Quote from: stlawus on September 27, 2025, 04:51:06 PMI might have to start saying it, SLU is looking like it needs a complete reset.  Toshack had a decent 10 year run all things considered, but with part of that being off the back of Durocher's final recruiting class and the program's current trajectory it's getting late early as they say.  A few select players have kept things from spilling over like Sibanda and Mogul who really should be given more flowers in retrospect.  But this is just not going to cut it. Another game where players clearly want to go forward and be creative but have obviously had all of these habits coached out of them to think that their first option should be to go backwards. I know the players like playing for him, but SLU soccer is bigger than any one person.

Agreed,
Backwards again today. I saw one midfielder play the ball backwards 95 percent of the time today. I don't know that he even thought about going forward. I don't see the wingers doing any one on one move, at least not with much success. I think we were spoiled the last few years watching Mogul terrorize right and left backs. Stlawus, you mentioned that Mogul should have been given more flowers. Opposing coaches all made a game plan to stop him, double and triple teaming him. Tosh, and therefore the SLU team, did not make a plan to play through Mogul.
SLU can possess the ball, it's in the final third where it stops. It's creativity. A good game plan. It's set pieces. Risk taking. I still see free kicks in the final third played back to midfield. A rematch in the playoffs vs Vassar will be a tough matchup, especially without Diaz.

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.

Yes, Can't blame Brown for transfering. After watching the first game of the season it looks like they are certainly missing George in goal, Will Baker and Owen Lillis on defense, The Dutchman Pijpers, their best player Mogul, and their best scorer Brown. I don't see any of the goals scoring with the defense from last year. I think both the offense and defense will improve as its not an experienced team with 6 starters gone. Jeremy is needed in midfield and will hopefully be back from his injury soon.

Quote from: kevdog on January 29, 2025, 09:18:47 AMIf he does transfer he is going to be missed. I thought he was missed last year but best of luck to him if this does happen.

Jeremy was missed last year, as was Marco from Hong Kong. They were the missing piece or pieces of the puzzle to make a run in the NCAAs. Word is that Jeremy is staying. Their midfield, their weakness last year, will be much stronger this coming year. They will of course be missing their most talented player and their top goal scorer, but I expect a strong year ahead. I expect a lot from Jeremy.

Quote from: deutschfan on November 19, 2024, 06:27:14 PMSo a final post mortem on the season.  Vassar was a great side with the impossible task of winning at Middlebury after a grinding battle with Rowan that was in doubt for the first 80 minutes while Middlebury had a JV scrimmage against Hunter.  Unfortunately for Vassar their NCAA lot was set with their two non-conference losses to Brandeis and Montclair St.  In both of those one score contests Vassar was missing its best forward, Duncan Keker, who, despite being injured for 8 games still amassed a 20 point season.  Two wins in those games and Vassar might have been hosting and currently practicing for the round of 16.  While Vassar graduates some stellar seniors in Rodhouse, Liu, Hall and Keker, they have excellent quality returners especially if Tobolski is not wooed away by a Davidson (close to home), or Colgate, or Dartmouth or Amherst, or....  The last superstar freshman with 10 plus goals for Vassar was Mattie Mrlik who led them to their LL tourney title in 2016.  Mrlik's family ties to Vassar ran deep with both his older brothers being sports stars there.  Will Tobolski be like Mrlik, and Gaudiano at RPI who stayed with their schools, or Charlie Kelly who left Hobart after his boffo 2013 season with Hobart--only time will tell.   

Vassar's loss to Ithaca really killed them in the rankings, dropping from low 20's to low 40's and out of contention for an at large bid. Rankings are really tough on teams in the LL league. All teams will have an off game. A Nescac school has the luxury of having many off days and it doesn't affect their rankings, where Vassar had one off day and they lost all chances for at large bid.
Re SLU next season, I see Ogongo as more of a leader out there in the center of the field, perhaps as defending center mid. Midfield struggled this year, but Ogongo and Petrone will be a good start. We didn't see a comparable winger to Mogul in the LL, so he will be hard to replace. SLU should still be fighting for a top position unless some team gets a large influx of D1 transfers.

