NESCAC

[PaulNewman]

Well If Williams does not switch to some height in the middle and speed at RB they will lose this game IMO. NPL and Martin will be a handful and add in the experienced Rico if he starts. Williams is somewhat young and I can picture a few of the frosh and soph's with wide eyes and frozen legs. You cannot lose a second of concentration on any Amherst set piece or long throw.

Don't doubt you at all.  And, I was mostly serious.  Such is life for a deluded, over-involved, over-invested parent (and when you're even a little smart makes things even worse!).

[PaulNewman]

I want to say the @WPI mid-week game will be a tricky one for Amherst (and a great opportunity for WPI), but alas, I think Amherst will have just too much talent to be bothered by the Engineers.  And WPI has played a mostly very soft schedule.

I'm sure Mr.Right can tell us who would be favored in a Green Mountain versus Becker affair.

[Mr.Right]

Well WPI has less talent but a mid-week night road turf game after a battle with Williams might make it a tricky proposition. Let me just say that a Amherst loss to WPI and a Tufts loss to Brandeis and a Wesleyan loss at WNEC will absolutely throw everything off for other Nescac teams come November and the regional rankings.

Also,

I forgot Amherst still has a battle with Wesleyan at home at the end of the year. Wesleyan has always frustrated Amherst and with their win over Amherst last year gave the Nescac title to Tufts

[Mr.Right]

Wesleyan up 1-0 over WNEC at the half on a Brendon Souza goal. Surprisingly, they are being out shot 4-1 SOG. One shot one goal is all they need but I was expecting a little more.

Meanwhile at the half Conn and Elms knotted at 0-0. This is disappointing and Conn and frankly Nescac cannot afford this result

[blooter442]

Wesleyan up 1-0 over WNEC at the half on a Brendon Souza goal. Surprisingly, they are being out shot 4-1 SOG. One shot one goal is all they need but I was expecting a little more.

If I remember correctly in this fixture last year it was pretty much the opposite as WNEC snuck a 1-0 win at Wesleyan after being outshot by some crazy margin. Cardinals might see this as karma if it holds up.

[Mr.Right]

Could Bates sit any deeper on Bowdoin...

[Mr.Right]

I must admit Bates looks good on the counter and fast on the turf. They are dropping deep after losing the ball but I like former Bates star Murphy's brother. Merchant has some wheels but cannot beat anyone 1v1

[blooter442]

I like former Bates star Murphy's brother.

He seems quite good, and what he lacks in stature he makes up for in speed and technical ability. His brother was more of a bruiser but had a killer left foot and scored two free-kick winners against Middlebury in '10 and '12. Both Murphys came from the same Yarmouth high school program, which in the last 5 years has arguably become Maine's premier H.S. program even with Class A Scarborough and Falmouth, as Luke Pierce (who, by the way, scored 18 goals as a CM in high school before Russo turned him into a CB. I think he was a much better CB due to his aerial prowess and good tackling.)

On another note, where has Knoth been? One early chance but he has been kept very quiet.

[blooter442]

Bates and Bowdoin ends a 0-0 bore draw. Bowdoin hit the post twice, but Bates had some great chances to steal it in OT. Also, whoever the Bowdoin player was that was the recipient of that layoff in the final minute of 2OT should have done much better - he tried to pass it past the keeper at the near post when he absolutely should have smoked it.

Bowdoin retained the ball much better, and were the better side, but they absolutely shanked some passes. Their tackling and possession was superior to Bates, but they gave the ball away way too much. Was it the unfamiliarity of the turf? I don't know, but there was some very suspect passing going on.

Can't say I saw Bates being without a loss come late September...I'm preeeeeeeeeeeetty sure that will change this weekend. But hey, you never know.

[PaulNewman]

I'm going to give Bates some credit.  I thought they looked stronger as the game progressed, and I thought they looked like they expected to win instead of waiting for something to happen where they would lose.  A little lacking in firepower, but they definitely may contend for one of those last playoff spots.  And I sort of agree about the announcers, but they clearly were having fun, enjoying the game, knew a fair amount about their players, and who among us was expecting a Dennis Bergkamp reference??!

[Mr.Right]

Wesleyan up 1-0 over WNEC at the half on a Brendon Souza goal. Surprisingly, they are being out shot 4-1 SOG. One shot one goal is all they need but I was expecting a little more.

If I remember correctly in this fixture last year it was pretty much the opposite as WNEC snuck a 1-0 win at Wesleyan after being outshot by some crazy margin. Cardinals might see this as karma if it holds up.

