New England Soccer Discussion

[PaulNewman]

https://twitter.com/EmersonMSOC/status/1588376740769898497?s=20&t=8BBxIbaQIgipKihGfVVFYw

[PaulNewman]

More under the radar history making...

https://www.usjbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2022-23/releases/20221102v8ccnl

If I researched correctly the St Joseph's (CT) Bluejays in their five year history had not scored a goal off of St Joseph's (ME), the mid-major regional powerhouse for at least half a decade.  5-0 losses, 3-0 losses, including a 3-0 loss earlier this season.

The CT version scored in the 79th and 89th minutes to take down the Monks on the Monks' home pitch.

[PaulNewman]

St Joe's (CT) will now try to take down another 2022 darling, the 15-1-3 Johnson & Wales "Miracle Grow" Wildcats, for a NCAA bid.

Best of luck to St Joe's, who drew with J&W two weeks ago 2-2, but I'm rooting for J&W and Western CT to win their AQs as a just reward for their stellar seasons.  J&W has no shot for a Pool C, and Western CT has a half-court heave shot.

[PaulNewman]

https://twitter.com/EmersonMSOC/status/1588376740769898497?s=20&t=8BBxIbaQIgipKihGfVVFYw

There may be a few things that D3 soccer is really all about.....this is one of them.

[Hopkins92]

https://twitter.com/EmersonMSOC/status/1588376740769898497?s=20&t=8BBxIbaQIgipKihGfVVFYw

There may be a few things that D3 soccer is really all about.....this is one of them.

I mean... The American flag waving in the background? Just an amazing scene.

[futbolfan]

D3soccer.com Championship Central page shows all the conferences and the AQs.  For CCC they show the AQ goes to the regular season winner, Endicott.  Is that accurate or does the playoff winner get the AQ?  Followup question, if the AQ goes to the tournament winner, would Endicott get an at-large bid?

[blooter442]

D3soccer.com Championship Central page shows all the conferences and the AQs.  For CCC they show the AQ goes to the regular season winner, Endicott.  Is that accurate or does the playoff winner get the AQ?  Followup question, if the AQ goes to the tournament winner, would Endicott get an at-large bid?

95% sure the CCC still has a tournament. Probably a placeholder.

EDIT: Yep, it's Roger Williams vs. Suffolk in the final today. I like RWU in that one given a slightly superior record but Suffolk knocked out Endicott as #1 seed so maybe they have the mojo.

[Christan Shirk]

The AQ doesn't always go to the conference champion.  Some conferences name their champions based on the regular season and then award their AQ via their conference tournament.  Other conferences name their champion and award the AQ both via the conference tournament with the regular season just being a means to determine seeding.  And then you have a lot that seem to have two champions (some aren't crystal clear on the issue): a regular season champion and a tournament champions (their record books sometimes log both), with the AQ going to the tournament champion.

Our Conference Championship Central page has two tables.  The one at the top is for conference champions and beside each conference a (R) for regular season or a (T) for tournament indicates how that conference names its champions.  The second table at the bottom of the page is for the automatic NCAA tournament berths with he same indicators.  We try to be as accurate as possible on this, but with reduced time to invest this year and last we might have missed some changes in how a conference operates.  We are always welcoming to correction so the website is as accurate and thus helpful/informative as possible.

[BaboNation]

Happy with the 1-0 win and another NEWMAC championship for Babson, but for too long the play was uninspired.

The goal off a nice cross from Kim to the far post and headed back to the left to Williams by LaBelle was beautiful, but otherwise they didn't seem to have a plan for penetrating the final 25 yards.

Up to then the best chance for Babson was Kim wide open 20 yards out at the top of the box on the left, with nothing but green grass between he and the keeper and rather than cross to 2 runners off the right or moving closer he fired one near side that the keeper handled easily.

On the positive side, White is much more assertive and aggressive off his line as Babson's keeper.  And after getting injured a few weeks ago Kalishman is back in form and did a great job at midfield today. 

