Liberty League

Started by Saint of Old, August 12, 2014, 12:14:06 PM

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SandyMac

SLU's right back for the past four years, Dan Hunt, is on trial with League Two side Hartlepool in England. Story here:

http://saintsathletics.com/news/2016/1/12/MSOC_0112162246.aspx

1970s NESCAC Player

Quote from: SandyMac on January 13, 2016, 03:12:07 PM
SLU's right back for the past four years, Dan Hunt, is on trial with League Two side Hartlepool in England. Story here:

http://saintsathletics.com/news/2016/1/12/MSOC_0112162246.aspx

Best of luck to him!  Too bad he was injured for portions of the 2015 season.  I've considered him to be SLU's most talented player for some time.

Saint of Old

Good for #21.
What I can say is that he is arguably the best right back in SLU History (definitely most productive).
There is some stiff competition from Berner and Manfredie, but the kid is the perfect combo of size/speed/skill/goal scoring ability.
All good things to have at the next level.

Saint of Old

I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate yet another very good Saint Goalie...
Who wrote his page well in "the Book of Saints".
Ofcoarse I'm biased, and I admit to it, but this 7 second clip says it all about SLU SOCCER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YurKRSecvgY

Saint of Old

Liberty league 2016 is finally here with many of the boyz packing for preseason training this weekend.

This will perhaps be the most unpredictable year in a long time, but let me go ahead and try to predict.

Clarkson:
Will have another very tough year. They were surpassed on the depth chart last year by Bard, and I don't see them moving up despite an above average recruiting class.

Bard:
Last season's much deserved COY passed away suddenly, but not before bringing respectability and good soccer to his program. Bard for my money was by far "the most improved team" in the conference, which is a title every single coach in the country tries to attain. I think the Boys from bard will take inspiration from their late and great coach and shock even more people in 2016.

RIT:
The Jeckyl and Hyde of the Liberty league.
They can beat anyone in the league and lose tpo anyone in the league.
This year they will continue the trend more than likely, and that will not be enough to get them in the league dance.

Skidmore:
Last years conference finalists might have a rough go, but have some serious firepower and could get a 3rd or 4th seed.

RPI:
Will be good this year.
The team is well coached, and they are also aware that they had a great season last year (besides the middle part).

Union:
Has something to prove.
They were up by a goal against SLU in last years league semi, and have been a solid program for the last 3-4 years, just cant seem to get to the big dance. Look for that to possibly change, I definitely see them being top 4.

Vassar:
Can beat any team in the league, and have proven it time and time again. They are always a playoff team, but have not made it to the big dance in a couple years. Watch for them to rebuild while reloading this year with a good incoming class. Coached by the most experienced coach in the league, Vassar will again make league playoff, but will have to catch fire in order to make NCAAs.

SLU:
Very hard for me to put my bias away to write 4 lines on this team but...
2nd year head coach will now have his own horses to ride for an entire season.
Losing a whole lot from last season's squad.
The only positive I see at this point is that the team will be very very fast.

Ommadawn

Great overview, Saint!  You hit on some of the key issues confronting LL teams.  Let's not forget about Hobart, however.  They have been accumulating some top notch talent over the past few years and were in contention for an NCAA tournament berth until the very end last year.  As always, my impression of the league is that there is SLU...and then there is everyone else.  I don't see SLU being displaced from the top of the table anytime soon.  That said, I think the battle for the remaining playoff spots is truly wide open, with all teams except maybe for Clarkson and Bard having a solid chance to reach the postseason tournament.  In just a few short weeks, we'll start to get some answers!

Saint of Old

Only had one cup of coffee today.
The Statesmen  of Hobart will be in the mix and will make the playoff (is that 6 teams I have in the 4 team playoff now :) )
They were dominant 4-6 years ago, and were even challenging for Big Dog status in the league during that time.
I think they were strong last year.
I believe beat SLU at home.
They are always a top team in the league, even when they fail to dance.

So again:
1. Hobart
2.Vassar
3. Union
4. Skidmore
5.RPI
6.SLU
Will all be battling for 4 spots.
Throw RIT in there and it shows you how competitive a league this really is.

Oh, to have one more year of eligibility... But then again looking at SLU's young strikers, maybe not.

Mr.Right

I think Hobart if motivated and focused for every league game has a real shot at winning the title this year. They are an athletic bunch, well coached an feisty when I saw them last year.

RIT was a much better program in the old Empire 8 and I still do not understand why they have dropped off a bit in the Liberty League. They used to play LL opponents out of conference an beat them when they were in the Empire 8 but the past few years have been a major disappointment.

Union while utterly dominated at SLU in the semi-finals even after scoring the 1st goal were a young side last year. I have been a big critic of Jeff Guin's scheduling since he has been at Union but this year's schedule looks much improved except for their annual pilgrimage to play Albany College of Pharmacy. They have added some Empire 8 and SUNYAC foes in Utica and New Paltz plus they have added UMASS Boston. So there is improvement but still weak. 4 games that they will win but will absolutely kill their SOS and OWP are Pharmacy, Johnson St, SUNY Poly and SUNY Canton. So an at-large is basically impossible. They do have some young talent and I hear a decent recruiting class so they will be a tough out in the LL.

