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Messages - d4_Pace

#1
Men's soccer / Re: Coaching Carousel
December 07, 2023, 07:59:58 PM
You've got a better chance of the boards nominating Serpone for the Nobel Peace Prize than Burke leaving Conn for Colby. I think Jordie Ciuffetelli is a great suggestion for the job, obviously I'm biased having worked with and played for him, but he'd be great there. I've also done the recruiting circuit with Billly Schmidt and Zach Grady and think they would both be good fits. An underrated aspect of these jobs is the personal life of the coaches. Not saying this is the case for any of those guys specifically, but if you're a single guy in your late 20s/early 30s Waterville, Lewiston, Bowdoin etc can be a tough sell. Just an off the radar factor that does come into consideration that you may not think about initially.
#2
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
December 04, 2023, 03:58:19 PM
Quote from: Freddyfud on December 04, 2023, 03:45:51 PM
After the final during the awards I heard an announcement of what I thought was an All Final Four team.  I believe 4 players from each team were recognized because they were there.  I'm curious about the full team (if it indeed does exist) but can't seem to final any info.  Does anyone know where this list might be?


Yep every year the announce what is technically an All tournament team but it usually consist of just players from the final four that is weighted more heavily towards the team that won, runner up over the semifinalist. Additionally, they announce an offensive and defensive MVP for the tournament. For whatever reason I don't think the list is ever published anywhere.
#3
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
December 04, 2023, 03:54:29 PM
My experience with the Serpone recruiting process and subsequent communication is as follows:

I had an atypical recruiting experience as I was exclusively looking at DI programs and was committed to one for a while. After that commitment fell through for various reasons, I decided to open up my search to the more academic DIII programs and Amherst was naturally one of the programs on that list. I knew nothing about the NESCAC, the DIII soccer hierarchy, or really Amherst other than my dad saying it was a good school. This was relatively late in the recruiting process due to the previous commitment but after reaching out Serpone recruited me really hard. We spoke at least weekly over the late summer/early full leading in to me scheduling an official recruiting visit. I was scheduled to fly across the country on Friday evening for the weekend visit. On Tuesday/Wednesday of that week, he called cancelling the visit saying they had run my academic profile and I wouldn't be able to get in to the school. Now that is certainly possible, I know the process is a bit of a crap shoot but it seemed a little suspicious given I was being recruited at schools of similar standards and never had any issues. What was frustrating was that I only found this out 48 hours in advance, causing my parents to have to lose out on the price of a flight.  Therefore, even before arriving to the NESCAC, I certainly had no love lost for Amherst and always circled the game on the schedule.

While playing Serpone he would constantly talk to me and ask how I was doing, literally during the middle of the game. I'd be taking a throw in in front of the bench and he'd say 'Hey D4pace good to see you, you're playing well this year, Congrats." Given my preconcieved beliefs I always interpreted it as a bit of gamesmanship, but maybe he was just trying to be nice. I never gave him the benefit of the doubt but thats for others to decide for themselves.




#4
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
December 03, 2023, 02:49:34 PM
Amherst running out of room for all these silver trophies
#5
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
December 03, 2023, 02:44:15 PM
McCloskey earns free beers for like in Medford!!! What a legend
#6
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
December 01, 2023, 04:36:16 PM
Quote from: Kuiper on December 01, 2023, 02:01:33 PM
Quote from: Freddyfud on December 01, 2023, 01:32:20 PM
Here is a view from Coach Singleton about playing in their backyard:

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/soccer/washington-and-lee-salem-ncaa-division-iii-mens-soccer-semifinals/article_309421ba-8fa8-11ee-a02b-c771f80ba680.html

I didn't realize W&L was constrained by a lack of graduate programs.  It seems as if the 2 seniors they lost were able to stay for a 5th year they would be much better than they already are. 

I know they have one of the best law programs in the country.  I guess I see "university" and incorrectly assume those constraints for 5th years don't apply (or maybe it helps them if an athlete is interested in pursuing a J.D.?)  I'd be curious as to general insight on how this works in practice.  But then again that 5th year of eligibility is expiring so maybe it will be moot.

