NESCAC

[EnmoreCat]

Disappointing result for the Mammoths supporters, but fair play to Conn, when the chance came, they took it.  On (my) balance I thought Amherst had enough chances to win, but equally could have said that for many games this season, the solace is that the undefeated record remains intact, but doing the business in 90 moves teams up the rankings.

I acknowledge the yellow card count, but equally, am very surprised there weren't more Conn players in the notebook also. 

[northman]

By the way, when I was making my way into the stands last Saturday for the Bowdoin v Hamilton game, I saw former Bowdoin assistant coach Mike Healy (a retired attorney and a big contributor to youth soccer in Maine) sitting with Justin Serpone.  Serpone was undoubtedly there to scout both teams, but especially Hamilton in advance of their upcoming matchup.

[coach analytics]

By the way, when I was making my way into the stands last Saturday for the Bowdoin v Hamilton game, I saw former Bowdoin assistant coach Mike Healy (a retired attorney and a big contributor to youth soccer in Maine) sitting with Justin Serpone.  Serpone was undoubtedly there to scout both teams, but especially Hamilton in advance of their upcoming matchup.

I am not a fan of how Serpone coaches or his tactics but I give him this.....he works hard.  I have seen him at several games in person scouting.

[nescacfan94]

By the way, when I was making my way into the stands last Saturday for the Bowdoin v Hamilton game, I saw former Bowdoin assistant coach Mike Healy (a retired attorney and a big contributor to youth soccer in Maine) sitting with Justin Serpone.  Serpone was undoubtedly there to scout both teams, but especially Hamilton in advance of their upcoming matchup.

Serpone left before the game was over. Actually, it was over at the half, but that's not my point. I'm assuming Serpone left to go watch Conn at Colby in advance of the match-up yesterday. Thanks for pointing out the gentleman he was sitting with--I saw their greeting and figured he was a former colleague of sorts.

[northman]

Mike Healy, who is approaching 80, is a native Mainer who became a varsity soccer and lacrosse player at Brown in the early 60s.  He was both the assistant club coach and assistant college coach to two successive Irishmen here in Maine...first Brian Ainsough and then Fran O'Leary.  My younger son played for both of those coaches at the club level, and then O'Leary at Bowdoin.  O'Leary is now head coach at Mass, and one of my son's Bowdoin teammates...D3 All American Ben Brewster...is Fran's assistant coach.  Mike Healy has done a lot over several decades to support youth soccer in Maine...from coaching to fundraising to (frankly) being O'Leary's primary recruiter.  The sport could use more people like Mike Healy.

[Ejay]

Amherst 6 yellow cards....to 1 for Conn...

Amherst leads the nation in fouls committed per game - 16.08 (and T16 in Yellows cards at 35).  Pfieffer is only two spots behind them, and "only" have 14.64.

But man, 16.08 fouls is one every 5.5 minutes.  Talk about disrupting the flow of the game.

[Yankeesoccerdad]

Mike Healy, who is approaching 80, is a native Mainer who became a varsity soccer and lacrosse player at Brown in the early 60s.  He was both the assistant club coach and assistant college coach to two successive Irishmen here in Maine...first Brian Ainsough and then Fran O'Leary.  My younger son played for both of those coaches at the club level, and then O'Leary at Bowdoin.  O'Leary is now head coach at Mass, and one of my son's Bowdoin teammates...D3 All American Ben Brewster...is Fran's assistant coach.  Mike Healy has done a lot over several decades to support youth soccer in Maine...from coaching to fundraising to (frankly) being O'Leary's primary recruiter.  The sport could use more people like Mike Healy.

Second this.  Coach Mike regularly attends games and based on his comments also watches a lot of practices.  Lovely man with a lot of knowledge and great insight.  He usually has a walking stick and enjoys chatting with fans.

[Mr.Right]

Wes at Bowdoin- Bowdoin is playing some of its most consistent soccer in a long time. Bowdoin are in the driver's seat for winning the league and hosting rights. I have no shame in admitting I picked this team to finish 9th/11 and I could not have been more wrong. They have more dangerous attacking players than years past to go along with that stingy defense. Bowdoin sits 10-1-2 and their GK #1 Michael Webber and his defense have 6 straight shutouts. He and the defense have not given up a Goal since Sept 25th v Williams and only 4 Goals allowed all year.. Most important is that Bowdoin unlike other teams have seemed to avoid the injury bug. Wes looked good 1st Half v Williams, tailed off after Halftime and then found a Goal to tie the game up. This has been a tight matchup in years past. I would not expect the floodgates to be opening here in this game. Both teams need this Game for different reasons. Bowdoin to Win the title and Wes needs a solid ranked Win. Wes needs to find the first Goal and then keep looking for the 2nd so as to not allow Bowdoin back into the Game. Bowdoin scores first I think they Win this Game 1-0 Bowdoin

Amherst at Hamilton-Hamilton is 8-1-4 but 0-1-3 in their last 4. Hamilton has been missing BOTH CB's with #4 Sebastian Ghosh and #8 Julian Jacobs I am guessing are injured. Horrible time to be facing Amherst without my two starting CB"S. Hamilton was not the deepest team to begin with and cannot afford injuries like this especially with Amherst rolling into town. Amherst is 7-1-5 but 5 pts behind Hamilton for 3rd with a Game in hand Wednesday against Trinity.  You can bet Amherst will be pressing Hamilton's inexperienced backline hard to start the Game. Hamilton needs to be ready to go from the hop. I learned my lesson picking against Hamilton at Home v Tufts but missing 2 CB's for me is the difference. Amherst 3-2

