a coach at this point, considering how close the season is. It is possible both schools go to interim coaches, like Grove City is doing, but I have no inside information to confirm that. The interesting thing about Knox is that there is no longer an assistant coach listed either. The entire women’s basketball staff is listed as TBA on the Knox Staff Directory. So an interim coach would need to come from outside the program in that case.

You all know how much I enjoy highlighting multi-sport athletes at the D-III level, and I just wanted to shout-out North Central’s Elle Sutter, who is both a dynamic guard in basketball and a go-to scorer for the Cardinals’ women’s soccer program. She’s at that All-America type level in soccer, currently ranked third nationally in goals (12) and fourth in points (28.00). Fantastic to see.

Sutter didn’t suit up for NCC on the basketball court last season, as she was in the transfer portal for soccer. But she will be back as a senior this winter, and should significantly help NCC improve on last season’s 6-18 record. A native of Peoria, Illinois, Sutter averaged 27.4 minutes per game in 2021-22, averaging 10.1 points and 6.0 rebounds. She also tallied 46 steals. I’m unsure of the effect that missing last season will have, but I’ve seen players miss a year for one reason or another and return stronger than they were before. Time will tell if that is the case with Sutter, but there’s no question that she is an outstanding competitor and athlete.

Another name to keep an eye on is Kerry Flaherty, who comes to Catholic from D-I Holy Cross. With Erin Doherty transferring to Drexel, Catholic could use some quality depth on the roster in a conference with two likely Top 25 teams. Now, Flaherty hasn’t played since the 2020-21 season, so there’s definitely uncertainty here. She played two years at Holy Cross, and will have at least two (possibly three) years of eligibility at Catholic. A 5’7 guard, she saw action in 24 total games at Holy Cross, and averaged 10.2 minutes per game during her sophomore year there.

Since I mentioned Flaherty, here are all the D-I to D-III transfers I have found, mostly thanks to Raoul and his WBB Blog, which extensively tracks the transfer portal. There’s a couple more that I know of, but I’m going to hold off on publicly mentioning those for the time being.

• SR Guard Ashley Free: Kennesaw State → LaGrange

• SO Wing Grace Ramsdell: Merrimack → Saint Joseph’s College of Maine

• GR Guard Laya Hartman: Northwestern → NYU

• GR Center Victoria Toomey: Rider → Scranton

• SO Guard Anna Blank: SIUE → Millikin

• SO Forward Melissa Whitmore: Stonehill → Trinity (CT)

While I’m on the topic of transfers, I saw that Finlandia standout Natalie Bartle will play this season at SUNY-Canton. She went from Colorado Mesa, to Omaha, then onto Finlandia last year. Finlandia then shut down, which forced her to again transfer, this time to SUNY-Canton. A native of Negaunee, Michigan, she had transferred to Finlandia for an opportunity closer to home, but will now be headed to New York this season.

Some may remember the fact that she was selected as the C2C Conference’s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year last season. While I didn’t agree with the POY honor, considering Christopher Newport had some serious talent of its own (and that’s an understatement), Bartle was a fantastic player for the Lions. I tuned into a couple of their games, and was impressed by her defensive ability more than anything. She averaged 3.86 steals per game to go along with 21.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists. She also now holds records that will last until the end of time. With Finlandia’s closure, 2022-23 was the final season in program history, meaning that her records of steals in a game (13), steals in a season (85), and the season mark for field goals made (182) will never be broken.

SUNY-Canton is a solid program in the NAC, led by head coach Chris Klassen. The Roos were 14-12 last year, and should return quite a few players from the 2022-23 roster. The addition of Bartle will certainly help too.

That’s all for today. It’s been awesome to see teams posting on X/Twitter recently about having their first practices of the season, as it means the season is getting closer! Have a great rest of your week!