NESCAC

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

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Saint of Old

Lapaz: Great point in terms of the travel they have to do. Undoubtedly this will take a toll on the team. The liberty league is by no means weak.

Ask the  Vassar and Skidmore Coaches who have been trying to make tournament play for over a decade without any luck. I will stipulate that this year the liberty league is not as strong as years past, but they still have 2 Top 20 teams, and are sure to make noise in the national dance.

The NESCAC is a good conference, but Hamilton will be making a mark sooner than later.

Hamilton will not make the big dance, but they will beat some good teams this year before bowing out.

LaPaz

No question I might have overstated the "weak" point about Liberty League. Just top to btm Nescac is better. I have seen Hobart this year and they are very good. Could easily be Top 2 or 3 in Nescac. SLU havent seen yet but I know they are always good and being from New England I can say I remember DeMello on club teams and he could be one of the top 5 players in Nescac. Very savvy player. I guess I am just not enamored with Hamilton's style or lack their of. You are right they will get better fast because outside of Trinity and Conn they should be able to get kids in that Williams, Amherst , etc could not. So if the coach properly recruits I agree with you.

LaPaz

Random question about Liberty League...why do they allow only 4 teams into play-offs..with the addition of RIT(good addition btw) and Bard you could give #1 team a bye and play 2v7 3v6 and 4v5. Would give some teams a chance to make up for a cpl dropped games early in the year and make the overall season a bit more interesting.

NHsocca1

The way I see it, there are four tiers of teams this year:

Tier 1: Wesleyan, Williams,
Tier 2: Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury
Tier 3: Trinity, Tufts, Conn, Colby
Tier 4: Hamilton, Bates

I see the first tier as the early favorites.  The second tier are two teams that are dangerous enough to make a late season push and potentially win the championship.  Tier 3 can certainly upset anyone on any given day but haven't shown the consistency to get into the next tier.  There is a clear tier 4. 

Wesleyan looks to have the clearest path to the #1 seed.  I think Williams will beat Amherst this weekend and will end up in the #2 spot.  Williams is Williams and they have beaten Amherst for around twenty straight years, it's dumb to expect anything different (especially on their home field).  User Kushiana is the best player in the NESCAC this year and they have had some major injuries of late.  I think they run the table for the rest of the season. 

Really, really like Trinity in Tier 3 but they have some pretty crazy results.  They tied the Ephs but lost to Westfield State.  Mayernick might be the second best player in the league and I think he ends up leading the league in goals. 


NEsoccer

I like your tiering idea, very similar to the now ubiquitous power rankings that accompany every pro sport.  I do see the slotting, as well as some of the points you made, a little differently though.

First, I think Amherst clearly belongs in tier one (and I'm not sure if you meant to include them there because you also refer to the two teams in the second tier, though list three).  While they might not end up in the top spot, to this point they have arguably been the best, and without a doubt belong the top tier no matter how you draw the lines.

Trinity also should be in tier two, alongside Bowdoin and Midd.  The rest of it I agree with.

A few other things, Williams has certainly had the upper hand for the majority of the last 20 years of the rivalry, but since Amherst changed coaches before the 2007 season, the tenor has changed a bit.  In the those four year Amherst is 2-1-1 against Williams, with a win and a tie in Williamstown.  Yes it is a small sample, but I think it is more representative of the rivalry as it stands now.  About Kushiana as the best player in the league, that seems like a huge stretch to me.  He is the leading scorer for an offense that hasn't been too dynamic and hasn't even started several of Williams recent games (though has been healthy enough to play I assume since he did come off the bench in each).  I would buy Mayernick as the best player in the league.

I assume the major injuries you're referring to center around Ratajzak, is there someone else too?  Also, why does coach Russo switch goalies so much?  I'd just stick with Morrell.

NHsocca1

Been watching Williams-Amherst for years...believe me, Williams wins this one with plenty of room to spare.  Amherst is a borderline first tier/second tier team.  This isn't 2010 and like Middlebury and Bowdoin they are going to need a year to reload.

I will buy what you are selling on Trinity if they find a way to get a win and a tie against Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury or Wesleyan.

By the way, who is this Liberty league guy that is touting Hamilton? When's the last time that The LL had a Final Four team? Didn't the NESCAC have one in each of the last four years? Talk about not playing anyone...take a look at St. lawrence's schedule.  They could go the whole year an not play one other NCAA tournament caliber team other than Hobart (and don't give me Rochester).