Quote from: deutschfan on November 12, 2024, 12:56:24 PMLL awards are out.  I am not going to rag on Brown being player of the year given his latter season late game heroics, although his ROY award last year is still irksome and kudos to the former Union player who should have won it, left for Conn College after being snubbed, and was the second leading scorer on the NESCAC champion.  What I do take issue with, and this is despite my Vassar affinity, is any team, including Vassar, having 10 players honored.  This happened a couple years ago with SLU.  This is such a diss to the rest of the league.  Vassar didn't run the table and it was trounced by Ithaca.  Ithaca also tied number 2 SLU.  Ithaca also made the league tourney and lost in pks.  It was not a bottom feeder by any means.  Yet, it has one player honored on the third team.  Similarly RIT who gave Vassar a run in the LL semis has one player honored on the third team.  Finally, Bard received no honors at all and this is a team that started 5-0.  This phenomenon of the top one or two teams loading up on the vast majority of league recognition is so high school. 

I wouldn't mind seeing more awards added.  Defenders and midfielders have a hard time being recognized.
Why not
goalkeeper of the year.
Defender of the year (field player)
Offensive player of the year
And either midfield player of the year or all around player of the year.

Congrats to Vassar.  Looking forward to seeing how they stack up against NESCACS top team. 

Quote from: deutschfan on November 12, 2024, 12:56:24 PMLL awards are out.  I am not going to rag on Brown being player of the year given his latter season late game heroics, although his ROY award last year is still irksome and kudos to the former Union player who should have won it, left for Conn College after being snubbed, and was the second leading scorer on the NESCAC champion.  What I do take issue with, and this is despite my Vassar affinity, is any team, including Vassar, having 10 players honored.  This happened a couple years ago with SLU.  This is such a diss to the rest of the league.  Vassar didn't run the table and it was trounced by Ithaca.  Ithaca also tied number 2 SLU.  Ithaca also made the league tourney and lost in pks.  It was not a bottom feeder by any means.  Yet, it has one player honored on the third team.  Similarly RIT who gave Vassar a run in the LL semis has one player honored on the third team.  Finally, Bard received no honors at all and this is a team that started 5-0.  This phenomenon of the top one or two teams loading up on the vast majority of league recognition is so high school.   

If not Brown, who would you have considered? If they're looking for offensive player, it's Brown. He had the goals, Mogul the assists, Keker missed too many games, and Tobolski is a freshman.  I'd say the two best players in the league that could play at a higher level are Tobolski and Mogul. 
Best defender who isn't a goalie? Baker Diaz.

Saint of old, I think you are being a little harsh, but I do see your points.
The team played much more direct this year, and the last two years were without overtime, which most likely would have added a couple more wins.  Regarding diversity, their star Kenyon was injured and the man from Hong Kong was watching from the stands, as I heard he played a few pro games during his year off and was no longer eligible. You would have been looking at a much more diverse team, much deeper team, and a certain national contender. Going deeper into the bench is important, especially when/if you get the the NCAAs. Hopefully more good things to come. Some really good kids and good soccer players.

PN, you referred to NCAA div 1 basketball. They have 36 at large bids, to Div 3 soccer's 21 (43 AQs). Nescac was 33 percent of those bids. Div 1 basketball probably gets all of the top 60 teams in the country. Div 3 soccer let in all of the top 33. Number 34,35,37,38,40,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50 are all sitting home. The 34th ranked team is ranked higher than 31 teams in the tournament. This is of course because there are just so many AQs.
Div 1 soccer lets only 48 in, but 26 of those are at large.