The lack of team speed and players able to take on a defender with the ball will be a concern in the playoffs.  A 1st round exit would be a disappointment, particularly after winning that round last year and with this year's roster loaded with upperclassmen.  Advancing to the round of 16 would satisfy me.  Anything beyond that will require the team to be capitalizing on all scoring opportunities.

Emerson has something to build on going forward.  Their entire athletic program seems to be on the rise.

[Nextgoal]

More under the radar history making...

https://www.usjbluejays.com/sports/msoc/2022-23/releases/20221102v8ccnl

If I researched correctly the St Joseph's (CT) Bluejays in their five year history had not scored a goal off of St Joseph's (ME), the mid-major regional powerhouse for at least half a decade.  5-0 losses, 3-0 losses, including a 3-0 loss earlier this season.

The CT version scored in the 79th and 89th minutes to take down the Monks on the Monks' home pitch.

ST Joseph's (ME) was down 2 key players (#19 J Greenleaf on D and top scorer #7 A Ward (F)went out early 2nd half with twisted ankle.
Monks were plagued by minor injuries this season. #11 Gus Ford (F) missed 4 games and still managed 7 tallies (16 pts overall). Regular season record 11-1 conference.

ST Joes (Conn) did execute a perfect game plan and I predicted if they play that game in R.I against JWU they would win their first conference championship. And they did! Congratulations to ST Joseph's Conn on the win such a great season end run.

[Nextgoal]

 GNAC ST Joseph's (Conn) wins its first conference championship at JWU in Providence. 2-1

Although I was itching to see ST Joseph's (ME.) vs JWU season rematch for the championship, the regular season match went to JWU after some horrible RI ref calls (game ended with coaches pulling players apart). Very glad to see Blue Jays take their first conference championship. Well deserved for their efforts. And honestly (Bias yes) JWU did not deserve to be there. I follow the GNAC and JWU wins were all gifted PK's or set pc goals.

Not sure SJC will fair well in NCAA tourney but they did end their season the best in their teams history. Kudos!

[OldNed]

In the GNAC conference, it will be interesting to see if St. Joseph's CT will be able to carry over their terrific season from 2022 to 2023 and stay at the top of the conference table.  Now that the GNAC has expanded to 15 teams (!!), conference members will have little chance of scheduling enough quality non-conference opponents to qualify for an at large NCAA berth so teams will have to win the conference tournament to go to the NCAAs.

Of the other top 3 teams from the last 3 years, I expect Johnson & Wales and St. Joe's ME to have good years and if their website is any indication Norwich will have a down year.  Norwich has a new coach and the website lists only 3 freshmen on the roster and no grad students so there will be a big dropoff in my opinion.  Johnson & Wales has 7 grad students on their 2023 roster so I think they may be one of the teams to beat in conference.  If exhibitions are any indication, St. Joe's ME should be tough as they beat D2 St. Anselm's 1-0 in an exhibition a couple of days ago. 

[PaulNewman]

The long national search is finally over...

Dan Toulson is now the Associate Director of Athletics at St Paul's School in Concord, NH...and also the Boys Varsity Soccer Coach.

The Director of Athletics at St Paul's (and former Varsity Soccer Coach) is Richard Muther....yes, father of now graduated Kenyon AA, Luke Muther.  Luke's mother also is on the faculty at St Paul's. 

St Paul's has the nation's 3rd largest endowment for a boarding school at 631 million.  Tuition is 62K per year.  Alums include Hobey Baker (namesake of college hockey's top individual award), James Bond (yes, that James Bond), Archibald Cox, James Garfield (son of President), William Randolph Hearst, John Kerry, JP Morgan, Robert Mueller (yes, that Mueller), Judd Nelson, Catherine Oxenberg, Charles Scribner, Don Sweeney (GM of Boston Bruins), Garry Trudeau, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr, among others.


