NESCAC

Started by LaPaz, September 11, 2011, 05:54:52 PM

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PaulNewman

Amherst and New England College headed to OT.

FourMoreYears

Trinity preview is up.
Interesting to note that 23 rostered players are freshmen or sophomores.
Young team.

http://athletics.trincoll.edu/sports/msoc/2014-15/releases/20140902pd4x5x


amh63

Agree with NACANE....video coverage was not clear for a night game.   Amherst pulls it out in the 96th minute....by a newcomer to the squad.   NEC freshman GK played a fine game against.....dueling All-American Bull in the nets.  Second OT lost for NEC.
Believe the rest of the conference teams won their opening games.

ECSUalum

Quote from: amh63 on September 03, 2014, 09:25:49 AM
Agree with NACANE....video coverage was not clear for a night game.   Amherst pulls it out in the 96th minute....by a newcomer to the squad.   NEC freshman GK played a fine game against.....dueling All-American Bull in the nets.  Second OT lost for NEC.
Believe the rest of the conference teams won their opening games.

Ben Bratt and the rest of the Wesleyan Cardinals D shut out the ECSU Warriors 1-0 yesterday. Goal came from Freshman forward Adam Cowie-Haskell on a tap in off a block by Eastern Goalkeeper Gregg Walton.  See  http://gowarriorathletics.com/sports/msoc/2014-15/releases/20140902ox4e2i for more details

LaPaz

Watched this game online. Wesleyan and ECSU were both sluggish in the first half. 2nd half Wesleyan turned on the burners and had ECSU pinned for long stretches of the half. Bratt had a moster game, Gruner playedheir heels very well and Issioff looked dangerous going forward. This Wesleyan team looked pretty good for only being out for about 5 days. I do feel tgheir keeper McConnell is suspect as he did not have to do much in this game but when he had to make decisions, he made some questionable ones racing off his line and misjudging his timing. This is a top 4 team along with Williams, Tufts and Amherst. Midd will be on these teams heels.

ECSUalum

Quote from: LaPaz on September 03, 2014, 07:13:21 PM
Watched this game online. Wesleyan and ECSU were both sluggish in the first half. 2nd half Wesleyan turned on the burners and had ECSU pinned for long stretches of the half. Bratt had a moster game, Gruner playedheir heels very well and Issioff looked dangerous going forward. This Wesleyan team looked pretty good for only being out for about 5 days. I do feel tgheir keeper McConnell is suspect as he did not have to do much in this game but when he had to make decisions, he made some questionable ones racing off his line and misjudging his timing. This is a top 4 team along with Williams, Tufts and Amherst. Midd will be on these teams heels.
Yeah LaPaz, your absolutely correct, Brat was literally all over the place on a day that had everybody dragging, showing excellent conditioning and his experience as one of the top defenders in NE.  I thought ECSU played the Cardinals close in the first half, and had a couple of good scoring chances, but 2nd half Wesleyan dominated. This veteran team will just get better as the season progresses.

All NESCAC

Quote from: ECSUalum on September 03, 2014, 07:29:39 PM
Quote from: LaPaz on September 03, 2014, 07:13:21 PM
Watched this game online. Wesleyan and ECSU were both sluggish in the first half. 2nd half Wesleyan turned on the burners and had ECSU pinned for long stretches of the half. Bratt had a moster game, Gruner playedheir heels very well and Issioff looked dangerous going forward. This Wesleyan team looked pretty good for only being out for about 5 days. I do feel tgheir keeper McConnell is suspect as he did not have to do much in this game but when he had to make decisions, he made some questionable ones racing off his line and misjudging his timing. This is a top 4 team along with Williams, Tufts and Amherst. Midd will be on these teams heels.
Yeah LaPaz, your absolutely correct, Brat was literally all over the place on a day that had everybody dragging, showing excellent conditioning and his experience as one of the top defenders in NE.  I thought ECSU played the Cardinals close in the first half, and had a couple of good scoring chances, but 2nd half Wesleyan dominated. This veteran team will just get better as the season progresses.