Bates at Conn- I thought Conn looked good 2nd Half at Amherst and while not generating as many scoring chances as they would have liked played some decent futbol. NMH Frosh #35 Maurice Pigola showed a bull in midfield with the ball at his feet and played well with the starters. He looks a good replacement for the injured #8 Rye Jaran. While Conn is 6-4-3 they are 5-2-1 at Home with a key Win over Babson. Conn has had all kinds of problems finishing but have looked good recently from 18 to 18 and if they can finish, they should dispatch a frisky Bates team. Bates is still hanging on by a thread but will need to Win its final 2 Games and get some help. They have nothing to lose which could put the pressure right onto Conn's back. Conn 3-1

Williams at Trinity- Trin is officially eliminated at 1-9-3 (0-7-1) so this will be a spoiler roll for them to finish out the season. They are also still looking for their first Nescac Win in over 5 years so that might motivate them but usually Trinity does not take to the spoiler role well and in the past have not finished up well. Williams is 4-1-8 but only 3 pts ahead of 9th Place so they need a Win here badly. A Win would get Williams to 14pts and safely in the Nescac Playoffs. #8 Gutierrez or #12 Morriello will get the Winner for the Ephs. Williams 2-1

Midd at Tufts- Game of the Wknd as Midd is trying to Win the league for the first time since 2008. Tufts is fighting for its playoff lives and frankly its season. They are 6-2-5 (2-2-4) and are 2-0-3 at Home. They have only given up 2 Goals in the last 6 Games while scoring 14 so that is real good news even if it was against UMFarmington, Trinity, Clark and Bates. I have not seen Midd play in a few weeks, so I am really looking forward to this Game to see how they are rounding into form before the Playoffs. This Game is going to be a fun battle with a lot on the line for both teams. 1-1

[hiyasoccer]

Not the prettiest Bowdoin win but they get it done. First half was pretty tight and even but the game opened up once for each team. Bowdoin had a small edge for the first 10 minutes of the second faded and Wesleyan was the better team in the run of play for the rest of the half. They did a great job of pressing Bowdoin, forcing turnovers and pinning them in. But Bowdoin defense had a solid game, and on the occasions where Wesleyan were able to get the ball into dangerous areas they didn't have the composure and quality to put a half chance on goal or turn a decent situation into a good situation.

With about 10 minutes left Juantorena received a pass deep in midfield with his body open and immediately send Tyler Huck away with a perfect ball. Wesleyan keeper caught in no man's land and shuck had a really nice volleyed finish to the far bottom corner.

[northman]

I just returned from the Bowdoin v Wesleyan game as well.  What an absolutely gorgeous autumn day!  I think hiyasoccer summarized the game fairly aptly.  The only nuance that I would add was...that from my perspective...Bowdoin was generally calm in ceding possession to Wesleyan for long periods of the first half.  To me it looked like they were setting up to counterattack.  Given Wesleyan's overall purported skill level, I was a little surprised that they seemed to play a lot of long balls out of the back. 

In the second half, I thought that Bowdoin asserted themselves more and were higher quality in possession than Wesleyan.  I remember looking up at the scoreboard early in the second half and noting that Bowdoin was outshooting Wesleyan 5-2 at that point.  And you're right, the winning goal was a beauty...from Juantorena's well placed ball over the top to Huck's calm finish.

[EnmoreCat]

Hamilton 0 Amherst 4

First things first and I am not sure if it's the first time in conference, D3 or even college soccer full stop, but today, one of the assistants required a flag change.  Very happy for anyone to nominate seeing something similar, but in the 40 plus years I have been involved in the game, that's a new one for me.  There was no advice on the name of the substitute flag or the fate of the replaced one.  It might be something for Simple Coach and Paul Newman to check out with the media guy.

I noticed on the livestream, one Hamilton player on crutches and it sounds like injuries have come at the wrong time for them.  Certainly the team we saw today really couldn't be the same one that beat all of Midd, Tufts and Conn, all outstanding results.  But of course, it's the team the Mammoths played today, so for the Amhaters, don't panic, it may not mean as much as it might have meant in September.

Nevertheless, it was a dominant display by Amherst and the one thing that was better about today was that when the team enjoyed dominance, they actually scored.  Certainly the scoreline was more than fair.   The Hamilton keeper made one outstanding save in the first half, which meant at half time they were still in the game at just 1-0 down, but really it was hanging in.

The second half saw more of the same from the Mammoths and in the end, it was a pretty convincing win.  A fifth clean sheet out of six is a joy for the father of a central defender also.  The team hasn't been playing badly, but as we know draws aren't always easy to draw satisfaction from (even though I don't mind them if my team has been struggling) and this year, doing the business in 90 is what it's all about and hopefully a solid platform for what lies ahead.

[Hopkins92]

Amhaters is very funny.

I can only speak for myself, I don't "hate" any D3 school (anymore), and definitely not NESCAC teams...

It's nothing personal to call them on being the highest fouling team in the nation.

[paclassic89]

Tufts with a huge win over Middlebury.  They were on the outside looking in for the first regional rankings.  This win should probably get them in the next regional ranking with an opportunity against Bowdoin next week to further bolster their resume

[EnmoreCat]

Amhaters is very funny.

I can only speak for myself, I don't "hate" any D3 school (anymore), and definitely not NESCAC teams...

It's nothing personal to call them on being the highest fouling team in the nation.

Just me being sensitive Hopkins92! And the term embraces a multitude of negative sentiment types.

I just wanna know what was wrong with the flag, that's the real story coming out of this game...

[Another Mom]

Since I can't give karma points, I hereby nominate @enmorecat as the Nicest Soccer Parent on the D3 boards. I love reading your posts, @enmorecat!