I agree with the improvement in talent over the years.  I played for Messiah from 1969 to 1973.  In those days, their recruiting was very sophisticated...if you had ever seen a socccer ball when you showed up at campus you were automatically on the team.  Headed to my 50th reunion this coming weekend. Haha!

As am Old Messiah Guy from Zimbabwe, I look forward to meeting you and Sibanda in Greensboro

Quote from: Saint of Old on October 30, 2021, 03:48:33 PM

Quote from: Saint of Old on September 29, 2021, 11:56:34 AM
Great to see a tradition of African Saints continue.
An argument can be made that over a generation of Great Saints have hailed  from the motherland and have done the league and their school proud.

King Britto
King Annan
King Diop
King Dede
King Sibanda


The beat goes on and the tradition continues... in one sense atleast.

Sibanda is class man, I knew it the first 10 seconds I saw him play... will be a great Saint like his African Brothers before him.

With a name like Sibanda he must be from the province of Matabeleland in Zimbabwe.  I was born (long before Sibanda) in Gwanda Zimbabwe and played soccer for Messiah (also long ago).
Congratulations to Mr. Sibanda and the SLU nation.

"Finally, really enjoyed the Eastern announcer.  He was definitely wearing multiple hats."
"(Also, found the Eastern stream pretty charming, as that guy was clearly working with students to man the substitution horn, clock, keeping track of subs and adjusting camera angles all while calling the game.)"

And he did all that in the middle of a thunderstorm.  Well done...from an old MC Guy

Quote from: calvin_grad on November 18, 2018, 07:37:20 AM
It's predestined to be Calvin vs. Luther in the semis, right?   

Nice!  that is one of my 95 theses 

Quote from: Falconer on September 25, 2018, 03:45:54 PM

Busted again, Paul, busted again. 

In fairness to my point, however, so far West has 13 of Messiah's 25 goals in 8 games. In recent seasons, as most here realize, the Falcons haven't been scoring at the same rate people had grown accustomed to. This was true even in the 2017 season. What made that team so good was their mental toughness: they were going to score at least one goal regardless, and they did; but they often struggled greatly to get that one goal, and almost never got goals in bunches. That's a major change.  But, even in the lower scoring years, the goals have been distributed among more players. Last year, e.g., the Falcons scored 62 goals in 26 games. Robbins had 15, West 14, Thomas 9, then a big dropoff to Brandt and Brautigam with 4 apiece.

West is on a pace to score 40 goals--an absolutely unprecedented number in Falcon history. I doubt he will come close to 40 in the end, but it's also unprecedented for any Falcon to score anywhere near 50% of the team's goals.  Not even the great targets from early last decade ever got close to that. DMac had 25 of Messiah's 88 goals in 2004, and 20 of 82 goals in 2005. Matt Bills had 14 out of 72 in 2003 (when he missed 5 games to a leg injury that also nagged him in the tournament and probably contributed to the season-ending scoreless tie with Salisbury). I think Bills had at least 20 goals in 2002, but the online archives don't go back that far. I'm sure he didn't score anywhere near 50% of the team's goals in 2002.

Quite possibly, West will go down as the greatest scoring threat in Falcon history. Given the general outline of that history, that would be saying something quite significant--probably enough to make him the offensive POY in 2018, whether or not the Falcons repeat (I doubt they will).

Sorry to add more Messiah stuff to an NJAC thread
And since my screen name is OldMCGuy (please emphasize the OLD and the MC as in Messiah College) so you know where I am coming from 

I would point out that a long time ago (1973) Eddie Oostdyke from Messiah scored 31 goals in one season and in those days the season was only 16 games.  31 out of Messiah's total of 70 goals...Eddie had over 44% of the team total.


In 1972 Kent Worman from Messiah scored 18 goals out of the teams total of 43 (nearly 42%) in a 14 game season

Quote from: wchandy22 on December 03, 2017, 12:26:04 PM

Wow!  You played in the very early years (Drescher, Barr, and Sweimler).  I assume its safe to assume that you had no idea back then what the Messiah soccer program would become today.  I have been watching Messiah soccer since 1984 and wish I had the opportunity to watch you and your teams play.

Just Barr and Sweimler
You are correct "we had no idea..."
I would like to think that if you had seen us play that you may have observed the same level of intensity.  I am sanguine enough to say that you would have seen a lot less artistry.

