NESCAC

[Nutmeg]

Early predictions on the top 4 NESCAC finishers?

[lastguyoffthebench]

1) Amherst
2) Middlebury
3) Tufts
4) Williams

[Nutmeg]

1 and/or 2. Amherst or Tufts
3. Middlebury
4. Williams

[PaulNewman]

1) Middlebury
2) Tufts
3) Amherst
4) Wesleyan

[Corazon]

1. Amherst
2. tufts
3. Middlebury
4. Wesleyan

[MENESCACFAN]

1) Amherst
2) Middlebury
3) Wesleyan
4) Tufts

[Mr.Right]

more to come but you people seem to be giving Midd and Wesleyan high ratings for 2015. Wesleyan loses about 8-9 KEY players and Midd has not gotten it done since 2010. Did we all forget Bowdoin who loses a player or 2 and Williams. Williams will have Rashid back and Both Williams and Bowdoin have good frosh coming in.

[Corazon]

Whoa, welcome back.

[Mr.Right]

Thank you. After being gone 2 months I am trying to catch up but after reading some posts it doesn't seem I missed to much. I will try to fill in some information little by little.

[Nutmeg]

Mr. Right, u crawled out of your hole....welcome back. What have u heard about the Tufts and Amherst recruits?

[Ishmael55]

more to come but you people seem to be giving Midd and Wesleyan high ratings for 2015. Wesleyan loses about 8-9 KEY players and Midd has not gotten it done since 2010. Did we all forget Bowdoin who loses a player or 2 and Williams. Williams will have Rashid back and Both Williams and Bowdoin have good frosh coming in.

As to Wesleyan, you may be overstating their losses.  Wesleyan does lose both its best player (Bratt) and their keeper(both substantial losses), but only one other consistent starter.  They lose  6 of last season's 19 goals. 

[Brother Flounder]

Whoa, welcome back.

Whoa is right!!!!!

[Mr.Right]

more to come but you people seem to be giving Midd and Wesleyan high ratings for 2015. Wesleyan loses about 8-9 KEY players and Midd has not gotten it done since 2010. Did we all forget Bowdoin who loses a player or 2 and Williams. Williams will have Rashid back and Both Williams and Bowdoin have good frosh coming in.

As to Wesleyan, you may be overstating their losses.  Wesleyan does lose both its best player (Bratt) and their keeper(both substantial losses), but only one other consistent starter.  They lose  6 of last season's 19 goals.

First of all when I was thinking of Wesleyan's losses I was not talking about Emmett McConnell their graduating GK. He was an average GK at best and can be replaced especially the way Wheeler usually ends up with a top end GK. After their semi-final debacle against Midd their backup GK was horrific who was forced to play because of McConnell red card the game before. McConnell was missed in that game but can be replaced. Ben Bratt cannot be replaced right away. Bravo, Issiroff, Bratt and Lynch are good players. I thought Sousa and Erickson also were graduating so I was thinking they were also gone. They still have those 2 plus Gruner and a couple others but as this team is made up currently they are not a top 4 team in Nescac. They will continue to slog it out and fight for each game but I do not see a legitimate goal scoring threat. Cowie-Haskell had a good frosh year but he will be marked this year and Wesleyan will struggle to score goals and if their GK situation is not figured out they will struggle to win those slog it out 1-0 games they usually win

[nescac1]

I feel like this is the most uncertainty surrounding a Williams team that I can ever recall, mainly because of the coaching transition -- I have little doubt that Erin Sullivan will be a very good leader for the program, but obviously replacing alegend Russo is not easy, and I imagine there may be some changes in system / philosophy which will require an adjustment period.  Williams also loses six senior starters -- three in the back, and 17/23 goals scored.  So it will be an entirely different team in many respects.

Now, if Rashid returns and stays healthy (no guarantee), he should be able to replace Grady's production up front, with more help hopefully from Sisco-Tolomeo and Young who should play much bigger roles up front as sophomores and will be counted on to produce offense.  If Westling returns from injury that would help, but that is another big question mark.  With two young GKs returning, that unit should be improved, at least, but it wasn't like Williams had the top GK unit in the league last year.  Danilak is one of the best players in NESCAC, and Moutenot is a crafty schemer who may have a break out year.  The Ephs also have a lot of size in midfield and the back with Muellers, Dory and Ritter averaging about 6'4. 

The Ephs should be stronger up front (even with the loss of Grady) and in goal than last year, but there are huge question marks in the midfield and defense.  Hopefully Harrison Fyke can step in to a midfield slot; I'm not sure if there are any other frosh who can help right away, although Mr. Right seems to know of a few (and I'd be curious to hear) ... still, between massive turnover in coaching and throughout the lineup, with two key guys potentially returning from season-long injuries, and counting, I imagine, on a few frosh, there is huge uncertainty -- Danilak and GK are really the only positions that are totally known quantities at this point, either due to new guys stepping up or health question marks.  What will be the key differences, Mr. Right, between Russo and Sullivan's styles of soccer, if any? 

[Mr.Right]

Unfortunately I believe that Russo and Sullivan's style will differ significantly. Russo favored skill and speed and required his players to possess the ball and play to feet to build up their attack. Williams was a great counter attacking team but as we saw last year they were "soft" in midfield and I would venture to guess one of the worst Nescac squads at tackling. Pierce was a tough kid and Danilack while highly skilled was also tough but I ask you to give me any others that were. I felt bad because besides 2008 that squad minus Rashid was one of worst in the last 30 years at Williams. They looked at times uninterested and not willing to fight as a team. After their 0-3-1 mid season run they quietly began to lose confidence in themselves. Muralles was a shade of himself and Madding looked like after 3 ACL injuries just a step to slow.

It will be interesting to see how Sullivan plays. What was a starting lineup last year could be changed completely this year as he might change formation and style. WNEC was be pesky, physical and run all day types but without much skill the last few years. With better talent Sullivan might continue to harp on possessing, skill and speed but I would not be surprised to see a change in philosophy.

Alcorn is very solid in net and he had a pretty good season gaining confidence toward the end of the year. He will only keep learning under Sullivan as he was a former keeper at Williams. The big question mark would be how Rashid is coming back from his injury. Williams has a September heavy schedule and will be playing Oneonta St, Babson and Skidmore in September as well as their nescac slate. Sullivan picked up Oneonta St and was never shy about playing the best teams he could at WNEC. I believe he played Oneonta at WNEC also.