Quote from: NCAC New England on October 12, 2014, 11:21:09 AM
Wheaton(Ill) indeed is a strong final four candidate and arguably one of the few teams equipped to go head-to-head against Messiah.

Upstarts Gordon and Lycoming have now dropped two in a row.

Dickinson wins impressively against a red-hot Haverford squad and are looking like a worthy challenger to F&M.  Gettysburg has gone in a tailspin, so Muhlenberg and Haverford seem to be the other Centennial bid candidates at the moment.

The Salisbury loss was surprising, as the Sea Gulls seem to be a popular darkhorse choice nationally.  CNU stumbles to a draw at Frostburg, and York just continues to lose.


CNU did not STUMBLE.  FSU has the 3rd best defense in the country.  Jalon Brown did not know what to do and after watching this it is evident that he is in a more difficult conference.  Its amazing that FSU started, I believe 6 or 8 freshman against this nationally ranked team and held them off. 
Rutgers-Newark has won 13 in a row, and has played 15 games overall (while many schools have only played 11 or 12).  Montclair quietly has rattled off 7 wins in a row since a loss to Messiah, and don't look now but Rutgers-Camden at 8-6 overall is 4-1 in the NJAC.

Oneonta keeps rolling, and in the Liberty SLU has won 7 straight with RPI and Vassar still in a good position.

Carnegie Mellon and Chicago remarkably sit atop the UAA, and Chicago suddenly looks viable with a huge road win at previously unbeaten Emory and what must be one of the highest SOSs in the country.  Wash U currently is in the UAA basement at 0-2.  Rochester came through in a game it really had to win against powerhouse Brandeis.

Calvin has run off 10 straight.

Tufts is looking more and more legit and should be a formidable NCAA tournament foe.  Middlebury, who some viewed as a strong contender for #2 in the NESCAC has slumped.  Williams (don't count them out unless they are mathematically eliminated) got a massive win at home over Wesleyan just when I thought the Cardinals were ready to separate themselves as a top 3 NESCAC squad.

The Loras crowd seems more subdued than usual.  They remain positioned just fine while not blowing everyone out.  Is Loras vulnerable or are they just treading water until tourney time?  A big clash at home next Saturday with Luther looms.

Quote from: repete on October 09, 2014, 04:26:10 PM
Ballboy:

Don't know if you're out there lurking but if you are ... I'm glad you provided those names for the FSU recruits. I saw them play at Hopkins a while back, not the best game overall but Strine and Basham are both very solid and fit in nicely. Very tough sked ahead for FSU, though, with CNU this weekend. If you're a Frederick guy, it looks like Hood is also getting it together a bit this fall.

Hey Repete;  Im not a Frederick guy, I'm an Olney guy but I have watched this set of boys for years and talked to DIII coaches such as McDaniel, Stevenson, etc who thought they couldn't recruit that set because of talent.  Im still on board with you that they are potentially higher quality players that really just wanted to stay close to home but because of "now" limited D1 choices in state they went DIII.  However as freshmen they are holding FSU together it seems.  You are right Big Game today vs CNU.  Brown is legit and should pose a problem for the #3 ranked defense in country.  I'm still routing for the underdog!!!

So repete,  to redeem my "baseless" thought and through some research I found that one player (Hunter Strine- FC Frederick) was recruited by Radford, Shippensburg, loch haven and JMU among others.  (Ben Yount-Delaware Rush) and (Brett Basham-FC Frederick) had looks from Div II and I believe Elon.  These kids have committed to Frostburg (why I dont know but obviuosly have some talent).  Strine is listed as a 3 star recruit in topdrawer soccer for what that is worth but nonetheless Frostburg seems to be recruiting better players.  My original post however was not meant to be a Frostburg session, I just truly believe that there is some great talent in these very local teams and some of the players actually want to stay close to home.  You wont hear more from me, I've been red-carded.

See this is why people don't want to post because of negative reactions to positive posts.  Why not Frostburg, is that the worst school in the world for soccer?  I'm not associated with any of these kids that are going there but I surely have watched most of them for the past 4 years and I have talked to many D1 coaches who have commented on them.  Great clubs such as Olney Rangers, Bays and FC Frederick are producing good Maryland players who "I guess" want to stay close to home.  I understand that 1 player from Olney and 4 from FC Frederick are heading their way.  I only wanted to have a decent debate because I believe in the players from this region and they are very competitive nationally. Sorry about being the possibility of being a one-post wonder.  You obviously have not watched many Highly ranked region 1 teams.

Lets not forget the Capital Athletic Conference.  Some pretty good teams such as Salisbury and York.  I have been told that Frostburg State has a great recruiting class this year and may be very strong.  It seems that there was some heavily recruited D1 players that decided to stay in DIII.