LaPaz

NHsocca1- No idea what you have been watching for years but certainly havent been paying attention this year. Amherst is clearly the most talented and dominant team(so far)..User is not even in the top 5 top Nescac Players. He dribbles to much and has scored his goals aganist weak competiton(including the team u ranted aganist for a paragraph, Hamilton) Maynerick is not #1 and how "Amherst is in tier 2 not tier 1 is utter nonsense.  The top player in the league by far up to now is #19 Heo as he could be a top 5 in the Ivies. Maynerick I have been touting all year but he is to inconsistent to be #1. He has great games and then disappears. Williams had dominated Amherst during the Gooding years and as NESoccer states the tides have equalled out a bit more.  Wesleyan has def the easiest road left, (lets hope to god they dont finish #1 and host on that field), but in my mind have been a little lucky at times this year and still do not think they have the depth of Amherst or even Williams. Russo switches goalies I think because they are prety even and we have no idea how these guys perform in practice all week.

Anyway  Sat results

-Bowdoin season is history, just a comoplete letdown after a great final 4 run. They lost Hicks, Denton-Scneider and Prior plus the long throw but we all figured they would still be an extremely tough out. Coach made a huge mistake not recruiting a solid keeper to replace Hicks. Maybe they make a run in the NESCAC's. who knows

- Midd 5 in a row 4 w/o a goal let up...Players are gaining confidence Im sure and they look to be making a late season surge with Williams looming late in season.

-Conn and Tufts a predicatble result with what I hear was an extremely tediuos affair with neither team creating anything significant. 

-One more time Amherst 2-0 over Williams on Sunday

amh63

The Amherst vs. Williams game at Williams went to 2OT and ended 2-2.  Williams was up 1-0 after the half and it was 2-2 going into the first OT.  A somewhat shame that it was a audio broadcast only and the charge was 10 dollars for an audio feed!  Williams can do better with the largest endownment in the conference and their athletic tradition.

NEsoccer

I agree that charging for an audio feed is really poor, I was very disappointed.

The game though played out in a fitting way.  Amherst created many more chances and overall seemed much more threatening.  A scrappy goal off a restart and a rocket from Pugilese aren't things you can count on every day.  This game affirms LaPaz's belief that Heo is the best player in the league.  He is dangerous from every part of the field.  He scored one and drew the penalty on the other, could have probably had more as he nailed the post as time expired.  Amherst to me was  the better team.


This regular season crown is boiling down to Amherst/Wesleyan.  If Amherst can get go 2-0-1 this week it will make the late season match up between Amherst and Wesleyan huge.  The game is in Amherst, so Wesleyan won't have the luxury of their unique field.  Amherst's offense vs Wesleyan's defense will be great to watch, two best units in the NESCAC.

I really expected Bowdoin would go on a little run to end the season, but losing at home to Colby kills that notion.  The came back and tied Babson today, who was good enough to beat Williams, so Bowdoin clearly isn't a team others can take lightly, but their conference results have been baffling.

Midd is on a bit of a roll right now, I wouldn't be shocked if they win out.  4-0-1 in their last five outscoring opponents 12-0.  The only team they couldn't score against was Wesleyan, but no one score on Wesleyan.

Lastly, I really dislike the uneven scheduling.  I know it really doesn't make a huge difference, but the NESCAC should be able to do a better job balancing when games are.  For Wesleyan to not play a conference game in two weeks, while Amherst has 4 in 8 days (all on the road) is ridiculous. 


jellybelly

Definitely agree that charging to just listen to a game is lame.  When one considers the caliber of school Williams is, you would think they could at a minimum broadcast their games for free.

NHsocca1

What happened on that Hamilton-Midd prediction?  Liberty League isn't anywhere close to the NESCAC. 9-3-3 could turn into 3-9-3.

i told you all Williams wouldn't lose at home.

LaPaz

First of all Anherst did not dominate Williams in any way. If that Williams cretaed more chances than Amherst. #19 Heo had an awful day besides the weak goal scored he did nothing all day.  Amherst best plaeyer on the field that day was #9 Noon. He was all over the field winning balls, getting dangeroeus chances and creating for his teamates. Havent seen him play that well ever. I gues its which days you watch these players.  It can be very inconsistent. Anyway Wiliams should be disappointed with a draw, to have a 2-0 lead with 11 minutes left is inexusuable to let up.I believ they got alittle lazy on Defense at the end. Both teams clearly gassed by the end of the game.TuesdY SHOULD BE INTERESTING

amh63

Amherst shuts out Trinity 1-0 at Trinity.  Noon scores  in the 18th minute and Amherst plays it safe.  In the 2nd half of the game Amherst gets its first corner and makes several attempts to score.  In the last ten minutes they just play defense.  Trinity gets few good shots at the goal.

sumfun

LePaz, Bowdoin recruited a great goalie that took his team to a state final four.  He hasn't been given much of a chance to play yet. 

LaPaz

sumfun-If the keeper was anygood they would have been playing him by now. My sources tell me they had to "beg" Wise to even play soccer(he's a lax player). This tells me that in pre season Bowdoin players saw what they had as frosh keepers and desperetly wanted Wise to play.  Please if I have the worng information let me know.