Any predictions for the weekend? 

LaPaz

Things to watch for week 1 and week 1 guesswork:

Wesleyan v Bowdoin-        1-0             Wesleyan returns all 11 starters and has a pretty good incoming frosh class. They have more depth this year. I will be watching their keeper situation, long road trips including 2 to Maine, toughest non-conference schedule and opening game against a decent ECONN team. Bowdoin has lost some key cogs in Brewster, the injury plagued Jones and striker Dannesert. Their keeper situation was horrific last year and should get a big boost from an injury plagued frosh Steve Vansicklin. When I saw them last year they played extremely conservative and I do not expect that to change. I do not see a real dangerous roster here and do not expect Bowdoin in the top 6 this year. Wesleyan has more talent and experience.

Williams v Colby-               2-0             Williams is 15-0-1 all time aganist Colby outscoring them 47 to 3. The games have been closer the past few years and I expect this contest to be the same, but Williams will come out on top. Williams is returning a glut of players all over the field and really lost nothing to graduation. Thier biggest loss is in goal. I like the incoming frosh but Russo usually gives the returning kid first crack. Rashid and Muralles should be in full form and I like the kid Danilack in the back. Colby has been apathetic on offense for years and this is not changing this year or until the coach can bring in some quality up front. Their keeper Funkhouser is inconsistent at best and their midfield lacks any creativity. Pratt is good in the back. If Colby plays like UNH which is where the coach is coming from they might overtake Amherst as the ugliest style in Nescac.

Hamilton v Trinity-             1-1             Hamilton played very well at home last year. Trinity has gotten results against Hamilton every year. They started strong last year and completely faded at the end.  Hamilton loses some key players and might struggle this year and Trinty loses some key players in the spine of their team. Complete toss-up

Tufts v Bates               2-0                        - I have ripped Bates on this board for a while and deservingly so. NO need to beat a dead horse. I have also commended Tufts and its talent for the past 3 years. This senior class has talent across the board. I hope their egos can gel this year. They open with the easiest schedule and could be undefeated up until they play Amherst.

Ommadawn

Quote from: LaPaz on September 05, 2014, 03:21:42 PM
If Colby plays like UNH which is where the coach is coming from they might overtake Amherst as the ugliest style in Nescac.

This observation brings up an interesting question.  Is Amherst successful because or despite their style of play?  I have always thought that given the high level of players they have, they could be dominant regardless of the style of play.  A more attractive style might even enable them to win a game 3-0 instead of 1-0, for example.  I think their style of play has an effect on the whole conference, which, at times, gets "dragged down" as teams strive to be competitive with the Lord Jeffs.

ihidebehindtheinternet

1st time poster. Miss what the NESCAC boards use to be with people making predictions on all the league games for the weekend so let's  start the craze up again. Here goes my best shot:

Saturday:

Bowdoin 0 Wesleyan 2
Personally, don't think Bowdoin had much going for them last year with the exception of Brewster (I think he wins player of the year if he's on Amherst or Williams) and Danssaert at times. With these two gone, I feel Bowdoin is going to struggle the whole year. Wes is looking to build off a strong season last year and should continue to give Amherst and Williams a run for their money.

Colby 0 Williams 3
Can Colby turn it around under Seabrook? If history (of D1 assistants taking over as NESCAC head coaches) has anything to say, the answer is yes. Unfortunately, I think this game is too early in the season to show much improvement from last season. Williams also has too much on the line with Russo's last season. This is an easy one for the Ephs.

Trinity 1 Hamilton 2
Two teams that have struggled in the last few years. Will probably be fighting all season to get blown out in the first round of the playoffs by Amherst or Williams. Think these teams will be evenly matched with the long bus ride for a young Trinity weighing too much on their legs.

Bates 0 Tufts 2
Hopefully this is the year that Tufts can actually turn this league from a two team run away. Hoping for big things with this team as both Santos and Hoppenot are seniors and should try to leave somewhat of a mark on the league from what I believe is somewhat of a disappoint. Doesn't speak well that Bates is the only team to not win their opening game. This should be an easy one for Tufts.

