I played late 90s through 00 and they still had the back to back games Kevdog.
Was a normal thing to play 2 games in a weekend back then and the squads were also much smaller each team...maybe 20-22 players.

Boys got softer overtime

In all seriousness though, those back to back games on the weekend really gets you ready come tournament time and you have to pley 2 game weekends to advance.

Quote from: stlawus on September 30, 2026, 08:11:07 PMEven banged up a bit SLU is finding a way to get it done. No surprise a lot of it is coming from the midfield.  Would not have ever imagined an 8-0-1 start to the season.   Get the ball up, get the ball forward, and results will come.

Between 1997 and 2016 8-0-1 was a typical start for SLU, 4 of those years we did not lone ONE SINGLE GAME.
Then we started this negative backward play and were only decent thanks to the help of two Top 10 All time players who were with the team for 7 straight years.

Very happy that a former All American Saint is running the athletic department now who recalls the magic of SLU football and the ingredients that made it happen.

Quote from: Saint of Old on October 31, 2023, 03:31:56 PM

Quote from: Saint of Old on August 31, 2019, 01:50:40 PMSt. Lawrence 2-0 down at home and playing the ball through the Goal Keeper.

Is this a joke... This style of soccer will lose many games.
PLAY FWD... The concept is not difficult.
Not sure if these boys dont understand that the point of the game is to go fwd and score or not??? NO one cares about possession unless it results in goals. Jeesh.

As you can see, some of us have been making this point for atleast 4 years.
Look, this Saint team is not the Saint team who will attack attack attack like when some of us old timers played. The boys are coached to hold possession maybe at the price of penetration. I dont love it, but it is what it is and you just have to support the team and the boys.

Just wanted to make sure that I had been indeed calling out the backwards football for a decade.

Great to finally watch Saint Football being played again.

Not sure why it took so long.

Quote from: Kuiper on September 15, 2026, 10:39:49 AMUnited Soccer Coaches Region III Ranking 9/15/26

Region III - Poll 1 - September 15, 2026
Rank   School   Prev   W-L-T
1   SUNY Cortland   NR   4-0-0
2   Hobart College   NR   5-0-0
3   St. Lawrence University   NR   3-0-1
4   SUNY Oneonta   NR   3-0-1
5   Ithaca College   NR   4-0-1
6   Buffalo State College   NR   4-1-1
7   Union College   NR   4-2-0
8   Vassar College   NR   1-2-1

Against Oneonta, I saw SLU try to play soccer in a way that makes a bit of sense. They were not playing the ball lazily backwards at all times to give the Center backs and goal keeper the most touches on the team. They were actually trying to penetrate while possessing. Passing game and overall quality can improve, but many new players and early in the season.

It makes you wonder why  for season after season SLU would not try to play forwards and not backwards at all times, how many players spent 4 years not progressing the ball, not winning post season games because we tried to reinvent football.

Wishing the boys all the best. Now atleast there is a chance of winning against good teams, or at the very lease lose games while trying to play the ball forward.

Only saw the highlights of SLU game, but seems as though they have stopped going side to side and backwards on every attacking possession, but that might just have been on the goals.

Looking forward to an interesting season in the league, and hopefully more than one LL team can dance at the end.

Quote from: Ejay on December 01, 2025, 01:35:24 PMMy Junior year we won the ECAC tournament. It was awesome. My senior year, nobody wanted to play in it. It was a frustrating year and we just wanted it over. We made the finals and it was 38 degrees, raining, with 30 MPH winds. The absolute worst game to finish your career on. I was never so happy to be subbed off in the second half. With about 15 minutes to play, coach asked me to go back in. I said, "nah, I'm good. Let one of the younger kids play".

We won the ECACs in 97' my Freshman year.
In hindsight, it was the beginning of the 60 game win streak that saw us win the NCAA in '99.
ECAC Titles are a big deal man and does a lot for team confidence and building.