As a Zimbabwe-born Messiah soccer alum from the late 1960's - early 70's I went to elementary school with a handful of very athletic Swedish missionary kids.  Last night's game felt like a reunion of sorts.  (Special thanks to Gregory Sager's wonderfully informative essay on North Park University.)

Congratulations to the Messiah senior class...they finally got their ring...just like every other class since the late 1990's when my nephews played there.  I also love that some of the truly important contributions were made by "unsung heroes".  That is a reflection on the team's skill, depth and character.  There are a lot of subs there who could start almost anywhere else.  It is just nice that they can still get their names in the pantheon of heroes from time to time.

Of course, there is no way that I would ever have been recruited to play for the recent iterations of Messiah teams...Way...Too...Slow!.  However, in my day, if you had ever touched a round, leather ball with your feet you were automatically on the team.

Congratulations to the Vikings, they played a very spirited game and I am sure they will be back.  They showed great skill and their coaches demonstrated an uncanny ability to adapt their strategy quickly to the take the best possible advantage of the situations in each of their games in the tournament.

Congratulations to Brandeis.  They are truly a class organization.  The discipline, character and demeanor of the players in each of their games no matter the outcome was truly exemplary.  They showed what D3 sports...and life in general...should be like.

Congratulations to Chicago.  I wish Messiah had the chance to play them, but they scared me more than any other team.  So much skill!  Maybe next year.

Finally, thanks to the active participants (Right, Blooter, Newman, Falconer, Weasel, FirstPlace and many others) on this forum and all the folks behind the scenes that make it work.  It has been a fun year. Thanks!

Scott Frey, Messiah College women's soccer. In his 15 seasons at the helm, his teams have collected an astounding 318-17-17-- a winning percentage of .928 that makes him the winningest active NCAA Division III coach-- among men's or women's soccer-- with 10 or more years of experience.  Frey's teams have earned five NCAA Division III National Championships, including two-straight in 2011 and 2012. Altogether across his 15 years at Messiah, Frey's teams have advanced to 14 NCAA Championships and ten "Final Fours." They have finished as the national runner-up three times.  This year 10-0-1,  keeping it going!

As an old Messiah fan, I want to congratulate Tufts.  They played a terrific game.  They earned the win and they deserved the win.
Great run for the Messiah seniors.  I am proud of their soccer accomplishments and the character with which they achieved those accomplishments.  I wish them the same success in the rest of their lives. (Of course, that goes for the seniors on all the other tournament teams as well).
I think this is the first Final 4 since 2003 without a Messiah Mens or Womens team involved.  Weasel will correct me if I am wrong 

Messiah over York(PA) 5-0 in a game that was closer than the final score.  First half was pretty even, with York creating the better opportunities.  Second half, Messiah finished their chances.

NCAC, 

I don't know if this appropriate behavior on a message board.  But I think we can AGREE to AGREE.  Although privately I hope you are forced to watch a few more Messiah broadcasts this year and hopefully into the tournament...with the sound turned off, of course.  Have an excellent day.

Just a word in defense of the Messiah announcers from an old Messiah soccer alum from the 1970's.  The announcers admit to being "homers" and partisans on almost every broadcast.  While I do not know them personally, they are not students pursuing journalism majors doing this for college credit or financial aid, they are fans with families and careers who volunteer their time to broadcast the games and they even cook the food for the tailgates before the games.  Because of the service/missional nature of the college, alums and particularly soccer alums are scattered all over north,south and central America and also Africa, Asia and Europe and a few islands in between.  The announcers have been doing this as a service to Messiah fans for years, long before HD video came along, and those of us who don't get to attend the games appreciate the analysis from the perspective of announcers who are fans but who clearly understand the "Messiah system".  Now that Messiah has recently gained some small measure of national success and as a result the audience may have expanded beyond that handful of fans, perhaps they will have to reconsider their broadcasting approach so I will not argue with the concerns expressed above.  However, I thought the Messiah announcers effusive praise of Dickinson's play, both their skill and their intensity for the last 25 minutes of last night's game clearly demonstrated their love for the beautiful game when well played.  Further, I believe the announcer's enthusiasm keeps Messiah fans connected to the college and the team  and partially explains why Messiah has the fan support that it does.  Home game average attendance =1800, away game average attendance =200.  Maybe North American soccer needs more of that informed partisanship :-).  I am not trying to pick a fight, start a flame war or highjack a thread to make this Messiah-centric.  Just explaining what I love about the announcers.