NESCAC

[Mr.Right]

Serpone giving Frosh Ignacio Cubeddu his first career start in a pretty big game..he is a skilled player from what I have seen but nesds some mass.

Well this start that Serpone gave Cubeddu had an impact as the Frosh makes his Coach look like a stable genius as he scores a nice goal off an individual piece of skill and finish. 1-0 Amherst middle of 1st Half.

[Middlebury Dad]

Midd wins on pk. Drazen took his man off the dribble and got wiped out. Sloan sends Marcucci wrong way to win it for Panthers.

[Mr.Right]

Williams best chance with 10 minutes left after a pick by Nathan Song he sneaks a beautiful ball splitting Amherst CB's into Gass's path but it went into Gass's left foot and he has no left foot. His shot was weak but still made White dive for it. If that was on Gass's right he would have buried it.

[Mr.Right]

Amherst goes up 2-0 off a long throw by Johnson and then finished. GK frozen on line. Defenders just failed to get to ball and clear. When you have fresh legs like McMillian coming off the bench running at tired defenders eventually you need to focus more and more...Count me as really unsure about this Williams Frosh GK...

2-0 Amherst Halftime

[The_View_From_732]

Must be a frustrating half for Williams where they mostly played fine. In fact, they were able to slice up Amherst a couple times and had their chances. But then, they end up down 2-0 because Amherst is Amherst. I'm not sure I change a whole lot in the second half if I'm Williams; the chances will be there, they will just have to grind their way back.

[Mr.Right]

Midd wins on pk. Drazen took his man off the dribble and got wiped out. Sloan sends Marcucci wrong way to win it for Panthers.

Well good Drazen gets some love back because he had a real good look with about 15 left but did not get onto it.

[Mr.Right]

Must be a frustrating half for Williams where they mostly played fine. In fact, they were able to slice up Amherst a couple times and had their chances. But then, they end up down 2-0 because Amherst is Amherst. I'm not sure I change a whole lot in the second half if I'm Williams; the chances will be there, they will just have to grind their way back.

True...In years past Amherst would have shut this game down 100% but the past few years we have seen examples of Amherst defense making some very questionable decisions and obviously bad GK'ing to let teams right back into games. However, while Williams might get a goal or 2 back I do not think Amherst is done scoring either...

[Mr.Right]

Midd wins on pk. Drazen took his man off the dribble and got wiped out. Sloan sends Marcucci wrong way to win it for Panthers.

Anyone know who took Drazen down?

[blooter442]

Tufts-Bates 0-0 at half. Missed the first 15 mins or so, but while Tufts has had the better of the possession and chances, they know they're in a game — Bates has held its own. Good crowd out on a nice day in Lewiston.

[Mr.Right]

Amherst 2-0 Williams Final...Ugly 2nd Half...Amherst was just nursing its lead while Williams did not do nearly enough to get back into the game. The effort 2nd Half was not great but he was resting some players for tmrw. Either Conn or Williams could go 0-2-0 this wknd with a loss tmrw.

[blooter442]

Bates hits the bar! They have been causing Tufts all kinds of problems from set pieces so far this second half.

[Middlebury Dad]

Midd wins on pk. Drazen took his man off the dribble and got wiped out. Sloan sends Marcucci wrong way to win it for Panthers.

Anyone know who took Drazen down?

#11 Donelan.  Clear foul two yards inside the penalty area.  Middlebury came out on fire and scored early and had two others pulled out of the net (correctly) for offside.  Conn then controlled large stretches of possession and had numerous corner and free kicks, but very little to show for it.  Middlebury defended well and was dangerous on the counterattack.  Big win for the Panthers to continue their unbeaten start (5-0-2, 2-0-2).

[blooter442]

Going to OT. The Tufts fans seems a little uneasy despite their team dominating the shots and SOG stats — Bates has about 3 big chances. I guess that's what happens when you haven't lost a game (excluding the NESCAC quarters last year) for 22+ months and the other team is creating some stuff and you haven't scored yet. Still, given the Jumbos' know-how in these situations, long way for Bates to go to even hang on for a draw.

[blooter442]

Tufts wins it in the second overtime off a scramble in front of the net which Jacobs finished. Hard to argue that the Jumbos didn't deserve it given their statistical supremacy, but Bates gave them a hell of a game and would've merited a draw had they held on.

I think this is the toughest test that Tufts has had to date. Iwowo is a hell of a player and gave the Tufts defense a really hard time all day, his size and close control really got his teammates involved and he won loads of second balls. I remember the last game I saw at Bates a couple years ago I remarked that Opoku had some good skill and pace but kept getting bodied off the ball when playing center forward. With him playing in the hole behind Iwowo they were able to get a decent amount of possession in the Tufts half. I hope Sheikh gives them more opportunity to play together because they complement each other really well.  We all know about the Jumbos,  and they ground out the result like a champion, but based on what I saw today I would not be surprised if we saw Bates continue to improve even further. They seem to have a group of hard-working players who are committed to the cause.

I realize that I am waxing lyrical here about the losing team, but I think it's important to remember that historically they have been very much basement dwellers in the NESCAC – a lot like Tufts was prior to the arrival of Shapiro – and if this coach can sustain their improvement I think they could be a top 4 team in the league.

[Mr.Right]

The attention today should be on the Amherst v Midd and Williams v Conn games because of the impact to the top of the table but what should not go unnoticed is 2 solid non league games for 2 teams(Wesleyan and Bowdoin) who are kind of toeing the line on how successful a season each team will have. Bowdoin picked up Keene St as a non-league game this year to "buff" up their SOS. Credit to Wiercinski for getting at least one non Maine team on his non-conference schedule but MORE could and should be done to play better teams. The cautious Wiercinski stuck them on a Sunday of a back to back with Trinity on the Saturday. Still Keene will be a good test for Bowdoin. Another game will be Wesleyan hosting Clark in an important game for Wesleyan to keep building its confidence and winning non league Home games like this one.