NESCAC

[Striker22]

http://bantamsports.com/sports/msoc/2017-18/schedule

Trinity appears to have posted their 2017 schedule.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

The NESCAC composite schedule is up on the NESCAC Men's Soccer page:  http://www.nescac.com/sports/msoc/2017-18/schedule.  You can click on each team to see its individual schedule.  Some teams' schedules may still be a work in progress

[blooter442]

The NESCAC composite schedule is up on the NESCAC Men's Soccer page:  http://www.nescac.com/sports/msoc/2017-18/schedule.  You can click on each team to see its individual schedule.  Some teams' schedules may still be a work in progress

Excited to see that Babson added Tufts this year. Brandeis and Tufts have played the past four years, a good test for both teams, and I think Babson vs. Tufts will be similarly competitive.

[Flying Weasel]

As of June 5th only one Nescac team schedule has been released. Williams has their 2017 schedule up and it is nothing special with a surprisingly WEAK team on it.  Their 5 non-conference games are at RPI, Skidmore, at Coast Guard, at Babson and hosting Mt.St Vincent. For a historically strong program like Williams and a reputation for playing the best teams in New England this schedule is certainly not as challenging as it could be. 2 Newmac's and 2 Liberty League games are fine but it looks like they had an opening weekend in October that they needed to fill an they filled it with any team they could find.  If that is the case then I understand why you would be playing Mt.St.Vincent and will give them a pass. Not sure why you would pick up a road tilt at Coast Guard who will sit 10 behind the ball and try to steal the game on the counter.

Mount St. Vincent somehow got a game with Messiah last year, and now this year play at York (Pa.) on 9/8, at Williams on 10/7, and at Tufts on 10/10.  Very peculiar.  Mount St. Vincent has a new coach, Montclair State 2015 grad Maxx Wurzburger, but he was only announced on May 22.  The shady Jon Langer was the head coach last year, so did he manage to get these big games?

[Mr.Right]

Well Midd has not learned anything from their last 2 snubs from the NCAA's..They have Castleton, Norwich, Plymouth St, Colby-Sawyer and Keene St as their 5 non-conference games. Keene St will be decent and the rest are below average.

I have already written about Williams' below average schedule. I will say again why in the world would you play at Coast Guard. Mid-week in New London,CT against a very hard working team that will sit 10 deep and run all day. Why not play a team that has more skill and not sit back?

Tufts has the best non-conference schedule as well they should being reigning NCAA Champs. Brandeis, Babson, Keene St are good games. Mt. St Vincent will be playing there 2nd Nescac opponent in 3 days when they visit Tufts. This is a GOOD schedule, not great but good enough.

Amherst is showing only 2 non conference games on their schedule so far. I will not be holding my breath for the other 3. I can predict as usual a very WEAK non-conference slate. Interestingly, they are travelling to Merchant Marine on a Thursday for a night game at 8pm before their game at Williams on Saturday. That is less than 48 hours turn around time and a good 3 hour bus ride. I do not like that decision but Serpone smartly puts Merchant Marine on their schedule as they WILL DOMINATE their new league(2nd year) in the Skyline. That will give Amherst a game and a win against an NCAA opponent which the committee loves and will pump up their OWP. I just wouldn't have scheduled it right before the Williams game on a Thursday night.

I am most disappointed with Bowdoin. They drop Babson(who they have played every year since the 1980's) and are playing 5 weak Maine schools. They are going to be one of the better teams in Nescac and there is no reason they cannot play a good schedule. They are in close enough proximity to Boston to play good teams. They got snubbed from the NCAA's last year because of their WEAK Non-conference schedule and proceed to go ahead and make it even weaker.

I have complained about this for years. If you do not have good teams on your schedule you will not have good wins on your resume. Bowdoin will have 5-6, good Nescac teams on their schedule but now must win at least 3 of those games against Midd, Amherst, Tufts, etc to get wins v Ranked teams. If you put 3 GOOD ranked teams on your non-conference schedule at least you have 3 more opportunities to get ranked wins. What Bowdoin, Midd and Amherst do to themselves forces them to put all their eggs in 1 basket. Amherst has gotten away with it for years but the other schools have not.

[OldNed]

Well Midd has not learned anything from their last 2 snubs from the NCAA's..They have Castleton, Norwich, Plymouth St, Colby-Sawyer and Keene St as their 5 non-conference games. Keene St will be decent and the rest are below average.