I think most of us would definitely want to lace them up a few times more if given the opportunity. For the boys playing now and especially this weekend. Enjoy it man.
You will be thinking about these moments for as long as you live.

Great season by Hobart for sure.

No shame losing in OT to Messiah.

These boys and especially seniors should be really really proud.
As a league we are going to have to improve and really get whoever we send to the dance ready to make a real run.

Back in the day, SLU went to the tournament after dog fights with Hobart/RPI/Clarkson each and every year. Plattsburgh was always a difficult game as well. 

The NESCAC boys have been on fire for 2 decades because they beat each other up so much during the season, when its time to dance, the intensity is not as high as a league match.

Thats how you win a title.

Again, congrats to Hobart on a great year. These boys have a great future of many NCAA tournaments to come and the seniors can leave knowing the program is in a better position than they found it.

Hats off to Hobart indeed.
Year after year they are a very competitive program.
Would be amazing to see them climb that mountain for the league.

Secretly, I was hoping to see Vassar win so the league could have their 2nd team make the dance, but Vassar will be back strong next season I'm sure.

Quote from: Saint_Dad on September 21, 2025, 10:22:18 PM

Quote from: Saint of Old on September 10, 2025, 12:20:16 PMThe most successful captain in Saint History led the team for two seasons.
Both undefeated (39w 0losses 2 ties) en route to an undefeated National Championship.
Was a Defensive player of the year and All American during the programs most dominant era ever.

We decided to  snub him for the Hall of Fame induction  last year while 8 other men got in.

This one action cut the Alumni support in half.

We have gradually cut all pipelines to recruiting and influential alumni.
We have WHITE WASHED a team that was the most diverse in college soccer for 25 years, bringing in some of the best African/Jamaican talent the division had ever seen year after year.
We have changed our playing style from attacking possession/penetration to pass backwards at all times and keep possession in our own final 1/3 waiting to get picked off.
We have decided to only play 13-14 players and hope to not get ran through by aggressive fit players.
Nothing  that is happening to the Saints was done by anyone but Saints.

Our dominance was not put to an end, We decided to end it.

The past 8 or so seasons we have had 2 of the best players in program history (Top 10) in Jethro Dede/ Marvin Sibanda, both African players.
These two men covered many cracks which are mentioned above, but now they are gone and so are the wins this program once took for granted.

Some of us tried to send a warning, first diplomatically, then more forceful, and we were called negative and dinosaurs.

SLU has been around since 1860, the soccer program since 1962.
First 0-4 start since 1962.

2024 (Last Season) was the 25th year of the 22-0-0 National Championship in 1999 and the program decided not to recognize the accomplishment in any way.


When you cut the roots of a tree, the tree dies.

I have to agree with a lot of this. It would be nice to see more players used over the years, rather than just a couple of subs. Perhaps Tosh doesn't have the depth, or that's just his style. It's been a problem with back to back games, and injuries the last few years. Last year the team seemed to be more aggressive than the previous year, perhaps because Mogul and Brown refused to go backwards. SLU had just two losses (7 ties) with a great back line, the player of the year up top, and the best player in the league on the wing. Unfortunately they were missing two international players in the middle which would have turned them into NCAA national contenders. Jeremy with an injury, and Marco Wong losing his eligibility playing in a few pro games in Hong Kong. With those two players you would have seen a very diverse starting team (5 international players from different countries, Cyprus, Holland, Kenya, Canada, and Hong Kong).
This was a diverse team. It wasn't the Jamaican connection. Somehow that was lost. Unfortunately, SLU is not the most diverse school. It is 75 percent white, and about 2 percent black or African American. The soccer team is certainly more diverse than the student body. What we do know about the team is that Tosh recruits kids with character. Just watch them on the sidelines. And after each game. Great kids.
This team lost some talented players from last year. George was a top goalie in the region. Will Baker and Owen Lillis were two of the best defenders in the conference, The Dutchman was a leader on the field, Henry Brown could score goals and has moved on to Tufts, where he is their PK taker, and Mogul, the attacker that stirred the drink, is attempting a pro career in Portugal.
There is some talent on this team. They are a young team with only two starting seniors. I'm not giving up on this season yet.

