New England Soccer Discussion

[blooter442]

Brandeis strikes first, Nardizzi finishes off a dead run. Nice first time flick by Panson to play him in. 37 left.

[blooter442]

Irwin makes a fantastic save off a 20 yarder from #7, tips it on to the post. Still 1-0.

[blooter442]

Judges close out a gritty 1-0 win. CWRU comes to town Saturday for the UAA opener.

[Mr.Right]

 Did not catch the Brandeis v Wheaton match but with the weather last night in Boston it does sound like a gritty win. CWRU match on Saturday at Home with kickoff at 11am. This IMO gives Brandeis an advantage even before a ball is kicked. Case is hosting Kenyon tonight at 730pm. That will be a grueling match and then most likely get tomorrow off b4 travelling to Boston on Friday for an early morning kick on Saturday.  These UAA sides are all used to this but if Brandeis can come out of the gates pumped and focused and pressing the first 20 minutes I think they can get a quick goal. Brandeis has an opening to take advantage of a team that might be sleepwalking in the first 20 minutes. Kind of like what Tufts did inexplicably to Brandeis last Friday.

[ECSUalum]

Eastern Connecticut holds on to defeat Western Connecticut 4-3 at the Mansfield Sports Complex this afternoon.  Eastern's defense spotted WestConn two goals in the first 15 minutes before freshman Pat Agyemang slammed home his first goal though the open legs of the WCSU GK.  Jr Justen Jensen scored the next one on a brilliant 25 yard strike into the upper left corner!  Pat responded with a header off a Westconn GK miscue and Jensen finished with the 4th.   Top scorers Darion Richemi had 2 and Chauncey Allers had one for the Colonials!  It is becoming increasingly clear that the ECSU defense has got some improvement work to do this year!  The last 10 minutes of this one was a nail biter as the Colonials really hassled the Eastern backfield. If it wasn't for Pat Agyemang dropping back to win some tackles, I dont know what the outcome would have been.   A number of poor clearances almost turned into Western getting level at the 80 min mark after scoring at 78'!!!  Eastern's midfield/forward technical play has gotten much better, but a young backfield is going to need to step up if the Warriors want to be competitive with the top teams in Nescac and other top conference.

6'3" forward Pat Agyemang is the real deal and will compete for a top 5 total career goals mark at the University his senior year assuming he stays healthy. ECSU record of 77 career goals mark by John Fitzgerald, (1966-69) will be difficult to break.

Plymouth St is up next this Saturday.

[Mr.Right]

Time to give Roger Williams some love at 10-0-0 James Greenslit has finally started to show what is possible at RWU. They have 6 Shutouts and have given up 4 Goals all year. They are not playing cupcakes either with Shutout Wins over Wheaton, WPI and MIT. Yes some of those sides are either rebuilding or falling off it is still almost half the Newmac they have beaten. They are in a CCC that is improved this year with 8-0-1 Salve Regina, Gordon, Endicott(who has won 2 in a row with 2 shutouts) and WNEC. WNEC did fall at Trinity tonight 2-0 but I thought they were decent when I saw them earlier in the year.

[blooter442]

Time to give Roger Williams some love at 10-0-0 James Greenslit has finally started to show what is possible at RWU.

You beat me to it. Probably the WPI win is the most impressive, particularly considering it was on the road. I watched them at home against MIT and they were probably the better side but not convincing by any stretch. Regardless, this is an even better start than the year Trevor Hoxsie carried them into the tournament with winners over MIT, Wheaton, and Babson among others in the regular season and then they derped their way to a win against nationally ranked Gordon in the CCC semis. They lost in the final to WNE but got an at-large bid and even sprung an upset over Rutgers-Newark in the 1st Round before bowing out to Brandeis in the 2nd Round. On record alone, looks like they might be even better this year — and that's reinforced with the three quality NEWMAC wins.

[Mr.Right]

Eastern Connecticut holds on to defeat Western Connecticut 4-3 at the Mansfield Sports Complex this afternoon.  Eastern's defense spotted WestConn two goals in the first 15 minutes before freshman Pat Agyemang slammed home his first goal though the open legs of the WCSU GK.  Jr Justen Jensen scored the next one on a brilliant 25 yard strike into the upper left corner!  Pat responded with a header off a Westconn GK miscue and Jensen finished with the 4th.   Top scorers Darion Richemi had 2 and Chauncey Allers had one for the Colonials!  It is becoming increasingly clear that the ECSU defense has got some improvement work to do this year!  The last 10 minutes of this one was a nail biter as the Colonials really hassled the Eastern backfield. If it wasn't for Pat Agyemang dropping back to win some tackles, I dont know what the outcome would have been.   A number of poor clearances almost turned into Western getting level at the 80 min mark after scoring at 78'!!!  Eastern's midfield/forward technical play has gotten much better, but a young backfield is going to need to step up if the Warriors want to be competitive with the top teams in Nescac and other top conference.

