New England Soccer Discussion

Started by Jim Matson, June 09, 2006, 12:25:06 AM

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Ejay

Breed redshirted at Clemson in 2016 and never saw the field in 2017.  Not sure it's really a "step-down" if he never played a single minute of D1 soccer.  Bacon on the other hand is more interesting.  Not only because of his name, but he did log some minutes.

NEsoccerfan

Quote from: blooter442 on April 28, 2018, 06:08:58 PM
Brandeis with a good D1 transfer pickup in Bryant Nardizzi from UNC-Wilmington. Will be a junior; spent his first year at NC State. Apparently played at Framingham High School and was part of the NE Revolution Academy.

Brandeis has done a great job recruiting transfers the last few years: Michael Soboff from Rutgers, San Vinson from UIC, Colin Panera from St. Johns, Greg Irwin from Rutgers, and now Bryant Nardizzi from UNC-Wilmington. These are all quality D1 programs as well. Having 3 former D1 players on the roster at the same time must be one of the highest figures in D3 soccer.

truenorth

Of course, this point of view presumes that an academically reputable D3 school should be focused on recruiting unfulfilled D1 players...  For an alternative point-of-view, I'm aware that a leading NESCAC school was not particularly encouraging about the prospects of a D1 Ivy player considering transferring from that Ivy to that NESCAC.  Just sayin'...

blooter442

Certainly a fair point, truenorth, but I think it really comes down to how much room a given school has for incoming transfers (both for the soccer program and as part of transfer admissions decisions overall). Brandeis' regular admission acceptance rate is around 34%, while the transfer acceptance rate has been around 30 historically — I believe it was 28.1% the fall I transferred in. Still, with around 150 transfer spots in a given year, there is some more wiggle room, and some athletic teams may benefit as a result. Contrast that with Bowdoin, for example, where I believe one fall they had 165 applicants for 2 (two!) slots, and perhaps it makes more sense why you'd see less transfers into programs at small, selective schools as opposed to a larger school which is still selective but not to the degree that the majority of NESCACs are, at least in terms of acceptance rates.

truenorth

That's helpful and reasonable background info Blooter...thanks!

blooter442

Having been named a D3soccer.com All-American and CoSIDA Academic All-American this past season, Brandeis 'keeper Ben Woodhouse graduated Phi Beta Kappa a semester early. There are a lot of smart soccer players in New England, and indeed throughout D3, but I found this balance of academics and athletics particularly impressive.

blooter442

Well, it's finally here. A fellow alum passed along the documentary of Brandeis' season. Was to be released earlier, but my understanding is that it was held for a bit in respect to Rutgers-Newark, who is featured in the documentary, after their tragedy earlier this year. Objectively really well done. Honest, raw, and great cinematography. Big ups to Andrew Allen, who was the master behind the project, as well as the University, which funded it according to the credits. Around 1:50:00 in length, and I haven't watched the full thing yet, but plenty to enjoy and what I have seen I have to say is very well done.

4samuy

#1342
WELL DONE!

blooter442

Also passed on to me, for those who are interested — the index with time stamps. Lots of funny stuff, and the Coven bit with the Wheaton game I found to be particularly good. Also, great narration from Ira Thor, the color commentator from the Final 4 who is around on these boards.

2016 loss to Calvin and build up to next year (0:00)
2017 Preseason (4:40)
Hobart Invitational Intro (15:48)
Brandeis vs Cortland (17:45) LOSS 2-3
Brandeis vs Hobart (18:30) WIN 2-1 OT
Brandeis vs Babson (20:57) WIN 2-1
Brandeis vs WPI (23:40) WIN 2-1 OT
Brandeis vs MMA and Elms (25:03) WIN 3-0 WIN 6-0
Brandeis vs Tufts Round 1 (25:30) LOSS 0-1
Brandeis vs Wheaton (Mike Coven Tribute) (28:16) WIN 5-1
Brandeis vs Case (33:26) WIN 1-0
Brandeis vs MIT (38:39) WIN 3-1
Brandeis vs Carnegie (40:52) WIN 2-0
Brandeis vs Rochester (44:46) LOSS 0-1
Brandeis vs Emory (46:17) WIN 1-0
Brandeis vs Clark *Woodhouse Injury* (50:00) WIN 5-1
Training sequence (51:00)
Brandeis vs Wash U (1:00:45) WIN 2-1 OT
Brandeis vs Chicago (1:03:39) LOSS 0-1
Brandeis vs NYU (1:04:50) WIN 1-0
Selection Show (1:08:03)
Brandeis vs West Conn *NCAA TOURNAMENT ROUND 1* (1:11:13) WIN 3-0
Brandeis vs RUN *NCAA TOURNAMENT ROUND 2* (1:12:52) WIN 1-0
Brandeis vs Drew *NCAA TOURNAMENT ROUND 3* (1:17:06) WIN 1-0
Brandeis vs Tufts Round 2 *NCAA TOURNAMENT ROUND 4*  (1:20:50) WIN 1-0
Final Four Experience (1:26:06)
Brandeis vs Messiah *NCAA TOURNAMENT ROUND 5* (1:32:46) L 2-3
Senior Tribute (1:38:34)
Season Highlights (1:43:27)
Credits (1:47:46)
Unfinished Business (1:49:04)

Ejay

Great stuff.  Will be sharing with my HS-aged son.

