New England Soccer Discussion

[OldNed]

St. Joseph's of Maine and AIC (Division 2) tied 0-0 yesterday at AIC.

Intrigued to see how the Monks do this season. They stifled Babson in the NCAA first round last year and held their nerve in the shootout, which is tough to do against a team with the tourney know-how like the Beavers (granted Babson can be anemic offensively at times, but they are still a good, experienced side). The next game, they ran into a Brandeis side who was on a tear at the time they played, but I think they competed well in that game, too, and I think they would have given the Judges fits if they had played a few weeks earlier (hadn't caught them at a time when the latter was in a rich vein of form).

As far as personnel, I'm not that familiar with the team, since I live in MA (but grew up in ME) but from what I've seen Mullen is a solid keeper and evidently St. Joseph's has enough at the other end of the field as well. It would be very interesting to see them emerge as a New England contender as Gordon/Endicott/et al have in the last few years.

Blooter,
you're spot on about their tournament experience last year.  St. Joe's played really well and composed against Babson but Brandeis really outclassed them.  The difference to me was that Brandeis seemed like they were stronger, faster, and they played a very tight and coherent game.  Every kick was with intent, every pass was precise, most of the 50/50 balls Brandeis won, and they just seemed like they wanted that game and they were not going to concede to an upstart team like St. Joe's.

Regarding personnel, you're right that Mullen is a very solid keeper.  Being 6 foot 7 is a huge advantage for any keeper, and he's pretty athletic too so he can get to a lot of balls, even the low hard shots that a lot of taller keepers might have trouble with.  The strength of St. Joe's is their defense - their D is really solid and is led by Dalton Gaumer, and their defensive midfielder Twomey does a great job of cleaning up a lot of the balls that opponents send into the midfield area.  That being said, it's hard to win a lot of games if you don't score goals. so they're going to need to get better in that area.  Brett Mattos is a pretty good forward and St. Joe's is looking to some of their incoming freshmen to give a scoring spark.  Noah Elmore is one of those kids - he brings speed to the wings and he's already shown in the preseason that he can finish against UMass Boston.

If you want to see them play, they've got a number of games in the Boston area this season, so check out their schedule.

[Off Pitch]

The first two games of the season are in the books, and if these games are any indication, its going to be an interesting season in New England.

Southern Maine 2 - Castleton 1

Southern Maine is coming off a 1-13-3 season - last place in the LEC.  They were 2-14-1 in 2015.  They won 2 games in 2014 and were winless in 2013.   Castleton, on the other hand, was 8-9-2 last year (2nd in the NAC) and won the NAC in 2015.  Any win is a big win for the Southern Maine program.

Framingham St 4 - Mass-Dartmouth 2

Framingham St has won 5, 7 and 8 games the last three years, so the trend is positive.   Mass-Dartmouth was 11-6-1 last year and was respectable in the LEC.  Mass-Dartmouth was also tough at home last year (7-2-1), so this was a good win for Framingham St.

Two games down, and two "upsets" already.   Let the fun begin!

 

[Mr.Right]

Clark scores on the counter to jump ahead of Keene State 3-2 with about 15 minutes left at Roger Williams. Keene State has had some good chances but could not finish.

[Mr.Right]

Keene St grabs a goal back from a 35 yard bullet and knots it 3-3. Clark GK way off his line. I must say Keene St looks very good on the turf today. They looked to be a much improved side from the past few years. They have 2-3 dangerous players in midfield and up top and are trying to knock the ball around a bit. They look to be the better side in this match from the little I have seen 2nd Half / OT.

[Mr.Right]

Final---Keene St v Clark ends 3-3.. Just taking a quick glance at Keene State's schedule. They have some decent non-conference games

at Wheaton
v Middlebury
at RPI
v Tufts
v St.Joe's (ME)
v WNEC


Plus ECONN and UMASS Boston in conference.

Possible .580 SOS

[ECSUalum]

ECSU's So Max Parent gets only goal of the match over Hobart at their tournament today.  Video was not operating but audio and stats indicated Hobart had the statistics and possession advantage.  However, Eastern's D prevented the Statesmen from putting anything on the back of the net. They got highly regarded defenseman Nicholas Warren back from Cal Lutheran this year after a year layoff due to injury.
Tomorrow will be the real test vs nationally ranked Cortland Red Dragons! 
I hope ECSU picked up some scoring power this year as their offense was pretty poor last year.  I know hey picked up a Ukranian kid from Stamford HS and got a 6'2" goalkeeper who was highly regarded, but he will not play infont of Murphy who has done well for the Warriors

BTW saw UMB lost Mohammed Kenawy.  Did he go pro?  I know about Williamson's yr suspension for the head butt in the NCAAs, and I assume they lost Barros to graduation.  That's a lot of scoring to backfill and besides a couple of good defensemen lost to graduation!

[blooter442]

Babson scores 3 for the second time in as many days against Clarkson. Perhaps this team is capable of more than I've been giving them credit for.

That said, as I said elsewhere, they have two big away games at Tufts and Brandeis next week. I think those will be the matches that really show what they're made of.

