Surprise Teams so far in 2017

Started by cciw83, September 29, 2017, 08:55:18 PM

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cciw83

Here is some of the surprise teams I have noted. Will be interesting to hear about some others.

CNU - Knew they would be a good team, but watched a win against Trinity TX where CNU controlled the game and later had a good win against Emory is impressive.
Geneseo State - Any win against William Smith in the regular season merits attention.
U. of Chicago - I know they had a lot of talent coming back, but still the way they are winning and the offensive firepower is a surprise. Like to watch them.
MIT - Have not seen but 10-0 against some good competition .

The other kind of surprise:
Wheaton IL - Thought they we would return to the top tier this year with returners and strong recruiting class, but still seem to be behind UAA and some of the other top programs. Know they had tie against Washington U., but WU outshot 2-1.
Centre - Perennial NCAA, graduated AA forward and center back and strong senior class. Freshman forward brought in to replace some of the scoring and sophomore center back groomed to take over for AA were both lost for the season to injuries within the first three games. Have been experimenting since then to find the right combinations for those key positions.

gobash83

I saw MIT play last weekend and they look good. An attacking style with players who have decent speed and are confident on the ball. Was really impressed with aerial game, not something you always see. They remind me a little of last year's Wash U. team. I suspect MIT makes it to the NCAA and it will be interesting to see how they fare against some of the national competition.
"Did Wabash Win?"--Ralph "Sap" Wilson '14 (1891-1910)

CarpIsNotAFish

Any surprises must include both TCNJ and Western Ct St.

TCNJ was expected to do well but has exceeded that at 9-0.

Western has an 11-0 season, beat a top 25 team early and gets no recognition from the pollsters.

PlaySimple

Quote from: cciw83 on September 29, 2017, 08:55:18 PM
Here is some of the surprise teams I have noted. Will be interesting to hear about some others.

U. of Chicago - I know they had a lot of talent coming back, but still the way they are winning and the offensive firepower is a surprise. Like to watch them.

The other kind of surprise:
Wheaton IL - Thought they we would return to the top tier this year with returners and strong recruiting class, but still seem to be behind UAA and some of the other top programs. Know they had tie against Washington U., but WU outshot 2-1.


Chicago is very good, you're right. I've seen them on video stream a few times and I also attended a game. From my view, they're heads above WashU. There is a tendency to be a little direct at times, though. For as much as they score, I believe that they could score even more if they were a bit more patient and built up more attacks.

Wheaton is better than the record would indicate. Sure, WashU outshot them by a big margin but look at the shots that were actually on frame. That was only 8-4 in WashU's favor. Meanwhile, Wheaton outshot Luther 34-5 and outshot North Park 42-4. On the season and overall Wheaton has outshot their opponents by a large margin and has many more of those on frame compared to their opponents.

The CCIW should come down to Wheaton & Illinois Wesleyan. IWU is very good and has some good players and athletes but, unfortunately, is a little too direct in how they play. The keeper and center backs will often just kick the ball out of the back as opposed to building an attack out of the back. They will sometimes do this even when the opposition is not keeping high pressure on them. In one game of IWU's I watched the keeper easily could have rolled the ball out to a wing defender or even a central defender or defensive MF player but, instead, punted the ball to the midfield where it became a 50/50 and possession was lost. The key to beating them seems to be overwhelming them in the midfield and winning those balls that are booted out of the back. Many of the talented players that they have seem to be underutilized at this point. If they are going to go far in the postseason they'll need to play a little more possession oriented soccer and build up attacks.