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Messages - Becks

#1
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
November 13, 2015, 11:50:34 PM
Quote from: Mr.Right on November 13, 2015, 10:30:42 AM
That had to be Amherst best performance all season against Wesleyan smoking them 5-0.
Doesn't hurt to play a man up for half the game, but the highlight goal came at full strength.
#2
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
November 07, 2015, 01:50:23 PM
Quote from: Bucket on November 07, 2015, 01:43:22 PM
Quote from: Mr.Right on November 07, 2015, 01:35:26 PM
Wesleyan advances past Midd on PK's to get to the Nescac Final to play the winner of Bowdoin / Conn. Midd will get a Pool C with the draw. Wesleyan's 3rd Kicker missed but the ref gave him a mulligan I am guessing because Sydor jumped early. Definitely controversial.

Controversial is an understatement. Referee didn't call it; Linesman ruled he was off his line. Late flag, too. Midd bench obviously livid. Wes bench laughing in disbelief. Both coaches said they'd never seen anything like it. Linesman told Saward after the game that he'd be sleeping just fine tonight. Unreal scene.
Isn't it the linesman's call? Isn't he the one stationed on the line for PKs to check for just that infraction? Not called much, but is from time to time. I'm surprised that the coaches would say they'd never seen anything like it.
#3
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 29, 2015, 11:51:30 AM
QuoteAgreed, but I think Bates is definitely one to watch next year - perhaps not a "contender" in the form of a top-4 NESCAC side but I think they could be even more in the mix than they were this year. Knoth will be back and so will Merchant and Murphy, who are all decent players. Watson is solid, too. However, Bates does lose Pereira, Riskind, and Polito, which in the context of their team are pretty big losses, and the big question will be how the next GK will do - Polito was by no means in the Bull/Sydor/Greenwood class, but he did well overall.

Like I said, it was interesting that some were talking about Bates as a potential Pool C contender at one point. I was a bit skeptical, and so it proved - I think they were over-hyped after beating Williams and starting 5-1-1, despite the fact that they had yet to play any of Tufts, Amherst, and Midd still to come (one point out of nine in three home games = not good enough, especially since they were beating Midd at halftime.) A winning season for the first time in 7 years is great, so congratulations to the Bobcats for their improvement, but consistency has been Bates' biggest enemy this year. They've not worried any of the top teams in the NESCAC, but they were certainly the most noted team in terms of improvement IMHO.
Bates needs to find a way to score more goals. The 0-0 result against Colby is not too surprising given how impotent both team's offenses were this year. In league play, Bates only scored 6 goals all season and Colby only 4. Knoth may be their best forward, but he only had 2 goals and only 3 shots on goal all season in league play.
#4
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 28, 2015, 10:37:49 PM
Colby 0-0 Bates, which means Wes is the 8th seed and gets a rematch against the Bash Boys.
#5
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 28, 2015, 05:38:33 PM
Trinity's season has been the opposite of Wes's. Trinity went 0-4-1 in their first 5 games and then went 3-1-1 in their last 5. They have played 9 OT games this year. At the start of the season they lost or tied them, at the end of the season they tied or won them.
#6
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 28, 2015, 03:36:57 PM
Quote from: Jump4Joy on October 27, 2015, 07:22:18 PM
Is the Wes 5-loss spiral at the end here a head scratcher or what?
Some tough losses in the first 3 (Middlebury, Williams and Trinity), where they seemed to be the better team at least in some of the games. Blowout against Amherst was aided by the red card to Sousa. Absence of Sousa also affected them in the loss to Conn.
#7
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 26, 2015, 12:17:44 PM
Re Wes - Sousa red card could be a real blow. By my calculation, if Bates beats Colby, Wes needs to get at least a tie against Conn to lock up a spot in the NESCAC tournament. It would be sad for Sousa if the red card against Amherst is his last game. If Wes qualifies, would Sousa be able to play in the first round of the NESCAC tourney? Wes will no doubt be rooting for Amherst to beat Trinity on Wed in order to avoid the first round rematch.
#8
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 26, 2015, 11:37:55 AM
Quote from: Jump4Joy on October 26, 2015, 10:51:42 AM
Lots of yellows in college soccer are earned through persistent infringement.
The fouls, in and of themselves, are not "dirty." Rather, the same player has committed a series of recognized fouls.
That's another way a team can look "dirty" on paper when they are not "dirty" overall.
For me, a team is "dirty" when its players intend to injure the opponents. I don't get that vibe from Amherst.
While there have been a few moments in NESCAC games over the past several years when it has felt that both teams are trying to "get back at" one another, I generally see most games as intensely passionate and not "dirty."
I think "dirty" is a pretty subjective term. I think most often it is used to refer not to a player who is very physical but to a player who uses a lot of unsportsmanlike techniques to try to get an advantage - such stepping on your feet on corners so you can't run or jump, elbowing you or pinch you when the ref isn't looking, intentionally taking little cheap shots after the ball has gone and the refs are looking the other way, and/or who hold as much as they can get away with. It may well be that Amherst doesn't engage in those unsportsmanlike techniques (at least not significantly more than other teams), but rather plays with a physical aggressiveness that often borders of recklessness. While many view physical players as more honorable than players who engage in unsportsmanlike techniques, they are no more loved by opponents or opposing or neutral fans. Regardless of whether there is intent to injure, physical play that results in a lot of fouls pretty obviously increases the risk of injury. And from a spectators standpoint, results in a less attractive game with more stoppages.

