NESCAC

[Novacat]

Weekend Recap: I will post one at a time.

Colby at Amherst----I had asked if Colby had the guts to go to Amherst and get a result. The answer was yes they did. The Mules and the Mammoths left it all on the rain soaked field. This was a fantastic College Soccer game not for its pureness but for its entertainment. The weather was a factor but in a fun way. It was two teams of Warriors battling to keep their seasons going.

Colby tinkered with their starting lineup and it helped big time. Colby made sure to put their best athletes on the field. Some might not have had the best skill but they busted their ass and did everything necessary to defeat Amherst. Colby put 6'4 Senior Captain #10 Nicholas Lemire at RB and 6'4 Senior #20 Jared Wood at LB. At CB Colby had 6'2 #27 Jered Garrison with Senior #14 Grant Pugh. These 4 players played all 110 minutes, mostly on their heels, but really did well dealing with Amherst most dangerous players in attack. They were not afraid to throw their bodies around and physically battle. Wood and Garrison are pure athletes more than pure Soccer players and that is fine. In D3 Soccer you can get away with that with a couple players. Pugh and Lemire bring skill and smarts to the game. Lemire dealt with Amherst #9 as well as he could and Pugh had a smart conservative game yesterday. The mixture of these players gave Colby a more active responsive backline. It worked well. Colby's central midfield of 6'2 Senior #17 Jack Fletcher, 6'1 Senior #8 Colin Sullivan and Junior #26 Aidan O'Brien really battled all day to disrupt Amherst play. Again not the best skill but not terrible either as all three contributed in different ways. Fletcher's quads resemble tree trunks so he looks a bit leg heavy but he moves ok for a big guy and has a real work ethic. O'Brien battled and battled helping his defense any way that he could. Sullivan is a mix of both as he has flashes of skill but can also tackle hard. Out wide was Soph sensation #22 Ethan Franco who has played well all year. Amherst dealt with him for the most part throughout the match. Senior #11 Paul Hawkins was wide right and 6'3 Senior #9 Ethan Fabricant was up top as the target. I think that was the best game I have ever seen Fabricant play. He was hustling all over the field. Checking to the ball and laying off and even had a couple of chances himself to score. He had a great chance off of an Ethan Franco corner kick as he headed it on goal beating Hope-Gund but Amherst #3 ten Cate smartly read the play and cleared the ball off the line.

Amherst did have the better of the play and chances. In the 1st half Amherst dominated as they had Colby pinned into their end for long stretches. Amherst #9 and #23 Okorogheye each had 3 solid chances to score some beautiful goals but they either just mi**** it or Colby GK #1 Jackson was up to the task. Amherst #9 got in twice 1v1 with GK and mi**** one as Colby CB #14 Pugh slid in to save the other chance. Amherst holder #3 ten Cate is an absolute player. The kid is a competitor and really showed well all game. I also liked #13 Niall Murphy up top and out wide. He is also a competitive kid that had a couple chances to score. A great turn in the 1st half got him space to rip a left footed shot but it was hit right at Colby GK Jackson. Okorogheye had a great one timed volley that Jackson had to dive for and save, which he did but then proceeded to cough up a juicy rebound that Amherst #9 could have finished. Okorogheye also had a nice header off a RB #5 Bryce Johnson long throw early in the 1st half but could not finish. LB #33 Gabe Gitler played well in the match and also had a serious hit as he lifted a left footed rocket on goal from just outside the 18 but again it was hit right at Jackson. I also was impressed with #18 Jonny Novak as he has some wheels and will be needed along with Murphy up top next year.

Both teams gave it everything they had and that is all you can ask for in College Soccer. They both deserve credit but Colby now gets another week of practice before heading down to Camp Conn next weekend. Amherst will get 2 weeks off before it plays its next game and I think they will benefit from it.

