NESCAC

[nescac1]

Congrats to Coach Russo on his (incredibly) 400th career win!  A living legend.  Early returns indicate that Rashid may be the goal scorer that Williams desperately needs, as he scored both Eph goals in his first collegiate game, and led the team, by a wide margin, in shots.  He has an interesting background and is prominently featured in this article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=ghanasoccer

[LaPaz]

First Week Predictions - Always tough

Bowdoin vs Wes- 2-1- New year and fresh start for Bowdoin. Got Eddie Jones back on a injury waiver and that should help. Still will be interested to see goalkeeping issues and team cohesion after last years disaster. This is Wesleyan's year they did not lose much and have added some decent freshman to the mix. Tough game to open the season for both teams. I wouldn't be suprised if my prediction is turned around in favor of Wes but I give Bowdoin home field adv. Would be a good one to watch and wish I was going to this one.

Williams vs Bates-3-1- Williams def the real deal with frosh Rashid. He scores goals and works very hard. He is not the only piece to the puzzle as they are strong in net with 2 solid keepers and have solid depth in midfield. Christman leads by his play and strong work ethic. They have Ratachuck back to lead the inexperienced defense along side him. Rumor has it that inexperience led to Westfield State's first goal. With Rashid, teams will have to pay more attention to him which will give plenty of opportunity for others like Ebbobise and User. Bates comes in with a new coach and new approach. Same result. Murphy is the big danger on this team. Maybe some frosh and others will help but I dont think they get a result on this day.

Conn vs Colby- 0-0  I do not know much yet about these two teams yet. Big fan of Meisel for Colby and if there is an edge I favor Colby because of him. Conn lost its whole backline and had limited scoring to begin with. Lets hope some frosh and others can step up.

Midd vs Tufts- 1-2 This is the game I am watching closely. Tufts is young and hungry and with Santos and some very good frosh coming in they will be very tough to beat. Midd lost the most players of any Nescac team and I believe will only have an average year at best. They are excellent at home and Tufts has a long trip up to VT but this is my "upset" special.

Hamilton vs Trinity- 2-0 This score reflects the players Trinity has lost to graduation, not Hamilton's overall talent level.

[Jump4Joy]

Bowdoin loses at home to Wesleyan, 2-0.
Hamilton hosts Trinity to a 2-1 win, despite a Trinity own goal.
Williams beats Bates, 2-0.
Conn ties Colby, 0-0 2OT.
Middlebury loses at home to Tufts, 2-0.

[LaPaz]

2nd Week Predictions:
Sorry been busy and gotta be fast

Wes vs Tufts-    1-1  Interesting matchup. Havent seen Tufts yet. Wes is playing like they want to make a run in NCAA's.

Wes vs Hamilton 1-0 Hamilton is much improved and if you take them lightly they will burn you. Abbot up front has speed and they have figured to attack with 4 and defend with 6 in Nescac to pick up some points.

Conn vs Hamilton 0-0 Read Hamilton above, however they play better at home and with long travel these games I could be wrong. Have yet to see Conn play but sith Colby;s midweek 3-0 loss to Husson that 0-0 first week tie with them is looking worse and worse. Who is scoring the goals for this Conn team.

Colby vs Midd  2-1  I believe Midd is way down this year. Colby will bounce back from a serious mid-week drubbing and I like how they play as they try to pass the ball on the carpet withMeisel running the show. Midd has a captain starting that played maybe 20 minutes in 3 years. Not a good sign.

Trinity vs Williams 0-1 Trinity has been Williams nemesis for the past 4-5 years and even knocked them out of the tournament last year, but Mayernick and Buckley and keeper are gone. Williams just to much talent to lose this game and trinity while they have some good attacking players in the El-Hachem brothers and wingers they other midfielders are weak and their backline is slow and inexperienced. Not sure if the keeper has been tested yest but he is a big boy at 6'3.

Bates vs Amherst 0-3 Amherst just to much talent and experience.

Bates vs Trinity 1-2  Battle of Nescac's 2 worst teams I believe. Trinity comes out on top with better attacking options and threats.

[nescacsoccer]

the first game, wesleyan hosting tufts, is the best and best interesting to me.  tufts seems to have been getting a little better each of the past three years.  beating wesleyan in middletown would show they are real this year.  wesleyan has two wins already, but I'm not sure either was really a quality opponent (I think bowdoin might be in line for another tough year 8 goals against southern maine notwithstanding) ill say tufts does it 1-0.

it is a big weekend for hamilton to show that they can hang with nescac teams. their first of two road games and arguably the  most difficult away fields has them at conn.  i think conn get by them 2-1.

sadly for hamilton, if my first prediction is right, theyll be playing a a weslayen team coming off a loss.  tough spot. wesleyan 2-0.

middlebury might be down, but colby is worse.  midd 2-0.

williams is a very interesting team to me this year.  what do they say about quarterbacks? if you think you have two quarterbacks, you probably have none.  I don't like the switching of the goalies.  have the better one win the spot and stick with him. User and Mohammed can be a dangerous duo leading the attack.  i like williams here.  1-0.

huge talent gap here, but the same was true last year and it was one of amherst's closest games of the season. amherst has a freshman goalie, but if he proves to be solid this is going to be another impressive year for amherst.  im not sure anyone will be able to come close to putting up the goal numbers amherst will, so many options.  only three important players lost from last year.  they're coming out firing i believe 4-1.

lastly, bates gets off what would be a 14 games NESCAC losing streak if they drop it to Amherst but taking down Trinity in a high scoring affair 4-3.

