New England Soccer Discussion

[PaulNewman]

I'm sure the coach knows how the rankings work . . .

Not specific to St. Joseph's coach, but merely in general, I would not assume all coaches do fully understand how the rankings/at-large selections work.  Over the years, D3soccer.com has received a number of e-mails from coaches or assistants either questioning or asking something about the regional rankings/at-large selections or commenting that the information on the website was helpful for understanding the process and having realistic expectations.  And not just from coaches of little-known, small-time programs.

Good information to know.  I just wanted to underscore the point that the cmtes of each region must follow strict guidelines and don't necessarily have any wiggle room to treat any one team more favorably or more unfavorably, and that the outcomes yielded might even conflict with what they would hope the outcomes would be.  The St Joe's story is a great story...probably THE story of the year in D3 soccer so far along with Nick West....but in terms of these rankings their situation is not unique.  Just in the last couple of years Calvin has been ranked #1 or #2 in the country with records like 16-0 or 17-1 and has found itself ranked 4th or 5th out of 6 spots in the Central region.  And the feeling of "getting screwed" makes perfectly good sense and is not unfamiliar to me personally as a fan, as a very similar dynamic has happened with Kenyon a couple of times in recent years due to SoS.  One final point....there are benefits as well as downsides to being a very strong team in a weak conference, and we can probably all agree that St. Joe's incredible record over the past couple of years has been aided by their conference.  That said, this team has proven that it is formidable -- full stop --  and I will be rooting for them to make the Final Four which would truly be a great story.

[Mr.Right]

I will be waiting AGAIN this week to see how the committee ranks Amherst...This to me is of great interest. Amherst had a high SOS at .623 the 1st week and were ranked 4th. This week I expect that SOS to go down after playing Wesleyan at 3-10-0. Nest week even further after Brandeis at 7-5-2 and Trinity at 2-13-0 and who knows who they will play Saturday. I still do not see more than 1 Ranked team that they have beaten(Bowdoin) and they are 9-3-1. If they are still ranked 4th that is a total travesty. Now next week that SOS should be down into the .575 range and they will have the Brandeis game and Saturday 1st Round Nescac game on their resume. So tonight's game with Brandeis is HUGE. However, if they beat Brandeis and Brandeis falls to 7-6-2 and then loses to Wash U and even Chicago on the weekend they will not stay ranked either. POINT-----Amherst should not be anywhere NEAR the Top 5 in this week's poll IMO and if they happen to lose a Nescac Quarter Final and say Draw Brandeis tonight they should not be near the Top 8 next week or get a Pool C. Now Justin is the New England Chair so this will be interesting to follow. Of course if they go clean right into the Nescac Semi's then I could possibly see how they would get a Pool C but IMO they still have work to do if this whole process os to be considered legitimate.

[PaulNewman]

Amherst should be 1-3-1 on RvR for this week's ranking, with the W being Hamilton, not Bowdoin.  Bowdoin should count the following week.  If one wanted to be suspicious one could question Hamilton sneaking into the last spot but that only benefits Amherst ultimately if Hamilton is ranked at the end.

Of course if Hamilton hadn't been ranked then Bowdoin probably was next in line.

Amherst would do itself a huge favor by knocking off Brandeis (although the Judges could slip out of the rankings) and winning a QF game preferaby versus a ranked team like Midd, Bowdoin or Williams.

[Mr.Right]

Fine....Hamilton or Bowdoin same deal still 1-3-1 RvR with so many teams around the country let alone in new England with more than 1 Win v Ranked. How can 1-3-1 and say a .605 SOS this week be in the Top 5 in New England on Wednesday? I am just not seeing it especially with teams like Babson / Bowdoin / Midd  etc that will have better RvR and possibly SOS...Now personally Endicott is also not deserving as yes Calabrese played some tough tough teams but the loss to UR on Saturday and without looking I am guessing they also will have only 1 Ranked Win over RWU. I am expecting them at 8-5-2 to drop down to 9th or worse. Again, it is great they are playing all these great teams and have a real high SOS but you have to Win some of them to be considered IMO

[PaulNewman]

Once you get past Tufts, Conn and the enigmatic St. Joe's there's a log-jam of teams that look pretty much even (all the other NESCACs, Babson, maybe Springfield), unless one highly values RWU and/or Salve.  I would probably pick Bowdoin as the next best team after those first 3, and they weren't even ranked a week ago.

[Mr.Right]

Beautiful.....Brandeis v Amherst game being streamed behind the benches....Should be fantastic viewing....

Irwin back in net for Deis

Amherst striker McMillan out of lineup again and back is German Giamattei...Derby also back inlineup

[blooter442]

Beautiful.....Brandeis v Amherst game being streamed behind the benches....Should be fantastic viewing....

[PaulNewman]

OK, I have to admit, that was one of the most obnoxious things I've seen.  I think I'll cheer for Brandeis.

[Mr.Right]

OK, I have to admit, that was one of the most obnoxious things I've seen.  I think I'll cheer for Brandeis.

That is choirboy stuff...just wait until we get a good listen to Amherst bench all game

[PaulNewman]

Which one is Serpone?  They look like twins....and one of them looks like he's on meth.

[blooter442]

Heard more about "Bernie" in 2 minutes than 2016.

[blooter442]

Dare I call them "Bernie Bros"? 

[Mr.Right]

Serpone purple sweatshirt...Derek Shea is the other one and btw is a Principal in some school district...god help those kids

[blooter442]

Don't think I can listen to this for 90 minutes. I'd even rather listen to the Tufts mother's bird call.

[Mr.Right]

Can someone wake Brandeis UP???  They were not ready to play this game at all....No focus..No leadership...Plenty of time left but they need to get one back this half and keep them off the board