I have already written about Williams' below average schedule. I will say again why in the world would you play at Coast Guard. Mid-week in New London,CT against a very hard working team that will sit 10 deep and run all day. Why not play a team that has more skill and not sit back?

Tufts has the best non-conference schedule as well they should being reigning NCAA Champs. Brandeis, Babson, Keene St are good games. Mt. St Vincent will be playing there 2nd Nescac opponent in 3 days when they visit Tufts. This is a GOOD schedule, not great but good enough.

Amherst is showing only 2 non conference games on their schedule so far. I will not be holding my breath for the other 3. I can predict as usual a very WEAK non-conference slate. Interestingly, they are travelling to Merchant Marine on a Thursday for a night game at 8pm before their game at Williams on Saturday. That is less than 48 hours turn around time and a good 3 hour bus ride. I do not like that decision but Serpone smartly puts Merchant Marine on their schedule as they WILL DOMINATE their new league(2nd year) in the Skyline. That will give Amherst a game and a win against an NCAA opponent which the committee loves and will pump up their OWP. I just wouldn't have scheduled it right before the Williams game on a Thursday night.

I am most disappointed with Bowdoin. They drop Babson(who they have played every year since the 1980's) and are playing 5 weak Maine schools. They are going to be one of the better teams in Nescac and there is no reason they cannot play a good schedule. They are in close enough proximity to Boston to play good teams. They got snubbed from the NCAA's last year because of their WEAK Non-conference schedule and proceed to go ahead and make it even weaker.

I have complained about this for years. If you do not have good teams on your schedule you will not have good wins on your resume. Bowdoin will have 5-6, good Nescac teams on their schedule but now must win at least 3 of those games against Midd, Amherst, Tufts, etc to get wins v Ranked teams. If you put 3 GOOD ranked teams on your non-conference schedule at least you have 3 more opportunities to get ranked wins. What Bowdoin, Midd and Amherst do to themselves forces them to put all their eggs in 1 basket. Amherst has gotten away with it for years but the other schools have not.

One of those 5 Maine teams is St. Joseph's of Maine, a team that beat Babson in PKs in the NCAA tournament last year.  They are a team made up of predominantly sophs and freshmen, so they figure to be even stronger this year.  I wouldn't be surprised if Bowdoin loses to Saint Joe's.

That being said, I agree with everything you say about Bowdoin's strength of schedule and it baffles me that a team that lost out on the tournament last year due to SOS didn't take measures to fix the problem.

[nescac1]

I've no idea how this team is compiled, but two future NESCAC players on the USA Today H.S. all-American third team, Jules Oberg (Williams) and Jake LaBranche (Middlebury):

http://usatodayhss.com/2017/american-family-insurance-all-usa-boys-soccer-third-team

[Mr.Right]

No idea...... but that kid Oberg that Williams got was Berkshire School's best player last year. He will be Williams best recruit but he is a defender and Williams needs attackers but not a bad snag for sure.

[nescac1]

Thanks Mr. Right.  It does seem like Williams has a tremendous group of defenders next year between Oberg, Muellers, Dory, MacDonald (assuming he returns healthy), Andreu, and another incoming frosh, Ranieri.  But the playmaking up front and finishing are both huge question marks.  Hopefully Sisco-Tolomeo will have a strong senior year finishing up top, more akin to his sophomore year, but he is a senior and be a marked man without any other obvious finishers on the roster.  And the playmaking up front is an even bigger question mark with Rashid (in particular, he carried so much of the offensive load), Bahr Stefano, and Moutenot graduating.  Williams is going to have to grind our a lot of low-scoring games unless a few really unexpected playmakers emerge. 

[Mr.Right]

Thanks Mr. Right.  It does seem like Williams has a tremendous group of defenders next year between Oberg, Muellers, Dory, MacDonald (assuming he returns healthy), Andreu, and another incoming frosh, Ranieri.  But the playmaking up front and finishing are both huge question marks.  Hopefully Sisco-Tolomeo will have a strong senior year finishing up top, more akin to his sophomore year, but he is a senior and be a marked man without any other obvious finishers on the roster.  And the playmaking up front is an even bigger question mark with Rashid (in particular, he carried so much of the offensive load), Bahr Stefano, and Moutenot graduating.  Williams is going to have to grind our a lot of low-scoring games unless a few really unexpected playmakers emerge.

Yes I agree, btw Ranieri is also a VERY good player as well as Oberg but he is also a defender. To me Sisco-Tolomeo has been a major disappointment but maybe he can have a monster senior year

[EasyGoer27]

One of our kids from from Berk claims Jules maybe delaying a year.  Not sure why.  He seemed pretty sure about it.