For he life of me I can not figure out why Amherst plays on a grass field.  I was able to watch the Amherst Trinity game which was on turf (Gooding Field)and Amherst looked incredibly dangerous in their build up and the potential in the final third.  Yet they play a conference game on their grass field in the rain which turns it into a mosh pit which favored Colby> does not Amherst leadership realize they have some of the best attacking players in the league?

[Mr.Right]

Weekend Recap: I will post one at a time.

Williams at Conn--Williams finished up their season 7-7-2(3-5-2) last Saturday with a 1-2 Loss at Conn. The good news was they created a decent amount of chances to score especially in the 1st Half. Williams Winger #23 Dan Rayhill had the best look about 10 minutes in on net that just went wide. Rayhill adds size to the attacking core but he is not fast enough to be a winger. He should be in the middle of the field. Williams Captain #13 Will Felitto added a 2nd chance right after Rayhill's with a header off a set piece that was saved by Conn GK #00 Maidenberg. Rayhill gave Williams a 3rd chance from the top of the box that went wide. Frosh striker #16 Keel Brissett had a sweet volley off a #27 Kellerman cross that was saved by Maidenberg. So this was an improvement over the Midd game for Williams creating chances especially in the 1st Half but obviously now they need to finish them.
   Conn created less dangerous chances than Williams but they buried two of them and that is all that matters. Conn LCB #24 Jack Kelesoglu took advantage of a straight up Williams zone off a Conn corner and trotted right into the 6 yard line and buried a header off the foot of a Conn #10 Alex Robles corner kick with 30 seconds left in the 1st Half. It was 1-0 Conn going into Halftime and an absolutely devastating goal. Williams was zoning on defensive corners and while zoning against some teams is necessary you can mix and match which Williams did not do. Conn's best header of the ball is #24 Kelesoglu so Williams should of played man to man with 2-3 of Conn's most dangerous players and then zoned the rest of the players in a box around the six yard line. Zoning IMO leads to some heavy ball watching and ole'ing by tired players thinking their teammates will deal with it and then realizing no one dealt with it.
   2nd Half was all Conn. They kept hounding Williams when they had the ball and are becoming a real dangerous ball hunting team on top of everything else. Conn had a great chance coming out of halftime as Captain #25 Steve Yeonas beat Williams RB #11 Gara Grady and got a nice cross right into the Soph Striker #12 Jake Gehron's head but Williams GK #30 Ben Diffley made an unbelievable diving save to keep the game close. Five minutes later Yeonas put it out of reach and gave Conn a 2-0 lead with a shot in traffic from a quick turn in the box that somehow got thru 2-3 players and past a diving Williams GK Diffley. Williams would get one back off a PK goal from Felitto. So with 25 minutes left Williams had cut the lead in half while giving themselves a chance to possibly get level. They had a great chance on a nice pass by Williams #7 Song over Conn CB's heads into the box and a charging #6 Nick Boardman. However, Boardman had a heavy touch and Conn RB #30 Bruce Doyle had a great sliding tackle along with GK Maidenberg coming out of his net to stifle the chance. Williams never really threatened after that and just like that their season came to an end before Halloween.
   Williams only graduates 4 Seniors. I was surprised that Felitto was only a Junior as they will have him back next year. Williams lose #4 Ranieri, #9 Petrik, #0 Rader and #15 Garcia Rios. Ranieri was the only one of the four getting consistent minutes. He has been with the program a long time as well as playing for former Eph super striker Steve Ginsberg '96 at Nobles. A great Coach and Teacher. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/west/2015/11/20/catching-with-steve-ginsberg-needham-high-williams-college-men-soccer/gdbRARxu22MMdALcKyopSM/story.html
   Conn moves on to face Colby at Home on Saturday afternoon. Interestingly they chose to play the 2nd game of the Nescac Semi-Final instead of the 11am 1st game. That will then give them less rest compared to the winner of the 1st game but some teams do not like playing so early in the day. Conn has Won 5 games in a row and are 10-1-0 in their last 11 games still if you look deeper at the roster they are starting to pile up injuries. Players that did not play v Williams include RB #4 Jorge Mendo, striker #9 MT Tshuma, winger #13 Matt Scoffone, Central midfielder #14 Augie Djerdjaj and RCB #21 Roman Dutkewych. They have started working back a key central midfielder #28 Oliver Pinyochon into the lineup so that will help but they will need some of these injured players back if they want to make a run in the NCAA's. The bench has done a fantastic job filling in and look just as good in flashes as the starters but Conn can only go so deep at some positions. #8 Rye Jaran shows flashes of brilliance at times and then can disappear from a game just as quickly. Wingback #30 Bruce Doyle was slide tackling all over the wet field last Saturday and proved you can have fun playing Soccer. Also that he can play either wingback position but just how deep can they go? Yeonas is a worker bee and battles all over the field. #5 Cerezo and #24 Kelesoglu are solid CB's in front of GK #00 Sam Maidenberg. Cerezo is from Malaga, Spain in what is one of my favorite spots in the world. If you need me in 20 years you can look for me in a Cave overlooking Nerja. I guess my question is can Conn keep winning without some of its key players coming down the stretch?