You are correct. Because of their style sometimes weaker sides can sneak a win against Wesleyan but that style also usually gets them 1 or 2 monster wins a year.

[Mr.Right]

I like former Bates star Murphy's brother.

He seems quite good, and what he lacks in stature he makes up for in speed and technical ability. His brother was more of a bruiser but had a killer left foot and scored two free-kick winners against Middlebury in '10 and '12. Both Murphys came from the same Yarmouth high school program, which in the last 5 years has arguably become Maine's premier H.S. program even with Class A Scarborough and Falmouth, as Luke Pierce (who, by the way, scored 18 goals as a CM in high school before Russo turned him into a CB. I think he was a much better CB due to his aerial prowess and good tackling.)

On another note, where has Knoth been? One early chance but he has been kept very quiet.

Yes the younger Murphy seems to be faster and has the possibility of being a really good Nescac player. His brother had a great left foot and made Bates a very dangerous side to foul anywhere from 30-35 yards out. Bates has always been a bugaboo for Midd. Midd is never "ready" to play them. I did not know Luke Pierce scored 18 goals in High School, I cannot even picture that. I think the Williams baseball coach really recruited him hard but he ended up liking soccer better after arriving at Williams and really took off in the middle of his soph year in 2012 as he was being used to sit in front of the back 4 against teams like Amherst, Midd etc. Then he went to CB. He was good in the air, great tackler and fearless but he also had very good speed.

Do not forget current Colby MF Chandler Smith who I believe also went to Pierce's school. Another "worker" that coach's love.

[Mr.Right]

I thought Bates had some more firepower than they have had going forward for a couple years now. A decent mix of technical ability, speed and workers. Sometimes "turf" can make teams look faster than they are. I just feel Bates GK while making a couple superb saves is also a major weakness for them. He drops balls, comes out when he should stay home and I do not think he gets down well. I am not so sure about Bates back 4 either but you are correct they are playing with some great confidence right now and might get a result or 2 this week-end. If they sit like that against Williams and Wesleyan they could frustrate them but I need to see them on grass before I compliment them any further. All that being said Bowdoin looked awful. I am really disappointed in the way they have come out to start the year. Jones was invisible and their wingbacks Solarte and Downing kept giving the ball away. They did not create that many chances and certainly did not finish them when they did.

[blooter442]

And I sort of agree about the announcers, but they clearly were having fun, enjoying the game, knew a fair amount about their players, and who among us was expecting a Dennis Bergkamp reference??!

Didn't hear that one! Impressive. Looking back, I was probably over-critical given my disappointment that Bowdoin wasn't creating anything, as I was rooting for the Bears due to my connection to Bowdoin.

I did not know Luke Pierce scored 18 goals in High School, I cannot even picture that. I think the Williams baseball coach really recruited him hard but he ended up liking soccer better after arriving at Williams and really took off in the middle of his soph year in 2012 as he was being used to sit in front of the back 4 against teams like Amherst, Midd etc. Then he went to CB. He was good in the air, great tackler and fearless but he also had very good speed.

Yeah, he actually came to Williams for baseball, despite being arguably the best player in Maine the year before. 18 goals as a senior, leading his team to the state title, 17 goals as a junior, and the winner in the regional final (state semi-final) upset against a Falmouth team with Gabe Hoffman-Johnson as a sophomore. What's most impressive about Pierce is that he was a three-sport athlete (soccer, basketball, baseball) all throughout high school and that he did this all without playing club soccer to my knowledge, yet IMO was on the same "level" as HoJo. You don't see that much nowadays.

[Mr.Right]

You had me up to the point of comparing him to as u call him "HoJo". Which "HoJo" are we talking about? The older one went to Williams and younger to Dartmouth. First off their father was a tremendous athlete at Williams in the late 70's as his best sport was Hockey in which I believe he lost his eye. Actually as I am typing now I know the older one was Caleb? I think and then Gabe. Gabe was a "stud" club level and Russo knew he was a player and knew the Ivies would come calling and actually Stanford was  involved at one point.Caleb a decent player but not on Gabe's level. Russo thought the one way to get Gabe from the Ivies would be to get Caleb even if he most likely knew Caleb would be on the cut line of making the team each year. Alas, Gabe did not follow and enrolled at Dartmouth and played decent but under achieved IMO. He was often injured and I do not believe he was the right player for Jeff Cook's system at the time at Dartmouth. He would have been a machine at Williams if he stayed injury free. Anyway, I cannot possibly say that Pierce and HoJo were on the same technical level. Not even close