Quote from: Another Mom on November 18, 2024, 11:05:20 AMI wouldn't say the stats bear you out. W&L outshot hopkins and had many more corners. Our gk had to make very few saves.

Fair enough.  The number of corners in that second was pretty significant.  And without having to go back and forth maybe the word is momentum seemed more on the Hopkins side as the game carried on.  As has been mentioned many times before, Hopkins does often look for the perfect set up and shot and kudos to the W&L defenders, they didn't allow too many of those.

Again, congrats to W&L and good luck...would enjoy seeing a W&L/Dickinson quarterfinal.

But being on the West Coast, little shout out to CMS...they'd have a ton of supporters if they can get to Vegas...3+ hour drive...without traffic
 

Quote from: Hopkins92 on November 18, 2024, 10:17:13 AM

Quote from: blooter442 on November 17, 2024, 08:00:46 PM

Quote from: Garden12 on November 17, 2024, 07:55:25 PMIs it possible that the Hopkins style of play just doesn't work in the tournament? Their endless possession just doesnt seem to consistently create chances against teams that are solid defensively. Maybe they sometimes make a small run but I could never see them winning the 6/6 needed to win a tournament.

This reminds me of "why does Guardiola's City run the PL winning 6 of the last 7 but only win the CL once?" Controlled possession is usually a safer bet over the course of a league season, but it can be countered in knockout situations by the right tactics and/or a little bit of luck (e.g. Chelsea in the UCL final of 2021).

Funny you mention Pep, as he is one of Coach Appleby's guiding lights. (Per an interview with Simple Coach.) Beyond the possession style, an under-reported aspect of a Guidiola team is the extreme urgency they place on immediately retrieving the ball after a turnover. Hopkins is very pesky in this regard.

To W&L's credit, they were very good about shrugging off this pressure and doing their own thing, especially in the first half. The pressure started paying off more in the second half and OTs.

Losing Andersen who was absolutely spectacular all season long for Sunday's game probably made Coach Appleby rethink his usual formation for the first half.  But obviously that was ditched in the second half and the OTs and thought Hopkins had the upper hand from second half on. 

Winning the PKs with no run-up in the conference championship (5 out of 5 makes) was pretty special.  But it did appear the W&L goalie didn't seem too concerned when he first lined up so I would guess some prep work was done.

Congrats to W&L.  Do think this group pod is wide open but think Dickinson is the team to beat.

Ironic that Hopkins went 3 wins and 1 tie this season against the teams left in this pod and is not a part of it.

Good luck to the remaining 16 with a shout out to CMS...let's go west coast.

Quote from: Hopkins92 on November 14, 2024, 10:04:29 AMThat's a good point... Or it brings up a good point... What are you actually judging as coaching staff of the year. If you are talking about growth of the program, it's hands down Dickinson. If you are talking about the body of work over the course of the season, it's probably Hopkins who had a rocky start and is now playing lights out.

Either way, not a snub situation in my opinion.

Agreed.

2023 season Dickinson took it to Hopkins 4-2.  Everyone's eyes should have been open after that.   But have to agree with an earlier post as, at least this season, Hopkins pulled out 2 strong wins against Dickinson...although that first half of the semi last Friday, Hopkins was just holding on.   But based on those 2 games and being 1st seed and winning the conference championship, seemed like the Hopkins staff deserved the coaching award.   But winning in PKs with Appleby's no step approach, well, that might be a bigger trophy.

And the point about blending in 1 year grad transfers, not always an easy thing.  Can be disruptive and not sure all coaches can pull that off.  Appleby has picked some good ones these past 3 years but it takes some massaging to make it work and keep the team playing as a whole. 

Also, a big congratulations to the 4 teams from the Centennial making the tourney.   Might have been only 3 as Hopkins nearly scored in last 30 seconds of OT but when the game went to PKs, it secured their place in the NPI rankings.

Quote from: Hopkins92 on October 05, 2024, 09:23:36 PMTo be fair, I don't think Hopkins shut things down, I think Swat came out and took the game to them.

Gemstones press in the second half was just night and day from the first half.

Would have to agree.   Game of two halves.   Looked like JHU caught Swat off guard with some great play in the first half and as SC often says (at least I think he says this) a 2-0 lead is dangerous...for the team that is ahead. 

