New England Soccer Discussion

[blooter442]

Salem State wins the MASCAC shootout over Westfield in PKs. Sounds like a big crowd out there for both sides.

[blooter442]

Springfield and WPI going to 2OT. Pride own a 29-8 advantage in shots (8-2 SOG) but WPI has held firm.

[blooter442]

For the second time this year (one on each team's field) WPI and Springfield draw 0-0. PKs coming up.

[blooter442]

WPI takes down Springfield on PKs. Hoeckle with 2 huge saves.

[OldNed]

WPI takes down Springfield on PKs. Hoeckle with 2 huge saves.

So is Springfield going to get a Pool C bid now? I've seen other posters say the top 5-6 New England ranked teams are locks for the tournament, so the question is how far will Springfield drop from last week's rankings? I think they make it, but there are probably a few nervous Springfield College supporters hoping I'm right.

[blooter442]

So is Springfield going to get a Pool C bid now? I've seen other posters say the top 5-6 New England ranked teams are locks for the tournament, so the question is how far will Springfield drop from last week's rankings? I think they make it, but there are probably a few nervous Springfield College supporters hoping I'm right.

Good question. You'd think Midd. overtakes Bowdoin with the H2H result yesterday, although I don't know if that means Midd. overtakes Springfield (worth noting that Midd.'s SoS was .613 last week vs. Springfield's .554).

Personally, I think they'll get in, although I recall Etown getting snubbed a few years ago with something like 17-2-1 overall, and while Springfield is 14-1-2 (a superior winning percentage) it looks to be far from straightforward for them. Looking at NE, it certainly helps them that Tufts won today.

[blooter442]

Given previous talk about Springfield's perceived less-than-stellar SoS, it's somewhat surprising to see that Springfield has a better SoS than WPI. Even so, and while being sure to add that PKs are a total lottery, I'd still venture to say that WPI's out-of-conference tests against Brandeis, Endicott, and Wesleyan may have had the Engineers more battle-tested for the NEWMAC championship, particularly handling the onslaught of pressure Springfield provided (shots were 29-10 Pride, 8-2 SOG).

Springfield has gotten a lot of attention, and rightly so given 14-1-2 is a great record, but while not setting the world on fire WPI has done well this year. 13-5-2, and I was impressed when I saw them -- leading with 12 minutes left, they certainly gave Brandeis a game on the Judges' home pitch before falling in OT. They are solid defensively and have some nice offense at times. PaulNewman remarked that Beatty has been out with an injury, and thought I don't know when/if he'll be back, he was an impressive player when I saw him against MIT. I think they have the potential to make a run. Oh, and this was the first NEWMAC title for WPI, so big ups to them.

[Mr.Right]

Nah Springfield is all set if they have a RvR of 4-0-0. I mean if you start going thru each region u can kind of pick the 19 minus 1 or 2. Really there are only 18 Pool C's because the West usually gets an automatic Pool C even when not deserved like this year to help out geography wise.

[Flying Weasel]

NEW ENGLAND REGION - NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS - November 06, 2017

Rank	School	. Div. III . Record	. Div. III . SOS	. R-v-R .	. Overall . Record	. Prev. . Rank
1.	Tufts	15-1-2	0.613	4-1-2	15-1-2	1
2.	Amherst	11-3-2	0.621	4-1-1	11-3-2	2
3.	Brandeis	13-4-0	0.622	4-4-0	13-4-0	3
4.	Springfield	14-1-2	0.566	5-0-0	14-1-2	4
5.	Middlebury	12-6-0	0.627	4-4-0	12-6-0	6
6.	Connecticut College	9-3-4	0.605	2-2-3	9-3-4	7
7.	Bowdoin	10-4-3	0.593	2-3-3	10-4-3	5
8.	Johnson and Wales	15-2-2	0.524	1-1-0	15-2-2	--
9.	Williams	8-3-5	0.600	0-3-3	8-3-5	8
10.	Endicott	13-4-3	0.533	1-2-1	13-4-3	10
11.	St. Joseph's (Maine)	18-0-1	0.499	2-0-0	18-0-1	--
12.	Gordon	13-6-1	0.544	0-3-1	13-6-1	12

[Mr.Right]

Salem State with an interesting turnaround this year under 1st year Head Coach Matt Correia. Former Babson Assistant and son of legendary SLU coach Don Goodwin was fired after the end of last season after averaging 6 wins a year for 8 seasons. Salem State used to be a regional power in the 80's and 90's because of really lax admissions and the former coach bring over 25-28 year old European players. That all changed around the turn of the century and he was fired for a number of reason one being recruiting violations. Since then Salem State has not been the same and Goodwin did not do much to change that. 2 quick NCAA exits coming from a weak conference was not enough in 8 years. Now the 1st year Head Coach Correia comes in and gets this team into the NCAA's with Goodwin's players and ONLY 5 Seniors and 2 Juniors out of 25 players. 18 Frosh and Soph is a very young squad. Will be interesting to see what they bring to Amherst and how they handle the situation but either way a good learning experience for Coach and Players.

