Quote from: BigSoccerFan on March 22, 2025, 11:37:54 AMRowan brings in six D1 transfers. 

Well - their coach said that's where they were going to heavily leverage during his Simple Coach interview.....Prob be a few more years of this across the board as the D1 rosters get used to the player restrictions.....Doesn't necessarily feel like that promotes the D3 "philosophy" but that's one man's opinion.....

Quote from: MunnyTim on December 16, 2024, 11:02:58 AMChecking in after my one week mandated absence from the board due to serious depression.  That was a tough loss to take for the Camels.  Just a handful of thoughts.

1.  The field was really not good.  All the folks who commented on it via the livestreaming were accurate.  I walked it a bit after the game and it was about as bad as you could imagine.

2.  I need a second opinion.  I thought Amherst was lucky to finish the game with 11 players.  It seemed to me that #14 (McCarthy), who received a yellow with his first hard challenge of the day, had two fouls after that which were as cynical/physical as the first one.  Yet, no other sanction other than a common foul was given.  That was my opinion as I watched it live.  Uncertain if others saw it the same way - the partisan/homer glasses were on.

3. EnmoreCat.  I have said this before, but The Kitten is a heck of a player.  And, I would add after watching this one up close and paying attention, he is a good sportsman.  I saw several moments of really good sportsmanship out of him.  Class kid.  If we were going to lose, I appreciate the fact that it was The Kitten who knocked in the winning penalty.

That is all.  Back to my group therapy session with us sad Camels.

I was there as well and agree that overall the officiating was decent - there were certainly some additional fouls in the second half for 14 but my only criticism is that the head official didn't even pull the player over to talk/give a final warning which tends to calm things down........

Quote from: Kuiper on December 09, 2024, 01:37:41 PM

Quote from: FanofNescac on December 09, 2024, 01:16:55 PMWell answer this. Would you want Freddy Rogers over Silvester entering a Final Four?

Clearly you don't want to bet against the goalie that has an impeccable record in the most important games of the season -- knockout games. Take a look at who Conn played starting from Nescac QF all the way to the National Final. Without Silvester, they would have lost to Amherst in the NESCAC QF and lost to Kenyon.

That's why it's not close for me, he's a game changer and shows up on the biggest stage. MW's schedule does not compare to Conn's either

Once Diffley was named first team All Region I and Silvester was second team, it was going to be a difficult task for Silvester to be an All American (not impossible mind you).  Diffley was only 4th team All-American and plenty of regions' first team All Region GKs didn't even make the team.  Silvester would have to have jumped not only Diffley, but a bunch of other first team all region GKs and those voters were unlikely to do that.

agreed - one of the intangibles is PK's - which I don't think would show up in the stats or voting? still won 2 of 3 shootouts this season with 3 saves in the finals......

How Peter Silvester doesn't make this list for Conn hasn't watched him play - grabbed everything in sight today. Team lost their first PK's in 4 years and he still saved 3 in the process......

Quote from: rdanie03 on December 06, 2024, 03:39:08 PM

Quote from: Kuiper on December 06, 2024, 01:31:26 PM

Quote from: Hopkins92 on December 06, 2024, 12:53:47 PMDitto, especially the part about conference titles. Most teams post their goals on a white board or team notebook or whatever and winning the conference title is absolutely a huge deal to them.

You can see it the celebrations after they win. They go nuts.

To some of us old heads who have seen those banners hung a number of times, we might be less impacted. That's just a natural reaction. But there are folks in the Centennial who see this post as fairly annoying. Not my intent, but I would understand someone taking issue with the perceived arrogance.

Quote from: Another Mom on December 06, 2024, 12:42:21 PMCompletely agree with everything you wrote @jknezek.

I think most of the discussion on this topic is really about the psychological proposition that happiness is all relative or relative to expectations, which in the context of a team or program might be relative to what you and your cohort have done and what your school's teams have done in past years.  If Cal Tech Coach Duncan Gillis had written on the whiteboard the first practice that first season that the goal was a national championship or even a conference championship (or even making the conference tournament), it might have been so unfathomable that it would have failed to motivate the players.  I'm sure he set goals that would not have satisfied most teams.  For many, many teams, the season is absolutely a success if the team just makes the conference tournament or beats its biggest rival.  The burden for a successful program is the goals get bigger and the chances that you will reach them get smaller.  It is far more likely that every season the coach will have to console the team and convince them that they had a great season even though they failed to achieve their goals.

Honestly, every coach has to be jealous of Wisconsin-Superior. This is the most successful season ever for them and they improved from last season in a very measurable way. They beat defending national champion St. Olaf and qualified for the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history.  Last season, they lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to St Olaf by a 7-1 score.  That is a massive turnaround.  They might have a few regrets if Amherst wins, knowing that they scored two goals on them and took them to the last minute or two of double OT before losing, but the glow of getting farther than you have before and improving over last season is a far different feeling than the relief of doing what you were expected to do.

