Went to the Bowdoin/Tufts game, weather was miserable!!! On a very wet surface, almost anything can happen, but after about the first 10/15 minutes, it was clear who the better team was. Felt bad for Tufts who had a hard time getting over mid field in the second half.

Now on to the semis. On paper, Williams over Middlebury and Bowdoin over Conn and Williams over Bowoin in the final. After watching the earlier Bowdoin/Conn, Bowdoin was the stronger team, but Conn is vastly improved over prior years so who knows.

Looking at the First Round games this weekend, excuse me, the Quarterfinal games does anyone see any upsets in the making?  The top 4 seeds have significantly better records so you would think not, but this is the NESCAC and it seems every year that at least one non top 4 team ends up in the final 4.  If I had to pick one upset, Middlebury over Amherst?

Saw Bowdoin/Conn game over the weekend.  Good game. Conn has a much higher skill level this year than I have seen in the past and came out of the gates very fast, but Bowdoin, thanks to a couple of good saves held them at bay.  Bowdoin slowly took over the game about the middle of the first half and while they did not have many scoring chances, made the most of them. I didn't think that Conn got as good goalie play as Bowdoin did.  Bowdoin has been playing without its top offensive player that last few games, but the other girls seem to be stepping things up.  Very entertaining game between two of the stronger teams in the NESCAC.

Got to love the NESCAC, you just never know do you?  Big win for Bowdoin as they normally have a very tough time getting points from Amherst, Williams and Middlebury.  They look like they will be very tough defensively again this year.  While its only the week 2, surprised by the records of Conn College (positive) and Middlebury (negative).  Is the peeking order in the NESCAC changing or is it still much to early to tell?

Also saw the Bowdoin/Wesleyan game yesterday. Tough day to play soccer with the heat and humidity. Haven't seem mandatory water breaks for awhile!  As the shots indicate Bowdoin controlled the majority of the play and would have won by a larger margin in regulation if not for a couple of great saves by the Wesleyan goalie.  Wouldn't read too much into one game good or bad, but Wesleyan did not show much offensive ability as the Bowdoin goalie was not credited with a single save.

Other than the Trinity v Amherst game most the team that I thought would win did, so now on to the tournament. In round one expecting Middlebury and Williams to win.  It's hard to play a team mid week and then have to come back and play them again that weekend in the tournament.  As a result, I give Tufts and Amherst a chance for the upset.  If I was forced to pick 4 winners in round one, Middlebury, Williams, Bowdoin and Amherst.  Good luck to all the girls!

Bowdoin did not have a great game at Conn College, thought they were the better team but Conn worked very hard and made it a much more exciting game than I was expecting.  Bowdoin goalie got hurt with 20 minutes to go in the game, hopefully nothing serious.

Agree with Jump4Joy, looks like home field in the tournament will come down to the results of 3 games, Middlebury v Williams, Bowdoin v Tufts and Amherst v Trinity.  Never know what will happen in the NESCAC, but if I had to guess, right now I would pick Middlebury, Bowdoin and Amherst to win.

Saw both Bowdoin games.  Hamilton was better than I was expecting making Bowdoin work very hard to pull out the victory.  Wonder if the effort on Sat took something out of the team Sun as they did not look good against Williams.  The Williams woman did something no once else has really done this year, break down that defense, score some early goals and make Bowdoin play from behind which is not their strength.  I thought the key moment in the game was a very nice save by the Williams keeper about 10 minutes into the second half.  If Bowdoin had scored there may have been a different game.  Still all credit to Williams, nice effort.

Predictions for home field in the tournament: Midddlebury, Amherst, Williams and Bowdoin?

Was at the Bowdoin/Trinity game today and frankly was disappointed as I was expecting a real battle.  Trinity started very strong in the first 15 or 20 minutes, but the Bowdoin D held.  Bowdoin's first goal seemed to take a lot of the steam out of Trinity and after the second goal it almost seemed as if Trinity didn't want to play any more.  Bowdoin played a very strong game and seemed to get stronger as the game went on, they should be congratulated for a great effort on the road!  Trinity, I expected more, and if I was their coach I would have been very disappointed by their effort.  Trinity has had a great year so far, but they might not be quite as good as people first thought.  Bowdoin still has the very strong defense, but they are improving offensively.

Saw Bowdoin v Amherst which ended up in a 0 to 0 tie.  A normal Bowdoin/Amherst game, Amherst came out strong, lots of skill, very flashy and dominated play, but had few real scoring chances due to the very strong play of Bowdoin's back 4.  Bowdoin's offensive game plan seemed to be to play the ball long to attackers who could not out run the D so few real scoring chances for Bowdoin.  In the second half, things started to open up more and both team had chances and play seemed to be a little more even than in the first half.  Bowdoin got stronger as game went on.  While Amherst dominated the stats, Bowdoin's D was very effective in keeping Amherst from getting may really good scoring opportunities.  Amherst will continue to be a strong team this year, but if Bowdoin gets that type of defensive effort they got today throughout the season, a repeat of last year's record is very possible.

Congrats to Williams for another NESCAC title, but a tremendous showing for Bowdoin this weekend.  It seems in most years that the two NESCAC finalists end up making the NCAA with in some years a 3rd team making it, but this will be interesting to see what the NCAA does between Middlebury, Amherst and Bowdoin.  Don't think all three will go, wonder if Bowdoin did enough this weekend to make it at the expense of one of the other two?

Sorry Amh63, but it is Bowdoin moving on to the finals.  Given the result 2 weeks ago, I huge upset for Bowdoin especially coming back from 2 goals down late in the game to get the tie.  Regardless of how the finals turn out should make things very interesting come NCAA selection time.

Funny year in the NESCAC, much more parity, much closer scores, much less predictable results.  I'm not sure anyone is ready to run away with the conference this year including Amherst.  The only thing that is becoming clearer at this point is who may be hosting the 4 home games in the first round of the tournament.

Have seen a couple more Bowdoin games and they might be better than I first expected.  The team is very young with around 5 Freshman and 5 Sophomores playing on a regular basis and they seem to be getting better as the season is going on.  Last weekend might not be the best indicator of the teams strength as they were playing weaker opponents, but they are improving with a good scorer and decent defense.  This weekend's game with Wesleyan is an important game for Bowdoin, they are home and need the points before taking on Williams at Williams.

Would agree about the overall parity as some of the weaker programs in the conference seem to be getting stronger. 

Went to see Bowdoin and Bates last weekend and Bates looks to be stronger than they have been the last couple of years.  Good defensively, but not much offense.  Same can be said about Bowdoin I guess.  Bowdoin has a very experienced back line and at least one good offensive player up front.  The rest of the team is young with lots of fresh and soph playing and it is still not clear just how good the team is going to be. 

Bates probably had the better of the play Sat from a territorial prospective, but Bowdoin had a little better scoring opportunities and thus the 2 to 1 OT victory.