Still not giving up on the season?

Quote from: StatesSoccerFan on November 05, 2025, 11:11:30 PMRPI also had single digit results and only 1 lone LL win which is super surprising based on how strong SLU and RPI have been in this league over the years. Very unusual for both these programs to be down this year. RPI only has two wins in LL in last two years in fact.

RPI was 4-8-5.  Got results in 9 out of 17 games.

Lets say then, SLU was the only team in the league that failed to get a result in atleast half (50%) of their games.

SLU is the only team in the Liberty League that has double digit losses (10) and Single single digit results (6) Every other team has double digit results (Wins/Ties).

Transition from Saints to Larries Complete.

Quote from: kevdog on November 04, 2025, 04:50:15 PM

Quote from: stlawus on November 04, 2025, 03:27:30 PMWith today's result, SLU achieves their first 10 loss season since 1991.  In the 63 year history of the program, there had been only 4 double digit loss seasons until this year. But I'm sure I'll watch the next SC vid and hear all about how dramatic I'm being.

That 1991 team went 3-1 in the first 4 games and then the wheels fell off so to speak. Like I have said before, Tosh needs to hit the recruiting trail hard.  I was told that Tosh was orchestra recruitier of the those great teams in the late 90's and early 2000's but I find that hard to believe since Durocher had some very good recruiting class 2009-2015.  Hats off to Vassar and Coach Hood.  Best of luck to them in the semis.

Whoever told you that the current Coach recruited the late 90s and 00s stars  was either mistaken or misinformed.

Big CONGRATS to the Statesmen for taking the league and to Clarkson for making the baby Bance.
Some of the best (and tightest) games I played back in the day was against Clarkson and Hobart, two great Programs.
Should be a very good tournament and hopefully it works out in a way that the league gets two bids from the conference. Any of the top 4 teams could win (Union has just one loss) and I wouldn't be surprised if Clarkson makes a crazy run and does something special.

Bomber program has always been a class act.
Class Program.

Also shows the tight bond of the Alumni/Susa FC and all involved in honoring a great Ithaca legend.
The games on Saturdays are fun, but the true meaning of college football is the Brotherhood that teams like Ithaca and Williams show in winning games and honoring their Brothers when they are here and also when they are gone.

The true bond formed at programs like these is not lifelong, its wayy wayy more.

The most successful captain in Saint History led the team for two seasons.
Both undefeated (39w 0losses 2 ties) en route to an undefeated National Championship.
Was a Defensive player of the year and All American during the programs most dominant era ever.

We decided to  snub him for the Hall of Fame induction  last year while 8 other men got in.

This one action cut the Alumni support in half.

We have gradually cut all pipelines to recruiting and influential alumni.
We have WHITE WASHED a team that was the most diverse in college soccer for 25 years, bringing in some of the best African/Jamaican talent the division had ever seen year after year.
We have changed our playing style from attacking possession/penetration to pass backwards at all times and keep possession in our own final 1/3 waiting to get picked off.
We have decided to only play 13-14 players and hope to not get ran through by aggressive fit players.
Nothing  that is happening to the Saints was done by anyone but Saints.

Our dominance was not put to an end, We decided to end it.

The past 8 or so seasons we have had 2 of the best players in program history (Top 10) in Jethro Dede/ Marvin Sibanda, both African players.
These two men covered many cracks which are mentioned above, but now they are gone and so are the wins this program once took for granted.

Some of us tried to send a warning, first diplomatically, then more forceful, and we were called negative and dinosaurs.

SLU has been around since 1860, the soccer program since 1962.
First 0-4 start since 1962.

2024 (Last Season) was the 25th year of the 22-0-0 National Championship in 1999 and the program decided not to recognize the accomplishment in any way.


When you cut the roots of a tree, the tree dies.