I think the Jumbos are going to have a similar feeling, knowing that the national champ is either a team they gave the only loss to(Amherst), or haven't lost to in 3 years(Conn College), having gone out in both the NCAAs and NESCAC tourney on pens.

haven't beaten Conn in 3 years either....last result was Conn win in 2021 NCAA's I believe.....

Quote from: jknezek on December 05, 2024, 10:54:07 PMPainful. Conn can't do anything if it's not a clean break. If any of those W&L chances had gone in and Conn had to chase with W&L sitting back a bit this would be a different game.

The Camels just... Nothing with the ball. All credit to the goalie. If Conn goes through this is his victory.

It was a nice free kick, I'll give them that.

Soccer is a weird and frustrating game sometimes.

yes - but game changed after goal - w&L pressed - would be a different game in any other situation

For those in attendance - the field conditions are terrible

Quote from: stlawus on December 05, 2024, 07:19:46 PMThere's technically been VAR all season it's just been up to the host institution's discretion.

got it - watched it a lot of games across conferences - didn't see it once

Quote from: gocamels on December 05, 2024, 07:16:15 PMLooks like Nuhu got injured during the bad celebration LOL after the horrible use of VAR. Slo-mo made it look 100x worse, not a great angle either. How can there be VAR in the F4 after no VAR all season?? Harsh call

no clue VAR was in play?

Quote from: Middfan on December 04, 2024, 06:34:59 AMDoes anyone have information on travel schedules for the final four teams?

I know Conn left yesterday afternoon and arrived in Vegas late last night. All teams get a set time to practice and walk the field today.

Quote from: paclassic89 on December 02, 2024, 03:46:49 PMYeah, it's Lukovic.  Who is in the transfer portal btw...

Yes - assume a medical redshirt for D3.

Its interesting that D3 has different rules - curious if anyone knows the exact medical redshirt rules (think it's playing less than a 1/3 of the season with the college's support for petition)?

I do know D3 eligibility counts the whole year the minute you practice during the regular season regardless of minutes played if you don't have a qualified circumstance.

I t

Quote from: SKUD on December 02, 2024, 03:22:04 PMCubeddu is the best injured D3 player in the country.

I think he is a great player but Amer Lukovic probably takes that title.........

Quote from: Ron Boerger on November 30, 2024, 11:41:46 AM

Quote from: FBALLISLIFE on November 30, 2024, 10:53:05 AMI know we covered from a competition perspective, but can we talk about what an absolutely boneheaded idea it was to host this tournament final in Las Vegas from a logistics point of view?  Everyone has to fly, and the hotels are nearly all sold out or in the $1000+ range for a single night.  It seems there is a 300k+ person convention/rodeo in town the same weekend (which is easily knowable) on top of Amazon, and others.  That's quite a commitment for families that want to see their kids play in the final four, not to mention the scores of young alums who otherwise would attend, but are being shut out by cost.

The NCAA also always had a travel rule that required the semi-final losers to vacate their hotels after their loss.  Are they enforcing that here, where everyone is required to fly?

Don't mind me, I'm just salty for having to spend my Christmas budget on red-eye flights and hotels.

It is boneheaded - and not the first time the topic has been raised, though I'm not sure if it was this thread or elsewhere.

The NCAA solicits bids for all its championships.  It may be that the Las Vegas bid was the only one it received for this year's championships, which is unlikely but possible.  Much more likely was that they offered some kind of financial incentives the other bidders couldn't match, because the NCAA has to pay to put the championship teams/staffs up and fly them all there.  About the only advantage to having it in Vegas is they won't have to deal with snow.

add the fact that it's a Thursday semi adds to the logistical pain......

Quote from: camosfan on November 25, 2024, 01:38:05 PM

QuoteSomething I want to add about Amherst is the lack of substitutions made. This is interesting for a team that goes complete high press to only make 4 subs on a Sunday double-header Elite 8 game..wow. Same for W&L with 5 subs.

In comparison, Midd and Conn both made 10 subs. Depth and fresh legs play a critical role at this stage
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Sometimes the substitutions hurt Conn's game, you look at the bench and say WTF they are doing, Amherst has a way of keeping key players in for very long time, remember Oko had to signal to the sideline
that he needed to come out.

I would agree at times but hard to argue with the results.....think part of Conn's formula is that the sum is worth more than the individual parts.....Not sure they've had a Oko type individual player. Burk anchors the team with his back 4 (CB's rarely subbed) and rotates everyone else. Strong players like Jaran and Scoffone still command a ton of time.

Every year they seem to have someone different step up in the playoff run... 

Quote from: Johnny231 on November 25, 2024, 10:07:02 AMDoes anyone have any insight on the other side of the bracket? I haven't had the opportunity to watch either Connecticut College or Washington and Lee play?

First off this will be a rematch of the 2021 final four with Conn coming out on top in what was considered an upset I believe.

I've watched a lot of Conn so I can only speak to that side. Strong defense (susceptible to the counter now and again) and tries to build out the back/possess as much as is allowed in the NESCAC Both strikers seem to be hitting their stride at the right time.

Conn was missing one of their starting CB's last weekend and hoping he can be fit for Vegas. As in most sports, health is king at this point of the season.