NESCAC

[Corazon]

CAC2424 - spot on.

Love all the experts on this page:

"I laughed out loud at your past coaching ratings giving Shapiro at Tufts an "A" as I knew about their internal turmoil, his personality and his mediocre recruiting ability (but good classes)." - Corazon, Tufts Insider

"The past few years Santos has been injured/out of shape and in and out of the starting lineup. We all know Shapiro can be tough, but the players have to take some responsibility. Last year we noticed Hoppenot randomly not starting and now this year Nakamura." - LaPaz, Santos' nutritionist & mind-reader of coaches

"Tufts 1-1 Colby. Colby looked like an organized unit against Williams, something tufts hasn't faced yet this year. Given the Tufts state of affairs and playing away from home, I think they tie." - SoccerFollower, Somerville Correspondent of Internal Affairs

No, CAC2424 is not right on. His straw man argument claiming posters are saying Williams is better off without Rashid lost all credibility with me. The other points are a matter of debate. If you assume I made the Tufts comment simply by regurgitating other peoples' previous posts, you would be mistaken. However, I am not an insider, so I will give you the benefit of the doubt that everything is hunky dory in the Tufts locker room. They do have a really strong team.

[Jump4Joy]

Much has been made of the loss of Rashid in terms of Williams' potential this year.
Of course, I'm sorry that he's hurt; ACL injuries are tougher than many realize--on the body and on the psyche.
Certainly, he is a good weapon on the field, as he draws attention and keeps defenders busy.
I do wonder how significant the loss is. His 5 goals and 5 assists last year doesn't sound enormous. Perhaps one of the stats gurus here can enlighten me: what is the typical standard for leading scorer/point getter in the NESCAC? Is 15 points on the tip-top end of the spectrum for go-to goal-scorers? If nobody has that info at hand, where's the best place to find it? Thanks, folks.

[madzillagd]

Keep in mind that was in 16 games, so while he wasn't tops on the team (although close) he did it in 6 games less than his teammates.  NESCAC.com has all the historical stats, but you have to look at each team. Tops on Wes was 3 & 3 in 16 games.  Amherst had 3 that were more impressive but that was in 20+ games too.

[Saint of Old]

Depends on the season/team/post season run etc...

For example.
One year our leading goal scorer got 12 goals. Team scored 63. A very very long NCAA run.
The very next season, the leading scorer had 6  goals. Team scored 30. Sweet 16 run.

It really depends as there are many nuances involved.

Both top scorers had amazing years, but you have to judge by personal ratio of team goals/ team offense etc...

[Becks]

Much has been made of the loss of Rashid in terms of Williams' potential this year.
Of course, I'm sorry that he's hurt; ACL injuries are tougher than many realize--on the body and on the psyche.
Certainly, he is a good weapon on the field, as he draws attention and keeps defenders busy.
I do wonder how significant the loss is. His 5 goals and 5 assists last year doesn't sound enormous. Perhaps one of the stats gurus here can enlighten me: what is the typical standard for leading scorer/point getter in the NESCAC? Is 15 points on the tip-top end of the spectrum for go-to goal-scorers? If nobody has that info at hand, where's the best place to find it? Thanks, folks.

Best source is the NESCAC website, which has all past years' stats: http://www.nescac.com/sports/msoc/archive I don't think the 2013 stats page has a combined all-team individual stats sheet, so you might have to look at each team's individual stats for that year, but 2012 and earlier stats have combined individual stats pages - eg http://www.nescac.com/sports/msoc/2012-13/stats/CONFLDRS.HTM#conf.wki

[Jump4Joy]

Thanks for the info/response, guys.
Becks, thanks for the link.

[LaPaz]

I would only look at stats vs nescac teams instead of overall stats. This way weak out of conference schedules(Amherst and Midd) do not blur judgement.

[Ommadawn]

Personally, I thought Flaherty was a very good recruiter - he worked really hard and for a long time and showed a lot of passion in son's recruitment but at the end of the day, my guy picked another school for non-soccer reasons.  He was recruited by the majority of the NESCACs so I got to meet most of the coaches and saw most of their correspondence. No matter what anyone says here, personal experience is that Flaherty is a good recruiter - but you say Bates is apparently not recruiting well, which could very well be (though I still like Knoth and Pereira a lot).