In order to be a full-time student eligible to compete on a school's varsity athletic team as a "5th year", you either have to be enrolled in a grad program or have taken off a semester at some point so the fall season is actually your last year of study as an undergraduate.  In most liberal arts colleges in DIII, the 5th years on a school's varsity team are likely students who decided to withdraw from the school during some part of Covid or they are enrolled in some graduate program.  There are schools without grad programs of their own that have 3-2 undergrad-grad programs with consortium schools that do have grad programs, which could allow students to technically still be enrolled in the undergrad school even if they are taking primarily or exclusively grad school classes and therefore compete on the undergrad schools' teams.  The grad schools are usually local in those cases.  When they are not, the student plays with the undergrad team in which the grad program is affiliated, as if it was a transfer.  For example, some students have done a grad program at Claremont Graduate University and played their Covid 5th year with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.  Andrew McSlarrow, who played 4 years at Dickinson I think, did that this year even though CGU is not part of Claremont-McKenna or Harvey Mudd, but rather part of the Claremont consortium of schools. I don't know if I have heard of many JD students trying to double up with a varsity sport in the fall of their first year of law school because the workload would be too intense, but there are some JD schools that offer a 1 year (sometimes online or part-time in evenings) Masters of Legal Studies degree that some students with eligibility do to stay in their sport.  I haven't seen it in a DIII school, but UCLA women's soccer had a player in 2021 who played her Covid 5th year by enrolling in the Law School's Masters in Legal Studies program.  Washington & Lee probably doesn't have that type of program that would permit a student to easily play soccer and go to school.

Tufts had a player play a full season while attending Tufts Medical School which was a pretty absurd accomplishment
#7
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
November 18, 2023, 04:48:03 PM
Quote from: jknezek on November 18, 2023, 04:33:56 PM
Quote from: flyingdutchman on November 18, 2023, 03:55:35 PM
Quote from: stlawus on November 18, 2023, 12:54:35 PM
Phenomenal no call by the ref at the end of the Tufts-WL game.   Tufts wanted a penalty and he sold it well, but on the replay he wasn't even touched.

Please get your eyes checked. I am not sure what game you were watching but that penalty was clear as day. I saw it live on the stream and rewatched it multiple times. He gets zero ball, if he had gotten any of the ball it would have changed direction. His cleat does not go under 11's leg, it goes right into him.

https://tuftsjumbocast.com/. Minute 3:17 of the game or 1:45:15 of youtube video, if you want to see it yourself.

I watched it more than a dozen times on YouTube but just can't get a clear frame of the defender touching the offensive player.

I definitely don't see him getting the front foot, it's very clear between 145:19-20 that the front foot is up and over the defender. There was no chance for contact on the front foot.

In that same time period the ball is past the defender's foot, so it's also clear to me he doesn't get the ball as I agree the trajectory doesn't change. I did get a frame on a lucky pause where the foot looks like it hits the ball, but the camera angle would lead to that conclusion as well, as would the Ref's positioning looking straight down the line at ball and defender's foot, so you'd have to go by trajectory from the angle and by how quick the ref makes the signal, I don't think he looked at where the ball went.

I can't tell if the defender touched the offensive player's back foot or not. There was no lucky pause that showed me that split second. A little before, a little after, nothing spot on despite multiple attempts. But the fall, which is essentially a face plant, is exactly what I'd expect to see if the back foot is touched while the body continues on. No coincidentally, it's also how I would sell a dive as an offensive player on that play.

Heck of a call not to make at that point in the game, heck of a call to make at that point of the game. If you aren't sure, you don't call it. It's also worth noting the assistant ref also makes no move with his flag like he's intending to call a foul. It stays completely down and he just continues on running with the ball as it is cleared. To be fair, the ref made the no-call motion really fast, so maybe the assistant would have had more reaction given a bit more time, but the ref was very definitive very quickly.

I'm not sure I'd describe a penalty as "clear as day", but even as a W&L fan, I'd say the video evidence points to the Generals getting a favorable call. On the balance, not touching the ball is kind of a key factor, even if I'm not positive there was player to player contact, though I'd say the evidence favors it.

Again, I suspect from the position of the ref, and the camera, with foot coming straight at the ball, it may have looked like the defender got it and the ref made his decision based on an angle that was imperfect.

Tough call in a split second.


I appreciate the fair analysis and I will try to respond in kind. I think the penalty incident could have either way as could have the goal that tufts scored that was called for being over the end line. Two 50/50 calls going against you sucks but ultimately that's not what decides games. I thought W&L were excellent and look a significantly improved team from when I watched them at Swarthmore a few years ago. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see them go all the way and I'd certainly prefer that to any of the NESCAC teams winning it.

