While I'm happy with how the Clarkson season has gone so far, especially getting a LL W at RIT I'm still thinking this is likely to be a 1 bid conference despite the better out of conference record.

Looking at Massey (not the best source but maybe the best available at this point) the LL out of conference record is 30-10-8 (W-L-T) (not sure why the difference from stlawus but close enough for an engineer to work with) but breaking it down by ranking versus:
Top 50: 0-3-0
51-100: 3-3-3
101-150: 3-1-1
151-200: 6-1-1
201-250: 7-1-1
251-300: 2-1-1
301-350: 5-0-0
351-400: 4-0-0

So it may be a better record but not sure if it is due to substantially better performance or scheduling weaker teams.

There are some big opportunities this week with:
Vassar @ Montclair St (#41)
Ithaca @ Cortland (#11)/vs Moravian (#101)
Clarkson @ Plattsburg(#56)/ @ Rochester (#102)
Union @ Williams (#4)
Skidmore @ Ramapo (#85)
RPI @ Oneonta (#64)

After that it is mostly LL matches with only 3 more matches against out of conference teams in the top 100.

Quote from: Caz Bombers on February 01, 2025, 07:02:53 PM

Quote from: stlawus on February 01, 2025, 06:55:12 PMI'm not sure what those higher expectations are. One LL title since they joined the league, a handful of tournament final appearances which included 2 under Eldridge. Before joining the league they were a below. 500 team for the better part of a decade.

I think IC is finally holding men's soccer to the standard of nearly every sport in the department, perhaps most directly women's soccer, which is to win a ton and make an NCAA tournament run more often than you don't.

Figure this sport out and they'll be only men's lacrosse and m/w tennis away from basically batting 1.000.

The way Caz stated it is almost verbatim the way it was said to me.  I also heard a mention of the Learfield Cup (which is for overall success in all sports based on showing in the NCAA tournaments) and not having gotten any points for mens soccer since Dezotell left.

Quote from: stlawus on January 31, 2025, 06:45:53 PMEveryone has their reasons.  I can't imagine it's from a competitive standpoint, it's not like he didn't have good teams at Ithaca. Got to 2 LL championship games in the last 4 years.

Based on second hand knowledge from someone I trust, the rumor is that Ithaca had higher expectations than were being delivered and he was offered the opportunity to resign.  I didn't say anything earlier, but this would make sense based on him landing at Alfred.

I don't think it was a very well held secret that Carter would return, rumor has it he was observing at last weekends ID camp.  I do think it would be a great SimpleCoach interview.  Carter has been an assistant at two of the last three D1 National Champions (Syracuse and Vermont) although not when they won the title.  It would also be interesting to get the perspective of if being a D3 head coach is a step up or down the ladder from being a D1 assistant.

I'm excited for the Clarkson team as I would consider next years seniors to be his best class from his first run and it would be great to see them finish their careers playing in the post season.

https://clarksonathletics.com/news/2025/1/23/carter-lincoln-returns-as-head-coach-for-clarkson-mens-soccer-program.aspx

Carter Lincoln is returning to Clarkson for a second-term after two years as an assistant at Syracuse.  I can says this is the best case scenario after Augusto moved on.

Quote from: stlawus on January 16, 2025, 02:54:57 PMAnother coaching change at Clarkson. Two current Liberty League openings at Clarkson and Ithaca.

I get why they don't, but Clarkson could benefit immensely from an athletic facility investment. They get decent to good athletes as is just from the school profile, but a facility upgrade would do them wonders not just from a player aspect but also to keep coaches longer than a few years. 

Clarkson is slowly trying to improve its facilities.  They broke ground on a fairly substantial project (at least for Clarkson) to upgrade the facilities at Walker Arena (old hockey arena that houses the support facilities for Hantz field) which includes the locker rooms, laundry, trainer and I believe weight room.  They are also working on replacing the aging turf, but nothing concrete yet.

Rumor is the open position won't be open for very long....

