NEWMAC 2018

Started by TyWebb, June 13, 2018, 09:32:48 PM

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blooter442

Love that Babson have scheduled Tufts again. The former had a well-documented down year last year, but I think they will rebound this year. They are always up for those big games, and I think it will be a good mid-season litmus test for both teams. Anyone know what's up with going down to Dickinson? Another good test for them on the opening weekend.

blooter442

Wheaton has also picked up Tufts this year. Credit to both teams for scheduling a tough non-conference contest that hadn't been on the calendar in recent years.

Also interesting: Brandeis' first home game was scheduled to be Tufts on 9/21 but — while that game is still on the calendar — the Judges' home opener will be against Springfield on 9/5. Pretty interesting: Brandeis used to play the Pride on an annual basis up through Siebert's first year, but they didn't play at all in his last five years at the helm. Either way, another good test for both teams.

TyWebb


Off Pitch

#4
NEWMAC predictions

1.   Babson - The Beavers missed the NEWMAC playoffs in 2017 for first time, but bring in deep freshman class to supplement returning experienced nucleus.  This team will be improved in size, athleticism and depth.  Their return to the top of the conference standings will be dependent on a big season from Youcef Ziad (who is capable of scoring 12-15 goals) and the quick maturation of and contribution from 3-5 of the incoming freshmen.  Noah Parker will anchor the midfield and Jackson Greenspan is very solid in the back. 

2.  Springfield - The Pride are minus five starters and a coach from an impressive 15-1-3 season last year.  However, they return their two leading goal scorers (Schneider and Deckel).  This team will likely be too young to duplicate their 2017 success.  The big question is whether new coach Tommy Crabill (in from Williams) will continue Springfield's recent efforts to emulate Amherst style soccer.

3.   WPI -  The Engineers graduated their GK and defensive nucleus, so they will need to score more goals to equal their 2017 record.  Paul Beatty is the only returner to score more than 3 goals last season and will have to have a huge year for WPI to remain near the top of the conference.

4.  Clark - the Cougars return 9 starters from last year's 9-6-4 squad including leading scorer Sean Munroe, so this program should continue their upward trend.

5.  MIT - The Engineers return 9 starters including leading scorer Loukas Carayannopoulos, but this team only scored 20 goals in 2017 and will be hard pressed to move up in the standings.

6.  Coast Guard - The Bears are no fun to play due to their fitness, work ethic and underrated coach (Chris Parsons), but they simply lack the firepower to finish in the upper half of the conference.

7.  Wheaton - The Lyons graduated Amara Sesay and his 18 goals.  This will be a rebuilding season with a new coach and 21 of their 32 players freshmen or sophs

15.  Emerson - The Lions expect to show up for all games.

Futball

Babson with an excellent win on Saturday over Brandeis. Early non-conference results indicate that NEWAC could be a tough conference this season. 

blooter442

Quote from: Futball on September 09, 2018, 04:51:57 PM
Babson with an excellent win on Saturday over Brandeis. Early non-conference results indicate that NEWAC could be a tough conference this season.

That was a good (and deserved) win for Babson, who seemingly wanted it more. That being said, I generally consider Brandeis-Babson games not to be accurate indicators of form -- it's a local rivalry and the games are generally close, regardless of where the two teams are: Babson was a NE power in 2010 but visiting Brandeis (who was slightly above .500) took them to OT; Babson had a poor year last year but eventual Final 4 team Brandeis needed a late winner to get by the visiting Beavers. Still, the margin of victory yesterday (2-0) was probably fair.

All told, I'll be curious to see how Babson does in next Sunday's road trip to Williams; they have lost each of the last three to the Ephs, two of those being at home, but their last win in this fixture (2014) did come on the road. If they can win that game, I think a few heads will turn. Regardless, the NEWMAC has every reason to be confident, particularly with Saturday's result and WPI's win at Wesleyan last week.

Futball

Would not read much into early rankings  - three NEWMAC teams in early regional rankings. Babson and WPI have been tested. Clark has had a soft schedule to date but could be tested tonight against Framingham State who are off to a strong start and will be looking for a win against their second NEWMAC team in a week.

http://unitedsoccercoaches.org/web/Rankings/College_Rankings/NCAA_DIII_MEN/web/Rankings/NCAA/DIII_MEN.aspx?hkey=8152a37c-dcf4-4681-b87d-1404b6d21915

nhfan

These Babson and Springfield squads need to work on some passing. Geez...they wonder why they don't score much.  They can't keep the ball.