I wonder how much of recruiting a coach can control at a school like Bates?  While a great school, it is in a conference of all great schools, is geographically remote, in a not great town, and was left with little talent by his predecessor. Contrasting Bates with a school like Tufts (large,urban, non-Lac) and a coach in Shapiro who you've praised, I saw a vast difference in personality and effort between the two.  I do recognize it is entirely possible that Shapiro didn't rate my son as highly as the other NESCAC coaches, and maybe he actually makes an effort with guys who he likes but the difference between the two in our personal experience, was vast.

My son's experience with both coaches squares with that of your experience.  My impression is that Bates is in a Catch-22 situation.  They won't be able to recruit better players until they are successful and they won't be successful until they recruit better players.  For the reasons you mentioned (compounded by success on  the field), Tufts is an  easier sell to players.  It appears that Coach Flaherty has to work harder than Coach Shapiro to attract quality players and hard work alone may not be enough to turn the tide in the foreseeable future.

[nescac1]

LaPaz: "Murrales is due to score soon as well" -- very prescient, as Murrales has a hand in all three Eph goals with two goals and an assist.  Ephs continue to get nice contributions up front from two frosh, highly touted Tom Young, who is a another creative playmaker to go along with Moutenot and Murrales, and Sisco-Tolemeo, who is more of a finisher.  Rashid will of course be missed and his absence will loom particularly large in some of the bigger games yet to be played (Midd, Amherst, Tufts), but so far a lot of different guys are stepping into the void, which is what the Ephs need.  Meanwhile, the Eph defense continues to be very stout, with only 9 SOG allowed through three games. 

[All NESCAC]

LaPaz: "Murrales is due to score soon as well" -- very prescient, as Murrales has a hand in all three Eph goals with two goals and an assist.  Ephs continue to get nice contributions up front from two frosh, highly touted Tom Young, who is a another creative playmaker to go along with Moutenot and Murrales, and Sisco-Tolemeo, who is more of a finisher.  Rashid will of course be missed and his absence will loom particularly large in some of the bigger games yet to be played (Midd, Amherst, Tufts), but so far a lot of different guys are stepping into the void, which is what the Ephs need.  Meanwhile, the Eph defense continues to be very stout, with only 9 SOG allowed through three games.

Report on middlebury vs Conn. Middlebury 2 Conn 0. Great game in which Conn had the better of it for most of the game but missing two starting forwards couldn't score. Keeper for Middlebury Sydor played great made 3 huge saves. Middlebury scored twice within 5 minutes to strart 2nd half on two Conn hiccups. Glasser Horton and Robinson played well. For Conn Devlin and Mutala played well up front while Punt and Garabedian had great games on back line. Conn had 10 corners to Middleburys 1. Conn played very good game but Middlebury made the most of their 2 chances while Sydor shut the door.

[ihidebehindtheinternet]

Looks like the weekend went as expected. Tufts struggled in Maine (as I expected). Williams appears to have dominated. Bates is still bates.

Want some more color on midd conn and Amherst bowdoin. As for midd conn shots are even but corners complete favore conn. Anyone care to elaborate?

Amherst bowdoin seems to be slightly favored to Amherst but not by much in what I am sure was a physical battle. Did anyone see the red card? Seems like a tough thing to give in the 90th minute regardless of the situation. Amherst could suffer from it midweek against conn

[PaulNewman]

I missed the red card for Amherst.  Was it a for a 2nd yellow or a straight red?  No doubt Amherst is going to be there at the end, but one wonders if they are feeling some pressure after the way season ended past couple of years.  Big emotional displays towards end of Middlebury game and then a red card very late vs Bowdoin.  No doubt Amherst will be there at the end but for now they are impressing as a little on edge and volatile.

I noticed that Hamilton vs Bates ended in a bit of what announcer called a sort of "fracas."  Bates player crashed into Hamilton GK in last minute and a Hamilton defender came in to protect like you would see in a hockey scrum.  Easily could have been a red card or two but ref gave two yellows instead.  Bates is struggling to say the least and no doubt some frustration is showing as Bates has yet to score this season.  Very different vibe watching Colby where their play looks vibrant and almost inspired even though it is likely to be another tough season for them.

[All NESCAC]

Looks like the weekend went as expected. Tufts struggled in Maine (as I expected). Williams appears to have dominated. Bates is still bates.

Want some more color on midd conn and Amherst bowdoin. As for midd conn shots are even but corners complete favore conn. Anyone care to elaborate?

