Assuming you're referring to Diffley. He's good and had his moments in prior seasons but I think the awards he won this season had more to do with previous success.

Wiliams hasn't beat Conn since 2013 too so when it comes down to Silvester v Diffley matchups its not close.

Who

Well 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

Peter Silvester is the best goalie in the nation.

I don't think its close.

Something 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

Probably missed it but is there a video/link of the controversial no call/foul in the Messiah Williams game?

Not sure which player it was on Buff State, but the first kick taker in the shootout did a Panenka down the middle

I feel like the Tufts era of utter-dominance is over under Dezotell.

The best season was his first season (2021) when they were being carried by the super seniors (aroh, paoletta, daly, van brewer). Since then, they have been disappointing. They will always be able to recruit top players because of the history of success, academics, etc. The standard would be a Final 4 every four seasons and that hasn't happened.

This standard is not the case for other schools. I'm talking about athletic/academic power houses who have won multiple national titles

Was anyone at the Tufts games this weekend?

I'm liking Bowdoin's chances of advancing out of their pod in the first weekend. For Wesleyan, I like their draw too, but I believe this is their first appearance in the NCAA tournament. It would be a challenge to get past Babson on the road.

Bowdoin is a huge sleeper imo to get to the Elite 8. They compete with all the other nescac front runners and have players with tons of experience. Huck is a great player.

I was checking Catholic's stats and #18 Woodings has 15 goals. He's a D1 transfer from UNC Greensboro. The next goal scorer has 2..

Agree with PN.

Burk has taken a small nescac school that use to be on par with Trinity, Colby, Bates, Hamilton and turned them into a possession style soccer team that can also compete with the beasts of Amherst, Tufts, Midd etc.

Every year, all the best high school soccer players who don't want the commitment of playing D1 soccer choose to play at the best academic D3 schools possible. Which would be Williams, Amherst, Midd, and Tufts.

Yet Conn is right there. 2021 National Champions and beat Tufts + Amherst in the process

Midd v Bowodin = 2-1 Midd

Conn v Williams = 1-0 Conn

Midd v Conn = 1-1, Conn pks

You really have to question Serpone's tactics now losing in 3 national finals.

2019 they got outplayed but we can let that go because that Tufts team was legit.

2021&2023 were similar themes: Amherst was exhausted. If you go back to both finals, Amherst has players who cannot walk because they have pulled muscles etc. This is directly correlated to tactics. Amherst comes out flying and tries to win the game in the first half. As seen with Conn and St. Olaf, both teams had the better of the play in the second half once Amherst got tired. 2023 W&L in the semis dominated the game in the last 20min + OT.

Also, in 2021, Wu (centerback) had to be taken off the field in OT because he pulled his hamstring, but then somehow is allowed to take the first penalty kick? That makes no sense. In fact, Amherst let 3 defenders take the first 3 pks in 2021 and lost. That's the players fault or coach? You would think Giammattei, Ada, Cubeddu would have taken a kick but no.


Impressive to win the nescac and to constantly compete for a title, but you would think there would be some better decision making in the last two finals.

Quote from: PaulNewman on December 01, 2023, 10:20:08 AM

Quote from: FanofNescac on December 01, 2023, 08:54:17 AM
i predict a washington coll v amherst final and like the shoremen to walk out as national champs

If Wash Coll can keep Gaulmin and Morgan, LLC off the scoreboard for 90 or 110 minutes they will deserve to be in the final, at which point who wouldn't love to be down to a single match for a national title?  They already kept a bunch of AAs and first team all region level type of guys off the scoreboard...the Isaacs from Otterbein, Duratovic and Dujakovich from Kenyon, Kirkland and Berg from Mary Wash, and Scoffone, Kreus, et al from Conn Coll.  As I type I'm thinking Otterbein did score so have to check that.

Great points. On second thought, if Amherst gets back to the final. They will have players playign in their THIRD national title game..hard to imagine losing 3x. We will see