Futball


Heard that Springfield was not playing the kick and run game that was their bread and butter last season. Watched Babson beat Brandeis and thought they kept the ball and passed the ball well in that game. If they played at Springfield, it is the worst turf in all of New England - It is like a carpet and the ball runs fast which does not help to keep the ball. Though should not lead to giving the ball away.
Clark loses for the first time this season to Wheaton. Wheaton got a soft PK and was able to stifle the second half Clark onslaught. Wheaton keeper made some big saves. Congrats to Emerson on what I think is their first NEWMAC win in the history of the program?

TyWebb

Quote from: Futball on September 22, 2018, 06:35:00 PM

Heard that Springfield was not playing the kick and run game that was their bread and butter last season. Watched Babson beat Brandeis and thought they kept the ball and passed the ball well in that game. If they played at Springfield, it is the worst turf in all of New England - It is like a carpet and the ball runs fast which does not help to keep the ball. Though should not lead to giving the ball away.
Clark loses for the first time this season to Wheaton. Wheaton got a soft PK and was able to stifle the second half Clark onslaught. Wheaton keeper made some big saves. Congrats to Emerson on what I think is their first NEWMAC win in the history of the program?

No, Emerson also won one game in the NEWMAC during the 2017 & 2016 seasons, but still a nice win for them at the Coast Guard, which is really struggling this year after a pretty solid 2017 season.

Off Pitch

9/30/18 Preview

Clark @ Springfield:   Two teams currently tied for 3rd in the NEWMAC.  Clark (8-1) has outscored their opponents on the season 40-3, leading the conference in all games in both most goals scored and fewest allowed.  However, they suffered their first loss of the season last Saturday at home vs. Wheaton.  Also, they have beaten only one team with a winning record (Framingham St), and their opponents have a combined record of only 26-49-2.  Springfield (6-3) is playing only their second game at home this season.   Prediction:  Springfield 1 - Clark 0 on home turf with Schneider netting the only goal of the game.

WPI @ Emerson:  Surprisingly, Emerson (1-1) enters the game ahead of WPI (0-0-2) in the conference standings.  The Lions upset Coast Guard last week, but will not have similar success this time.  Emerson has only 5 goals on the season against weak competition, and WPI is too organized defensively to surrender a goal in this game to an anemic offense.  The Engineer's best player, Paul Beatty, has played sparingly in three games, but they still have enough to prevail at Emerson.  Prediction:  WPI 2 - Emerson 0.

Coast Guard @ Wheaton:  Always dangerous Wheaton surrendered just under 3 goals per game last year, but they have cut that in half so far this season.  Coast Guard is 0-3-2 away from home and that trend will continue at first place Wheaton.  Prediction:  Although the Lyons are not as dangerous offensively this year, they have enough in this game -  Wheaton 2 - Coast Guard 0.

Babson @ MIT:  Whoever can manage a goal will likely win this matchup.  MIT (4-3-1)is undefeated and unscored on at home, and the Babson (4-1-3) has only 9 goals on the year scored by 9 different players.  However, Junior Youcef Ziad returned to the lineup for the Beavers this week and scored the game winner vs New England College, and his presence might be enough to help Babson hand MIT their first home loss.  Prediction:  Babson 1 - MIT 0 in overtime.


TyWebb

Quote from: Off Pitch on September 29, 2018, 12:57:17 AM
9/30/18 Preview

Clark @ Springfield:   Two teams currently tied for 3rd in the NEWMAC.  Clark (8-1) has outscored their opponents on the season 40-3, leading the conference in all games in both most goals scored and fewest allowed.  However, they suffered their first loss of the season last Saturday at home vs. Wheaton.  Also, they have beaten only one team with a winning record (Framingham St), and their opponents have a combined record of only 26-49-2.  Springfield (6-3) is playing only their second game at home this season.   Prediction:  Springfield 1 - Clark 0 on home turf with Schneider netting the only goal of the game.

