LL has posted a statement on their website. League games plus two out of league games and a playoff and championship. First game Sept 26. There may be one other LL school on the fence with RPI but every other school is apparently intending to participate pending approval from NY and circumstances as they unfold beyond their control.

As the final four plays out this weekend a shout out to the LL representative on the woman's side, William Smith, who play this afternoon. Great to see LL soccer in the national spotlight. It is also worth recognizing Hobart & William Smith Colleges for winning both sides of the LL championships this year which is a great achievement for the institution.

Agreed re: RPI. They looked good against Middlebury, more on front foot and controlled much of second half and overtime, just couldn't manage to score. While many point to Messiah injuries in August, Hobart and Ithaca have already beaten them, so hopefully the LL can go 3-0 v Messiah this year.

Are results from the week of league tournaments factored into final NCAA selection criteria?

Not sure Ithaca has beaten 4 top 25 teams. It looks like Messiah and RPI would be the two teams that fall into that category.

Looking across all the NCAA region rankings, the top group of teams in the east have some of the lower SOS numbers. In terms of the Liberty League is this in part due to playing Union and Bard? Does anyone know how much teams with low SOS reduce their opponents SOS? Is it minimal or significant? Top LL sides this year did their best to schedule demanding games including good SUNYAC teams, NESCAC and UAA etc. but it still seems hard to build their SOS up. Just curious.

RPI becomes the first non Hobart/SLU regular season winner in 8 years since Vassar in 2012.

SLU 18,15,14,13
Hobart 17, 16
Vassar 12

A lot of concern being expressed about St Lawrence, but they still have the most recent era regular season championships. Not sure it is possible to win the league every year and current D3 recruiting is very competitive. I think it is fair to say that there are a lot of good teams in the LL where excellent players want to play and some very fine schools that students want to attend.

I am not an expert in these matters so others will know more. However, based on SOS, record and where NCAA regional rank puts them they probably will at least get consideration if they close out strong and do OK in tournament. If they win on Saturday they will get the first round bye.

Ithaca probably will not given last nights outcome. RIT can be a dangerous team. Some strong attacking players - two good goals last night. They could be a presence in the league tournament if they get in.

Previous post incomplete - apologies

Current Massey Ratings

            Rank  SOS

RPI        12      54
Hobart   37      37
Ithaca    43      88
Clark.     101    94
Skid.      102    70
Vassar    142    110
SLU        150    76
Union     161    208
RIT        165    51
Bard       355    228

Current Massey Ratings

                  Rank   SOS

RPI

Perhaps even more surprising was RPI tie with Skidmore given Skidmores struggles so far. No doubt Clarkson is legit after tie with Hobart and win over Ithaca. All four to teams have a credible / plausible path to winning the regular season if chips fall the right way for them. Friday's RPI Hobart game is significant and the RPI Ithaca game on the last day of the regular season could decide things. RPI only team left that has not faced any of the other top four.

Hobart possessed the ball more and ended up with more shots, more shots on frame and more corners, but could not find enough quality shots. It certainly could have gone either way but Ithaca found a way to win and that is what goes in the books. Ithaca coach and players appeared to display some less than sportsmanlike behavior which as the spouse of an Ithaca grad was disappointing. Hope they are not aiming to become the Amherst of the LL.

Hobart and Ithaca both beat Messiah and NYU. Hobart beat Cortland while Ithaca tied Cortland. Both teams lost a game to a mid-table team. Hobart lost to #18 URoch 1-0. It can probably be argued that Ithaca's out of league schedule has been weaker than Hobart's.

Ithaca is ranked 11, Hobart is......... unranked. Can anyone explain this? (I imagine this question has been posed many times over many years and is unanswerable).

Upcoming game is certainly match of the week. Last years result was a pretty dominant 3-0 win in the rain by Hobart, see what happens in the rain tomorrow.

Coach Griffin at Hobart reaches 300 career wins on Saturday with 3-0 win over Geneseo. He reached 200 Hobart wins last year. Great coach who runs a really good program.

Quote from: d3d3d3 on October 31, 2018, 02:17:57 PM
Looking at that box score ... is that one of Hobart's starting backs who picked up two yellows in the second half? So he will sit vs. SLU, right?

Don't think anyone was sent off in the game so assume this is typo on statistics.

Quote from: deutschfan on October 31, 2018, 12:30:07 PM
Thanks Saint.  Good luck to SLU this weekend.  Yesterday's games, in conjunction with last year's first round results demonstrate the importance of getting that 3 or 4 seed.  Since the LL went to a six team format no road team has won in the first round.  Yesterday Skidmore had to travel on a school day more than 4 hours to Ithaca, and Vassar more than 5 hours to Geneva.  Skidmore held on for one half, Vassar couldn't last that long.  Vassar's defense was a total enigma this year.  Their goalie is excellent and made some great saves against Hobart.  But for him, and Hobart falling asleep after a goal, the score could have been 6-1.  Vassar also has last year's DPOY.  Yet they gave up 8 goals in their last two games.  One thing I noticed watching yesterday was that Vassar's midfield and forwards just don't play defense.  Maybe they were exhausted or downhearted from the Ithaca result.  They now have 10 months to find their defense again.  SLU should take notes on yesterday's game as Hobart's offense has awakened.     

One interesting aspect of Hobart's "home field advantage" yesterday was they actually played on the turf football field because grass field unplayable. Two of Hobarts best games this year were on that field, their dominant 3-0 win over Ithaca and yesterday. Vassar had a long trip either way however. Don't think Hobart goals were due to Vassar pushing forward and being stretched and one Vassar goal may not have actually been a goal, so a good result for Hobart.