Quote from: Dave 'd-mac' McHugh on December 04, 2017, 02:11:52 PM

Quote from: LM3 on December 04, 2017, 12:56:43 PM
For better or worse, DIII Benedictine seems as if they will indeed move to D2 in the 2018-19 season...everything I hear has them filing the papers this Winter. As my son plays there, it will put us in the mode of trying to understand the pluses and minues...perhaps exploring other options. Oh well...we'll see.

I know Benedictine has been looking, but there are no indications as of yet the move is going to happen - even seem to happen.

Would be interesting to know why they're thinking of the switch- so they grant athletic scholarships?  so they have a better chance (from a % basis) of making NCAA tournaments?  so they can have more fulsome off-season training?  so that the athletic competition better aligns with their applicant pool?  so they can join the conference which best aligns with them geographically or from an overall academic perspective?

FYI - one has to have the paperwork complete by a deadline in early January for there to be any chance. So, the timing is there, but I am not sure this is a done deal right now. One vote goes the other direction and it stops cold.

Quote from: Mr.Right on November 15, 2017, 01:45:12 PM

Quote from: truenorth on November 15, 2017, 07:53:58 AM

Quote from: Buck O. on November 14, 2017, 10:00:18 PM

Quote from: Mr.Right on November 14, 2017, 01:04:56 PM
I believe Van Siclien played for BC Head Coach Ed Kelly at club level. Kelly raved about him but his injuries overshadowed it all. He proved everyone wrong that is for sure.

Yep.  http://tournaments.usyouthsoccer.org/events/2012-Region-I-Championships/Game/11430/NEFCEagles/EmpireUnitedSARochester/

But why did other schools lost interest after he tore his ACL?  It's a serious injury, of course, but it's not as though the surgery followed by rehab is some of experimental shot in the dark.

The story as I understand it is that Van Siclen wanted to play both soccer and ice hockey in college.  Williams and Bowdoin were among his top choices.  Russo or Sullivan (depending on the timing) wanted him to play only soccer if he came to Williams.  Wiercinski was willing to have him play both, so Bowdoin was the fortunate recipient of Van Siclen's talents.

This is not accurate. As a coach in D3 one of the ways to get D1 talented players into your program is by being able to offer the athlete the opportunity to play 2 sports if they are talented enough. Some athletes will jump at the chance to play the other sport they love and others would rather focus on 1 in D3. Williams Men's Soccer has had a ton of 2 sport athletes in years past so I find it really hard to believe that either Sullivan or Russo would "demand" he only play 1 sport or forget it. There were most likely other factors at play.

One example of this happening was Robbie Ftorek at Union in 2005. He was a D1 Hockey player at Union but also loved Soccer and he played both at Union I believe. Finally, the D1 Hockey Coach told him he HAD to quit Men's Soccer. Ftorek told him NO and he transferred to Middlebury where he played Mens Soccer and Mens Hockey. You could make the case he accomplished a ton more in Mens Soccer than Mens Hockey at Midd as he was an integral cog in Middlebury's 2007 NCAA Championship. However,  my example is understandable as a D1 Coach has the right to tell the kid to only focus on 1 sport. A D3 coach would be crazy to do that because that is one of the advantages of getting the D1 caliber player into your program.

This is an easier concession for a NESCAC soccer coach to make (since the 2nd sport is after your season is done and everything at that point is captain's practices and lifting with no coach involvement)- it's a much different decision for the hockey coach.    I  heard a NESCAC coach say he was OK with the second sport but warned the player that others had found it difficult to pull off without forfeiting too much of the other aspects of a full college experience.    I've always thought of Middlebury as being very receptive to the 2-sport athlete- Conrad being another who also played hockey for them.

Interesting side note on that roster for Van Siclen's club team- at least 3 of those players ended up playing for Brandeis (including Ocel).  Coach Margolis' connection with Ed Kelly (presumably from his year at BC) has resulted in a steady stream of players from that club to Brandeis.  Off the top of my head, that roster also had players who went to Babson, Middlebury, Conn College, UMass, UVM and Bryant.

I only saw the 2nd half of the Messiah/JH game last night, but have read the comments here and understand it was a game of very different halves for whatever reason.  I'd agree that JH wasn't terribly dangerous in the final third, but for those of you who know the teams, do you really suppose it was Messiah's game plan to sit that deep in the 2nd half?  From what I saw, they weren't just giving JH half of the field, they weren't often giving them 2/3 before they put any pressure on the ball.  Maybe this was the period the reserves were playing, as the pressure was stepped up a bit as the half wore on (M had one guy somewhat harassing JH's two backs passing the ball laterally).  It just seems like an awfully risky strategy to cede much of the field to JH and bet on then not being able to generate anything in the final third (even by just lumping balls repeatedly into the box), and then plan on an unbelievable individual play to win the game for you (or maybe they were just playing for the tie, but after having the better of the play in the first half?).  JH cooperated, as they even wasted their opportunities on corners.

On the NECC discussion above, look for Dean College to make some serious noise.  Not sure how the rules work given their transition to D3 (whether or not there is a transition period before they can compete in post-season play), but they'll be strong in that conference.

Do any of the pre-season polls look at who has graduated and/or been added, or any other forward-looking info (eg, change in coach, 2017 schedules), or is it all based on a look backwards (2016 results)?