Still think Williams will have plenty.

Driving the 2 hours down to see another Berk alum tonight at Yankee Stadium, Go Jack go.

[Ommadawn]

Yes I agree, btw Ranieri is also a VERY good player as well as Oberg but he is also a defender. To me Sisco-Tolomeo has been a major disappointment but maybe he can have a monster senior year

In an interesting parallel with former Eph Geoff Danilack, Nick Ranieri has a brother (fraternal twin, I think) headed off to Dartmouth (Danilack had two brothers play at Dartmouth).

[SoccerKick]

No idea...... but that kid Oberg that Williams got was Berkshire School's best player last year. He will be Williams best recruit but he is a defender and Williams needs attackers but not a bad snag for sure.

Better than Jacob Shaffelburg who is playing pro games for Bethlehem Steel as a 15 year old?
https://www.brotherlygame.com/2017/3/17/14957746/academy-newcomer-jacob-shaffelburg-makes-debut-in-bethlehem-steel-friendly

Better than Ahria Simmons who has been starting for Bermuda's Senior team at 17 years old?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rEIfQiJcyc

Better than Duke commit Stephen O'Connell?
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=211630688&DB_OEM_ID=4200

Better than Northeastern commit Noah Abrams?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeCCmLTDMEk

We know you like Williams, but come on...

[Dog Face]

I'd be interested to hear how often freshman are major impact players in NESCAC- I would not have thought that this occurred often.  I guess I'm questioning how much a couple of freshman backs (albeit very good ones) will matter for Williams. 

Those two backs are no doubt a good starting point for a good freshman class for Williams, but still seems they are a bit less aggressive on the recruiting side than some of their peers- one would think the pressure would be building in Williamstown.  The Berkshire back is a plum pick and likely required some work, but he was right in their backyard.   You know Tufts and Amherst will recruit hard every year, and with their recent trophies will have a good pool available- other boards show both schools also getting very good recruits in their local market.

It obviously matters what kids want, but Tufts seems really well positioned for recruiting. It has the titles and a highly regarded young coach, and its academic stature has risen to where it's almost equal to Williams and Amherst.  And unique amongst the NESCACs, it a bigger university in an urban setting with perhaps a bit more flexibility on the admissions side.   A very powerful and attractive combination for recruiting.    Negatives?  Recent move to a turf field (players raised on turf may not recognize it, but the wear and tear over 4 years of intensive college seasons adds up) and speculation that the coach will move on given his accolades. 

[nescac1]

I feel like Tufts has not really prioritized athletics until the last five years or so.  Something clearly changed since around 2010, as Tufts rapidly become, despite very little history of high-profile athletic success, a contender in football (after years of chronic losing) and a national powerhouse in men's lacrosse, men's soccer, women's softball, and men's hoops (multiple national titles in all save for hoops, which has advanced fairly deep twice in the NCAAs in recent years).  I always wondered why Tufts DIDN'T have more athletic success -- it has a much bigger student body than any other NESCAC school, has a strong national profile, and is the ONLY NESCAC school in a true urban environment (well, unless you count Hartford, but I'm not sure that is really a recruiting asset) in an era in which kids gravitate more and more to urban schools.  Williams, Amherst and Midd will all be basically fighting for the same kid, since all three are so similar -- but Tufts has a unique profile in NESCAC.  So once Tufts focused on athletics (as it clearly has) and made some great coaching hires (ditto), it was almost inevitable that it would emerge along with Amherst/Midd/Williams in the top tier of aggregated NESCAC athletic programs.  It's actually kind of amazing in some ways that the other three, despite being far smaller and more rural, remain in that top tier, year after year. 

As for Williams soccer, for whatever reason the Ephs (dating back to the last few years under Russo) have struggled to bring in big-time goal scorers up front.  Rashid was really the only clearly elite, super-dynamic recruit up front that the Ephs featured this entire DECADE.  From 2011-2016, Rashid was the only Williams forward to be named all-confernece other than Zach Grady, who sort of emerged out of nowhere to have a big impact as a senior.   If you look before 2011, there was typically a different Eph, and just as often two Ephs, forward on the all-NESCAC squads, year after year.  And it's not like Williams hasn't had good players at other positions over that time period.  For whatever reason, Williams has been in a bit of a draught in terms of elite forwards.  Compare that to Williams women's soccer, which seems to bring in two elite forwards every year!  Hopefully Sullivan can remedy that soon, or else Williams will continue to slip back in the standings.