NESCAC

[Mr.Right]

Everyone knew it was coming but how long would it take......Keene State's field is now "Dr. Ron Butcher field"......In all seriousness I think he is still involved in the game up there locally but I am sure he is happy at how his longtime assistant Rick Scott busting his butt to try to get the program back to where it was 10-15 yeasr ago..

[Mr.Right]

Clark at Wesleyan is 0-1 at Halftime...Interesting matchup between two teams that are kind of undersized compared to their foes in their respective leagues. Scratch all that as Clark just showed how vulnerable they are on the counter and why they are giving up some goals this year. The goal was scored by Wesleyan Frosh Rubenstein BUT the man that should get all the credit is Wesleyan GK Teddy Lowen. People sometimes forget part of evaluating a GK and a big part of how GK's can differentiate themselves is DISTRIBUTION. Lowen got hold of the ball after a Clark corner and quickly realized(1-2 seconds) that Wesleyan had a real good counter ready and he fired a missile right to the toe of Wesleyan's Cameron Park. Park found a sprinting Jack Wolf as he got it to Rubenstein ,who was barreling forward beat a man easily and buried it. A+ counter for Wesleyan and Lowen just really impressed me with quick thinking, pivot,missile,dead on accuracy......2-0 Wesleyan 5 min into 2nd half

[Mr.Right]

Tale of two different teams....Conn makes maybe 1 change to lineup today from yesterday and Williams makes about 4. Maybe fresh legs but actually more of a kick in the ass me thinks....

[Mr.Right]

Williams at least has come out with energy and are pressing Conn deep in their Half. The problem is Conn does not seem all that rattled even after a few giveaways. This IMO is a good idea against Conn especially to start the game when you have max energy.

[Mr.Right]

Forgot to give props to Cutler Coleman yesterday in the Amherst/Williams match. The Amherst midfielder was the player of the match and worked his ass off. He was frustrating player after player of Williams players would could not shake him or stop him...


Also I am beginning to respect the game of Williams midfielder Nick Boardman. I probably glanced at his hometown when he came in as a frosh and saw Greenwich,CT and assumed the usual skill but probably didn't work 100% or was not a tough kid or whatever. This kid is all that and more he busts his butt and is fast with different gears plus I notice his skill has improved this year. He impressed this weekend.

[Mr.Right]

Williams v Conn 0-0 at the Half. Both teams have come out and played hard especially on the 2nd end of a back to back for both teams. Both teams also came out and tried to play simple and make the ball do the work but it degenerated soon after with both teams getting sloppy and not connecting in their opponents half. Williams had 4 shots yesterday and look to be on pace for another 4-5 today. Umm not gonna get it done..Game has no real flow yet and I am not expecting it to turn into a masterpiece. Which team WANTS it more......thats it rn.

[Mr.Right]

Meanwhile these linesman MUST start watching Amherst #5 Bryce Johnson long throws....I just witnessed on the stream his finish on one and he was in the field of play when he landed. Linesman should have eyes on the play about to happen and his form.....

[Mr.Right]

5 minutes into 2nd half Williams Justin Adams makes a bonehead challenge with a booking already on his sheet gets sent off and Williams is down to 10 for 40 minutes. That just handcuffs his Head Coach for the rest of the game. I would be surprised if he sees action next game.That should be doghouse type stuff as to me its selfish. You know you have a Yellow you need to focus and stay disciplined. A benching is sometimes the only way kids learn.

[The_View_From_732]

5 minutes into 2nd half Williams Justin Adams makes a bonehead challenge with a booking already on his sheet gets sent off and Williams is down to 10 for 40 minutes. That just handcuffs his Head Coach for the rest of the game. I would be surprised if he sees action next game.That should be doghouse type stuff as to me its selfish. You know you have a Yellow you need to focus and stay disciplined. A benching is sometimes the only way kids learn.

true, though by definition, he misses the next game, right? Or is there some weird rule about double yellows at the college level that I'm unaware of?

[nescacfan94]

Meanwhile these linesman MUST start watching Amherst #5 Bryce Johnson long throws....I just witnessed on the stream his finish on one and he was in the field of play when he landed. Linesman should have eyes on the play about to happen and his form.....

Half of his throws were illegal in the games I saw in person last year. I think his throws later games might be less legal than at the start. Tired legs, perhaps? Either way, i doubt they will ever call a foul on his throws. But ya, keep an eye on those feet!

[Mr.Right]

5 minutes into 2nd half Williams Justin Adams makes a bonehead challenge with a booking already on his sheet gets sent off and Williams is down to 10 for 40 minutes. That just handcuffs his Head Coach for the rest of the game. I would be surprised if he sees action next game.That should be doghouse type stuff as to me its selfish. You know you have a Yellow you need to focus and stay disciplined. A benching is sometimes the only way kids learn.

true, though by definition, he misses the next game, right? Or is there some weird rule about double yellows at the college level that I'm unaware of?

haha yes in my frustration in real time my brain froze but u get my point....