And are freshman ever impact players? 

We've been really impressed by Coach Taylor's marketing- he's at the tournaments, follows up with emails, send updates and videos on how they're doing and what they're trying to accomplish.  Selling the strong points of the school and explaining what he's trying to do in building a program.

He's got some obstacles in recruiting (not a recognized LL program historically, middle of nowhere, 70% guys, D1 hockey).  I never met the guy, as it wasn't what my sons were looking for (we did visit St. L- flew into Albany), but based on his marketing (based on the content, and the fact that he seems to be putting in the effort to build a program), I've recommended that kids looking for engineering give it a look.

It's U Buffalo that dropped soccer

Quote from: Mr.Right on July 18, 2017, 02:16:51 PM
I did not realize Castleton St made a major announcement to join the Little East in all sports except football starting in 2018. Very shrewd move by Castleton's President as the league they are leaving(North Atlantic Conference or NAC) is one of the worst in the country in terms of Men's Soccer. This move will give the Little East 9 teams with a representative from every New England state. It never made sense to me for Castleton to be in a league with predominately Maine schools and eastern New Hampshire and western Vermont schools except that they had one of the bigger enrollments in that league. Now they will have the lowest enrollment in the Little East by a LARGE margin but for sure much more visibility and should give them a chance to compete at a higher level in all sports and possibly give them a wider net in recruiting for all sports as 10-20 years ago Castleton State was really struggling to get kids and basically begging students to enroll. Not sure if they now will decide to build dorms, hire faculty and increase enrollment slowly

What are your thoughts about the situation at Saint Anslem?  Announced they were moving down to D3, got rejected by NEWMAC, now the whole move to D3 may be off because they can't seem to find a conference.  Meanwhile, they struggle to compete in mens soccer in the NE-10, and I'd imagine the uncertainty is just making matters worse from a recruiting perspective. 

Emerson has a turf field in what would be called SOWA (south of Washington), so walkable from "campus"- you can see it from the Expressway!  Hard to find a parking spot, but nice place to see a game (kind of the urban canyon effect).

I  bet he does well- he's a good coach, the players like him, and he's made solid connections in the local (Massachusetts) youth soccer community.  He should be able to get more players once he figures out where the school fits in the pecking order.  Lots of kids would want to be in downtown Boston, and lots of kids could be sold on the "communications" focus.  That being said, given the relatively niche academics, can't imagine there would be expectations for winning seasons.

Methinks that a change in NESCAC, if any, would be in the opposite direction.  The "professionalization" of sports at these tiny schools (complete with extended post-season play, and varsity athletes who are identified separately from the student body as a whole) is raising the hackles of faculty.  I can't see how much further they could go given the limitations already in place, and I can't imagine they'd return to prohibiting post-season play, but I could see a tightening of preferences given to athletes in admissions.

You may commend Williams and Colby for their style, but both of those coaches have to be under some pressure.  Given Williams' competition in all things with Amherst, you have to believe there is pressure to do better (make the tournament) there.  Colby has gone from challenging Bowdoin as the #1 destination in Maine for a male soccer player to dropping down to fend off Bates for the #2 spot.    Sounds like Williams brought in a good recruiting class, and the word is that the coach was proceeding with greater urgency in recruiting given recent results.  Not sure about about Colby- no evidence of an increase in urgency there.

I'd be interested to hear how often freshman are major impact players in NESCAC- I would not have thought that this occurred often.  I guess I'm questioning how much a couple of freshman backs (albeit very good ones) will matter for Williams. 

Those two backs are no doubt a good starting point for a good freshman class for Williams, but still seems they are a bit less aggressive on the recruiting side than some of their peers- one would think the pressure would be building in Williamstown.  The Berkshire back is a plum pick and likely required some work, but he was right in their backyard.   You know Tufts and Amherst will recruit hard every year, and with their recent trophies will have a good pool available- other boards show both schools also getting very good recruits in their local market.

It obviously matters what kids want, but Tufts seems really well positioned for recruiting. It has the titles and a highly regarded young coach, and its academic stature has risen to where it's almost equal to Williams and Amherst.  And unique amongst the NESCACs, it a bigger university in an urban setting with perhaps a bit more flexibility on the admissions side.   A very powerful and attractive combination for recruiting.    Negatives?  Recent move to a turf field (players raised on turf may not recognize it, but the wear and tear over 4 years of intensive college seasons adds up) and speculation that the coach will move on given his accolades. 

Having seen better looking sides lose to Tufts and Amherst in recent years, one can understand how frustrating it can be to have the better of possession but end up on the losing end.   But as noted, playing out of the back can be a high-risk proposition in a low scoring sport, and you sometimes do see teams with lots of possession without a purpose and then claim they had the "better of the ball."    For teams like Tufts and Amherst, the goal and the expectation is to be in the mix in the tournament most every year, and they speak openly of a national title as a goal, and for better or worse that level of achievement is expected by their athletic directors.  You may not like it, bit it's hard to argue with the results.  The goal is to win, and they have won.  Not to say that's the only way to go about it, as SLU or Messiah or Babson or others may be trying, but they haven't won out recently.  I've been really impressed with Messiah in the couple of times I've seem them play, so will predict we'll see them reemerge (without knowing tons about their losses to graduation and such), but the margin for error in the tournament can be so small on a cold, windy, rainy day in late October.