NESCAC

[College Soccer Observer]

Middlebury 1 Plattsburgh State 0.  Midd started with Grady in net, Lund, O'Brien, McFarlane, Nelson in the back, Chae, Powers, Sloan in midfield, and Barry, Reid, Saint-Louis up top.  Middlebury had large territorial and possession edge in first half, but could not break down the Cardinals.  Most of the best chances came on set pieces.  Second half was more even, with neither team really threatening except on set pieces.  With just over 5 minutes left, Sloan whipped in a free kick from the left wing, and after the ball was initially headed straight up in the air, Ethan Coomber nodded it home from 3 yards out for the only goal of the match.    Midd now 3-0-0 and will host Bowdoin on Saturday.  Not an artistic success, and lots of balls bouncing and bobbling on Midd's turf field, but the Panthers are finding ways to win games they would have had as scoreless draws in 2019.

[Mr.Right]

Looks like Midd got a goal in the 85th minute to get a solid 1-0 Win against Plattsburgh who were coming off a 5-1 shellacking from RPI this past weekend.

[Mr.Right]

Williams at Skidmore tonight will be interesting. Do we get the 1st Half pressing and working against Tufts from Williams tonight or do we get the 2nd Half effort against Tufts which was the ugliest Williams Half in a long time.

Meanwhile Tufts hosts Wesleyan in a midweek Nescac match. Wesleyan is undersized against Tufts tonight but maybe can create a couple chances on the counter tonight if they can move the ball on the carpet quickly up the pitch.

[d4_Pace]

Tufts-Wesleyan 0-0 at the half in a classic midweek trap game. Tufts pretty much in control throughout the half with an 8-1 shot advantage. A few decent chances but all too close to the keeper. Tufts look very strong in the back and midfield this season. Hopefully the final third will develop as the season progresses and a few players return from injury.

[Mr.Right]

Williams at Skidmore 1-0 Halftime..#16 Frosh Keel Brissett got the lone goal of the Half off a long throw then a failed Skidmore clearance led to a ball played back in that bounced right to Brissett who ripped it in for a buzzer beater that looked offsides and certainly Skidmore wanted either offsides or the buzzer blown...scrappy game with some early season sloppiness but each team is fighting hard. Skidmore is difficult to break down and their 6'6 GK helps a ton especially if Williams continues to hit longballs right into the box. Forcing the 6'6 GK to the ground on all shots would be advantageous for Williams in the 2nd Half. Moving #13 Will Felitto to CB has proved a smart move so far. Williams can use his toughness on the backline but they do miss it up top. Problem was Felitto never finished as a striker so CB is a good move.  It looks like Sullivan brought in a strong Frosh class as #26 Felipe Gutierrez is a cagey player who is always in the correct position popping off his teammates to get open and create space for himself and others. Very intelligent player. I like #6 Boardman next to him in midfield but want to see him drive and attack more to goal which is his strength as the game and season go on. Id like to see #4 Ranieri starting at LB as he is Williams strongest tackler of the ball and btw decided to come back for an extra year...so good on him. #9 Petrik, who also came back for another year, and #7 Song have been Williams two most important attacking players this year have been quiet this Half. Williams also switched GK's for this game starting #30 Ben Diffley of Deerfield Academy....LOng line of Deerfield Academy alums at Williams but the first in a while on the field.

[Mr.Right]

Nescac Predictions Week 2:

Colby at Trinity----I have not seen either team play yet. Colby will travel on down to Conn to replay the previous weekend's game on Sunday. Colby should have a size advantage as they have some big boys in the back and up top. Looking at their box score and trying to guess the lineup they had #9 Fabricant 6'3 up top with #22 Ethan Franco(Frosh/Soph) who has scored in both the Thomas and Gordon games with #7 Sam Wilson 6'3 probably off the bench. They also have veterans #20 Jared Wood 6'4 and #18 Max Farner 6'3 a Gordon transfer off the bench up top. Tons of size for set piece goals. I am guessing they are probably on the slow side but all this size on set pieces is dangerous.
#10 Nicholas Lemire is 6'4 and probably running midfield with other veterans #11 Paul Harkins, #17 Jack Fletcher and #8 Colin Sullivan.
In the back I am guessing #5 Aboubacar Traore 6'6, #3 Jayde Franklin, veteran #4 Ryan Seaman and in one game #23 Nicholas Assadourian and
in another #27 Jered Garrison. So there it is....Colby has size, athleticism and tons of veterans who have been around as Frosh when they won the Nescac Championship as a #8 seed and made their first NCAA tourney and should have advanced over Montclair St. That matters only if they are motivated to make another run. The GK has been #1 Noah Jackson who is a Soph so has only 2 career games. Trinity needs to test him. I have not seen Colby but I am guessing they are not the most pacey team so if Trinity can get some pace in the lineup it will be to their advantage.  Trinity looks to be improved in attack led by the one man that returned to play for a 5th year #7 Alistair Matule as he already has 3 goals. My concern without watching Trinity yet is defensively. They shutout Emerson but gave up 5 goals to St.Joe's(CT) all too one player in 90 minutes and another 3 goals to Clark. GK'ing and defense have been the reason Trinity has struggled the past few years.  2-0 Colby