6'3" forward Pat Agyemang is the real deal and will compete for a top 5 total career goals mark at the University his senior year assuming he stays healthy. ECSU record of 77 career goals mark by John Fitzgerald, (1966-69) will be difficult to break.

Plymouth St is up next this Saturday.

ECSUalum you are correct. ECONN striker Pat Agyemang is an absolute stud and a complete difference maker on this team. He is making ECONN real fun to watch and DeVito has some solid pieces around him as well. There is nothing more in demand in D3 Mens Soccer than a legitimate striker that can finish and put a team on his back when they need a goal in November. I agree ECONN is leaking goals at an alarming rate and I have not seen them play since defeating Trinity a couple weeks back BUT I would rather have the situation you are in now than the other way around. DeVito has some time to find the right lineups and personnel on defense but it is much harder to find a goalscorer on a team that does not have one. Agyemang is an absolute danger man and while I do not think he will break the ECONN goal scoring record of 77 Goals, he will get his fair share. The only concern I would have is that some D1's are sniffing around looking for him to transfer and offering a full ride. That to me would be my biggest fear but enjoy it because ECONN could make some noise in November.

I really like WCONN as well. They have some talent and skilled players. They also need to get organized defensively and it sounds like based on your report their GK had a nightmare game last night. They are 5-2-1 or something like that but are struggling to start their conference slate at 0-1-2. They have played the toughest 3 teams in the league against ECONN, UMASS Boston, and Castleton Univ. However, since the Little East only has the Top 4 qualify for their Conference Tournament WCONN MUST get going to get in the Top 4. I think they will be battling it out with those 3 teams and Keene St and possibly RIC. They can be dynamic in attack and it would be a shame for them not to take advantage of that and build on their 2017 NCAA Tournamen appearance because of GK'ing issues. The Little East is usually a 1 bid league but ECONN is 7-1-0 with 2 matches at Home v Conn College and at Babson. Those 2 sides should be Regionally Ranked in November and if they can get a result or two against those sides than the Little East could be a 2 bid league this year.

[Mr.Right]

Time to give Roger Williams some love at 10-0-0 James Greenslit has finally started to show what is possible at RWU.

You beat me to it. Probably the WPI win is the most impressive, particularly considering it was on the road. I watched them at home against MIT and they were probably the better side but not convincing by any stretch. Regardless, this is an even better start than the year Trevor Hoxsie carried them into the tournament with winners over MIT, Wheaton, and Babson among others in the regular season and then they derped their way to a win against nationally ranked Gordon in the CCC semis. They lost in the final to WNE but got an at-large bid and even sprung an upset over Rutgers-Newark in the 1st Round before bowing out to Brandeis in the 2nd Round. On record alone, looks like they might be even better this year — and that's reinforced with the three quality NEWMAC wins.

How did I know that the minute I hit send on my laptop after posting Bloots would find a way to get into the 2013 RWU side with Hoxsie and how lucky they were that year. With Hoxsie originally being from Scarborough, ME maybe he and Bloots had some history? In all seriousness RWU was a bit lucky that season but Hoxsie was a stud for them and actually was recruited by Joey Calabrese when he was Head Coach at Utica. Calabrese left Utica in 2011 for Endicott and Hoxsie bolted as well to RWU.

[blooter442]

How did I know that the minute I hit send on my laptop after posting Bloots would find a way to get into the 2013 RWU side with Hoxsie and how lucky they were that year. With Hoxsie originally being from Scarborough, ME maybe he and Bloots had some history? In all seriousness RWU was a bit lucky that season but Hoxsie was a stud for them and actually was recruited by Joey Calabrese when he was Head Coach at Utica. Calabrese left Utica in 2011 for Endicott and Hoxsie bolted as well to RWU.

Haha nope, never met him — he played in a different class than my high school team (and his team was much better). It was more the fact that they stumbled ass-backwards into an at-large bid after sliding past Salve in the CCC quarters on PKs and beating Gordon with two lucky bounces in the semis. He was definitely a stud but that team had luck at a level I'd never seen before. The Babson win also came about thanks to a worldie from Hoxsie with 4 seconds left in 2OT after being completely outplayed, and the 1st Round win they should have been about 4-0 down at half (it was only 1-0) before they got three fortunate bounces second half (RUN had a 28-9 shot advantage and had like 3 or 4 cleared off the line). Even in the Brandeis game they should have been about 3 or 4 down at half...the longer it stayed 1-0 the more I thought they'd get another bounce but the Judges saw it out. They had no real plan but "give the ball to Hoxsie" so Brandeis double-marked him (one CB would drop if they tried to play him through) and pushed the wingbacks up to shut off his service from the wings. And you think I'm salty — just think about how insufferable I would have been if they'd won that 2nd Round game.