I think Tufts and Dez made a key step forward this year. I think the team really came together the second half of the year and ran off a good stretch of results. Only a small class of guys is leaving, and I'm glad that guys like Trainor, Shin and Visnick got a national title before leaving campus. I know it's not the theme of this thread but I think Tufts team will be much stronger next year and hopefully the senior class can get it done. I know this sucks, but spend this weekend with your teammates and see them through this and then the work starts Monday.


#8
Men's soccer / Re: Coaching Carousel
November 18, 2023, 01:09:19 AM
This is a hilarious website
#9
I don't think the UAA struggles by any means. But like you mentioned every year they send multiple teams to the tournament who get to play in different regions and don't have to knock each other out. And despite that Chicago is the only program that has demonstrated the ability to consistently make deep runs.

Wash U dominates on the women's side but constantly underwhelms on the men's side despite being very similar in profile to other top programs. Emory consistently underperforms. The only school for the conference that is better than I would expect is Rochester.
#10
I honestly don't know. The schools being way harder doesn't hold much weight for me. I mean of all those schools the one with  the reputation for being hardest is Uchicago so while I wasn't smart enough to get in there, so the math doesn't add up for me. I haven't been to many of those schools so maybe the facilities and lack of investment in athletics is real, but they all seem to do well in the directors cup.

One aspect that could partially explain it is regional variance. Growing up in the south I felt like small private schools weren't given as much consideration. For example your school Davidson where I nearly committed, was never really spoken of pre Steph. Whereas I feel like the kids in Massachusetts all know and think about going to Amherst, Williams etc. So imagine the same thing is true for good players in Georgia and Missouri.

As a tangible example a kid like Calvin Aroh who was a top player on the revs academy and had D1 offers, the equivalent player on my academy team never would have considered going DIII. My academy team in NC had 18 kids go play D1 and I was one of two to play DIII. We had a bunch of guys who sat behind and didn't play in academy chose to go DI and never play there versus considering a DIII school where they could be impactful.

That's my current rambling take on it.
#11
For people who don't want to deal with more NESCAC related content I'm gonna move over here and ask what people's thoughts are on why the UAA isn't better. Obviously Chicago is elite but beyond that the conference constantly disappoints in the tournament. Brandeis used to be solid but has fallen off a cliff. All of the advantages talked about the NESCAC teams apply equally to these schools so what accounts for the difference?
#12
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
November 13, 2023, 07:52:14 PM
Quote from: paclassic89 on November 13, 2023, 06:35:49 PM
Do we have to wait for D4_pace and Northman to chime in or are we good to move on from the NESCAC fluffing?

I feel sufficiently fluffed! I do find the NESCAC collective outrage entertaining. I root for the other NESCAC teams to lose in the first round as hard as I can.
#13
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
November 13, 2023, 03:24:57 PM
And since I mentioned it... Those programs for me are Calvin, Chicago, Messiah, Amherst, and I am hoping Tufts can reestablish themselves at that level under Dezotell. The way I think about it is if you offered me those 5 versus the field at the beginning of the year to win it all I think it may be close to 50/50.
#14
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
November 13, 2023, 03:23:23 PM
^^^ This take is definitely going to get some people going. I think more than anything it shows the fine margins in the tournament. I will say that the game against ONU was the first time I watched Messiah this year and I wasn't particularly impressed. Sure they had more shots and possession, but they really didn't create many clear cut chances the entire second half. That being said, it seems they were missing their best player and struggled to adjust. But it does seems like the program lacks the truly elite players (Robbins, Thompson, Payne, West, and many more) that they have had in the past. I think its definitely fair to say that Messiah is no longer clearly the dominant DIII program that automatically deserves the benefit of the doubt of being the best team in the country despite their schedule. Instead I think they are one of 5 programs that are capable of winning a National Championship any season which is still a very elite group itself.
#15
Men's soccer / Re: 2023 NCAA Tournament
November 13, 2023, 11:42:04 AM
Quote from: PaulNewman on November 13, 2023, 10:31:09 AM
Quote from: calvin_grad on November 13, 2023, 08:37:29 AM
Is Calvin not hosting because of travel rules?  Weren't they the #1 team in the region?

Imo either Calvin or St Olaf should be hosting.

If ONU website is correct looks like ONU and Colorado Coll are playing the early game at Tufts, which suggests that CC or ONU is the top remaining seed there.


The order of the games is actually picked by the host team. I remember when we first got to host coach Shapiro going back and forth on whether the extra two hours of rest was worth switching up the routine of playing at your normal time. It seems like most programs lean toward taking the rest.