And Swat has been building this really great play and style the last couple of years.   Their skill is/was clearly there and they were very dangerous that second half...in the same way they were caught off guard first half, JHU seemed caught off guard second half.   

Just two very skilled teams...fun to watch.

Quote from: SKUD on June 18, 2024, 02:22:57 PMPaul,

Great job, keep the content coming!

https://youtu.be/Lc6Qdy_-ZXo?si=C6zxfiT0XuupX3XB

Would love to see the hat-cam from your officiating!

Totally agree.   Such a great interview/dialogue SC.   

I'm a parent fan for a couple more years, but its these interviews that will keep me a D3 soccer fan long after he's done.   


Thanks SC.

Congratulations to Cal Lutheran...fantastic season and run in the tourney.   

Always great to see some Southern California contributions to the division 3 world. 

Plenty of so cal players sprinkled throughout the U.S. but when a local team shows its stuff, always nice.

And one last congratulations to Occidental on its run...probably still smarting it all considering how close they were against Amherst.

Quote from: Kuiper on November 17, 2023, 11:16:15 AM
One other difference between Colorado College and Ohio Northern that is probably only of interest to me, but may affect D3 student-athletes (who are, after all, students first) more than D1 athletes:

Colorado College has a 4 block system where they take one class at a time for four weeks and then move on to the next class.  Colorado Colleges' third block ended Wed 11/15 and they have a fall break until 11/27 when the fourth block starts.  On the one hand, that might mean they had a little less practice time/focus this week as they got back from Atlanta and went straight into finishing up a project or taking an exam.  On the other hand, after that, they are free and clear and can focus entirely on this weekend's games and travel etc without worrying about missed class time or exam studying etc.  Ohio Northern has a traditional semester calendar and therefore they presumably had classes all week, although they probably are saving exam prep until after this weekend (more likely after Thanksgiving break).  Not a big deal, but little stresses can sometimes make a difference below the surface that we can't see.

With no teams "out west" making it to the Final 4, now seems a good enough time to give a huge shout out to Kuiper for once again sharing an incredible amount of information and insight about the west coast teams (including Colorado and Texas) throughout the season and into the tourney. 

I always enjoy the Simple Coach/Paul Newman sessions but wondering if room for Kuiper next year to join them in breaking down the tournament field.   

Thanks Kuiper.

I would say it can be helpful but one can't overlook chemistry.   Beginning of season, Mary Washington (without any grad transfers...at least listed) handled JHU and what stood out was Mary Washington's chemistry...they looked like they never dropped a beat from last year's Final 4 team.   And remember JHU had its own success making the Elite 8.   Now that we are deep into the season, JHU chemistry does seem to be there once again.

Quote from: Gray Fox on August 30, 2023, 02:25:46 PM
The real SCIAC poll.

2023 SCIAC Men's Soccer Preseason Poll
1. Occidental, 65 points (3 first-place votes)
2. Redlands, 63 pts (1)
3. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 62 pts (1)
4. California Lutheran, 56 pts (1)
5. Chapman, 55 pts (2)
6. Pomona-Pitzer, 44 pts (1)
7. La Verne, 27 pts
8. Caltech, 17 pts
9. Whittier, 16 pts

https://thesciac.org/news/2023/8/23/tigers-picked-to-win-first-title-in-mens-soccer-preseason-poll.aspx

Enjoyed seeing how the voting played out.   Looks like a lot of coaches voted for themselves to win league.   Love that attitude.

That was such a great interview.  Thanks SC.   

If you want to have a true sense of the DIII socal mentality, Coach Rod nailed it. 

Agree with bubba beans comments on the camp.   And should also state, he was one of the few who figured out how to run them during Covid.   Unfortunately, there were limitations in place but with things so significantly restricted out here during that period, his camps were appreciated by many.

Quote from: Hopkins92 on March 01, 2023, 11:04:02 AM
Don't mean to stick my nose in, because I haven't had a kid go through this process and my "recruitment" took place in the dinosaur age, but...

Check your kid's weather tolerance. Like... Coming from SoCal, you need to make sure that if you get things narrowed down that you visit some of these midwestern and northeastern schools during February. When it's 12 degrees out and it gets dark at 4pm. Not even kidding a little. Lots and lots of folks are going to nope right out of that situation.