[blooter442]

Salem State with an interesting turnaround this year under 1st year Head Coach Matt Correia. Former Babson Assistant and son of legendary SLU coach Don Goodwin was fired after the end of last season after averaging 6 wins a year for 8 seasons. Salem State used to be a regional power in the 80's and 90's because of really lax admissions and the former coach bring over 25-28 year old European players. That all changed around the turn of the century and he was fired for a number of reason one being recruiting violations. Since then Salem State has not been the same and Goodwin did not do much to change that. 2 quick NCAA exits coming from a weak conference was not enough in 8 years. Now the 1st year Head Coach Correia comes in and gets this team into the NCAA's with Goodwin's players and ONLY 5 Seniors and 2 Juniors out of 25 players. 18 Frosh and Soph is a very young squad. Will be interesting to see what they bring to Amherst and how they handle the situation but either way a good learning experience for Coach and Players.

It's interesting to see who comes out of the MASCAC each year. You'd certainly know more than I do, but I don't feel like there has been an "established" MASCAC power year-in, year-out in the last five or six years -- the last few champions (prior to this year) have been Worcester State, Bridgewater, and Fitchburg State. Kind of seems like a coin flip, and perhaps that makes sense given Salem St. and Westfield St. went to PKs in the conference final, although that happens in other conferences as well. BSU actually looked pretty good a couple of years ago before the whole ineligible player kerfuffle and even managed to win the conference tournament as a low seed, but I might imagine that it's hard to stay consistently at the top, with a lot of it being about how much talent you are able to keep in-state. (Also, why is UMASS-Boston not in the MASCAC?) Of course, I recognize that state schools can be a very good option for a number of kids, and there are a number of very good players who will go to a state school for any number of reasons, but there are also a number of reasons that a kid might want to leave the state and try something new.

Edit: Ah, I see why UMB isn't in the MASCAC -- I (incorrectly) thought that other UMASS schools like UMASS-Dartmouth was MASCAC, when it is in fact in LEC for most sports.

[Off Pitch]

Predictions of NCAA first round games involving New England schools:

St Joseph's 2 - Mitchell 0     The Monks have not surrendered a single goal in 19 games this year (making them a clear favorite to win the national championship).  This will set up an intriguing shootout with Tufts (yielded only 1 goal all season) on Sunday.

Brandeis 2 - Western Connecticut 0    The WConnSt Colonials, undefeated in their last 8 games, lost 1-0 in three non-conference contests against competition from quality conferences (Union, Coast Guard, Trinity).  They will make their best case against the Judges Saturday, but that case will be dismissed.

Rutgers-Newark 2 - Bowdoin 1      Bowdoin limps into the tournament with only 1 win in their last 6 games, while the RUN Raiders have won 5 straight and are coming off a huge win at Rowan.   Based on momentum alone, the Polar Bears would have to be considered endangered.  RUN (De Sousa) will score in the first half to open this game up a little for an entertaining 2nd half. 

Middlebury 1 - Stevens 0      The Middlebury Panthers have won 7 of their last 10 by identical 1-0 scores, and 2 of the losses were to Tufts.  Incredibly, Midd has won 12 games despite only scoring 18 goals all season.  However, they are capable of beating many teams 1-0, even Stevens.

Oneonta St 2 - WPI 0         WPI got a very tough draw facing Oneonta St in the opening round.  The Engineers are sound defensively but will get burned by the Red Dragons for a goal or two.   Additionally, if Beatty is still out, WPI does not have the firepower to come from behind. 

Amherst 4 - Salem St 0      Amherst will overwhelm Salem St. similar to the Vikings 4-1 loss to Conn earlier in the season.   Salem St will need mammoth efforts from two Freshmen Mayele Malango (17 G, 9 A) and Nahuel Aligbay (8 G, 13 A) who may not be ready for this trial by fire.

Rochester 2 - Conn 1           The Camels made the tournament despite going 1-3-1 in their last 5 games and won't be able to get over the hump against a solid Rochester side.

Springfield 2 - Endicott 1      The Pride started the season running off 13 straight victories but went 1-1-2 in their last 4 outings.  They will overcome Endicott because a potential Springfield - Amherst stylistic match-up is too good not to happen (with the appropriate warnings to low flying aircraft).

[blooter442]

Brandeis 2 - Western Connecticut 0    The WConnSt Colonials, undefeated in their last 8 games, lost 1-0 in three non-conference contests against competition from quality conferences (Union, Coast Guard, Trinity).  They will make their best case against the Judges Saturday, but that case will be dismissed.

Nice pun.

Springfield 2 - Endicott 1      The Pride started the season running off 13 straight victories but went 1-1-2 in their last 4 outings.  They will overcome Endicott because a potential Springfield - Amherst stylistic match-up is too good not to happen (with the appropriate warnings to low flying aircraft).

😂 😂 My guess is the FAA puts up a TFR below 10,000 feet within 10 miles of the Quabbin Reservoir (known as QUABN in the aviation world). In addition to the impending amount of hoofball, a bad PK can gain more altitude than you think, and can travel a long way.

[PaulNewman]

Off Pitch, well done. This tournament really is a blast...even though only one family leaves the party happy.

[Ommadawn]

Springfield 2 - Endicott 1      The Pride started the season running off 13 straight victories but went 1-1-2 in their last 4 outings.  They will overcome Endicott because a potential Springfield - Amherst stylistic match-up is too good not to happen (with the appropriate warnings to low flying aircraft).

😂 😂 My guess is the FAA puts up a TFR below 10,000 feet within 10 miles of the Quabbin Reservoir (known as QUABN in the aviation world). In addition to the impending amount of hoofball, a bad PK can gain more altitude than you think, and can travel a long way.

What would be the over/under for number of times the ball hits the ground if that match-up comes to pass?