[amh63]

Amherst beats Bates 2-0 at Bates on a bright, but windy day that may have impact the long kicks for both sides.  It was 0-0 at the half.  Both freshman goalies played well.  Amherst dominated the time of possession and shots on goal.  Bates' goalie turned away many of the shots.  Both sides had injuries with players leaving the field.  FY Amherst player taken off the field and went to get his wrist/arm looked t on a golf cart. Bates' player Lin helped off the field late in the game with an ankle injury.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Colby-Midd was an outstanding, very entertaining evenly played D-III game, with both sides playing attractive soccer.  Midd wins in OT when Colby defender (who was not really under pressure) steps on ball and falls down in box, leaving it for a Midd attacker who fires off bar and then rebound headed into open net.  Tough way to lose.

[LaPaz]

Monday Nescac Bantering.....Bowdoin excellent out of conference win aganist Babson. Not sure if it will hurt Babson as much as it might help Bowdoin if they can ever get some Nescac wins. A win at Midd on Sat would be a good start. I feel like I have been saying the same names for Bowdoin for 5-6 years, Eddie Jones, Hunter Clark, Call Nichols (where is he btw?), Gale, Danessart, Brewster, etc. Just joking but with all this talent and 3 str8 shutouts and disciplined defense they should be a tough out. Congrats to Bates for getting its first point since 2010 in Nescac aganist a most def tired Trinity bunch after saturday's game vs Williams. Now we will be looking for Bates first win in Nescac since a 1-0 win over Midd in Oct of 2010. Looking at the schedule and the play of this years Bates team I am having a hard time finding that win for Bates.Schedule makers have not been nice to Trinity as they have 3 seperate trips up to Maine. I picked the Tufts at Wesleyan game to go see live on Saturday. Tufts won the game and are sitting at 3-0 but after seeing their goalkeeper live I am absolutely convinced they will not be making a NCAA run unless some other keeper is injured. Tufts might have the worst goalkeeping in Nescac as he was bobbling balls and making high school keeper mistakes. However, it is a shame because I like the rest of their team. Sam Williams and company on defense are above average and obv Santos and Hoppenot can score for them. They need an answer in goal and fast although 2 great road wins at Wes and Midd. Wesleyan deserved at least a point on Saturday as they had many chances to tie that game up. I think I will go to either Williams v Wes or Midd v Bowdoin on sat. Speaking of Williams, 4-0 is a great start and I know they play a 4-3-3 but they seem a little out of shape or sorts in midfield. Muralles a great player and Ebobisse a great passer of the ball and a great left foot but they are both out of shape and cannot play 90 minutes. They and Amherst have the most dangerous attacking 3 in Nescac. Frosh Rashid and Junior User are the real deals up front. ALso, to u Williams' people out there what is up with Burbank-Crump? starting left back last year, I liked him there thought he was a tad slow but a great player out of Brooks School. Now he is down to garbage time and looks about 15-20 pounds out of shape. Im sure Russo loved to see that in pre-season. Amherst has been well Amherst....thumping the ball from the back and attacking with the best trio in Nescac and scoring goals. I saw they out shot Bates 26-1, unreal. Our Colby fan informed us of the bad luck they had aganist Midd, but failed to inform us why his team did not show up on the road aganist a lesser side in HUsson and got dropped 3-0.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

LaPaz, no excuse for Colby's 0-3 v. Husson.  They wrongfully assumed an easy victory was in store, and did not put in the necessary effort.  Also did not help that they hit the woodwork 4 times.  Husson does have a flip thrower who can throw 50 yards and several 6'-3" types, which makes them dangerous on throw ins and corners (on which they scored one of each).

[nescacsoccer]

I was only able to tune into the second half of the Amherst/Bates game when it was already 1-0.  Bates may have had the ball on Amherst's side of the field for one minute total in the last 30 or so minutes ofthe game, and never held possession there (that also was aided by the fact that Amherst had a strong wind at their back).  I didn't think Amherst was overly impressive though.  They struggled to connect passes it seemed, and none of their shots were that threatening from what I saw.  The one goal was just because both Alejandro and Federico Sucre are tremendous in the air (it happened to be Federico who put that one in).  I think amherst still has attacking talent, but they need a cog in the midfield to put it all together if they want to live up to the lofty ranking they currently hold.

