NESCAC

[Maine Soccer Fan]

"The winger drives baseline and dishes off a centering pass."

That's the stuff I find mildly annoying.

[Fitz@615]

Anouncer..."I've never played soccer before". Now. that is news to the viewers

[Falconer]

So—what's the deal with NESCAC teams this year? Are they all just massively skilled defensively? Or, have they just forgotten that you're supposed to put the ball into the net? Or, is it something else? Not making fun of them; this is an honest question. I've seen several of their games earlier in the season, and except for Williams before their striker went down I can't remember seeing any goals. Seems like the scoreboard is broken n their tournament this year ...

[Falconer]

As for Williams, how do figure out the significance of 10 draws? Ten!? That can't all be a result of no OT. Indeed they played two OTs today and still failed to score even one goal...

[stlawus]

Beat me to it Falconer, was about to say Williams has to be in the danger zone after today.  SOS and RvR notwithstanding, it just seems wrong to reward a team with a bid that has more losses/draws than wins.  All this talk about the NESCAC getting 5 or 6 bids, I would not be shocked to see only 3 this year.

[SimpleCoach]

Middlebury just tied it up.

[blooter442]

"Knuckleball" and "tipped into the zone." Much like me doing basketball commentary in college because they needed a warm body, soccer is not this guy's forte.

[EnmoreCat]

"Kalinoceans" was a new way to hear no.33's name pronounced...

[College Soccer Observer]

Elmore Cat. Congrats to your son. Well played match. Hopefully we do it again in a few weeks.

[blue_jays]

Beat me to it Falconer, was about to say Williams has to be in the danger zone after today.  SOS and RvR notwithstanding, it just seems wrong to reward a team with a bid that has more losses/draws than wins.  All this talk about the NESCAC getting 5 or 6 bids, I would not be shocked to see only 3 this year.

If you only win 6 out of 17 games, that should put you firmly on the bubble. That's just nutty.

[futbolfan]

Will Williams stay ahead of Hamilton in weekly rankings? 6-1-10 is slightly higher % than 8-4-4 assuming wins are 2 points in the calculation. Maybe NCAA should consider giving 2.5 or 3 for a win in this ranking system.  Regardless under the current system does Williams stay ahead of Ham?

[JEFFFAN]

Relatively new to the soccer boards but at this level doesn't it make sense to have another form of overtime during the regular season?   Williams with TEN ties!  Amherst with FIVE ties?   Has to be a different way to decide these games.

[EnmoreCat]

Elmore Cat. Congrats to your son. Well played match. Hopefully we do it again in a few weeks.

Thanks CSO, that Brady kid in goal for Panthers made some good saves.

[EnmoreCat]

Middlebury 1 Amherst 2

I do appreciate that not everyone gets excited about Conference finals and that it's all about the Tournament, but I also think it's helpful to take good form into the business end of the season, plus winning games is fun.  The first half today was all about the  Mammoths and even an Amhater or two (I won't get carried away) might have been impressed with some of the play.  Bottom line, I thought Amherst was good value for the 1-0 half time lead against a Midd team that would have been unhappy with their first half.  In the game I saw live between the two, Midd's midfield dominated for significant stretches, that's not how the first half was today.

The one thing any seasoned, or in my case, less seasoned but learning rapidly, NESCAC follower, is that Midd wasn't going to be as passive after half time.  For the Ammirers it was frustrating, as some very good early Panther hustle led to a corner.  Now, there is something about left-footed players, but I can only imagine how much fun it must be to watch Jordan St Louis practice and as he went over to take the corner, I was thinking, watch out for the in-swing.  Sadly, it appeared there was a breakdown in my ability to transmit mind messages to the Mammoths defence, firstly across the Pacific Ocean and then across continental USA and a rather sloppy goal was conceded,  albeit, what was off a delicious delivery.

That really was the greenlight for Midd to start to take over and it was Amherst's turn to go into their shell (did Mammoths ever have shells?).  Whilst Midd didn't create lots of chances, they sure had more of the ball.  It took a while, but eventually the Mammoths got back into it and whilst a tense affair, it felt like extra time was inevitable as neither team could quite get something better than a half chance to work with.

I felt myself agreeing with Paul Newman when Amherst got what was eventually the winner.  It would have been a classic way to finish the game, but of course, the rule change meant that the Panthers had a chance to claw it back.  In any event, a nice assist for son of EnmoreCat and because of the delayed kick off, it meant that my exclamation of joy didn't wake up as many people it might have had the earlier game finished earlier.  Midd pressed hard as you would expect and late in the game there was a shout for a handball.  Unlike a few moments in the game which I rewound to review, I was quite happy that the referee got that right and moved on. 

In terms of the overall balance of play, my purple lensed view thought Amherst did enough to deserve the win and more play like the first half will be welcome for whatever comes next.  For Midd, the stats show that losing a Conference final need not mean much for the Tournament and I am sure they will be back stronger.  Their best soccer is pretty good.  Conn tomorrow won't be easy and I suspect the commentator wasn't aware that they actually won the Tournament last year, because he kept describing their win against Williams as a "Cinderella" story.  I would expect another tough NESCAC affair, sadly it will happen without me watching live, a 4.00am Monday kick off is about the worst possible time for me, but I will get to watch the replay later.

Finally, the other stats, Amherst's foul count of 18 was a bit above average, but of course, included overtime.  The Panthers managed 14, but I couldn't tell you what their average is.  They did manage two yellows to the Mammoths' one, which probably runs counter to the accepted script.

[northman]

I'm finally tuning back into this forum, as it took me a full week to recover from Bowdoin's triple losses last Saturday...in men's soccer, women's soccer, and field hockey.  Albeit both of the soccer losses were in PKs...which I have always detested, whichever end of the "result" my team comes out on...

At any rate, I very much enjoy EnmoreCat's commentary.  He's knowledgeable, passionate, and willing to withstand the continuous stream of jabs (most of them deserved) that are hurled Amherst's way.  I tuned into the last 15-20 regulation minutes of the Amherst v Midd match, and didn't see a whole lot going on.  Then I was primarily watching the Brown women's "make up" soccer match vs. Springfield College when Amherst scored what was the ultimate winning goal.  Based on the stat sheet, which isn't always reliable, it does appear Amherst had the edge in play.

I was also delighted to learn that a friend of mine, who historically is not a huge sports fan, is now a big fan of Amherst because her nephew is their leading scorer!  On top of that, it appears he scored the opening goal in today's match.  This is further evidence of how the beautiful game can come to infect so many around the globe.

It'll be interesting to see what the NCAA selection committee decides the NESCAC deserves come Monday evening.  Over and out