Bowdoin at Midd-----I have not seen Bowdoin play yet but am impressed with the Amherst win and the quick start to the year at 3-0-0. Bowdoin had a hell of a crowd for that Amherst game. They have 4 players that came back for another run with #11 Drake Byrd being the most important as he already has 3 Goals and 2 Assists. #4 Alex Chaban is another that came back and comes off the bench with #5 Minseo Bae
and both cause problems for tired starters in midfield as they are both 5'6 and quick and very active. #12 Ryan Donlan the 6'5 defender along with #19 Ryan Houseman also came back for a 5th year and both have started all 3 games. So some serious production from just these 4 veterans that decided to come back. Bowdoin is using #1 Michael Webber in net to start the year and they also have Senior veteran #24 Chris Kingston who played a ton as a Frosh in 2018. Bowdoin has a healthy mix of players with speed, size and athleticism but most importantly have a ranked Win v Amherst that could give the team the mentality to push through games and find more Wins. Midd also has a healthy amount of players that returned for a 5th year. #9 Brandon Reid is the most important for them up top. Backup GK #1 Marco Kaper came back and that is a real team player knowing he might not play all year but still came back. Very impressive. Two other players to come back for a 5th year are
#5 Raffi Barsamian who was Midd's defensive midfielder in 2019 and #7 Andriy Proctor a big striker who came off the bench. Neither player has played a minute so both must be injured. Midd will use #9 Reid up top with #8 Brendan Barry wide left and #23 Jordan Saint-Louis wide right. #10 Liam Sloan has been the attacking midfielder. This is a very solid attacking 4 and should be able to give Bowdoin's backline fits. Midd used #16 Aiden Pape and had #6 Eujin Chae a Frosh and South Kent player holding to round out the midfield. The backline had Frosh #32 William O'Brien (replacing Aiden Robinson) at CB along with veteran Mike McFarlane and at LB Frosh Casey Lund and RB Frosh #25 Hank Nelson. That is 3/4 Frosh on backline and Bowdoin / Byrd need to take advantage of that.  Both teams will sit and feel each out for a while as I do not see either side trying to open this game up. Also, I just noticed former Midd midfielder Andrew Banadda is on Bowdoin's bench as an assistant
so he should be able to instruct Bowdoin defenders how and where exactly Midd will set picks on corners. He was a good player for Midd and used to cause Williams fits but good to see he is still involved in the game and trying his luck at the collegiate level.        1-1




Conn at Bates-----This could be a game with some goals in it. Conn was in a 4-1-4-1 against Wheaton as they have talent going forward.  #9 Thsuma up top with #14 Djerjaj attacking and #25 Yeonas wide right and #10 Robles wide left. #16 Bocchetti was linking and #28 Pinyochon holding. Backline is inexperienced with #21 Dutkewych and Frosh #24 Kelesoglu at CB and  Soph #6 Horvath-Diano and Frosh #4 Mendo as wingbacks. That might be the most inexperienced backline in Nescac along with a GK #00 Maidenberg who has barely played because of Marcucci. Conn will occasionally send their wingbacks so Bates will need to be cautious or take advantage of the situation when Conn does and counter quickly. Bates also looked to be in a 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1 same diff..GK is #99 Manning and really was not tested against Hamilton. Back 4 was LB #17 Bobby Dall who will be marking Yeonas, CB #4 James Peter and #18 Alex Kovacs who are pretty solid especially Kovacs and RB #5 Max McKersie. In late 2019 he had McKersie and Kovacs at CB with Peter at LB. Holding is the big German #6 Hohmann and he will be responsible for the big Serbian Djerjaj who can use his speed to beat Hohmann and will not be afraid to bang with him either. #7 Phillips was in midfield along with attacking middie #8 Keheler who is a big athletic kid who can score and dish. Wide left was #29 Agunloye and wide right was the man with 4 Goals #20 Rex Lane. These two must give Conn's wingbacks fits for Bates to win this game. Up top is #10 Szwarcewicz. #19 Iwowo came off the bench in the game I saw along with #16 Guerrier. #15 Bardong has played limited minutes for some reason this year but all 3 have talent especially if they are coming off the bench. He also used Frosh #21 Costa-Farre off the bench in midfield. I honestly like both teams but Conn's backline is so inexperienced that he might need to hold with both Bocchetti and Pinyochon to help out as the season goes along and only attack with 4 plus varying attacking wingbacks.    3-2 Bates



