NESCAC

[madzillagd]

Disappointed to have not watched this but sounds like folks didn't get to see the end anyway. I tuned in right at 1:30 and the feed didn't work. When I finally got I up and running the graphic said it was 2-0 Amherst already so I turned it off.  Regardless, I'm very happy with the result.

[All NESCAC]

Congratulations to the Ephmen!  Good luck in Final Four.  Go NESCAC!

[nescac1]

As expected, Williams will play Messiah.  Ooof.  Has anyone seen them this year?  Looks like on paper that they are as deep and talented as usual, with multiple all-Americans spread throughout the line-up and dominant strikers and midfielders.  Williams will be a huge underdog but the Ephs have really raised their level of play in the tourney and they can go in with a nothing-to-lose attitude against the Goliath of D3.  The Mountenot-Muralles-Rashid combo (all of whom will fortunately be back next year) has become quite dangerous in the attack for the Ephs, all three are very creative players with the ball and they seem to have developed some good chemistry, with Kastner another guy who can finish.  And obviously, Conder has been an impressive weapon on set plays, so hopefully the Ephs can draw some fouls and/or corners to see if he can keep up his incredible streak.  The Ephs are almost surely not going to control the flow of play for the majority of the game, so they will need to get one or two quick strikes generated on counters or by great individual playmaking from the aforementioned trio. 

[Jump4Joy]

Congrats to Williams.
For the most part, the game was a tale of two halves due to the crazy wind (perhaps to blame for feed dying?).
Amherst did not score while the wind was at their backs, despite the ball's flirting with the goalline a few times. Williams did score with the wind at their back: A quality direct kick at the top of the box, slightly to the right, beat the wall and outstanding keeper Bull (Bull saved all 3 times the Ephs were on frame in the first half--including a 1v1). With the goal and 13 mins remaining, Ephs managed the clock well. Amherst played with some lively balls in the box late in the second half but couldn't get a true or clear shot.
Thank goodness the game ended at the end of regulation because it was colder than cold.
Good luck to Williams going forward.

[All NESCAC]

 NESCAC All Academic teams have been released. Congratulations to all the student athletes (especially the men soccer players) who received this award!  Well done!

[nescac1]

Lots of small articles about the Ephs as well as mini-previews of Williams vs. Messiah posted below.  All previews recognize that Messiah is a big favorite.  I think this year's Williams team is actually a bit underrated in terms of how they are playing right NOW because of their record.  It really took awhile to gel with Rashid slow to return to form after the big injury.  The Ephs have been strong in goal and defensively all year, but their offense was worlds better in the post-season than it was during the regular season as Rashid, first-year Mountenot, and Muralles have gelled into a very dynamic attacking trio, and they have benefit from the addition of Conder's tremendous services to help on set pieces.  I actually think the Ephs are playing at a higher level than they were headed into last year's Final Four, when they advanced despite being absolutely dominated by Amherst.  All that being said, neither last year's team (which maybe was not quite as good as its record reflected) nor this year's (which most certainly is much better than its record reflects) is in Messiah's class talent-wise, obviously, so Messiah is right to be heavily favored.  But they should be favored over ANYONE in D3, as reflected by the jaw-dropping statistics noted in Messiah's Final Four preview: http://www.gomessiah.com/news/2013/12/3/MSOC_1203131054.aspx

Other articles:

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/mens-dii-diii-tourneys-down-to-final-four_aid32176
http://www.examiner.com/article/ncaa-division-iii-championship-preview-williams#sthash.HGTBL4ny.uxfs
http://www.voicesnews.com/articles/2013/12/04/sports/doc529de12f3ec08111051810.txt
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/artikel.php?ID=293958
http://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/msoc/2013-14/releases/2013120444ctv0

Go Ephs! 

[lastguyoffthebench]

Thanks for posting the local news:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131203_Rutgers-Camden_soccer_in_its_first-ever_Final_Four.html


Loras and Messiah faithful; please post some articles from the local papers as well...

[ldahoSoccer]

Lots of small articles about the Ephs as well as mini-previews of Williams vs. Messiah posted below.  All previews recognize that Messiah is a big favorite.  I think this year's Williams team is actually a bit underrated in terms of how they are playing right NOW because of their record.  It really took awhile to gel with Rashid slow to return to form after the big injury.  The Ephs have been strong in goal and defensively all year, but their offense was worlds better in the post-season than it was during the regular season as Rashid, first-year Mountenot, and Muralles have gelled into a very dynamic attacking trio, and they have benefit from the addition of Conder's tremendous services to help on set pieces.  I actually think the Ephs are playing at a higher level than they were headed into last year's Final Four, when they advanced despite being absolutely dominated by Amherst.  All that being said, neither last year's team (which maybe was not quite as good as its record reflected) nor this year's (which most certainly is much better than its record reflects) is in Messiah's class talent-wise, obviously, so Messiah is right to be heavily favored.  But they should be favored over ANYONE in D3, as reflected by the jaw-dropping statistics noted in Messiah's Final Four preview: http://www.gomessiah.com/news/2013/12/3/MSOC_1203131054.aspx

Other articles:

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/mens-dii-diii-tourneys-down-to-final-four_aid32176
http://www.examiner.com/article/ncaa-division-iii-championship-preview-williams#sthash.HGTBL4ny.uxfs
http://www.voicesnews.com/articles/2013/12/04/sports/doc529de12f3ec08111051810.txt
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/artikel.php?ID=293958
http://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/msoc/2013-14/releases/2013120444ctv0

Go Ephs!