[blooter442]

Haven't seen the game, but I saw via the live stats that Brandeis is down 2-0 to Cortland State in the second half. Even at 9-9 in shots, but Cortland has hit the bar twice in addition to scoring two goals (SOG is 4-2 Brandeis). Looks like the backup GK is in for the Judges -- wonder if Woodhouse is injured.

[Mr.Right]

Looks like Brandeis wen down 3-0 before getting 2 late goals to make it 3-2. I didn't catch the game either but did notice Brandeis only has 4 Frosh on their roster. That is an unusually low # of Frosh..

[blooter442]

Brandeis rebounds from yesterday's loss to Cortland with a 2-1 2OT win at Hobart. Hobart scored a couple minutes into the second half before the Judges equalized. Hobart had a man sent off in regulation — didn't see the challenge — and held firm with 10 men before Brandeis won it in the 109th minute.

[Part_Bart]

Brandeis rebounds from yesterday's loss to Cortland with a 2-1 2OT win at Hobart. Hobart scored a couple minutes into the second half before the Judges equalized. Hobart had a man sent off in regulation — didn't see the challenge — and held firm with 10 men before Brandeis won it in the 109th minute.

Was at game and with my albeit "homer" eyes, thought that Hobart was the better of the two teams through the game, and still quite firm playing 10 v. 11. 
Had they not chosen to go forward with 2:15 left in 2OT, would have earned that tie: the Brandeis counter-attack scored at 1:36 to play in 2OT.
Brandeis fans may rightly note that the red was deserved and one of five cards (four to defenders) issued to Hobart that game.

On the Saturday game, Cortland was dominant for much of the game v. Brandeis.  It was a great early season game to watch for its intensity.

[PaulNewman]

Good win for Wesleyan.  Bad loss for WPI.  Didn't see first 20 min or how Wes scored.  WPI seemed to dominate from what I saw but continually gave the ball away with poor touches or too many before releasing, and did not get Beatty in space often enough with the ball. WPI really needs wins or a win and a draw versus Brandeis and Endicott.

[NEsoccerfan20]

Endicott blanks Thomas 4-0.
First time I've seen the Gulls but they looked very good tonight. Four different goal scorers and seem to have an extremely young team. New freshman goalkeeper also looks good from what I saw. Good start to the season with their W over Montclair St Sunday as well.

Definitely a team to watch this season. Should be favorites to win the league.

[blooter442]

This may have been covered previously, but I just checked UMASS-Boston's roster and did not see Ocane Williamson listed (ECSU mentioned his one-year suspension from NCAA competition above, but not him being omitted from the team, as that suspension only covers NCAA tourney games if I'm not mistaken). Anyone know what's up there? Can't say I disagree with him not being back, as that punishment was an absolute joke, but ultimately I don't make the decisions.

Was at game and with my albeit "homer" eyes, thought that Hobart was the better of the two teams through the game, and still quite firm playing 10 v. 11. 
Had they not chosen to go forward with 2:15 left in 2OT, would have earned that tie: the Brandeis counter-attack scored at 1:36 to play in 2OT.
Brandeis fans may rightly note that the red was deserved and one of five cards (four to defenders) issued to Hobart that game.

On the Saturday game, Cortland was dominant for much of the game v. Brandeis.  It was a great early season game to watch for its intensity.

Thanks for the perspective. I knew Cortland was a good NCAA-caliber team but didn't realize they went to the Sweet 16 last year, so as far as losses go that's not a bad one in my opinion. From a Brandeis perspective it is good that the Judges made it a game, although it was too little, too late by then.

As for the Hobart game, I would tend to agree with you that Brandeis was lucky based on the stats, and Hobart hit the pipe a few times if I'm not mistaken. Still, the Judges had real problems with overtime last year in September, so it's good to see that trend hasn't continued (for now).

Endicott blanks Thomas 4-0.
First time I've seen the Gulls but they looked very good tonight. Four different goal scorers and seem to have an extremely young team. New freshman goalkeeper also looks good from what I saw. Good start to the season with their W over Montclair St Sunday as well.

Definitely a team to watch this season. Should be favorites to win the league.

Wow. When Endicott lost to Gordon in the CCC final a couple of years back, a lot of us thought they wouldn't be competitive for a while, as they lost a ton of goals. They did well enough last fall, and, two years later, they're arguably stronger than in 2015. In addition to the 4-0 scoreline tonight, they held Thomas, who is a solid side, to one SOG, and neither LaBrie nor Nicholas had a single shot the entire game. Impressive.

Edit: Took a look back in the forum, and it appears that OldNed made the observation about Williamson being missing from the UMB roster as well. Still curious to hear what happened if anyone knows.

[Off Pitch]

Ocane Williamson is playing for Middlesex FC in the Bay State Soccer League.  He is one of the leading goal scorers in Division 2 according to this link:  http://www.bssl.com/b_topscorers.php

No idea if he is still enrolled on college.

According to their website:
Based in Boston, the BSSL is a premier adult amateur league with 40 teams in four divisions. The league is governed by the Massachusetts Adult State Soccer Association (MASS) and affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation.