Okay, cardinals have their work cut out for them in the second half. Interesting first half, thought Catholic actually pressed well and put it on JHU pretty well but two transition goals for Hopkins has the cardinals on their heels. Quality finishes, no doubt about that but limited chances for Hopkins outside of that. Hats off to being efficient with the chances and hoping Catholic can get a quick one to keep this competitive.

Anyone at Stevens and know when Catholic and hop game plans to kickoff?

Unbelievable match between UMW and Amherst, congrats to the Eagles!

Off to PKs at Hitchcock field

Really good chance for Amherst 4 mins left in second OT denied by UMW

Heading to OT at Amherst, UMW with the better chances the last ten minutes, back and forth game, missed penalty is crushing if Amherst prevails.

Saved!!!!! This game is insane, still tied

PK for UMW with 4 mins left !!!

Wow incredible run by UMW that resulted in a transition for Amherst and a really nice cross and finish for the equalizer, Amherst seems to be starting to take over but UMW getting some transition opportunities.

The W&L vs Kenyon poll results are quite interesting. I guess I'm not the only one who can't fathom the possibility of Kenyon losing after their dominant first weekend. I think it's a combination of that recency bias, Kenyons incredibly successful regular season, and the fact that they've been knocking on the door the past decade and part of me hopes they finally break through. The problem with that argument is you could argue the same with W&L! Sure they haven't been as consistent in the tournament the past decade, but we all know what they did last year. Maybe for me it's the fact that Kenyon is hosting and W&L has had some puzzling results and you aren't positive that they're going to show up with their A game. Regardless, still surprised only 1% picked them to outright win the match- I still think it's the best matchup of the day.

Agreed, very well written PN, although a bit of a swing and a miss with the baseball analogy and not mentioning Catholic making the college World Series for the first time in program history last Spring! Anyway back to the sport at hand, I think the pressure of being undefeated and hosting will be too much for the Ducks- Cortland seems to be firing on all cylinders on the offensive side of the ball and they won't be intimidated.
My brain is telling me Hopkins wins this game and my heart is trying to convince myself that Catholic finds a way to win. Ultimately I do think Hopkins advances since I agree with others that it seems like they have finally found their stride offensively and at the right time. Until the first round of the ncaa tournament Hop hadn't scored more than 2 goals in a game, pretty remarkable that they only have one loss. Equally as impressive is that not only did they score 3 vs Lehman, but they backed it up the next day against a talented JCU team. The JCU result is what really suggests they may have found something offensively to go along with their stellar defense. I think it's worth noting that in addition to neither team giving up a goal in the tournament so far, neither team has lost on the road this year (CUA 2-0 on neutral field and 7-0-2 on road, JHU 6-0-3 away). Hopkins 15 shutouts in 22 matches reflects the quality of their defense but so does Catholics 11 shut outs in 20 games. Now let me have some fun and create a scenario in which this years Cinderella keeps dancing to Sunday:
- Someone on these boards brought up that JHU struggles with teams that are familiar with them, as I have previously mentioned, these two teams annually scrimmage in the preseason and they typically are always competitive games. I know it's preseason but it matters for the mentality of the Catholic players heading into this game.
- I really hate the comparison that SC and PN continually bring up between Amherst and Catholic. I strongly disagree with it even after receiving a further explanation from SC. I think what they are getting at is they believe Catholic plays a kick and run or more direct style of play going forward, both of which I prefer over calling them "Amherst lite" which for the record sounds like a terrible beer. While I still don't fully agree with that I will admit that Catholic likes looking for Siahpoosh up top and force feeds him the ball since he has the capability of doing something special and Bernlohr seems to find himself in good spots to finish. If Catholic gets Hopkins into playing their style of play and gets them out of their possession style, I think things could open up for Catholic.
- I know Catholic respects Hopkins, I am not convinced the respect is mutual. If hopkins comes out flat or is already thinking about the dragons or ducks they could find themselves down a goal and chasing the game. It's going to take a set piece goal, a moment of individual brilliance, a banger from distance or a scrappy tap in to get that lead but that's exactly how Catholic scores.

Regardless I wish all four teams good luck and look forward to hopefully some competitive soccer in Hoboken!

@catholicu_cards on Instagram posted a couple videos from last weekend, mainly of goals and big saves by the keeper

Thanks PN, great analysis as always - particularly helpful for us East coasters who are not as familiar with this region!

Lol I knew there had to be another reason I despise Muhlenberg!

Back to the tournament.... Wanted to take a look at goals for and goals against through two rounds for the remaining 16 teams. Let me start by saying obviously every teams strength of opponents differs to some extent so far, but in general this will provide a snap shot of which teams are winning with offense, defense, or both:
Chicago (6gf-2ga) vs St Thomas (4gf-1ga)
Gust Adolphus (3-1) vs St Olaf (10-2)
Stevens (4-2) vs Cortland (8-5)
Catholic (4-0) vs Hopkins (6-0)
Williams (2-1) vs Ohio Northern (1-1)
W&L (10-3) vs Kenyon (10-1)
Amherst (6-2) vs UMW (2-0)
Oneonta (7-0) vs Bowdoin (4-2)

Based on this, a couple observations/ comments:
- Impressive that 3 of the remaining 16 teams score 10 goals over the past weekend
- wonder whether GA defense or St Olafs offense will prevail
- Catholic vs Hopkins both strong defensively, will be interesting to see which one cracks
- Williams vs Ohio Northern is the battle of defenses and W&L vs Kenyon is the battle of offense (and defense), those matches fascinate me.
- I don't think UMW stands much of a chance vs Amherst but if they do I see them "getting lucky" in penalties as the only way they win.