As a Foxes fan I still don't believe what I saw today. I know I'm bias but I felt all 3 penalties were legit calls. The defenders were
beaten goal side each time. It seems Pep didn't wait long to improve the defense after such a thrashing. City has apparently just signed
defender Ruben Dias from Benefica.

Here is a link to quickly see how each individual school is doing. Not as detailed at the individual institutions dashboard but you can see
the number of infections per school. Once on the link scroll down to search by state or school name.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-college-cases-tracker.html

Quote from: MaturinNYC on November 18, 2019, 05:39:45 PM
But i wanted to see it again in video just to ensure my partisan eyes weren't blind. And having just watched it in slow motion, that impression stands. It just simply isn't a penalty in any league/contest i've seen. And certainly not a golden-goal penalty in OT of a really good, exciting NCAA knockout game. The contact is almost all on his chest (imagine falling from a pushup position over a ball centered under your breast plate).

PN, I have been trying to find the video without success as well. MaturinNYC, if you have a link to the video of the Kenyon v. UR game it would be appreciated.

Oh, what a difference a year makes! Babson, which won the NEWMAC regular season last year then lost to Springfield in the championship game on a last-minute goal in regulation came up short on a Pool C bid after the loss. 
WPI the NEWMAC regular season co-champion this year loses to Babson in the last minute of the 2nd OT but gets a Pool C selection (which I feel they deserve).

(2018) Babson   12-3-4     0.583      1-3-3    12-3-4   
(2019) WPI        12-3-4     0.584      2-2-3    12-3-4

Obviously, every year is a different set of circumstances but I still found it interesting how close these two squads looked on paper (albeit WPI with the slightest edge).

What a finish for Babson last night at WPI! With roughly 4 seconds left in the 2nd OT, senior Alex Crompton strikes a perfect
bicycle kick from a cross by senior Youcef Ziad to give the Beavers the NEWMAC Championship 1-0. Beavers head into the NCAA tournament winners of 9 out of their last 10.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1193329934237913099

Quote from: Off Pitch on October 24, 2019, 06:06:58 PM
Random observations on the 10/23 Regional Rankings:

* Middlebury is currently in 5th place in the NESCAC, but they are #3 in all of New England

* Keene St has the same winning % as Babson (0.667) and a stronger schedule, yet they are ranked behind the Beavers

* Babson's SOS of .553 in the Reg. Rankings is baffling.  They have played the teams ranked 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 12, yet they only have the 13th toughest schedule in New England?

* Rankings reward the strongest SOS and punish those with below average SOS - the following teams all have winning % over 0.750 but were not ranked presumably due to SOS below .500 (St. Joes 12-0-2, ECSU 13-2, Eastern Nazarene 13-1, Johnson & Wales 13-2, Maine Maritime 9-2-1, Norwich 10-3-1, Pine Manor 9-2-2, UMass-Boston 10-2-2)

* Endicott, Clark and Roger Williams must be the next three teams in the rankings given their records and SOS over .500

Off Pitch, I agree when I saw Babson's SOS of .553, it was baffling. I expected it to be much higher based on the ranked teams they had played. After a quick glance at their schedule, I think it's due to the combined record of Southern Maine, Regis, Springfield & Emerson who are 10-44-6 with a winning percentage of .216 (if I did my math correctly). While I know the formula for SOS is a combination of both OWP (Opponents winning percentage) & OOWP (Opponents opponents winning percentage), I'm guessing those four teams are dragging down Babson's SOS. Fortunately for the Beavers they got some marquee wins if they end up in Pool C.

I agree teams are being punished by low SOS's and maybe rightfully so, but on the flip side the rankings are favoring Hamilton (currently #11) way too much for their strong SOS. You need to actually win some of those games against top teams, not just play them. Their best win is against Colby (#77 in the Massey rankings). 

Quote from: Another Mom on September 30, 2019, 07:24:31 AM
Got it. I did feel all the players on the field were very talented,  and both teams scored when they put the ball on the ground and played to feet. Are there teams/games that have better soccer, though?

If the NESCAC is the (or one of) best d3 soccer conference, and Amherst is the #2 ranked team in the country, I am wondering if *all* d3 soccer looks like this?

I haven't gotten to watch Messiah play this season and I know they've had some injuries so I can't speak to their play in 2019. But last year I watched them play games against Dickinson and York and I was really impressed by how they played the ball on the ground. It seemed to me that unless they were forced to clear, everything was rolling. As a side note but speaking to your point. A few weeks back my 80-year-old mother-in-law came to watch my son's D3 team play a game. When we asked her what her impressions were of the game she said: "both teams kicked the ball in the air too much". I sometimes wonder if the coaches notice....they sure don't seem to say anything.

I guess I'll get the party started for the NEWMAC. Calling Off Pitch for some predictions, in the mean time here is the coaches poll:

2019 NEWMAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll

1. Babson (7)
2. WPI
3. Springfield (1)
4. Wheaton
5. MIT
6. Clark
7. Coast Guard
8. Emerson

I'm mostly in agreement with this, especially the top 3, although I may be rethinking Springfield after this weekend with their 0-2 start (In fairness it was against good competition in SLU & Clarkson). I think Clark will finish in the top 4.

Saint that's a big statement. Is it your believe in the new coach or have they brought in some better talent this year? Bard has really struggled to get any traction in the Liberty League. Even three or four years ago when they fielded somewhat competitive teams (by Bard's standards), I don't think they ever won more than a game in the LL.  I've kept on eye on Bard because Former head coach Jackson saw my son play in a tournament and made a pretty strong push for him. The school wasn't a good fit, but what a nice setting the campus has there on the Hudson.

Quote from: EB2319 on August 08, 2019, 02:32:18 PM
I'd keep a close eye on Springfield.  Crabill is an excellent coach. Last year they could have easily gone 18-2 instead of 14-5-1.

Springfield graduated their top two scorers and one heck of a goal keeper so they have some holes to fill, but they've been a top program in
the NEWMAC for awhile now so I am not counting them out.

Babson Men's soccer 2019 Schedule:

AUGUST
Fri. 30   (H) Western New England   
SEPTEMBER
Tue. 3   (A) Southern Maine    
Sat. 7   (A) Brandeis 
Tue. 10   (A) Amherst
Sat. 14   (H) Regis
Sun. 15   (H) Williams 
Sat. 21   (H) WPI*    
Wed. 25   (H) New England College 
Sat. 28   (A) Springfield*
OCTOBER
Tue. 1   (H) Endicott
Sat. 5   (H) MIT* 
Tue. 8   (H) Tufts 
Sat. 12   (A) Emerson*
Tue. 15   (H) Connecticut College
Sat. 19   (H) Wheaton* 
Tue. 22   (A) Eastern Conn State 
Sat. 26   (H) Clark*
Tue. 29     (A) Bridgewater St.
NOVEMBER
Sat. 2       (A) Coast Guard*

* - NEWMAC conference match

Non Conference Schedule:
Retained: Brandeis, Williams, Tufts, E. Conn. St, New England College, Bridgewater St.
Dropped: Dickinson, Elizabethtown, Lesley, Mitchell
Added: Amherst, Conn College, Endicott, Western New England, Southern Maine, Regis

SOS should be improved with the addition of Amherst, Conn College, Endicott & possibly Western New England which had a solid team last year. Four NESCAC opponents are probably the most by any non-NESCAC team.

Sorry to see that Newbury College in Brookline, MA will be closing its doors after this spring semester (https://www.wbur.org/edify/2018/12/14/newbury-college-brookline-shuts-down). Newbury's men's team was coming off a NECC conference title and their first ever NCAA appearance (3-1 loss to Cortland St.). Tough news to get before the holidays for all involved I'm sure.

Quote from: CU_GKnight on December 10, 2018, 06:07:49 AM
Also, for arguments sake, if I had to put together an all-time Saints XI team (regardless of position but with some balance) it would be Greg Sutton, Nick Hillary, Franco Bari, Harry Copeland, Ali Montacer, Jamal Ballantyne, Sam DeMello , Ryan Carruth, Manny Brito, Andre White and Danny Annan with Andrew Bednarsky and Cris Napolitano (who was one of the most underrated players I've ever seen) being the last ones left off.

CU_GKnight thanks for the history of SLU soccer. It prompted me to go to the SLU men's soccer page and look at the all-time records after reading your comments.  One name you mentioned that jumped out at me was Manny Brito. Manny has coached my sons at the club level on a few occasions. I had no idea he had such a storied career at SLU and had played first division football in Portugal for Academica. Manny is a true gentlemen and has always been someone I respect highly in the soccer profession. SLU can be proud of him as one of their own.

Did anyone catch the ending to the Merseyside Derby yesterday? What a finish for Liverpool! Imho, I think Pickford
thought he could catch the service (if you could call it that) from van Dijk and the ball carried on him and then he just got caught
in no man's land not knowing what to do with it. Curious to hear other's take on it.

Bloots, thanks for setting up the tournament challenge and tallying the scores. Well done to you for squeaking out the win over
Pelinho with the tie-breaker. Lastly, a shout out to casualfan for being the only one to pick Tufts over Calvin in the final. He overcame
a slow start in the first two rounds to almost win.