Sunday:
Amherst 1 Middlebury 0
Is this the year that Amherst finally starts to play soccer? They have the talent to finally do it and hopefully they learned from the elite 8 game last year. How does Midd's talented freshman class look in the 2nd year? I think this Midd team has a lot of upside potential and finish in the top half of the league this year. In the end I think Amherst's experience wins this one out in what is sure to be an absolute dogfight.

All NESCAC

Quote from: ihidebehindtheinternet on September 05, 2014, 04:54:03 PM
1st time poster. Miss what the NESCAC boards use to be with people making predictions on all the league games for the weekend so let's  start the craze up again. Here goes my best shot:

Saturday:

Bowdoin 0 Wesleyan 2
Personally, don't think Bowdoin had much going for them last year with the exception of Brewster (I think he wins player of the year if he's on Amherst or Williams) and Danssaert at times. With these two gone, I feel Bowdoin is going to struggle the whole year. Wes is looking to build off a strong season last year and should continue to give Amherst and Williams a run for their money.

Colby 0 Williams 3
Can Colby turn it around under Seabrook? If history (of D1 assistants taking over as NESCAC head coaches) has anything to say, the answer is yes. Unfortunately, I think this game is too early in the season to show much improvement from last season. Williams also has too much on the line with Russo's last season. This is an easy one for the Ephs.

Trinity 1 Hamilton 2
Two teams that have struggled in the last few years. Will probably be fighting all season to get blown out in the first round of the playoffs by Amherst or Williams. Think these teams will be evenly matched with the long bus ride for a young Trinity weighing too much on their legs.

Bates 0 Tufts 2
Hopefully this is the year that Tufts can actually turn this league from a two team run away. Hoping for big things with this team as both Santos and Hoppenot are seniors and should try to leave somewhat of a mark on the league from what I believe is somewhat of a disappoint. Doesn't speak well that Bates is the only team to not win their opening game. This should be an easy one for Tufts.

Sunday:
Amherst 1 Middlebury 0
Is this the year that Amherst finally starts to play soccer? They have the talent to finally do it and hopefully they learned from the elite 8 game last year. How does Midd's talented freshman class look in the 2nd year? I think this Midd team has a lot of upside potential and finish in the top half of the league this year. In the end I think Amherst's experience wins this one out in what is sure to be an absolute dogfight.

Agree with both you and LaPaz's predictions (agree that Hamilton will beat Trinity due to the travel effect).  Also, regarding Amherst Middlebury on paper it should be a battle-royal with bodies falling all over the pitch given the relative big size of the players and talent and an early season big game, but I've got to believe that Amherst is going to come out loaded for bear after just squeaking by NE College in 2OT, thus could be a multiple goal game for Amherst in a surprise 2-0 or 3-0 win.  Wouldn't shock me if Middlebury upsets them, but I would never want to play Amherst after they had a lack luster performance against a much weaker team in the previous game.  Amherst has to guard against Middlebury in set pieces as the Panthers score many goals off these plays.

Bucket

Glancing at Midd's roster, I see the Panthers have a sophomore goalkeeper who is a DI transfer from Elon College. His Elon bio says he was first-team all state in Connecticut as a hs senior. It will be interesting to see if he can play.


PaulNewman

OK....rant time.

How can a school like Williams not have video or live stats that work?

And why does Tufts not start probably the two best players, and then when one of those players finally comes in and draws a PK that he wants to take the coach apparently calls for another player to take it who misses?

PaulNewman

Early implosion from Bates.  Undisciplined, yellow, then red.  Down 3-0.  Long year ahead.

LaPaz

Quote from: Bucket on September 06, 2014, 01:49:23 PM
Glancing at Midd's roster, I see the Panthers have a sophomore goalkeeper who is a DI transfer from Elon College. His Elon bio says he was first-team all state in Connecticut as a hs senior. It will be interesting to see if he can play.

He can't play and I heard they will go with the frosh.