Appears as though Augusto Lima has left Clarkson for an assistant position at Holy Cross under former Union Coach Matt Brown. 
 
https://goholycross.com/news/2025/1/16/mens-soccer-holy-cross-names-augusto-lima-assistant-mens-soccer-coach.aspx

Kevdog - at least we're still young enough to remember the good old days!  The 93 SLU team was a solid team and making the ECACs in that day actually meant something.  The NCAA's was 32 teams from 8 regions and only 4 per region qualified.  In 1993 Clarkson, Cortland and Rochester all won their AQ's and Plattsburg (who was ranked 10th in the country) got in as the fourth team.  It was also a time before conference tournaments so the AQ went to the regular season champ and I think we clinched in early October that year.  I agree the 94 SLU team is the team where losing wasn't seen as an option and the program really established its identity.

STlawus - As far as criticism of current players, I don't think any is warranted.  They are all excellent players who deserve to be where they are.  I do disagree that the player quality for SLU is what it always has been. SLU had 12 different players selected as All Americans (also in a time when they didn't select 16 players for each AA Team)over a 9 year period.  And honestly there are a few more who easily should have been selections. There were numerous seasons where they had 4-5 players on the field who would be AA at some point in their career. I see nearly all of the best of the current players as comparable to the middle tier of SLU's past teams (players 6-11). In the past 9 years they have only had 3 AA's with only one year of overlap between Copeland and Dede. There is a big difference between the teams of the late 90's thru early 2000's and the past decade.  There is a big difference in trying to defend a team with multiple AA players and a team with one.  Teams from that era would be like having Sibanda, Dede, Copeland and Dimello all on the same team.  There is no comparison in the current talent versus the talent of the best years of the program. While I wish Clarkson could get a talent like Dede or Sibanda once a decade (which I don't know that we've had since Kirmse graduated in 93), it still doesn't change that these players are only coming around every 4 years or so when they used to arrive every year.

Alright....Old.Man.Rant.Over....

Just for context the two posts above were in response to a post that appears to have been removed.  The post likely would have been prime fodder for Simple Coach's show so I understand it being removed.....

I can go back to 1993 when Clarkson beat SLU 2-0 and celebrated the then Empire Athletic Association championship (and automatic qualifier to the dance) on SLU's field, but that wouldn't be nice.  But 1994 was when Andre and Manny catapulted SLU to a new level and set the stage for the greatness to come. 

I have tremendous respect for Tosh.  He used to come over to Clarkson once a week in the late 90's and train us Clarkson keepers.  He is truly a wonderful person and to me this shows his respect for the game and his dedication to making young men better, no matter what jersey they wear.  But I will say I am a little disappointed in the direction he has taken the team both in ins composition and stylistically. I also think the profile of the recruits has changed drastically and now leans towards the elites as opposed to those with a passion for proving themselves in a world that isn't always fair. I'm not sure if the pipeline to these players broke and he adapted or he changed course and that broke the pipeline.  Regardless it is sad as a fan of good soccer (but better if you are a fan of Clarkson) and seems to firmly put a bookend on a one of the most exciting eras in college soccer, especially for a school in the North Country.

You brought up alumni support and I was curious about other schools programs and the level of support they receive from alumni.  Clarkson has been doing their LetsCUgive program for the past 6 or 7 years and it typically brings in $20-25k in donations for the Men's Soccer team each year.  I noticed Skidmore did one recently and their mens soccer brought in about $22k.  Do other programs have similar fundraising and I'm curious what level of alumni support teams get.  For a team like Clarkson I know adding $25k to their budget has been game changing, but other schools with better administrative support may not see it the same way.  Despite the turn over in coaching, Clarkson has maintained and even expanded their alumni support over the past decade and hopefully this continues to push the program in a positive direction.  I was just curious what others schools have experienced.

Congratulations to Clarkson for getting a draw in Canton. This now makes them 1-26-4 since 1994 against SLU, which has made the "Route 11 Rivalry" not much of one for quite a while.

SLU certainly played an excellent opening 30 minutes and had Clarkson on their back foot and chasing the game. They really didn't seem to know how to deal with Mogul's speed.  Clarkson is typically a very well organized team that defends well.  They tend to give up a decent number of shots, but the quality of the shots allowed normally seems to be relatively low.  SLU certainly had them off their game and were getting dangerous looks leading up to the goal.  I Figured this game would either be a 0-0 draw with SLU outshooting Clarkson 20-8 or the same with Henry Brown burying a late penalty.  I guess I didn't have keeper blunder on my bingo card with two of the top 20 keepers (statistically) in the country, but that is what we ended up with.