Wesleyan at Williams-------I will be walking down to Cole Field for this one. Wesleyan is led by #6 Nick Wallick along with holder #24 Lucas Kimball and wide right #21 Christopher Texter. Everyone else really has no college playing experience. Wide left was Frosh #12 Zach Wheeler and up top Soph #9 Dane Harmaty With Frosh #10 Lucas Ruehlemann attacking. Frosh #11 Oliver Clarke is also in midfield. #17 Miles Lambke another Frosh is on the backline. #14 Mason Davisson also brings some energy. GK Liam Devanny has experience in net. This team has got to be one of the youngest Nescac teams along with Hamilton. Wesleyan like Williams are very good at transition defense, meaning they get 10 behind the ball when they lose it. Williams has been also getting 10 behind the ball the minute they lose it which is how he played at Springfield along with the massive substitutions which I am not a big fan of. It gets everyone involved and therefore theoretically more excited and motivated but it also does not allow for his starters to get into a rhythm and his starters are fit enough they do not need to substitute like that but whatever small pickins to get annoyed at that...Still when I saw 9 subs at one time at Skidmore including at CB my eyes opened wide...He definitely played like that at Springfield using all those subs but so far I have not seen the ruthless blasting the ball from the back like when he was at Springfield(except for 2nd Half at Tufts which was ugly). I marked this as Wesleyan's toughest stretch and it has proved to be as Wes
lost both to Tufts and Midd. Both teams are looking for their first Nescac Win. I think this will be an ugly tedious game with Petrik getting a set piece winner.      1-0 Williams



I ran out of time but I will go:



Tufts 2-0 Brandeis
Amherst 4-0 Hamilton

[Mr.Right]

Colby leads Trinity 1-0 at the Half. Colby goal was scored because of a defensive mistake by the RB #15 Charles Kaldor and GK #1 Bernardo Simoes distribution mistake by giving him the ball in a tight space with Colby bearing down with pressure. #15 had played it back to his GK and broke out wide for support but his GK gave it back to him in a dangerous area because Colby was pressing. #15 got control of the ball and hit a weak ball that deflected off his CB #2 that Colby picked up and dished to #22 Ethan Franco who keeps scoring goals in each of Colby's 3 games. He is scrappy and quick and hit kind of a weak shot but found the far corner just missing the GK's mitt. I could not tell on the stream if the GK should have gotten to it just because it was a bit of a weak shot and the GK might have left his feet to early. Not sure but he made up for it later with a fantastic diving save on a dangerous free kick just outside the box.

I thought Trinity looked improved in attack as they were in a 4-3-3 and #23 Peter Bronson looked dangerous but would rather see him as a attacking midfielder and once he starts to gel with #9 Logan Peterson up top they could be a dangerous Maryland duo. Trinity was trying to mix building up in attack and hitting long balls over the top to try to use their speed against Colby. I would not be surprised if Trinity gets a Goal 2nd Half but Colby has better depth and will more than likely wear Trinity down from the 70th minute.

[hiyasoccer]

Can any of the distinguished (or not) Midd alumnus buy then a new camera? I'm pretty sure my Motorola Razor generated a higher quality image.

[nescacfan94]

Can any of the distinguished (or not) Midd alumnus buy then a new camera? I'm pretty sure my Motorola Razor generated a higher quality image.

Seriously. What an embarrassment. And the announcer is sleep-inducing. zzzzz

[SimpleCoach]

Can any of the distinguished (or not) Midd alumnus buy then a new camera? I'm pretty sure my Motorola Razor generated a higher quality image.

Stopped watching after 2 minutes.

[d4_Pace]

Tufts up 2-0 at half against Brandeis. Don't want to draw too many conclusions from one game, but Brandeis' talent level has fallen off to the point that I don't see this program being at the same level for a long time. I think a lot of the success was due to the recruiting of the departed coach. Tufts were playing their second and even third string guys to end the half and still dominating. This is a far cry from the old deis teams

[d4_Pace]

3-0 two minutes into the second half. This could get ugly...

[PaulNewman]

"Don't want to draw too many conclusions from one game, but Brandeis' talent level has fallen off to the point that I don't see this program being at the same level for a long time."

This sentence.  Wow.

[d4_Pace]

My punctuation that bad?? Not doing too much writing these days

[d4_Pace]

Tufts bringing in the backup goalie just about sums this one up.