This year, though...they've been impressive. Good to see it start working out for Greenslit.

[ECSUalum]

Eastern Connecticut holds on to defeat Western Connecticut 4-3 at the Mansfield Sports Complex this afternoon.  Eastern's defense spotted WestConn two goals in the first 15 minutes before freshman Pat Agyemang slammed home his first goal though the open legs of the WCSU GK.  Jr Justen Jensen scored the next one on a brilliant 25 yard strike into the upper left corner!  Pat responded with a header off a Westconn GK miscue and Jensen finished with the 4th.   Top scorers Darion Richemi had 2 and Chauncey Allers had one for the Colonials!  It is becoming increasingly clear that the ECSU defense has got some improvement work to do this year!  The last 10 minutes of this one was a nail biter as the Colonials really hassled the Eastern backfield. If it wasn't for Pat Agyemang dropping back to win some tackles, I dont know what the outcome would have been.   A number of poor clearances almost turned into Western getting level at the 80 min mark after scoring at 78'!!!  Eastern's midfield/forward technical play has gotten much better, but a young backfield is going to need to step up if the Warriors want to be competitive with the top teams in Nescac and other top conference.

6'3" forward Pat Agyemang is the real deal and will compete for a top 5 total career goals mark at the University his senior year assuming he stays healthy. ECSU record of 77 career goals mark by John Fitzgerald, (1966-69) will be difficult to break.

Plymouth St is up next this Saturday.

ECSUalum you are correct. ECONN striker Pat Agyemang is an absolute stud and a complete difference maker on this team. He is making ECONN real fun to watch and DeVito has some solid pieces around him as well. There is nothing more in demand in D3 Mens Soccer than a legitimate striker that can finish and put a team on his back when they need a goal in November. I agree ECONN is leaking goals at an alarming rate and I have not seen them play since defeating Trinity a couple weeks back BUT I would rather have the situation you are in now than the other way around. DeVito has some time to find the right lineups and personnel on defense but it is much harder to find a goalscorer on a team that does not have one. Agyemang is an absolute danger man and while I do not think he will break the ECONN goal scoring record of 77 Goals, he will get his fair share. The only concern I would have is that some D1's are sniffing around looking for him to transfer and offering a full ride. That to me would be my biggest fear but enjoy it because ECONN could make some noise in November.

I really like WCONN as well. They have some talent and skilled players. They also need to get organized defensively and it sounds like based on your report their GK had a nightmare game last night. They are 5-2-1 or something like that but are struggling to start their conference slate at 0-1-2. They have played the toughest 3 teams in the league against ECONN, UMASS Boston, and Castleton Univ. However, since the Little East only has the Top 4 qualify for their Conference Tournament WCONN MUST get going to get in the Top 4. I think they will be battling it out with those 3 teams and Keene St and possibly RIC. They can be dynamic in attack and it would be a shame for them not to take advantage of that and build on their 2017 NCAA Tournamen appearance because of GK'ing issues. The Little East is usually a 1 bid league but ECONN is 7-1-0 with 2 matches at Home v Conn College and at Babson. Those 2 sides should be Regionally Ranked in November and if they can get a result or two against those sides than the Little East could be a 2 bid league this year.

Mr Right, As usual you articulate the ECSU status much better than I could!  Thanks for your thoughts and always look forward to your keen observations on D3 Soccer and its participating teams!  +k

[AllStar]

Hi ECSUalum, I hope you are doing well!  I don't usually venture over here obviously (though maybe I should?), but I was reading through some comments.  I'm not completely positive...but I think with the addition of Castleton the LEC has gone to a six-team tournament format for most all of the sports.  The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will get byes, No. 3 will play No. 6 and No. 4 will play No. 5 in the first round.  Also, I think they are all shifting to a singular site (top seed) for the semis and finals.  I do believe, as well, that basketball will also have the six-team tournament format.

[ECSUalum]

Hello Allstar, All is well here!  Hope you and yours are the same!  Frankly, I am not sure how the championship format will work out, I suppose we can look for the format of another 9 team conference to compare!  However it works out, it will still be exciting!  Looks like Keene's 2018 soccer team is pretty good and gave Easter a run for their money.  It was unfortunate that we had an own goal, but that's the game, you try to minimize mistakes as much as possible!  Looking forward to another great fall and winter season of LEC sports and the matchups with Keene!!

[NEsoccerfan20]

Endicott keeps their hot streak going and beats Roger Williams 3-1. Evan Couchot scored a hattrick for the Gulls... this kid is a special player. Here's a link to his second and third goal: https://twitter.com/ECGulls/status/1048720558056267778.

EC really dominated the game and have turned the corner since their rough start to the year, going to be interesting to see how things pan out in the CCC down the road.

[Ejay]

Couchot is listed as a sophomore, yet he has 3 years of statistics.  What's the story there? Regardless, he's got 34 goals in 50 games.  Impressive.