I thought Clarkson battled back once they surrendered the goal and played their style of game for the remainder.  They didn't look dangerous but they defended well and played for a counter.  I saw this as a game to settle the top keeper in the Liberty League and I feel like Kladstrup pulled ahead after this one.

This is looking to be an interesting year in the Liberty League.  Last year there were 6 draws in 45 league games, making the cut line for the playoffs the highest it has ever been with 13 point Clarkson landing in seventh.  Through 16 games the league has equaled the 6 draws from last year already.  I'm not really sure what to think of Clarkson sitting at 5-0-6.  It is amazing to be undefeated into mid-October but feels like there is still a lot of work to be done to reach the playoffs.  With 6 points in 4 league games to date they will likely need 6-7 in their final 5 matchups.  There only remaining home league games are the double weekend with Bard on Friday and Vassar on Saturday.  Hopefully they can take care of business with Bard and get a tired Vassar team after SLU wears them out and get a result.  This means they will need to win at least 1 away game at either Ithaca, RPI or Union where they are a collective 2-6-3 in away games over the past decade.

Congrats to both SLU and Clarkson on a hard fought battle and hoping that Clarkson can continue to play well and revive the rivalry.

This makes sense.  I figured it wasn't the League Office coming up with these based on watching games and I did think it was some sort of nomination process.  The SIDs makes a lot of sense and my guest i that in Clarksons case they submitted Carter Kladstrup thinking he was the best choice and like only submitted one name.

It looks like in addition to Brown, George Charalambous was on the honor roll.  Now I didn't see the game, but unless one of his 3 saves saved the day for SLU against Potsdam it may just be that SLU always submits a few players every week while others are more judicious in their submittals, only submitting of they feel they truly deserved it.  I guess you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, so unlike the SLU team playing it around the back all day, the SID is straight to goal every week!

I am curious how the players of the week are actually selected and how much effort goes into the selection?  Back when I played (in the last millennium) I was Player of the Week (before they broke it into offensive/Defensive/Rookie) twice and remember being surprised both times as neither time did I think I did anything exceptional to earn the award. Beyond those of us who pay close attention, I don't think they mean very much and I don't put too much stock in them. 

I also think it is difficult when you try to "spread the wealth" as this can lead to illogical choices, which I think is what happened here.  Jay Jezioro's goal for Clarkson was likely the best scored by a LL player this weekend, but came in a game where Clarkson put two shots on goal.  Having watched most of the game Jay did have a great game, but more for how well he played when Clarkson didn't have the ball.  On the flip side, Carter Kladstrup (Defensive Player of Week) had an excellent game with 7 saves and did a tremendous job keeping everything tight in the back.  Carter certainly turned in a performance worthy of being player of the week. 

So did Clarkson play well enough to get two Players of Week? No.  So when you take the most deserving player and award them (Carter for Defensive) you have to decide to either give Clarkson two awards or spread the wealth.  If you spread the wealth you are looking for someone who showed up in the score line and get Henry Brown, who is an excellent player.  I also think some of these selections are a bit of a make-up for an earlier week where they weren't selected due to having multiple good options for the award. Henry Brown was on the "Honor Roll" the previous week and with 5G/1A in 6 games would actually make sense from a cumulative perspective if there were no standout performances last week.

I can't believe I am siding with SLU on anything, but I guess all things are possible.  I do enjoy the banter between the SLU faithful and hope it continues.  I also hope that Clarkson's impressive start continues and they maintain momentum through the LL schedule.

I've lurked on this board for quite a few years and posted sporadically in the past about Clarkson, mostly at the end of the season. I've wanted to post more the past few years but didn't want to talk them up when they start strong and jinx them.  I don't think my superstition worked as they fell off a cliff most seasons anyway.  So i'm going to flip that and talk them up and maybe it will help them to maintain solid form through the full season.  So hopefully I can add a little bit of perspective on the Clarkson side of the LL.

