NESCAC

[Brother Flounder]

Nah...Tufts deserved it with the SOS.....This absolutely is telling Middlebury YOU NEED TO LEAVE THE STATE OF VT and play decent teams out of conference

That may be true but RPI???

[amh63]

This is the CAC board?
Amherst received a bye and will host a 2nd round NCAA game on Sunday, the 15th.  Being a NCAA post season game, guess there will be fees to attend.  parking should be ok but a long walk to the fields due to dorm construction taking former spaces.  Seems there will also be a women's game around....but No football game.  Football game in Willytown and the women's volleyball team will play at MIT in a NCAA post season match.

[Mr.Right]

The good news is that Midd only loses Deklan Robinson. They are extremely junior heavy this year so next year should be their year. After that they could be rebuilding for a while. Still a tough way to end your career. I actually thought they had a chance at hosting RD64 / RD32

[Bucket]

Nah...Tufts deserved it with the SOS.....This absolutely is telling Middlebury YOU NEED TO LEAVE THE STATE OF VT and play decent teams out of conference

I would love to see Midd play Plattsburgh and RPI instead of Green Mountain and Castleton, and I truly hope this happens.

But Midd's strength of schedule is not as big an albatross as you make it out to be: It was higher than Amherst's. It was higher than MIT's. It was higher than U-Mass-Boston's. It was higher than Bowdoin's. In fact, in the New England rankings, only two teams had a higher SOS: Brandeis and Tufts. We'r not talking about Endicott's .505 SOS here.

[amh63]

Been reading the various soccer boards to make sense of some of the brackets in the NCAA tourney. Realize that the soccer world is even harder to understand than the basketball post season brackets.
Went to the Div 3 NCAA site and looked at the last soccer regional rankings listed...Nov.4. 
Went to the the NE regional rankings....Brandeis first, Amherst 2nd.  It was surprising to see Midd Higher than Tuft's... 4th and 5th, I recall. Both way ahead of Bowdoin....but Bowdoin did get the AQ.
Something must have moved Tuft's over Midd.

[Jump4Joy]

Haven't done the homework but could be RvR?
(or the idea that they get the golden brush with last year's championship trophy as some have speculated might happen?)

[Nutmeg]

POY- NPL
COY-Wiercinski

POY KAYNE
COY WIERCINSKI
ROY PAIZ MARTINEZ

[SoccerTroll]

Middlebury loss to Tufts and "defending champs" propelled Tufts in. SOS might have been the tiniest of factors. Tufts down the stretch had no offense and will need to throw some bodies forward with Majumder to keep their heads above water and score some goals in the tourney.  Shapiro needs to change something to get this offense jump started. Amherst slowing down at end of season into Conf tourney makes me wonder. Bowdoin would be an interesting pick to go far, but not sure how they stack up out of conference. I will be glued to computer as the tourney rolls on.

[Mr.Right]

That pod at MIT might have 3 games with a TOTAL OF 1 GOAL if we are lucky. Stalemates abound

[blooter442]

Middlebury loss to Tufts and "defending champs" propelled Tufts in. SOS might have been the tiniest of factors. Tufts down the stretch had no offense and will need to throw some bodies forward with Majumder to keep their heads above water and score some goals in the tourney.  Shapiro needs to change something to get this offense jump started. Amherst slowing down at end of season into Conf tourney makes me wonder. Bowdoin would be an interesting pick to go far, but not sure how they stack up out of conference. I will be glued to computer as the tourney rolls on.

Having watched Bowdoin a number of times, I would say that Bowdoin could very well hang with and beat anyone perhaps ranked 20-25 nationally. That's why I'm most intrigued at the prospect of an MIT vs. Bowdoin game in the Second Round - two teams with good attacks that are tough to break down. I might even fancy Bowdoin in that game due to their being battle-tested against the rest of the NESCAC (although it's worth mentioning that MIT's once-terrible SOS of .497 has improved to .543.) Bingham up front for MIT is a lot to handle, but he has been kept completely quiet by a few sides this year. Could be one of the standout Second Round fixtures of the whole tournament.

Majumder is a great striker but while Connor Brown is still around Majumder doesn't have the supporting cast that Hoppenot did last year - most notably Santos to score the goals. To be fair to the rest of the Tufts team, Kayne has been feeding Majumder from his CM position all season, so it's not so much the supply as the finishing that's the problem. On their day, they're unstoppable - e.g. winning away at Williams 3-0 - but then other days they can't get one past an average Bates side. Confounding.

