NESCAC 2010

[deiscanton]

Final-- NESCAC Semifinal Match #1  from Amherst, MA

Amherst 4:1  Bates

Final in from the University Athletic Association-- from Gaelic Park in Bronx, NY-- (Home side mentioned first)

NYU  0:2  Brandeis

Brandeis's victory over NYU today closes Brandeis's regular season with a 14-4-1 mark in in-region play  (.763 in-region winning percentage).

Eastern Conn State and Brandeis will most likely get Pool C bids on Monday.  We will have to see how many other New England teams will join them.

Update: Final--  NESCAC Semifinal #2  from Amherst, MA  (Higher seed mentioned first)

Williams 2:0  Middlebury

Amherst vs Williams for the NESCAC title tomorrow at Noon EST

[deiscanton]

New England teams in to the NCAAs by virtue of automatic bids--

GNAC-- Lasell   (defeated Norwich, 1-0,  in title game.)

North Atlantic Conference-- Castleton State  (defeated Husson, 3-0, in title game.)

MASCAC--  Worcester State  (defeated Bridgewater State, 1-0, in title game.)

TCCC-- Roger Williams  (Title game ended in a 2-2 draw vs. Endicott after 110 minutes,  Roger Williams wins the Commonwealth Coast Conference automatic bid on penalty kicks, 4-2.)

NECC-- Mitchell  (defeated Lesley, 2-1, in title game.)

Sunday updates

NESCAC--  Williams  (defeated Amherst, 1-0, in title game.)  Congrats to Williams on repeating as NESCAC tourney champions once again.

Little East-- Western Connecticut  (defeated UMass-Boston, 1-0, in title game.)

NEWMAC--  Springfield  (defeated Babson, 1-0, in title game.)

[deiscanton]

Sunday's New England title games are set:

NESCAC--  Amherst v Williams--  Amherst, MA

NEWMAC--  Springfield v Babson-- Springfield, MA

(In the NEWMAC semis today,   Springfield defeated Wheaton (MA) by a score of 2-1, and the MIT v Babson game ended in a 0-0 draw after 110 minutes.   Babson advanced to the final on penalty kicks, 4-3.)

Little East--  Western Connecticut v UMass-Boston-- Danbury, CT

[Dfense1]

My pick for POW...Sara Wild of Williams...led the Ephs to their 4th consecutive NESCAC championship with game winners over both Midd and Amherst.

[Becks]

I would not be surprised to see Wild win POY.

[nescac1]

Seems like a no-brainer, she's already been POW twice (and probably will be again), leads NESCAC in assists, is second in scoring overall, was first-team all conference the last two years, and is the top player on the championship squad.  Plus, she's a senior to boot. 

Congrats to the Ephs on an incredible fourth straight championship!  This must easily be the most accomplished group of seniors in NESCAC history.  Seems like the Ephs are rolling now, and hopefully it will carry through into the NCAAs. 

[Dfense1]

I would not be surprised to see Wild win POY.

Agree...Wild has had a monster year for them.  And, if she wins POW today, it will be the first time since 2000 that one player has won the recogition 3 times in a NESCAC season.

[Dfense1]

Seems like a no-brainer, she's already been POW twice (and probably will be again), leads NESCAC in assists, is second in scoring overall, was first-team all conference the last two years, and is the top player on the championship squad.  Plus, she's a senior to boot. 

Congrats to the Ephs on an incredible fourth straight championship!  This must easily be the most accomplished group of seniors in NESCAC history.  Seems like the Ephs are rolling now, and hopefully it will carry through into the NCAAs. 

Quoted from the Williams website--"this year's seniors – Burke, Danhakl, Duggan, Annie Neil, Jacqueline Russo, Rainer, Schreiber, Snyder, and Wild – have won a NESCAC championship in all of four of their years at Williams.  They hold an all-time record of 67-6-3 and a regular season NESCAC record of 31-2-3.  They are 11-0 in NESCAC tournament games."

[nescac1]

Bracket is out:

http://www.ncaa.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/ncaa/sports/w-soccer/auto_pdf/2010d3wsoccerbracket2

Williams is the only NESCAC representative, ouch.  Ephs face a very tough road ahead with, it seems, no home games and some tough teams in their quarter of the bracket.  But at least they won't have the pressure this year of being an overwhelming favorite to make it to the Final Four. 

[Becks]

Perhaps they are peaking at the right time this year, or will have better luck.  It seemed like each of the last 3 years they got knocked out in a game where they lost even though they were arguably the better team.

[deiscanton]

I'm looking forward to this weekend's action at Brandeis-- in particular, a potential second round match at Gordon Field in Waltham, MA  involving the Judges and the Ephs.   I went to the Tufts-Williams match a few weeks ago, and from my observations, the potential second round match between Brandeis and Williams will be very interesting, assuming that both teams win their first round games.

Brandeis has to defeat Castleton and Williams will have to defeat Lasell first in order for that second round match to take place.

[onetouch]

Wow, only one Nescac team...seems crazy.  I guess out of conference by Amherst really hurt them.  

Having seen all the teams, I think Tufts was second best but early season losses to Wheaton and Amherst hurt.  Also, the emergence of Brandeis is one of the stories of the year.  They will pose a stiff test for Williams.

[Dfense1]

Wow, only one Nescac team...seems crazy.  I guess out of conference by Amherst really hurt them.  

Having seen all the teams, I think Tufts was second best but early season losses to Wheaton and Amherst hurt.  Also, the emergence of Brandeis is one of the stories of the year.  They will pose a stiff test for Williams.

Actually, not that surprising that the only NESCAC team to receive an NCAA bid was Williams based on receiving an Automatic Qualifier for winning the conference.  Since regional rankings are used as a basis for selection, no other NESCAC school was ranked high enough, i.e. Midd was ranked 5th, Tufts 8th and Amherst 11th in last weeks poll to be included in the Pool C at-large bids.

[Becks]

So 3 "at large" (Pool C) bids for New England?  Definitely hurt that 3 of the top 4 ranked teams didn't win their tourneys and so used up the bids.  Amherst had no hope with 7 losses and ties with Bates and Conn.  I think Tufts was a bit hard-done by.  Only 2 losses on the season.  I would have ranked them ahead of Midd (who they beat 3-0 and who had 5 losses), but apparently even that wouldn't have gotten them in.  First time in a number of years that NESCAC has only had 1 tourney entry.

[Dfense1]

So 3 "at large" (Pool C) bids for New England?  Definitely hurt that 3 of the top 4 ranked teams didn't win their tourneys and so used up the bids.  Amherst had no hope with 7 losses and ties with Bates and Conn.  I think Tufts was a bit hard-done by.  Only 2 losses on the season.  I would have ranked them ahead of Midd (who they beat 3-0 and who had 5 losses), but apparently even that wouldn't have gotten them in.  First time in a number of years that NESCAC has only had 1 tourney entry.

Very true...and it appears the 3 Pool C selections followed the same form as they did in 2009 based on the regional rankings.  That is, the #1 ranked team (Eastern Conn), #3 (Brandeis) and #4 (Wheaton) all received Pool C bids. Williams at #2 won its conference and received an AQ as did the other New England schools that qualified.

The seeming moral of the story...either win your conference to receive an AQ and/or stay on top of the regional power rankings.