A lot of people go on campus visits in the spring and summer and have no idea what an east coast winter can look and feel like.

Great thread and advice.   Will say it's a shame there aren't more out west when it comes to the high academic DIIIs, but it is what it is.   If your son wants to continue playing and is looking for that high level academic school, options are just limited out west...still some great schools...just not the numbers like the midwest and east coast.   Really, think there is a bit of envy as to the number of programs/schools that exist as you move farther east.

Would definitely agree on the weather...some of those captain training nights are flat out cold right now but as far as snow, he still hasn't seen anything significant (but he's in the mid-atlantic region).   

One thing about the process is to be prepared for some rejection...good life lesson.   And if a coach doesn't respond immediately to emails, etc., doesn't necessarily mean not interested (maybe not ranked the highest on the totem poll), so continue sending periodic updates/videos, etc if its a school your son is interested in.  Funny how things work out sometimes.

Quote from: Kuiper on January 02, 2023, 06:04:16 PM

Quote from: jfreddys on January 02, 2023, 04:31:08 PM
Thank you, Viking.   

Looking at the list, should I be surprised/not surprised to see only to see 3 CA players (and 2 from the same club/MLS team) represented?

I realize the obvious with distance, potential costs, etc. but with so many high academic DIII programs in the NESCAC (and with the reputation as the top conference in DIII), is there much recruiting that goes on out West?   Or does there even need to be?

Viking (and others) have better perspective on the NESCAC picture more specifically, but I can assure you that NESCAC schools and others in the same academic caliber are definitely recruiting players in California.  Every NESCAC school except Trinity and Connecticut College had at least 1 California player on the roster this past season and Conn College's Reuben Burk has been at both Surf Cup in San Diego in July and the MLS Next showcase in Indio in December and Conn College had two players from Washington on this year's roster and has one player incoming from CA for next year according to Viking's list.

I think there's always a bit of a hurdle to get a CA player to go to school across the country, but my guess is that we're still seeing some of the tail-end effects of the pandemic in terms of player opportunities and preferences about how far away they go for school. California games were shut down longer than many other parts of the country and east coast HCs were limited (whether by budget or by pandemic concerns) in their ability to get out to the west coast to recruit face-to-face.  That affected some of these kids sophomore and possibly part of junior year.  Even last summer, when ID camps were back in full swing, pandemic concerns were still a factor with some east coast schools not holding ID camps and others limiting camps to one day and not providing accommodations for overnight stays.  That may have led some players to prefer looking closer to home for schools.

This has all eased up over the last year.  One data point is that the Occidental ID camp, which is the biggest ID camp in Los Angeles for D3-interested players (although it also attracts D1/D2 interested players/coaches).  For the first time since before the pandemic, the camp this weekend will have coaches from the east coast (Swarthmore and Bowdoin).

Thank you.   That is some great insight.

SC,

As stated previously, really enjoy your content as well and would just add a couple thoughts to the above suggestions:

1. I second the round table/panel session with the coaches on the more general questions (you probably have a feel of which ones would work well together and you might even get some feedback from the coaches themselves on who they'd enjoying sitting with).   I'm sure the coordination of something like that might be tough but it might also save you time having them sit together rather than interviewing each one individually.    The only catch is you might not to get into the more specific questions for each coach in this format (season overview, recruiting, etc...) and may still want to interview the coaches individually for that which would mean more time involved.   Certainly, don't want to put more on your plate but still a great suggestion from Kuiper.

2. Also like the idea of interviewing the players but more nearing the end of their college experience (maybe 3rd years about to move into 4th years or after their 4th year-almost a cathartic thing for the players).   Think they would still have good recollection of the recruiting experience and can really share the ins and outs of being a DIII college athlete.

But whatever you produce, I will be listening.   

Thank you and Happy New Year.

Thank you, Viking.   

Looking at the list, should I be surprised/not surprised to see only to see 3 CA players (and 2 from the same club/MLS team) represented?

I realize the obvious with distance, potential costs, etc. but with so many high academic DIII programs in the NESCAC (and with the reputation as the top conference in DIII), is there much recruiting that goes on out West?   Or does there even need to be?