Liberty League

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

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Mr.Right

I am not so sure Skidmore would be eliminated with a loss to SLU. They will beat Union and Bard and finish 4-3-1. Hobart does not have definite wins at RIT and at home to Clarkson. Hobart could finish 3-2-3. Not sure if the Liberty League uses win % or total points like Nescac.

deutschfan

Liberty League uses total points, followed by head-to-head, followed by who did best against the top teams in descending order which is why Union lost out to Vassar last year with the same number of points and a tie head-to-head.  After this weekend's contests SLU has No.1 locked and RPI has No.2 locked so they will be playing at home.  If Hobart beats RIT it is in and has the 3rd or 4th seed depending on what the other teams do.  If Vassar beats Bard or Union they are in.  Skidmore gets in only if they win out and Hobart loses to or ties RIT, or Vassar doesn't get a win in either of their last two games.  Union has a mathematical possibility as did Texas Tech today before TCU dropped 82 points on them.  RPI's win today probably gets them a NCAA bid if they make the LL final and similarly for SLU, although it is possible that SLU could get in with an upset loss in the semis.  Whoever 3 and 4 are will have to win the tournament to secure a bid. IMHO     

Saint of Old

Skidmore are not done until they are done.
They cans till beat anyone in the league, but now they may not get the chance.
I am sure Hobart understands this.
Luckily for the Statesmen  they just have to win and they are in.
RPI is quite a program, winning is starting to become a habit, even when they play below their standards.
They will host the opening round of the Tourney after being picked to not make the Tournament by the pre-season Coaches poll.
Vassar are always tough and it seems always manage to make the conference tournament.
Unfortunately for them, anything short of a win could make the dance impossible.
Union's year was 2013 it seems in hindsight.
I predicted Clarkson would shock a few people which they did, just didn't think they would lose to Bard.
In 2015  Bard will shock a few people.


Mr.Right

RPI down 1-0 at the half at Keene St. Keene St are an athletic team but nowhere near the talent they used to have. An absolute downpour up in Keene. RPI really have no wiggle room right now and needs to somehow get a result here.

Mr.Right

Keene St up 2-0 now. RPI looks really flat.

Saint of Old

Still think RPI is in if they can beat Vassar twice in one year.
Last year they were unable to do it and missed the  NCAA as a result.

Vassar will have to win the whole thing in order to advance.
They have lost to some very good teams (Stevens/Oneonta/RPI) but still counts as losses.

Union is now mathematically out of contention for the tournament.

Hobart is playing now for its legacy as a top conference team. They cannot afford to miss the conference tourney for yet another year in a row.

Skidmore looked deflated after losing to SLU at home, do they have one more push in them?

Clarkson/Bard can take away positives from the season as they knew they were in a rebuilding process during pre-season.
RIT is simply too enigmatic to assess.

Mr.Right

RPI faces an uphill battle. They need to beat Vassar and hopefully bunker in against SLU and get a draw. They really need Brockport and Cortland and even UR to slip up

deutschfan

I agree with Mr. Right--which makes sense if he is Mr. Right--RPI needs to beat Vassar or they likely drop out of at-large consideration.  Will 2013 repeat itself and RPI lay an egg at home?  Williams and Skidmore losses hurt RPI's strength of schedule and place the quality of those results in question (Williams actually totally dominated RPI except on the scoreboard).  As for Skidmore, I know there is a lot of respect for them on this board but in four years, with two top quality offensive players and a quality keeper, they have only gotten into the LL tourney once, and never to the dance.  They could win two of the top LL awards this year while having a losing LL record.  Likewise, same situation for Union--4 years, one LL tourney appearance, no dance.  Next year likely will be more of the same with SLU's depth and quality of underclassmen, Hobart's bounty of young talent, and Vassar's group of impact freshmen. 

Ommadawn

With the regular season in the books, I revisited the predictions made during preseason and noticed that Saint of Old and deutschfan both picked the top 6 to perfection, with the official LL preseason poll of head coaches netting 5 of the top 6 (see below):

Place. Team, Points
1. St. Lawrence, 62.5
2. Skidmore, 53.5
3. Union, 43
4. Hobart, 41
5. RPI, 40
6. Vassar, 36
7. RIT, 25
8. Clarkson, 15
9. Bard, 8

RPI and Vassar both exceeded the coaches' expectations, while Skidmore and Union did not accomplish as much as the coaches anticipated they would.  There is reason for optimism for next year for most of the teams in the league, as most of the teams received strong contributions from newcomers.  I would expect Skidmore and RPI to feel the effects of graduation most strongly.  I am getting ahead of myself, though, as the playoffs await...

Saint of Old

Lucky guesses I assure you :)

This is shaping up to be quite the conference tournament.
Vassar at this point is expected to be in the conference final 4. They are a team on the rise and have been for the better part of the last decade. They have played some good competition this year in preparation for this test against RPI. Biggest obstacle for them is that RPI is coming in with a sense of vengeance despite defeating Vassar already this season. Last year Vassar ended RPI's season, and the senior captains wont want to go out like that in back to back years.

RPI has earned regional and national respect for their consistent play and strong character. They seem to just grind out wins. They will be ready for the semi final especially after losing their last game of the regular season.
Courage has a price, and since both these teams  played a tough non-conference schedule a loss here will mean the end of the road for 2014.


Mr.Right

I thought Skidmore ended RPI's season last year. I predict RPI will grind out a result somehow. 0-0 in PK's..

Saint of Old

You are correct.  Skidmore it was.

I think RPI will have just enough to  prevail.


Mr.Right

I will be watching the game at 7pm. I wish RPI would zoom their video stream camera in more so you could see the action better. The way it is now everyone looks like peanuts

deutschfan

I grudgingly agree with the RPI pick.  RPI has strong senior leadership and experience while Vassar has been relying on youth and exuberance.  Neither team has an explosive forward  and both look to generate offense from the back and midfield.  Vassar's ball movement is better while in the mid and front third RPI is physically stronger.  Vassar's worst results have been playing on turf.  They were demolished by Kean and Stevens.  Their best result on turf was against Skidmore, but in that game Skidmore played the first half without Beek or it likely would have been a different result.  RPI played a great second half in Poughkeepsie after a lackluster first half where they could have easily been down 2-0.  I see this game similarly, RPI holds on in the first half and grinds it out in the second but Vassar's freshmen are impervious to the pressure of the situation as they have 3 years more to play while RPI's seniors are playing to delay the end of their college careers.     

Saint of Old

Big game tomorrow.
I hope both RPI and SLU make good runs in the dance regardless of the outcome.
It is very important to play good competition heading into the dance. Ditto for Cortland and Oneonta.
RPI's fire power is under-rated and they have a free kick specialist wearing the #7 shirt.
This will be a game where SLU's #7 might have to prove his worth and carry the offensive load going forward for this team.
Both squads have good senior leadership who will get the boys up for this one.

Last time these 2 met in a Conference Final in 2010 It was SLU Freshman Andrew Bednarsky who sealed the win with a great goal past RPI Legend GK Penny.
In 2012 Conference Semi Final the tables were turned and it was RPI the home side that got by on Penalties and went on to take the conference crown.

This game could be an instant classic as the above mentioned two were.
Great game for the neutral to watch (Will be webcasted for free on Sandy).
Tough game for us partisans!