Mr.Right

#428
Forget to mention Hobart's impressive out of conference schedule.

Etown, Dickinson,Rochester, Cortland St

Plus...Utica, Geneseo St, Potsdam St and Ithica...All very decent teams which should have over ..500 W/L records

Add that to the LL schedule and we are talking about possibly close to a .600 SOS....At large berth very possible with some good wins available.



RPI's look good as usual....with Rochester, Williams, Oneonta and Dickinson.


Vassar has Oneonta and Rochester and the rest looks average....Maybe a .565 SOS

Skidmore has Plattsburgh, Cortland and Williams spread thru some very weak teams.

Clarkson and SLU playing over half the SUNYAC.

Anyway, I still feel like if Hobart stays focused, healthy, gets some help from the frosh and a little luck they could win the LL or even get a Pool C with some key wins out of conference( see 2015 RPI)

deutschfan

Another season with the astute Liberty League fans.  Hopefully more than one of the top 6 teams will make the tournament this year.  (RPI actually finished 7th last year).  In making predictions I try to consider who has graduated and who is coming back.  This is important for every team but St. Lawrence who just seems to replace quality with quality whenever it needs to.  St. Lawrence graduates a great forward who would have had a phenomenal statistical year but for injury in Ryan Grant, an All American defensive anchor in Harry Copeland, DPOY goalie Ryan Roethel, and Second Teamers Yarros and Hunt in the back.  They also a very skilled midfielder in Chandler Short who isn't on the roster.  For any other team this would indicate a down year.  Rob Brundell comes back and if fully recovered will be one of the top players in the league  and SLU will just reload starting with the ROY.  Have to pick them number 1.  Hobart is a solid 2 even though they graduate an excellent goalie in Tyler Seraphine and a stud defender in Kyle Herrod.  Derrick Acheampong could easily have been a first teamer as a freshman and will be a scary challenge for any defense.  Skidmore loses an excellent goalie in Eli Kisselbach but always is strong in the back and has another young powerhouse forward in Augustine Okoye.  Everyone else competes for number 4, and much as it pains me given last year's injustice (Skidmore or Hobart and a bunch of other teams should have gotten RPI's dance spot), have to go with RPI.  Union, last year's number 4, loses 11 goals including a playoff goal against SLU, and a 50 point career player, in Carl Faber, a hard nosed and creative workhorse.  They will really miss him up top.  RIT has some good young players but are simply too erratic to make a run.  Vassar graduates 10 including Tom Wiechert's 21 points, 70+ career points and gamewinners against SLU and RPI.  RPI loses its top scorer in First Teamer Nate Gunderson, but his 6 goals over 20 games can be replaced.  Devon Baughen, who actually had more goals but only made second team, is creative and will make up the slack.  Bard will return two top scorers, including the top scorer in the league Nick Shenberger, but their 5-0 loss in the last game of the year to Vassar with an ECAC berth on the line, and the tragic loss of their coach, will have them starting on the back heel.  Clarkson returns forward Tucker Wilcox but he is does not have the support bring his team near the top 4.  I agree that the overall the games will be closer but in the end it will look a lot like last year.         

Part_Bart

Agree with all that is noted on 2016 LL season.
Most of the schools are reporting out very strong recruiting classes. This means October games will be even more interesting.
Hobart upgraded their SOS to be sure that what happened last year with NCAA selections is not repeated, adding Cortland, Elizabethtown and Dickinson in lieu of Fredonia, Plattsburgh (alas) and Nazareth. The 30 September Skidmore at Hobart game should be worth watching as two of the four Hobart losses were v. Thoroughbreds....



Mr.Right

Quote from: Ommadawn on August 19, 2016, 06:28:19 PM
A little Friday afternoon net-surfing revealed a few interesting LL tidbits:

Clarkson's recruiting class:

http://clarksonathletics.com/news/2016/8/1/clarkson-mens-soccer-announces-class-of-2020.aspx?path=msoc

Hobart's new assistant coach:

http://www.hwsathletics.com/news/2016/8/19/bednarsky-hired-as-hobart-soccer-assistant-coach.aspx

Union's Costa Rica trip:

http://www.unionathletics.com/news/2016/8/15/mens-soccer-opens-preseason-far-from-home.aspx





I must say on paper that looks to be a great class for Clarkson. 4-5 of them come from soccer rich areas and from very good club and HS teams. Now who knows but for Clarkson this is a start and we should get a good read on opening week-end against Brockport and Ithaca and then Plattsburgh. They should have a higher than usual SOS this year, maybe a .575. A reasonable goal would be to try to sneak in the LL playoffs as the #4 seed.

Mr.Right

I have been saying this for years but with a 9 team league now and possibly 10 if they can get Ithaca a 4 team LL playoff is just insane. A team like Bard's season could be over by the beginning of October. It can be terribly deflating. If they can get to a 10 team league then a 8 team play-off would not be unreasonable as Nescac used to do it or give the #1 seed a bye and automatic hosting and play #2 v #7 , #3 v #6 and #4 v #5.