NEsoccerfan

My biggest takeaway: notwithstanding the profanities, Christian Hernandez is a FANTASTIC leader and motivator. Some of those pregame speeches (Emory, in particular) gave me goosebumps. Hearing speeches like those would make me want to run through a brick wall for him. It's no wonder the team voted him captain. I wouldn't be surprised if he found his way into coaching.

blooter442

Quote from: NEsoccerfan on May 20, 2018, 07:26:07 PM
My biggest takeaway: notwithstanding the profanities, Christian Hernandez is a FANTASTIC leader and motivator. Some of those pregame speeches (Emory, in particular) gave me goosebumps. Hearing speeches like those would make me want to run through a brick wall for him. It's no wonder the team voted him captain. I wouldn't be surprised if he found his way into coaching.

He is definitely a great motivator and leader. I think you said it well in terms of you would run through a wall for him. When someone speaks like that, it definitely would seem to make you way more confident than if a mediocre leader was giving a pre-game speech. I thought that he was what Brandeis was missing for a number of years in terms of a defensive midfield destroyer and a physical player, although the Judges seem to be a bigger, more athletic bunch overall now than they were when I was watching them in person week-in, week-out, so hopefully his loss doesn't have much of an impact on their physicality and toughness even if it is rough on their midfield (particularly with losing Ocel as well). Still, they've got some good personnel coming back, and they may well have some fifth-year seniors using their extra year of eligibility. As for guys taking the mantle in the middle, I really liked what I saw of Gans. Came in as a freshman and played well in the middle three alongside two seniors, and I thought Evan Glass did well in the middle of the park as well. Definitely some talent there.

One thing I found funny, if not surprising: the younger Russo (who is featured extensively around halfway through the video) sounds just like his eldest brother did when I knew him. Same way of speaking, tone of voice, etc.

blooter442

Brandeis' 2019 schedule is out, and boy does it seem tough (at least on paper) with six consecutive away games to start the season. I believed someone in the video said the field is getting re-laid, which would explain the number of away games to start the season and would make sense given the turf was first laid in 2005, but I could be imagining things. Either way, wow.

An opening-day trip to NCAA team Endicott, followed by visits to Gordon, local rival Babson, and another NCAA team in WPI. Oof. Game #7, Wheaton (MA) comes to town for the first home game, followed by Case to start the UAA schedule. Mid-season NEWMAC games against Clark and MIT, home and away, respectively. Tufts is off the schedule this year, which is unfortunate considering I always found Brandeis-Tufts games to be fun to watch, but in its place is Amherst at home. The Judges have gotten the better of Amherst in PKs their last two meetings — one of which was in Amherst — and the Mammoths do not play on turf, but I fully expect Amherst to give Brandeis one of its toughest tests (if not the toughest test) of the season. Three UAA games on the road to finish the regular season at WashU, Chicago, and NYU. Certainly a daunting slate, but recent years have shown that the program is keen on playing tough regular-season games.

Ejay


blooter442

Quote from: EB2319 on May 23, 2018, 04:57:37 PM
Fri. 21    Tufts

Interesting — the schedule must have changed just after I posted. This past season's schedule is still currently showing when you click "Schedule/Results" under the men's soccer section of the Brandeis Athletics website — to get to the new schedule, I plugged in "2018-19" into the URL in place of 2017-18 — so it must have just been posted if they haven't even updated the front-end links (I had been plugging in the new season's numbers every week or so to see when it would come up). At first, it read that the MA Maritime game was that Friday. Was curious as to why 'Deis and Tufts wouldn't play — they've played each of the last five regular seasons, and I know that both sets of players and coaches look forward to that matchup — so glad to see it back on the schedule.

Fun fact(s): All three of Brandeis' wins against Tufts in recent memory came when the Judges were outshot, while both of Tufts' last two wins came when the teams registered the same number of shots. The other result — a 2-0 Tufts win back in 2013 — saw the Jumbos dominate the Judges in every area, including a 17-7 shot advantage.