NESCAC

[MENESCACFAN]

After a very demanding work week plan to get back on the previews and roundups this weekend, though will skip Trinity game tonight.  Did watch Bates v Curry live Monday, 4-0 win for Bates.  Peabo Knoth had one of his quieter games and right winger Nate Merchant was their best player.  Three of the four goals netted by freshman for a team that may soon be dubbed the "Baby Bobcats."

Think the league really started to take shape after weekend and we now have three tiers barring a major run of form somewhere one way or the other.

TIER 1

Home teams for tournament locking in.  Amherst, Tufts, a resurgent Williams and Wesleyan looking like the top four.  I continue to believe Tufts may just win this whole thing.

TIER 2

Middlebury and a red hot Bowdoin starting look very safe bets for playoff spots, and seem to playing well in addition to that.

TIER 3

A five team league, of which the top two will make the tournament.  One game (three points) separates this league top to bottom.  This could make for some fun viewing over the next 3 games.

Current standings are;
Conn College 7pts
Bates 6pts
Trinity 5pts
Colby 4pts
Hamilton 4pts

Crunch games left here are Hamilton @ Colby (this weekend), a game that could leave the loser down and out.  Also Conn @ Trinity (10/25) and Colby @ Bates 10/29.

Tie breaker is head to head I believe so status there is;
Conn have edge over Hamilton
Bates have edge over Conn and Trinity
Trinity have edge over Colby
Colby have no edge but yet to play Hamilton and Bates
Hamilton have edge over Bates.

Good luck to the Bantams tonight.

[Mr.Right]

I wanted to start a new thread for unbiased Nescac talk.

[Mr.Right]

I was getting sick of posters claiming that there is a "night and day" difference between Amherst and Williams in recruiting. Last time I checked Williams has been to 3 NCAA FINAL FOUR'S in 5 YEARS, Amherst 0.

The poster was also trying to claim Williams does not recruit academy players and Kenyon does. Williams has more academy players than Kenyon on its roster. Also, a number of Kenyon players on that roster were not recruited by Williams because there were better players out there.

[Off Pitch]

I wondered how long it would be before LP reappeared.

[Mr.Right]

This is not LP. Big games this week-end

[Mr.Right]

Williams at Tufts-  This game will determine 2nd place in the league. Also, for Williams if they win this game it will give them a solid resume fortourney time even with 4 losses. How Tufts is not in the top 25 is beyond me.

[Mr.Right]

Amherst at Wesleyan- Wesleyan needs a win for their NCAA resume. This would be almost a lock if they can win this game. However, I feel Amherst will be motivated to lock up 1st place in the best league in the country and will win this game. Both teams in my opinion are still struggling to score goals and I do not know where Amherst would be without Pascuel-Leone and Martin. These two players will put Amherst over the edge and if Jae Heo would show up and play like he did as a Frosh and Soph this team could be very hard to beat come tourney time.

[Mr.Right]

Conn at Bowdoin- Conn has under performed this year but in their defense they have been ravaged by injuries now with Punt done for the year. I feel Conn still has better players than Bowdoin and will sneak this game. I have not benn to impressed with Bowdoin. There best players are all O'Leary recruits and the new coach better get on his horse to get some players in there. Van Siclein is a huge upgrade over Safian in net and they are solid on the back line but they lack anything close to a top striker. #5 is a very skilled player and I have no idea where Keefe is.

[Mr.Right]

Hamilton at Colby- The other poster is correct that the loser of this game is toast. Hamilton and Conn might have the worst goalkeeping in the league but Kraynak has been scoring goals and I have always been a fan of Griffen Abbott. His electric speed down the flank is matched by few in the league. Reynols is ok in the back but not great as he is a step slow to keep up with dangerous strikers. The good news is that Colby possesses no dangerous striker. Hamilton sneaks a 1-0 win in Waterville.

[Mr.Right]

Bates at Midd- 4-0 Midd as Glazer and Conrad maybe the best dynamic duo in the league. These two eat up marginal defenders and Bates has plenty of those.

[Mr.Right]

Off topic- caught the Kenyon v Denison game last night and if Kenyon is the new #1 team in the country I would be shocked. They looked decent at best and maybe I caught them on an off night but there is no way they would match up with this year's Messiah team. I also caught the Messiah v Stevenson game and it looked like weather could have been a factor. Messiah dominated but looked a step sluggish and Stevenson perfected their game plan of parking 8-10 guys behind the ball and trying to counter when they had the chance. Stevenson also found some luck which is what you need to get a draw against Messiah.

[Mr.Right]

As far as NCAA resumes I feel Nescac has a chance to get 4-5 teams in the tourney.
-Amherst is a lock.
-Williams beats Tufts and wins out and gets to the semi's they will be in.
- Tufts still needs to win out. 3 draws and a possibility of am average record vs ranked teams could hurt them. loss to Brandeis, ties to Amherst and Midd and maybe a win against Wesleyan but other than that I do not see any other good results as of yet.
-Wesleyan needs to beat either Amherst or Midd plus they need results against Trinty and Conn. Very tall order for this unit but I put nothing past Wheeler who is one of the most organized coaches in the country.
-Midd has to win out, which they should do. However, their schedule is very weak out of conference and I do not see to many results against possible ranked opponents

[Mr.Right]

Wheaton(MA) is a very good team attacking but defensively they are a lacking and goalkeeping is average. Their schedule is weak non-conference and with a tie against Wesleyan losses at Trinty and at Brandies can anyone give me a good win on their resume? Maybe Babson.

Brandeis has some excellent results and should be a lock to host deep into the tourney but they are in the 2nd best conference in the country and still have some very tough opponents left. If they slip up this weekend they could be dropping of their perch.

Babson does have an excellent non-league schedule except for the fact they have npt beaten any of those teams except Williams. With 4 losses and tough games left at Springfield and home against Bowdoin and ECONN they might have to win their tourney.

Coast Guard is so overrated and I agree with the poster that they are very fit but 10 men behind the ball in EVERY game is so UGLY. Their last 4 games are very tough and I would not be suprised if they lose 3 of 4 which will put them OUT.

WPI- Extremely weak schedule and massively overrated.

[blooter442]

This is not LP.

I am deeply suspicious. Your grammar, sentence structure, and word usage is virtually identical, and I find it odd that a brand new user with 11 posts (all of which are on this thread) starts a thread and goes on and profiles all of the upcoming weekend games. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time believing the quoted statement.

[Mr.Right]

Sorry to disappoint you but I am not. Lets focus on the league and the games not who is posting and who isn't. Thanks for reading