[nescac1]

It's been a tough few years for Williams soccer, lots of close losses this year, but hopefully the future is brighter with basically the entire squad back next season and a lot of frosh contributors who should improve.  The big question is of course the coaching situation -- does anyone have any insight into whether the interim coach might end up with the permanent gig, or if not, who the new coach might be?  The Ephs need a really great hire if they hope to return to the top echelon of NESCAC soccer ...

[d4_Pace]

Obviously Williams is an amazing school and has the potential to return to being an elite DIII program, but I have heard a lot of coaches that are not interested due to location. If you are a young, single assistant coach Williamstown can be a tough sell. I think the job will appeal a lot more to a coach thats a bit older and already has a family. Just one of those non-soccer things that is often overlooked that has a real impact.

[Mr.Right]

It's been a tough few years for Williams soccer, lots of close losses this year, but hopefully the future is brighter with basically the entire squad back next season and a lot of frosh contributors who should improve.  The big question is of course the coaching situation -- does anyone have any insight into whether the interim coach might end up with the permanent gig, or if not, who the new coach might be?  The Ephs need a really great hire if they hope to return to the top echelon of NESCAC soccer ...

TBD....

[Mr.Right]

Obviously Williams is an amazing school and has the potential to return to being an elite DIII program, but I have heard a lot of coaches that are not interested due to location. If you are a young, single assistant coach Williamstown can be a tough sell. I think the job will appeal a lot more to a coach thats a bit older and already has a family. Just one of those non-soccer things that is often overlooked that has a real impact.

I am not sure about this one...When choosing a College to attend then yea I feel ya...the player might want to be closer to a city. I also agree with you about location because after I graduated from College I went to Boston and NYC myself to work so I do not disagree with you about its location BUT if I am a young assistant say age 30-33 and have been an assistant for 8-10 years anywhere I am begging for my own program. You want to prove yourself and also run the show plus Williams is not a jumper school. So it should be a long term decision because unless you Win right away and get a sniff in the Patriot League or Ivies you will stay.

[d4_Pace]

I think thats my whole point Mr. Right, you're gonna be there for the long haul and I know assistants have expressed concern about finding the one in such a small population. This is just something I heard during my brief coaching spell.

[Mr.Right]

Well when your penis is making decisions instead of your brain you are probably right.

[Bucket]

Well when your penis is making decisions instead of your brain you are probably right.

[Mr.Right]

Coast Guard HC I think subbed out the kid that missed the PK. That will drive a Coach nuts in a playoff game. Middlebury's HC Elias sacked his best striker #9 Reid after missing a PK in regulation v Wesleyan this past weekend. I do not think he ever got back in the game.

[d4_Pace]

That's just bad coaching. It's not like the kid is trying to miss the penalty. All you are doing is hurting your team by taking out one of your best players.

[Mr.Right]

That's just bad coaching. It's not like the kid is trying to miss the penalty. All you are doing is hurting your team by taking out one of your best players.

well that's what I thought..it was a bit unfair IF that was the reason or maybe he was just changing up the lineup but yea Reid missed and he got sacked for sure.