Addendum:  This situation reminded of my surprise when a previous Haverford coach left for Haverford School, an elite prep school right down the street from Haverford College, to fill some similar role.  Iirc, the coach left before the season just after my son and I had sat in his office and he basically blew us off as he pointed to a whiteboard with probably 50-60 prospect names already on it.  I could not understand the move at all, but I now feel foolish as at the time I had no clue about the pay limitations even at the higher ends of D3 soccer.

I do wonder how money gets allocated at various schools.  Some of the more elite programs only have 1 or maybe 2 assts (and if a second one often it's a GK coach or volunteer kind of deal).  And then others list as many as 5 or 6 assts.  I think I counted 5 assts on the F&M website today.

[PaulNewman]

https://twitter.com/kenyonmsoc/status/1690405877344296960?s=20

[Kuiper]

The long national search is finally over...

Dan Toulson is now the Associate Director of Athletics at St Paul's School in Concord, NH...and also the Boys Varsity Soccer Coach.

The Director of Athletics at St Paul's (and former Varsity Soccer Coach) is Richard Muther....yes, father of now graduated Kenyon AA, Luke Muther.  Luke's mother also is on the faculty at St Paul's. 

St Paul's has the nation's 3rd largest endowment for a boarding school at 631 million.  Tuition is 62K per year.  Alums include Hobey Baker (namesake of college hockey's top individual award), James Bond (yes, that James Bond), Archibald Cox, James Garfield (son of President), William Randolph Hearst, John Kerry, JP Morgan, Robert Mueller (yes, that Mueller), Judd Nelson, Catherine Oxenberg, Charles Scribner, Don Sweeney (GM of Boston Bruins), Garry Trudeau, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr, among others.


Addendum:  This situation reminded of my surprise when a previous Haverford coach left for Haverford School, an elite prep school right down the street from Haverford College, to fill some similar role.  Iirc, the coach left before the season just after my son and I had sat in his office and he basically blew us off as he pointed to a whiteboard with probably 50-60 prospect names already on it.  I could not understand the move at all, but I now feel foolish as at the time I had no clue about the pay limitations even at the higher ends of D3 soccer.

I do wonder how money gets allocated at various schools.  Some of the more elite programs only have 1 or maybe 2 assts (and if a second one often it's a GK coach or volunteer kind of deal).  And then others list as many as 5 or 6 assts.  I think I counted 5 assts on the F&M website today.

It is becoming more and more common for college soccer coaches at all levels to leave for prep school soccer positions.  They generally get paid more (especially if it comes with teaching and/or administrative responsibilities), have a lot less travel and recruiting responsibilities, and the job is more stable and sustainable for family.

A few examples that caught my eye in the last couple of years:

At the end of July 2023, Michael Marchiano, head coach at Drexel (D1) left for Loyola Blakefield in Baltimore, despite putting together three of the top seasons in Drexel men's soccer.

https://www.loyolablakefield.org/news-detail?pk=1445859

In 2022, Keith Cappo, head coach for 6 years at Ursinus College (D3), left a year after winning Centennial Conference coach of the year to take over the boys soccer program (and teach Math) at the Haverford School

https://www.haverford.org/athletics/teams/team-details/~athletics-team-id/160

In 2021, Mike Osegura, a long-time assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Loyola Marymount University (D1) left to take over the boys soccer program at Orange Lutheran in Orange County

https://oluathletics.org/news/mike-oseguera-named-boys-soccer-head-coach#:~:text=Oseguera%20comes%20to%20Orange%20Lutheran,and%20goalkeeper%20coach%20since%202015.

As to the number of coaches on a college soccer team's website, the vast majority of schools with a long list of assistant coaches are just including the unpaid volunteer assistants who come back and help out when they are available (often just for training and home games and not on the road).  DIII doesn't have the limitations that exists in DI (which just changed their rules to eliminate the voluntary coach designation and instead increase the number of "countable" coaches to accommodate some of those voluntary asst coaches).