Amherst bowdoin seems to be slightly favored to Amherst but not by much in what I am sure was a physical battle. Did anyone see the red card? Seems like a tough thing to give in the 90th minute regardless of the situation. Amherst could suffer from it midweek against conn

CONN vs Mid was a good soccer match not the anticipated ugly brawl.  Conn had decided edge in possession and moved the ball around well and IMHO outplayed Mid.  Don't get me wrong Mid is good team and has size and talent
But Conn had many more opportunities and could not finish mostly due to great game by Mid keeper.  Conn missed Bitchell up top.  Corner kicks usually tell the story of a game and Conn had them all game but Mid as good teams will scored twice quickly ontheir only two good scouting oppotunities.  Conn and Mid are both good teams.  Mid centerbacks are stout. Conn backline was good and Mutala makes things happen for Conn.  Glasser is very good up top for Mid.

[PaulNewman]

Thought about putting this in the National thread but seemed to fit more here.

Almost skipped the trek to Wheaton because of rain forecast (and there was rain), but glad I didn't.

Very good interesting game that was highly competitive with great intensity.  LaPaz was right about a dearth of goals, but I have to believe Wheaton is for real.  And I wouldn't be surprised at all if Wheaton and Wesleyan meet again down the road.  My only concern re: Wheaton is that they have at least a 6 game stretch to end the season that turns out to be the weakest part of their schedule.  They'll have the NEWMAC tournament to challenge them but I wish they had another game like last night later in the schedule.

Wheaton jumped all over Wesleyan early and easily could have scored a couple of times in the first 15-20 minutes.  Wesleyan survived multiple great chances, a couple of them point blank.  Wesleyan gradually settled in and roughly around the time Wes started subbing (22-23 minutes in) the game started tilting more evenly and both teams had a couple of good chances.  A Wes player got in 1 v 1 on the Wheaton GK and was unlucky not to finish.  I was almost expecting the half to end with Wes up a goal after being outplayed pretty significantly for a good portion of the half, and I would have been curious to see how Wheaton handled that.

I thought Wesleyan had a slight advantage as the game wore on in the 2nd half, and a likely scenario seemed to be Wesleyan winning very late in the last 10-15 minutes or OT.  I can see Wesleyan winning a lot of games in just that fashion.  They get stronger the longer the game is still in doubt.  I want to say Wesleyan is deeper but I'm not sure that is true.  Both teams are deep with some outstanding frosh, and both teams are going to better in a few weeks.  The difference was that Wesleyan almost seemed better after they subbed, and Wheeler subbed earlier than Cushing and in the 2nd half basically every 15 minutes he sent 5-6 fresh players in at a time.  Wes played 3 different players at striker and the 3rd one only played for 3-4 minutes each half but looked dangerous.

Wheaton seemed more likely to score from the run of play, and Wes seemed more likely to score off a counter, an odd bounce that they capitalize on, or off a 50 to 60 yard free kick which they looked close to scoring on several times.  If I was a Wes fan, I would like to see more goals as I'm not sure about relying on a string of games 1-0 and/or late in OT (and eventually PKs).  I won't be surprised though if they do start scoring more as a soph and a frosh off the bench look very talented and creative on the offensive end.  Wheaton has some very talented frosh off the bench as well on the offensive end who should be even more threatening with a few more games under their belt.

On balance, a very fair result.  I would expect both teams to have very good seasons.  Both look hungry and both have very good, very experienced coaches.  Good atmosphere but the crowd was not raucous by any stretch.  Didn't see a big advantage for Wheaton in that regard, and Wes had its own sizeable contingent of supporters.  Played on a turf field (not the usual Wheaton field) and not sure who that favored.  I would go see both of these teams play again.

A random observation.  If you looked blindly at Wheaton's roster you easily could mistake it for a NESCAC roster.  Good diversity with a good number of kids from prep backgrounds.  Cushing has a lot of players from New York and NYC.  Very impressed with the quality and range of his recruiting, and in terms of racial mix Wheaton appears significantly more diverse than Wes which I found interesting.  Which led to a random thought that (even though this will never happen) Wheaton would not be a bad addition to the NESCAC.

[CAC2424]

Conn will roll 3-0 over Amherst on Wed.  Mark it down.

Completely unlucky against Midd.  Outclassed them in every way. Devlin due for huge game- just like Murrales was yesterday.  Huge year for the Camels.