Liberty League

[Saint of Old]

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.

[Ejay]

I hated "liking" your post, but you offered a great synopsis of the current situation.

[kevdog]

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.

Well said. It is frustrating to see a once proud and established program go down this path. Iunderstand that Tosh wants to do his own path but alumni support and establishing pipelines and continuing them is key to successful programs. I think Tosh has either cut ties with them or doesn't want their input on recruting and it is shame.  I think his ego is getting the best of him.  Maybe losing will get through to him that you can't ignore the alumni or the support.  Even Durocher would cultivate a culture for support among the alumni.  As far as the captain of the most successful team in school history not being in the HOF is just a travesty.  He should be without question and i have my thoughts on why he is not but I will not share them.  Let's just say I believe politics are involved imo.

[stlawus]

It's funny how SLU is actually the biggest drag on the Liberty League right now.  The league so far has had its best non-conference performance in quite some time.  29-11-6 as it stands.   The competition hasn't been too stellar aside from Vassar but these are all wins the league hasn't been getting in previous years.

[CU_GKnight]

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.

[stlawus]

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.

I had 30-12-8 but Clarkson and RIT was a league game so I removed it.  Maybe I did miss a couple games but I did quick napkin math and that's just too much arithmetic for my simple brain.

It's not doing heavy lifting NPI wise, but as I said, a lot of these teams were losing these games in previous years.  I also think this is a very odd year across the board with lots of teams being very down.  Messiah 0-5, F&M 1-4, Ohio Wesleyan 1-2-2, Mary Washington 3-3, and not to mention SLU.

[Crossit4fun]

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.

Clarkson @ Platts should be a really good match

[Kuiper]

St. Lawrence 8 - SUNY Potsdam 1

Did St. Lawrence change around its strategy and find a magic elixir or is SUNY Postdam that bad despite coming in with a 4-1-1 record?  Either way, this is the kind of game that can be cathartic for a struggling team like St. Lawrence.  SoCal native Grant Gilmer with a goal and 3 assists jumps to the top of the St. Lawrence team for points in 2025 with that performance.

[stlawus]

St. Lawrence 8 - SUNY Potsdam 1

Did St. Lawrence change around its strategy and find a magic elixir or is SUNY Postdam that bad despite coming in with a 4-1-1 record?  Either way, this is the kind of game that can be cathartic for a struggling team like St. Lawrence.  SoCal native Grant Gilmer with a goal and 3 assists jumps to the top of the St. Lawrence team for points in 2025 with that performance.

Finally put together the lineup/formation I thought they should have rolled with from the start.  Was pretty shocking to see in all honesty. I've watched Potsdam this year and thought they looked decent, they have a win over Bard. Tied for the biggest margin of victory over Potsdam in program history, which was another 8-1 affair in 1998.

We'll see how things really are when they travel to Hobart this weekend. 

[Bartman]

Looking forward to the SLU v. Hobart match today. I follow all sports at HWS, and Hobart soccer seems to have some optimism around it this season. Interesting to read the posts by the Saints soccer fans/alums here on the current team and the great teams of the past. We'll see what an 8-1 Potsdam win means for the match today. 

[stlawus]

I don't think anything sums up the current Toshack era than what just happened 4 minutes into the game with SLU missing a penalty and then conceding one 30 seconds later.

[kevdog]

Nice goal by Hobart but that also sums the current Tosh era.

[kevdog]

This is getting to be embarrassing

[stlawus]

It's one thing if the players weren't capable, but that is not the case. They have unfortunately been coached out of the habits that make winning teams.  Every time they receive the ball you can see their body language wanting to go forward, but they been conditioned through muscle memory to go backwards.  Had a corner early but instead played it backwards with no one in the box and then immediately conceded a goal kick. That sums it up. The only way they change things is if they take matters into their own hands. The broadcast team has at best a rudimentary knowledge of what is happening on the field but even they have repeatedly pointed out how bizarre it is for SLU to not go forward.

The AD might need to start having some difficult conversations.  I've certainly had to stop myself from hitting send on an email or 2. Don't know if I can stay quiet now.

[kevdog]

These guys go on the attack and have numbers up then stop and pass the ball back, letting the defense set up. It is very annoying to watch. They also look like they have lead feet as they trap the ball and it goes 5 yards in front of them.