Few Division III teams boasted a better record than Frostburg State's 16-3 mark, but it didn't help the program when it came to consideration for the NCAA tournament.
On the Division III level, teams that play in conferences with automatic qualifiers that did not capture the AQs are eligible for bids in Pool C. There were six Pool C spots this past spring.
Despite the Bobcats' sparkling record, they did not earn a Pool C berth nor a ranking among the top 18 teams in the South region because the regional committee regarded their strength of schedule as not being strong enough.
Spurred by that snub, coach Tommy Pearce has already tweaked next year's schedule. Gone are Illinois Wesleyan, Saint Vincent and Shenandoah. In are three teams that include a pair of NCAA tournament qualifiers (Ursinus and Sewanee) and the Commonwealth Conference runner-up (Messiah).
"We weren't a regionally ranked team because the ranking committee determined that our strength of schedule was too low," Pearce said. "So even though we had a pretty good record, they said that our record looked good, but the teams we were beating weren't good enough to put us in contention for Pool C. So we're trying to make it a little tougher."
Pearce may have accomplished that task based on last year's records. Illinois Wesleyan, Saint Vincent and Shenandoah went a combined 24-26 in 2015. By contrast, Ursinus, Sewanee and Messiah compiled a 37-13 record.
But with a rise in strength of schedule comes a rise in level of competition. Pearce pointed out that strengthening next year's lineup won't matter much if Frostburg State can't win those games and make an impression with the regional committee.
"Now the challenge is that we've made our schedule tougher, but we can't lose all those games," he said. "We're going to make our schedule tougher and try to have a similar record so that if we don't wind up winning the conference championship, we're a little more in contention in Pool C. … Adding those teams is part of it, but it's a bigger challenge to try to have a similar record with tougher opponents."