I agree with Munnytim, there are many more deserving teams than a 7-6-3, or a 7-5-5 team. One that was 2-4-4 in conference. Come on, a team with 2 wins in 10 games, twice as many losses as wins, gets an at large bid?
Some of these other teams play in very good conferences and can't afford one bad game. Vassar had 3 losses and 3 ties on the season, two to top 55 opponents and one bad day against a dangerous in conference 160th ranked team. That loss dropped them from approx 20 to 40, and with a record of 12-3-3, would have missed the tourney if they didn't win their tournament in PKs. Plenty of stories like that.
Of course, there is always controversy about selection. This year its about the algorithm. Perhaps laying some rules over the algorithm is needed, along with some tweaks?
Kids want a chance to go the the NCAAs. I'm sure this year's selection has done even more to help the NESCAC conference with recruiting. Almost guaranteed a spot in the NCAAs.

Quote from: kevdog on November 11, 2024, 08:34:53 PMThat is no excuse to have back to back games for a loss. It is the same for the other team and use to be how it was every weekend for years. Some games were not even 24 hours between games. You have to do it in the NCAA tournament so you might as well get some experience in how it is.

No excuses. And you are right Another Mom, a deep bench is very important, especially when it comes to the NCAAs, where you play back to back games. This is one area that a team like Conn College excels, and SLU will usually play 13 or 14 in a game. They will need to have a deeper bench to have a chance in the NCAAs in the future.
Vassar is an excellent team with an great style of play. Keker and Tobolski will cause problems for any defense out there. I wish them well.

Maybe they should think about borrowing something from the NHL.
Play one golden goal 10 minute period followed by 3 PKs each.
Winner gets the win and only 2 points. OT loser gets one point. If your record is 9-5-2, you have 2 overtime losses. Just a thought to spice things up and not overwork them with 20 mins. 

Quote from: deutschfan on November 11, 2024, 04:03:50 PMYou forgot in 2022 St. Lawrence advancing in PKs in Round 1 and then losing to Amherst.  While I respect SLU greatly, I rarely feel bad for them as I think they rarely get the short end of the stick either from the LL or the NCAA.  That said, their omission from the tournament this year is a travesty.  Maybe not if you go just by the NPI math but the notion that you can lose your first two games, one to a very strong Cortland team, and then go undefeated the rest of the way and not make the dance makes no sense to me.  I don't know how ties are rated but I do know that Williams had a ton of ties in 2022, was a bubble team, and made it to the finals.  The notion that 6 NESCAC get at large bids and the LL none given SLU's performance this year just frosts me.

Agreed.  Their first loss was with their third string freshman goalie, and they dominated Cortland the first half until their legs gave out in the 80th minute of back to back games.  Sure, it would have been better to have more wins than ties. But who knows if it was even possible to move up to 33 after losing the first two games. 70th with 16 in a row without a loss. Meanwhile Hamilton is 30? Anyway. Would have loved to see Mogul, Brown and Pijpers take on a NESCAC team with Diaz and Charalombous leading the defense.  The seniors will be missed, but I expect good things from them next year as well.

Rowan is the 29th seed and Vassar is ranked 39th, but 35th ranked team in tourney.  So 29 vs 35 is pretty accurate. Playing the one seed after that seems fine.  So I don't have a problem with it. I really hope they take Rowan, so we can see what a Liberty League vs Nescac game looks like.

What an amazing game! The best performance I've seen by a pair of keepers. George from SLU refused to let one go in, and his defense recorded 3 saves of their own.
Undefeated their last 16 games of the season after losing the first two, SLU will not be going to the dance. But Nescac will be sending 8?
Saint of old gave nice parting comments for Max and Sam. I concur, and would also add that Will Baker was one of the toughest never say quit defenders. Owen Lillis a great talented defender on the other side who added to the offense with his great ball skills. And the keeper, George Charalambous, who patiently waited an extra year to get his opportunity.  George showed just how good a keeper he is, in a conference with some of the best keepers in the country.
It was a shame it had to end. Congrats to Vassar. Hope you give a good showing in the NCAAs.