[Mr.Right]

Nescac Predictions Saturday Semi-Final #2

Colby---7-7-2 (4-5-1) #7
Conn-------13-3-0 (8-2-0) #1


Colby at Conn-----These two teams played about a month and a half ago with Conn grabbing a 1-0 Win up in Waterville, ME. First off the official box score for that game was all mucked up by the Colby official scorer as they only had Conn with 9 starters missing #6 Horvath Diano and #24 Kelesoglu. Therefore the minutes for some players are way off and frankly the shots for both teams are wildly inaccurate. Ehhh if anyone cares but IMO accurate statistics are necessary when determining my lineup and some matchups. The regular season game was closer than the statistics read. Both teams had chances throughout the match with Conn having more possession of the ball. At the start of the match Conn was trying to build from the back like they had done the previous day in a 5-1 rout at Bates. Colby was successfully disrupting Conn's possession in their defensive 3rd for the first 20 minutes of the game. That forced Conn to change tactics a little as they started hitting more and more balls over the top. This led to a few more dangerous chances and eventually the winning goal. It will be interesting to see Colby HC Seabrook's lineup for the Conn match. Does he go back to his usual backline or does he keep his backline from the Amherst match intact.  LB #20 Wood, RB #10 Lemire, #27 Garrison with #14 Pugh at CB were the back 4 at Amherst and they did a phenomenal job keeping Amherst off the scoreboard. Conn is a different team than Amherst though and their wingers #25 Yeonas and #10 Robles are fast and skilled but not over imposing size wise so Seabrook might want his usual wingbacks #4 Seaman and #3 Franklin in the match for their speed and skill. That said Robles beat Seaman 1v1 a couple times in the regular season match. Garrison also does give them a long throw. Colby has its starting GK #1 Noah Jackson back in net. He is an athletic GK and made some big saves at Amherst that kept them in the game. As I have previously mentioned Conn is really banged up with some injuries. They have been using an attacking 4 of #10 Robles wide right, #25 Yeonas wide left, #12 Gehron up top and #8 Jaran behind. Yeonas will push into central midfield as the game wears on. I have seen enough Conn CK's to know that they are looking for #24 Kelesoglu's head on most of them. He usually starts at the top of the box and fakes one way to create a little space and goes the other way as the ball is kicked to around the 6 yard box. He needs to be marked tight because his forehead is a magnet for the ball. In that game Colby was man to man on corners with 2 guys zoning on the 6. Conn has been giving its opponents absolutely no time on the ball as they have been ball hunting with purpose and are relentless so Colby has got to play quickly with the ball at their feet especially in the back. Central Midfield battle gives Conn more skill but Colby more stick with #8 Jaran, #18 Marvel and #16 Lobo for Conn up against Colby's #17 Fletcher, #8 Sullivan and #26 O'Brien. #22 Franco sometimes will play behind the striker unless he is out wide or up top himself. I think he is a danger man wherever he plays as when he was up top Colby would use #11 Hawkins out wide. #21 Rubin also brings needed skill and quickness in attack. Colby's target striker #9 Fabricant had maybe his best game at Amherst. He was working hard but efficiently even as isolated as he sometimes got he was causing problems. They need Fabricant to continue to play like that as it keeps Conn's best central defenders busy while other Colby attackers might get some space for themselves. Conn will be sending its wingbacks no matter if #4 Mendo is at RB or #30 Doyle. Conn's CB #5 Cerezo I imagine will be watching Franco. Both teams are playing well right now so my prediction is this game stays tight throughout the match with the winning goal coming off of a giveaway. Neither team went more than 4 or 5 players deep off its bench in the Nescac Quarters and I expect that to continue. Conn should have a decent crowd and Home field advantage which will give them a slight edge.  Conn 2-1

[Mr.Right]