[Brother Flounder]

Middlebury loss to Tufts and "defending champs" propelled Tufts in. SOS might have been the tiniest of factors. Tufts down the stretch had no offense and will need to throw some bodies forward with Majumder to keep their heads above water and score some goals in the tourney.  Shapiro needs to change something to get this offense jump started. Amherst slowing down at end of season into Conf tourney makes me wonder. Bowdoin would be an interesting pick to go far, but not sure how they stack up out of conference. I will be glued to computer as the tourney rolls on.

Having watched Bowdoin a number of times, I would say that Bowdoin could very well hang with and beat anyone perhaps ranked 20-25 nationally. That's why I'm most intrigued at the prospect of an MIT vs. Bowdoin game in the Second Round - two teams with good attacks that are tough to break down. I might even fancy Bowdoin in that game due to their being battle-tested against the rest of the NESCAC (although it's worth mentioning that MIT's once-terrible SOS of .497 has improved to .543.) Bingham up front for MIT is a lot to handle, but he has been kept completely quiet by a few sides this year. Could be one of the standout Second Round fixtures of the whole tournament.

Majumder is a great striker but while Connor Brown is still around Majumder doesn't have the supporting cast that Hoppenot did last year - most notably Santos to score the goals. To be fair to the rest of the Tufts team, Kayne has been feeding Majumder from his CM position all season, so it's not so much the supply as the finishing that's the problem. On their day, they're unstoppable - e.g. winning away at Williams 3-0 - but then other days they can't get one past an average Bates side. Confounding.

Definitely agree with the Bowdoin analysis.  The one thing that could go against them is if their opponent scores early, whether by fluke or earned goal.  I don't see them as a come from behind team.  Regarding Tufts, they have the same issue of last year.  No one predicted them to do anything for the same reasons, that they had the talent but didn't know what team would show up.  It would be nice if they had another scoring target, like Middlebury does, so they will have to get goals from other sources (which they have definitely done at times).  I stated earlier that NPL should get POY but I wouldn't be surprised if Kayne got it, as he is excellent on both defense and offense, and makes the Jumbos tick.  He and the other Jumbos will have to step it up again.

[SoccerTroll]

NESCAC so defense minded, it is hard to see technically talented players flourish. That is partly how Amherst gets to you, physical D and some technical offense on the counter. Tufts and Bowdoin need to find the sleeper in their midst, that technical unknown on the team that can make moves, create space and pass/score to compliment Majumder. 9 back on D makes it far too lonely for Majumder and Kayne/Brown aren't the answer and haven't been this season. Tufts and Bowdoin need to find the sleeper on their teams and another NCAA gear to get it done and go deep.

[Mr.Right]

Bowdoin has Van Siclien. As long as he is playing well they will not have to score many goals. They have a great advantage in PK's. You are correct though if they do fall behind 1-0 they will be in trouble

[blooter442]

Definitely agree with the Bowdoin analysis.  The one thing that could go against them is if their opponent scores early, whether by fluke or earned goal.  I don't see them as a come from behind team.

Good point. I'd also say that they tend to get worn down by more skilled sides over the course of the game, even if they manage to keep it 0-0. They defended well at Amherst for 80 minutes this year before eventually losing 1-0 due to Amherst's superior pressure which paid off in the last 10 minutes. Last year, when I saw them against Brandeis in the NCAA 2nd Round, they were forced to defend for most of the game, and did it well, but eventually Brandeis' superior speed and skill told the difference and the Judges scored with 15 minutes left and won 1-0. And while these are only two incidences of that, I'd say that when good teams come at you with wave after wave of attack and you're on the back foot, it can be hard to sustain that defensive solidity and, chances are, the better team breaks through more often than not. But Mr.Right is correct, with Van Siclen back there they'll be in any game that they enter.

[Brother Flounder]

NESCAC so defense minded, it is hard to see technically talented players flourish. That is partly how Amherst gets to you, physical D and some technical offense on the counter. Tufts and Bowdoin need to find the sleeper in their midst, that technical unknown on the team that can make moves, create space and pass/score to compliment Majumder. 9 back on D makes it far too lonely for Majumder and Kayne/Brown aren't the answer and haven't been this season. Tufts and Bowdoin need to find the sleeper on their teams and another NCAA gear to get it done and go deep.

Disagree with your first sentence.  I have seen several players flourish and with technical skill.... Amherst?  Will they get the NCAA Monkey off their back?  They definitely have the talent but will they finish?  That's the $100,000.00 question......