I would favor Loras and R-C over Messiah right now.  Using past results to predict future performance is like driving a car looking in the rear view mirror. 

[frank uible]

If past performance did not have substantial predictive value, the Racing Form would have been out of business for over a century.

[frank uible]

A question for the sophisticated, unemotional analyst: How would the typical d3 final four team fare against the typical middle-of-the-pack ACC team? Way too slow? Way too lacking in skill? Way too lacking in intensity? All three? None of the three? Other factors?

[Saint of Old]

I think they would hold their own.

Most final 4 players were recuited by D1 as well.
The issue in football is acclimation. Tough to go from 0-60 mph, but the talent is there.
Would take  an entire season to acclimate to pace and physical difference.

[All NESCAC]

I think they would hold their own.

Most final 4 players were recuited by D1 as well.
The issue in football is acclimation. Tough to go from 0-60 mph, but the talent is there.
Would take  an entire season to acclimate to pace and physical difference.

Can only speak to Williams regarding the Final 4 teams, but in general the D3 schools would be slower overall team speed and also lack some height/physicality.  Pace of play would be faster in D1.  The D1 teams also have more skilled scoring firepower up front (much more depth) and would not miss their many opportunities to score.  Overall ball skill and tactical knowledge would not be different.  Intensity and effort would be the same.  Just bigger and faster (better athletes in D1).  No offense to these fine D3 players, and they are good college players, but they are D3 players.  If they were truly D1 ACC players then they would be playing in the ACC and they are not (and that goes for all in D3).  Good luck to Williams this weekend.  Go NESCAC.

[All NESCAC]

I think they would hold their own.

Most final 4 players were recuited by D1 as well.
The issue in football is acclimation. Tough to go from 0-60 mph, but the talent is there.
Would take  an entire season to acclimate to pace and physical difference.

Can only speak to Williams regarding the Final 4 teams, but in general the D3 schools would be slower overall team speed and also lack some height/physicality.  Pace of play would be faster in D1.  The D1 teams also have more skilled scoring firepower up front (much more depth) and would not miss their many opportunities to score.  Overall ball skill and tactical knowledge would not be different.  Intensity and effort would be the same.  Just bigger and faster (better athletes in D1).  No offense to these fine D3 players, and they are good college players, but they are D3 players.  If they were truly D1 ACC players then they would be playing in the ACC and they are not (and that goes for all in D3).  Good luck to Williams this weekend.  Go NESCAC.

I couldn't disagree more about the reason that some athletes choose d3 over d1. I personally can vouch for many players I have coached that have chosen the d3 route because they chose the school over the sport. There are also athletes that choose d3 so that they can make an immediate impact upon arrival and they don't want to sit the bench for a couple years before they play. The top d3 teams could easily hold their own against middle of the pack d1 schools.

The question was not why some athletes chose D3 vs D1, but how the top of D3 would do vs mid level ACC team...let's pick on BC for an example (not at the top of ACC).  Again let's pick on Williams because I have seen both Williams and BC play this year.  Not questioning if a few of the players on the Williams roster could play some D1 role on the BC team, but the question is comparing the entire Williams D3 team vs the entire BC's D1 team, and truthfully BC team is far superior based on both speed and athleticism, and most importantly depth.  While the top D3 teams each have a handful of players who might possibly play at D1, the D1 team has 25 players who are at this level or better than their D3 counterparts.  Listen I love D3 athletics, but D1 is D1 and D3 is D3 and there is a big difference in the depth and talent level.  D1 and D3 are not different in that if you are not playing serious minutes by your sophomore year, then chances are you won't be playing Jr or Sr year, so choosing D3 over D1 so you will play earlier in your career is an overplayed rationalization.   They likely chose D3 (if soley looking from a soccer standpoint) because yes they would play period (and early) because they were a viable impact D3 recruit, while only likely a marginal D1 recruit, that's just reality.  Might not be the reason they chose to attend a D3 college, but from a soccer perspective it is more than likely true.  If they played 10 times would Williams win once or twice...yes that's possible because anything can happen in a single soccer game, but BC would likely dominate the play 9 out of 10 games.  Always a good debate when broaching this subject, but having watched college soccer closely for the last 8 years there is a big difference between D1 ACC (mid level) and D3 top teams.  Just my honest opinion.

[ldahoSoccer]

I watched Georgetown live this year on multiple occasions, and I don't think any D3 team would get the ball out of their own half. 

[Saint of Old]

Good luck to all the Final Four participants.
I will tell you this, they all think they have the ability to play D1 (and some Professional).
That is because this game that we love is 95% about confidence.

I have personally  known D3 teams that had every forward on the roster doing a sub 4.3 forty.

D1 players are bigger yes, but this is not basketball or throwball.
Suarez, Messi and Aguero are not giants until the ball is at their feet.

Since there are atleast twice as  many D3 as there are D1 programs, it stands to reason that the talent spectrum is wider, but this is the Final 4!

I say again, the acclimation a player would need to adjust is one thing (kinda like what everyone does after High School).

Besides Confidence, the greatest ingredient in being a good soccer player is intelligence. There are some pretty smart boyz plying their trade in D3.