[Mr.Right]

Conn starting to turn up the heat here near the end of regulation as we are heading to OT in Williamstown. Conn's Yeonas showing some speed and skill that I had seen here and there from him in the past but if he can get consistent for Conn up top with #23 and #14 Conn could get even more production. With Donelan, Stoneback and Miranda Conn is dangerous on corners and set pieces. Noonan has impressed today as well on the flank for Conn. Still if Conn is going to take the next step in the NCAA's this is the type of game they have to SHOW they can win in OT.

[Middlebury Dad]

5 minutes into 2nd half Williams Justin Adams makes a bonehead challenge with a booking already on his sheet gets sent off and Williams is down to 10 for 40 minutes. That just handcuffs his Head Coach for the rest of the game. I would be surprised if he sees action next game.That should be doghouse type stuff as to me its selfish. You know you have a Yellow you need to focus and stay disciplined. A benching is sometimes the only way kids learn.

true, though by definition, he misses the next game, right? Or is there some weird rule about double yellows at the college level that I'm unaware of?

haha yes in my frustration in real time my brain froze but u get my point....

Middlebury ties Amherst 1-1. Nice worked goal by Panthers in 1st half. Constant Amherst pressure resulted in equalizer by #9 Giamattei with 9 minutes left. Freshman GK Ryan Grady man of the match with 10 saves, including kick save with left foot on a Giamattei breakaway. On a side note, the behavior of Amherst coach and bench was embarrassingly bad. Constant complaining and repeated f bombs.

[blooter442]

Couple of funny moments at Bates yesterday. At half time, a few of the Tufts subs went out to warm up on the pitch, playing mostly long passes. A solid 10-20 of the Bates students present started heckling them (it was surprisingly good-natured) and then one of the players whiffed trying to play a tough ball. They were predictably all over him, but he laughed it off and said "I appreciate y'all." There were a number of heckle-able moments but it was generally good-natured (the one exception being when Lane went down legitimately and they said get up). I remember being at the Bowdoin-Middlebury Elite 8 game back in 2010 and the Bowdoin students telling Middlebury 'keeper Tim Cahill that his hair looked like that of someone who drinks cough syrup. Even if not tasteful, it was a pretty cerebral insult, and I suppose one likely to be heard at a NESCAC sporting event.

More thoughts on the game. I thought Tufts controlled play (probably 60% possession) but as I said before what stuck out was how many second balls and 50/50s Bates won. As a team Tufts' work rate is exceptional and part of why they are so good is that — in addition to being defensively sound and offensively talented — they win the majority of second balls and 50/50s. The team press (I would call it a "compact press" maybe in that it's usually the offensive players pressing while the defense keeps its shape) has been the one constant of all of Shapiro's teams. Regardless, Bates made the game a lot more interesting by winning their fair share of those opportunities. In particular Goldfarb was everywhere, and his positioning and intelligence allowed him to clean up several would-be dangerous situations. van Brewer was the engine room, he is everywhere, but Aroh had his hands full up against Iwowo who won a ton of second balls and got his teammates involved. Rojas and Braun both played the ball out of bounds a few times, but I did think they put themselves about, had good work rate, just wasn't happening for them. Likewise, while putting themselves about, Lane and Tasker were both pretty quiet by their high standards. I was interested to see that Tufts changed shape between 3-5-2 (attacking) and 4-3-3 (defending) at least a few times. It takes really good team chemistry to change shape on the fly like that, particularly with the changing # of backs, and I thought that was impressive. That said, I think it disrupted their flow — they created a large number of chances but I only remember maybe three forcing good saves or blocks. The final ball was off and there were a few times where Tufts played the ball out of bounds under no pressure. Very unlike the Jumbos. Harned did not have a save to make, but that is somewhat of a misnomer: he had to clear his box a number of times and Bates also hit the bar off a set piece. As a unit, Tufts had to clear its lines a number of times, situations where you'd maybe expect them to have the time to play it out from the back, although I think that maybe had to do with Bates' pressure and willingness to battle for loose balls.

Early in overtime, Tasker went down in the box but no penalty was given. It looked to me like there might have been contact but he did appear to make the most of it. Ref was never interested, and Tasker didn't protest that much, so I don't think it was a stonewall penalty. By the second overtime, Bates seemed content to see it out for a point, and they invited Tufts in, sitting back a bit. At the point that Tufts struck, it appeared that there would only be one winner.

[Another Mom]

I watched the Middlebury-Amherst game today. I felt it was choppy with very little flow and the ball in the air way too much. Is that kind of play typical of NESCAC teams?