I'm interested, LaPaz, what happens with Tufts' goalie.  They seem to have their teams since I started following the NESCAC (about five years ago). Looking back at your preseason you have Amherst, Williams, Tufts as the top three.  I agree, but could see any possible order between them.

[LaPaz]

Sat Predictions:

Williams v Wes 2-1  I give Williams the home field Adv. Key to the game will be if Williams can finish their chances.

Tufts v Colby  2-0 Im still waiting for goals aganist Tufts, not with Colby's anemic offense.

Midd v Bowdoin 0-0 Im thinking a predictable whack it long and chase game here.

Amherst v Hamilton 4-0 Rumor has it Hamilton is banged up with injuries.

Trinity v Conn 0-1 Conn gets hard fought road win but no doubt this will be a battle.

Sunday:

Williams v Conn 1-1 I bet Williams prepping for Wes all week and forgeting about Conn.

Midd v Amherst 1-0 My upset special. Amherst long saturday ride plays right into Midd's hands unless Amherst can score early and often on Hamilton the day before and rest everyone and Midd does have a battle with Bowdoin. Tough call

Trinity v Tufts  1-2 Tufts Santos squeeze's a late game winner

[amh63]

Amherst had a 2-0 record for the weekend.  They won at home against Hamilton 5-1. Amherst's shutout streak ends.
Today, in Vermont, it was a 2-0 win against Midd.  As the announcers stated, the physical Amherst team played hard against a physical Panther team but the skill level won out.  First score at around the 38th minute with the 2nd goal coming around the 81th min.  Several group pushing events to close out the game.  Amherst's depth won the game.

[Jump4Joy]

LaPaz, don't feel discouraged. It's fun, and we all like that you put it out there.

So Williams went scoreless against Wesleyan. Notable were the Ephs' 24 fouls to Wes's 8. Guess the refs weren't homers?
(Williams is certainly outscoring their opponents in fouls: 22-4 vs. Trinity last weekend and 25-12 vs. Hamilton earlier that week. Does this reflect the personality of the team? Tactics?)

Tufts still undefeated but hit a skid of sorts this weekend with evens vs. Colby, 0-0, and Trinity, 1-1.

Midd hosted a winless weekend, blanked by Bowdoin and Amherst (no upset, despite the long bus ride for the Jeffs ).

Amherst still revving. Ugly game at Middlebury but got 'er done. Outscored opponents, 7-1, on the weekend. Scoring a lot from the air. Got a glimpse of the future with all healthy freshman on the field together in later stage of the match vs. Hamilton.

Surprised by Trinity's 3-0 result against Conn?

Anyone see any games to provide insight?

[nescacsoccer]

the strongest impression i came away from this weekend is the league doesn't seem to be as deep as i expected.  amherst and williams might make this a two horse race.  middlebury is way down this year.  bates, hamilton, conn college (and probably colby) are going to seriously struggle getting points off anyone but each other. I am not convinced about bowdoin or trinity either. that leaves wesleyan and tufts.  i said in the last post that amherst williams and tufts could finish 1-2-3 in any order, but what an uninspiring pair of results tufts got this weekend.  i think it was reasonable to expect at least four points from tufts.  tufts and wesleyan fall just behind amherst and williams in my eyes.

having said all that, amherst and williams each seems to be in a really good place this year.  both have  a stingy defense and potent, diverse offense. 

[LaPaz]

Tuesday bantering....The league is def not as deep and games are becoming defensive slugfests. Ugly soccer to be honest. Even the notorious attractive playing Williams is prob leading the league in fouls. YES FOULS. That tells me they are out of shape or just are not tackling. Good luck aganist Amherst if your going to foul 20-25 times in that game you are playing right into there hands with the set pieces. Teams are getting banged up and these back to back games are just brutal. Amherst schedules 4 of the weakest teams in New England as non-conf games to ease the players playing time and injury woes. That said Williams and Amherst have the best teams because they have the best depth. They can withstand 2-3 injuries and fill in. Wesleyan subs alot but there depth is weaker and a team like Hamilton had so many injuries this past weekend aganist Amherst the coach was playing frosh for the first time. Depth is a factor for sure. Conn suprising 2 3-0 defeats. i think they are better than that. I like there backline and Hawkey and Hormel  and Marganzani are good players. There issue along with Tufts is Goalkeeping. 2 worst keepers in legaue at Tufts and Conn from what I have seen and they will kill there teams. Really only good goalkeepers in the league are Purdy and both keepers at Williams. Trinity keeps suprising me with results as El-hachem is putting team on his back and they are getting some goals from there front players. Mayernick would score the key 90th minute or OT goal but these guys can score so maybe they can hang in there. Bates and Colby just the 2 worst teams in the league. Colby and Bates 4 Nescac games and 0 goals. Midd 4 Nescac games and 1 goal and maybe 8 shots on goal all weekend. Just bad bad stuff. Midd coach looks as dis-interested as Purgavie did at Bates in the end. He needs to start recruiting. Any Midd athletic team should nnot be 1-3 in Nescac.