I've watched parts of two of the games so far and I think they look to be a little better team than the past couple of years, at least compared with early season.  They appear to have more of an identity as a team that I think has been evolving over the past 4-5 years and now looks established.  Here are my takes on the roster:

Goalkeepers - They are definitely strong in goal with two seasoned juniors vying for the starts. Kladstrup is an incredible athlete that is able to make the dynamic saves, but has been prone to costly mistakes, while Morelli is less athletic but does everything well and makes very few mistakes and is always consistent.  Last Year Kladstrup won the job out of preseason and lost it early on with Morelli never relinquishing it.  It appears as though Kladstrup has won it again this year so hopefully he has grown and cleaned up the mistakes that pushed him the bench last year.  This is a case of having one keeper who is always a 7.5/10 rating (Morelli) and one who is anywhere between 6/10 and 9/10 (Kladstrup).  Hopefully we see a lot of 9/10 ratings this year.

Defense - As stlawus pointed out it looks like they may be susceptible up the middle, this may be the case - currently.  Losing Christian Silvano is a big loss (2022 All-LL 2nd Team as a freshman) as he did not return this year. It also looks like Kai Endo (2023 all-LL 2nd team) is on the roster but has not played yet this season. If he does return then this defense is substantially better than what it has been the first 3 games.  Kyle Otis is another outstanding player who can play as a central defender or CDM and was out this past weekend after playing the first game.  Assuming he returns I think the center of the park will be just fine.  The addition of freshman Morgan Burke looks to be a positive if he settles into how the program plays as he has played every minute so far in a central role and plays about how I would expect a 6'4" English back to play. Outside Logan Drake is a sold defender who plays well within the system.  If everyone on the roster suits up I think this group will continue to be a strength of the team.

Midfield - Having Eric McKean back for a COVID year after a breakout season last year brings strength and a player that can drive attacks and play the attacking style they are attempting play.  Jonathan Dereka is another solid central midfielder who distribute the ball well and looks more comfortable with the speed of play in his sophomore campaign. On the outside it appears to be a steady rotation of players with none standing out yet to me as a go to player, but hopefully someone will establish themselves in this role.

Forwards - This has been Clarkson's Achilles heel for a number of years with only a couple players exceeding the 5 goal mark in a season over the past decade.  It looks again like coach Lima is trying different pieces to see if a true striker emerges.

I think that if this team gets healthy and gels they have a chance to break through into the upper half of the league this season, especially given the struggles the rest of the league has had in out of conference play thus far.  I see some talent and potential in the new class and hopefully they can grow into their roles and propel the team forward.  Sitting at 2-0-1 at this point, given who has been out of the lineup, is a solid start. I think we will know more this week with a home game against Plattsburgh (who they are 1-14 against since 2003).  They also have a stiff test traveling to Rochester in two weeks before starting LL play.

Augusto Lima has announced his first recruiting class at Clarkson.  Looks a little different than the normal incoming class and includes 12 new players (in addition to the two transfers added this spring)

Paul Rolland - Penfield, NY - WNY Flash/Penfield - Forward
Lars Stephensson - Mountain Top, PA - FC Delco/Crestwood - Midfielder
Pieter Broerse - Bussum, Netherlands - BFC Bossum - Defender/Midfielder
Cole Mueller - Alexandria, VA - Alexandria, Defender/Midfielder
Daniel Medina - Yonkers, NY - Whetaon (Transfer) - Midfielder/Forward
Morgan Burke - Ringwood, England - Millfield School - Defender
Evan Schultz - Berlin. MA - FC Starts/St. Johns - Defender
Felix Freed - London, Englad - Aldenham School/London Lions - Defender/Forward
Josh Baraka - Rochester, NY/DR Congo - RNYFC/Bishop Kearney - Midfielder/Forward
Jassem Khlouf - Jedda, Saudi Arabia - Gulf United - Midfielder
Brody Frankowsi - Longmont, CO - Silver Creek/BC United - Midfielder
Sam Pacifico - London, England - JFS/London Lions - Goalkeeper

Time will certainly tell, but maybe this will be the push they need to make a run into the top few in the Liberty League.