WPI @ Emerson:  Surprisingly, Emerson (1-1) enters the game ahead of WPI (0-0-2) in the conference standings.  The Lions upset Coast Guard last week, but will not have similar success this time.  Emerson has only 5 goals on the season against weak competition, and WPI is too organized defensively to surrender a goal in this game to an anemic offense.  The Engineer's best player, Paul Beatty, has played sparingly in three games, but they still have enough to prevail at Emerson.  Prediction:  WPI 2 - Emerson 0.

Coast Guard @ Wheaton:  Always dangerous Wheaton surrendered just under 3 goals per game last year, but they have cut that in half so far this season.  Coast Guard is 0-3-2 away from home and that trend will continue at first place Wheaton.  Prediction:  Although the Lyons are not as dangerous offensively this year, they have enough in this game -  Wheaton 2 - Coast Guard 0.

Babson @ MIT:  Whoever can manage a goal will likely win this matchup.  MIT (4-3-1)is undefeated and unscored on at home, and the Babson (4-1-3) has only 9 goals on the year scored by 9 different players.  However, Junior Youcef Ziad returned to the lineup for the Beavers this week and scored the game winner vs New England College, and his presence might be enough to help Babson hand MIT their first home loss.  Prediction:  Babson 1 - MIT 0 in overtime.

Off Pitch great job handicapping the NEWMAC games. The only game that really threw you was CG's upset of Wheaton, but who really saw that coming, especially at Wheaton. While you didn't
get the Babson @ MIT game exactly right, you almost nailed it. Babson scored what looked to be the winning goal early in the first OT only to have the play called off-side. I didn't see the off-sides from my vantage point, but it happened quickly, so it may have been. Awaiting video confirmation to see if they got the call right.

Off Pitch

10/6/2018 Preview

Clark @ Coast Guard:  Two teams tied for fifth, (five teams qualify for the conference tournament), Clark enters having lost 3 of their last 4.  Coast Guard, on the other hand, has 3 straight shutout victories.  Clark is more talented, but Coast Guard is tougher and is at home.  Prediction:  Coast Guard 1 - Clark 1   

MIT @ Springfield:  Last place @ First place.  MIT is scoreless in 4 of their last 7 games and enters the game in last place in the conference.  Springfield has rolled to 3 straight wins since losing at Babson.  The Pride bests the punchless Engineers.    Prediction:  Springfield 1 - MIT 0

Emerson @ Babson:  Fun fact, Babson has only trailed for 8 seconds this entire season and has 3 consecutive shutouts.  This will be four as the Beavers improve to 6-1-4.  Prediction:  Babson 2 - Emerson 0

Wheaton @ WPI:  Wheaton is somehow tied for first in the NEWMAC despite yielding a conference high 15 goals and losing 4 of their last 5 games in which they managed to score a total of only 2 goals.  WPI is also struggling to find consistency, but the Engineers have enough to pull the Lyons back into the pack.  Prediction:  WPI 2 - Wheaton 1

Futball

Quote from: Off Pitch on October 06, 2018, 12:23:04 AM
10/6/2018 Preview

Clark @ Coast Guard:  Two teams tied for fifth, (five teams qualify for the conference tournament), Clark enters having lost 3 of their last 4.  Coast Guard, on the other hand, has 3 straight shutout victories.  Clark is more talented, but Coast Guard is tougher and is at home.  Prediction:  Coast Guard 1 - Clark 1   

MIT @ Springfield:  Last place @ First place.  MIT is scoreless in 4 of their last 7 games and enters the game in last place in the conference.  Springfield has rolled to 3 straight wins since losing at Babson.  The Pride bests the punchless Engineers.    Prediction:  Springfield 1 - MIT 0

Emerson @ Babson:  Fun fact, Babson has only trailed for 8 seconds this entire season and has 3 consecutive shutouts.  This will be four as the Beavers improve to 6-1-4.  Prediction:  Babson 2 - Emerson 0

Wheaton @ WPI:  Wheaton is somehow tied for first in the NEWMAC despite yielding a conference high 15 goals and losing 4 of their last 5 games in which they managed to score a total of only 2 goals.  WPI is also struggling to find consistency, but the Engineers have enough to pull the Lyons back into the pack.  Prediction:  WPI 2 - Wheaton 1

Well done off Pitch - even called two of the scores. Three games left in regular season play and every team has a chance of finishing in the top five and qualifying for post season conference play.