Amherst seems to be about as loved by the rest of the CAC as Bill Laimbeer's Pistons were loved by the rest of the NBA.
#9
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 25, 2015, 12:58:59 PM
Amherst now has 26 yellow cards for the season, 8 more than Hamilton, which has the second most. And Amherst has a game in hand over Hamilton with which to widen their lead. No other NESCAC team has more than 10.
#10
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 25, 2015, 12:09:02 PM
Based on the number of fouls, it is possible that some of the Amherst yellows were for persistent infringement.

What was Amherst's "Team" yellow for? I didn't know there was such a thing.
#11
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 25, 2015, 10:58:43 AM
Quote from: Jump4Joy on October 24, 2015, 06:51:31 PM
This just in: Amherst 5, Wes 0.
No noise?
Fouls     1    2    Total
Wesleyan University    6    5    11
Amherst    13    10    23

CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS
AMHERST     #26    Justin Aoyama     Yellow card    28:56
WESM15     #21    Danny Rubenstein     Yellow card    40:07
AMHERST     #5    Andrew Orozco     Yellow card    43:10
AMHERST     #10    Milton Rico     Yellow card    47:53
AMHERST     #4    Luke Nguyen     Yellow card    47:53
AMHERST     #TM    Team     Yellow card    50:24
WESM15     #10    Brandon Sousa     Yellow card    61:07
AMHERST     #14    Nico Pascual-Leone     Yellow card    62:25
WESM15     #10    Brandon Sousa     Red card    64:00
AMHERST     #28    Bryce Ciambella     Yellow card    64:53 
#12
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
October 17, 2015, 08:13:30 PM
Quote from: NCAC New England on October 17, 2015, 07:37:21 PM
The NESCAC really is brutal.  A very painful stretch for Wesleyan, a team I think has the quality of a NCAA tournament team.
I saw the Wes-Williams game from the end of the first half to the end of the game. Wes created better chances that Williams in the 2d half, hit the crossbar twice, and had a curler just miss onto the top of the net. I think they were unlucky not to get the win in regulation. Williams really didn't threaten much in the 2d half, but had a good chance in OT1. Rashid created the goal in OT2 by getting by his defender on the end line and hammering a shot at a bad angle that the Wes keeper couldn't hold onto and a Williams player got the tap in from the spilled ball.

Williams played B Dory as striker for most of the game (at least the part I saw), but I didn't think he was very effective there. He wasn't used very effectively as a target man, knocking balls down for teammates, and his speed is not anything that is going to threaten a defense with runs.
#13
Men's soccer / Re: NESCAC
September 30, 2015, 11:55:22 AM
Quote from: NCAC New England on September 29, 2015, 09:45:18 PM
I was impressed with Cowie-Haskell in the Wes-Tufts game, even though he missed on a couple of good chances.  He's a little better than I thought.  I had him pegged as sort of just a poacher but he's trickier with the ball in space and inside the box than I expected.  That said, he waited too long trying to get totally free instead of letting it go.
I saw the first half and a bit of the 2d half of the Wes-Bates game and thought ACH was very dynamic and dangerous. Took his chances well in that game. The little frosh (Komar) set up the first Wes goal (scored by Sousa before ACH came into the game) by beating a defender with a quick move on the end-line and sending a ball on the ground through the box.
#14
Women's soccer / Re: NESCAC 2015
September 28, 2015, 03:33:09 PM
Quote from: amh63 on September 28, 2015, 01:37:31 PM
Becks...a most interesting viewpoint!  The points seem to line up.  However, several comments on the topic.  To support your view of the CAC...the Conn MBB program had a great run awhile back.  The head coach took his act to Brown, where he was less successful.  On the other hand, the MBB at Conn has never returned to its glory days.
There is also another factor to consider in the Nescac.  A football poster refers to the conference....." Where you pay to play".....therefore there is a financial factor as well as the academic one.  It so happens that the most heavily endowned schools trend to be the most successful ones in general in sports.  Amherst and Williams lead the CAC with the biggest Endownments AND have the  most generous financial aid support, IMO. Both look for the most talented students around the world.  At Amherst, they have a no- loan policy.  It really becomes a recruiting advantage, IMO.
I agree that financial aid could well play a role. Since the better endowed schools (no snickering!) who give out better aid packages are also the more prestigious schools, it would be nearly impossible to separate the factors.
#15
Women's soccer / Re: NESCAC 2015
September 28, 2015, 10:13:18 AM
Quote
What's happening with the Conn team....ties with Tufts and Colby...really?  Sophomore slumps?  Can understand the Middlebury game, but not Tufts and Colby.
Long term I think the rankings of NESCAC sports teams generally correspond with the rankings by academic prestige. No surprise that Williams and Amherst generally rank near the top in most of the sports. Although the lower prestige 'CACs ought to be able to compete by picking up less academically qualified athletes, that doesn't seem to happen too much, so the more prestigious 'CACs are able to scoop up better athletes than the lower-prestige 'CACs. Based on academic prestige, I would expect Conn's athletic teams to generally finish in the bottom third of the 'CAC. Perhaps Conn just caught lightning in a bottle last year. If their new coach is really that good that he can out-recruit and out-coach the more prestigious schools, he will probably end up jumping to a bigger soccer program (eg D1) after a few years.