Langley has carved a successful pro career as a mid/forward with Hburg, and even got a sniff with the Union based upon his world-class speed, nose for the goal, and competitive fire. I would refute the opinion that a D3 player with exceptional skill but below average MLS speed would get a serious look.

Quote from: NCAC New England on December 06, 2014, 08:39:45 AM
While certainly understandable in the midst of the excitement over Tufts' phenomenal performances, some of the attempted extrapolations in that wake are pretty silly, and are reliant on only making extrapolations in one direction.  Yes, Tufts beat Messiah and then completely dominated OWU from the opening whistle.  That said, the Tufts blowout of OWU tells us almost nothing about where OWU would finish in the NESCAC, anymore than the Tufts' loss to Conn College told us anything about Tufts' chances to go on a remarkable run to the national final and very possibly a national championship.  Tufts isn't playing for the NESCAC.  Tufts is playing for Tufts.  And right now Tufts is a very impressive team that at this point would probably be favored against every team in the country not named Messiah or Wheaton.  And if they beat Wheaton today Tufts will be an extremely deserving champion, beating quality opponents from start to finish including the 3 most storied programs in D3 soccer history.

...

I hope the final is a great one.  The set-up is great, with both teams having very good reasons going in to believe "this is our year."  Unlike yesterday for Tufts, the physical match-up should be very even.  Wheaton is as big and fast and skilled as Tufts.  Let's all hope that the officiating doesn't negatively impact the result.

Wow. What a post. Kudos!

Goodbye Amherst. I hope that your collective antics are not the subject of conversation next year.

Quote from: Mr.Right on November 21, 2014, 05:15:13 PM
I favor the NJAC because top to bottom it is a bit tougher than Centennial. I believe the top 4 conferences are very close but the NJAC style of play has been causing problems for other regions for decades.

I'd have to respectfully disagree. This year the top of the Centennial was stronger, and If you look at the bottom of each conference against each other, the Centennial performed better. Swarthmore, the sixth place team in the Cent beat Stockton and Rowan (at Stockton and at Rowan), fifth and seventh in the NJAC respectively. They lost to third place RUC (in Camden) late in the season during RUC's 9-2 run. This year, the Centennial was the third strongest conference.

Quote from: Mr.Right on November 21, 2014, 04:48:53 PM
You predict Amherst v Brandeis will be an instant classic. Any game involving Amherst might have some drama and some chippiness but the word "classic" to me means you could watch the game 10 times over. Amherst mucks up the game to much for me to watch them again in a game I have already seen.  SLU v Brandeis might have been a classic.

Well said.

Quote from: Mr.Right on November 21, 2014, 03:50:19 PM
Mr. Right's D3 Conference Rankings

1. Nescac
2. UAA
3. NJAC
4. Centennial
5. IIAC
6. Liberty League
7. MIAC
8. NCAC
9. Capital
10. Sunyac
11.MIAA
12.Newmac

The Centennial was 5-2 vs NJAC this year. That's the only qualm I have with this list.

CNU sophomore hits an absolute cracker for the win. Goal of the day.

F&M ahead but Looking just average.

GAC should feel lucky to win. They ran in circles for the first 20 minutes and were lucky not to concede. They then went to lower pressure which neutralized Dominican's superior skill. Dominican ran out of ideas and started lumping the ball in the middle before half. I'm not sure why they didn't sort that out in the locker room but the came out in the second half with few new ideas. They pressured but were caught on a counter with a nicely timed header. This was the most entertaining game so far.

There's no question that Messiah, without a blemish, should remain number one. Overall record and SOS should be the prime factors in ranking, not game scores.

Quote from: NCAC New England on September 29, 2014, 07:27:56 PM
Wow.  More negative karma after spending a bit of time trying to put something fun together that might be of some interest?  I don't get the karma thing on this site (which will probably earn me some more negative karma), but wouldn't it be more revealing (and interesting) for the reader to actually post the objection in words?  The way it is one has no idea what it is that is being responded to negatively.

I won't mess with the karma button, but your post was excellent and entertaining.

I sat through some of the second half of this match. To me, it demonstrated the worst aspect of D3 soccer: that big, strong athletes with speed can win games by blasting the ball somewhere near the box and then smashing it home after it pinballs around the scrum. It's pretty effective, but ugly to watch. This is a game plan that's also popular in the NESCAC, which always has a couple of teams that make some noise in November. Ultimately, there are a couple of teams with enough skill and poise to handle that strategy (most notably Messiah), so it's unlikely that a national title can be won using it.

Now this I like. True animosity, alt accounts, name calling. Midwest'Clown', I like the cut of your jib, coming in here and ruffling some Duhawk feathers. Keep it up. Duhawkers, don't let this Jersey scum come in here and sully your thread!

I'm going to predict a close game, with RUC scoring early and holding on to win. From what little I've seen of Loras, they are fast, skilled, relatively direct attackers. York came into Camden a similarly athletic side, were very dangerous, but were unable to break through against a stout defense. The RUC counter is pretty lethal. The one reservation that I have is if they can connect on grass. They are very good at putting their opportunities on frame on home turf. Will a slightly choppy field reduce their accuracy in the final third? They will not get a lot of good chances against the Duhawks.

Quote from: Sandy on November 24, 2013, 11:40:55 PM
An Amherst player came over to the crowd after beating SLU and started cursing them out and flipping them off too. I don't really understand why players think it's a good idea to interact like that with an opposing team's fans.

In the case of Amherst, this behavior is modelled by their classless coaching staff. It's a way of life for Amherst College Soccer.

Don't think I can make it today, but if I do, I'll say hi to any numpty wearing shorts . The volley goal from RUC was the best goal I've seen all year. Had the net not stopped the shot, It would have landed in Philadelphia. The first goal was pretty sweet as well: very little space, and under pressure, the RUC middie one-timed a curving lefty into the lower right corner.