Nescac Predictions Saturday Semi-Final #1

Midd----10-3-3 (5-3-2) #4
Tufts----11-1-3 (6-1-3) #3


Midd v Tufts(neutral match)-------From the official preview of the match; "The Tufts/Middlebury match is a re-match of the 2019 NESCAC Championship game, that the Jumbos won 2-1. However, the Panthers are 5-2-0 against Tufts in the NESCAC Championship series. Goals may be hard to come by in the second semifinal as Middlebury and Tufts rank 1-2 in goals allowed. The Panthers have surrendered a league-low six goals, while Tufts' opponents have scored seven times in 15 games. The regular-season match on October 10 ended in a scoreless draw despite Middlebury playing a man down for nearly all of the second half." Tufts have had injury problems all year that could now possibly include starting CB #16 Biagio Pauletta who left the Quarter-Final match late in the 2nd Half with an injury. #11 Mati Cano was in street clothes and also did not play v Bowdoin. I do not know if either will be playing in this match. Tufts defeated Bowdoin 3-0 in the Nescac Quarters last weekend with a total of 6 Shots and 3 SOG for 3 Goals. While that is a fantastic % Tufts will need to create more chances than that to defeat Middlebury. Middlebury is just as organized defensively as Bowdoin but with a more talented backline and GK so if Tufts is not transitioning fast enough in attack then Midd will be very tough to break down and score on. Tufts #19 Sean Traynor was much more active against Bowdoin and Tufts need him to stay aggressive on the flank and beat guys 1v1 to help create more chances. He is usually wide right so that will be him going up against the Frosh #19 Casey Lund. Lund is as quick as Traynor and skilled but I am not sure how much of a defender he is so Traynor needs to test him 1v1. Midd has been using a 7 headed central midfield monster all year. 5 of the 7 are Frosh not to mention the backline being 3/4 Frosh. The talented #30 Shane Farrell has been playing well of late as he will be attacking along with #10 Sloan. #26 Tyler Payne has started to get more minutes now as is the skilled #21 Andrew Juarez who both relieve Sloan and Farrell. Payne assisted on Farrell's goal at Williams last week. While not as strong on the offensive end I expect #12 Ben Powers to be sitting to start this game. Powers has been playing well holding in front of the two CB's #15 McFarlane and #32 O'Brien. He is not pacey but he is not afraid to battle and with Tufts #5 Calvin Aroh roaming around I expect the 6'3 Powers to be in the starting lineup in place of the quicker #6 Chae and #5 Barsamian. Barsamian or whomever out of those 7 come off the bench will give Midd fresh legs in midfield. They need to take advantage of that and quickly transition vertically into its attack going forward. That is one way Midd could break down Tufts. Midd has been very deliberate going forward all year and that only plays into Tufts hands. They could also test Tufts backline speed with some early balls over the top into the speedy wingers #23 Saint-Louis and #8 Barry. That will at the very least keep Tufts backline honest and on its heels a bit or at the most result in a goal. Midd striker #9 Reid and Tufts Frosh CB #25 Clivio I am sure will be a great matchup to watch but maybe the veteran can outwit the youngster.  Midd has not been as strong on set pieces as in years past but still a danger. Tufts does not use their bench much to spell Aroh. Van Brewer can be replaced competently by #8 Woovin Shin. Tufts striker off the bench #12 Mikey Brady might need to step up like he did against Bowdoin if #11 Cano is out for a long stretch. I think this match will be another nailbiter. Both teams have top GK's in net but Midd must remember that Tufts GK #0 Lauta is still only a Frosh. Aroh could be the difference maker in this game and quite frankly must be for the rest of the season for Tufts if they are to keep progressing in the NCAA's. I actually think Midd is playing with some confidence right now and if they can create enough dangerous chances they will bury one of them. 2-1 Midd

[Mr.Right]

I forgot to mention how important the coin toss will be for the 2nd match between Colby and Conn. If the sun is out and bright which it can be this time of year then the GK on the team defending the far goal late in the 2nd Half could have a serious disadvantage looking into the sun. #TheHat