NESCAC

[Mr.Right]

Wesleyan snags a goal back to make it 2-1 Trinity with about 15 minutes left. It was a goal off a throw in to Frosh Alec Haas who scored off the outside of his foot from an impossible angle. This Wesleyan Frosh Haas is a good player with a ton of skill and wheels.

[blooter442]

Dan Sullivan scored his 2,744th goal of the season! I knew he was good at attacking set pieces, but didn't know he was that good! 

[Mr.Right]

Trinity finishes off a 2-0-0 Nescac Weekend with 2 big wins and 6 very much needed points with a 2-1 win at Wesleyan. Meanwhile, Wesleyan moves to the basement of Nescac for the 1st time in YEARS. However, they are a young team as Wheeler played 3-4 Frosh significant minutes and I really liked the kid Haas and Wolf who have wheels. With all the injuries Wesleyan has its no surprise they are struggling a bit BUT once they get those players back into form(if they get them back) they will be a very formidable opponent. With Gruner, 2 injured strikers, 3-4 Frosh who look good and some decent role players they will be a tough team to beat. They might be running out of time on this season unless they can string some wins together but their schedule gets very tough.

[Mr.Right]

Now let's see how Amherst responds today. I can already tell you that Serpone benched GK Lee Owen for a 6'5 Frosh Will Dunne. It should have happened a game or 2 ago.

[Mr.Right]

Tufts v Hamilton all knotted up at 2-2 with about 15 minutes left in the game. After getting a shutout yesterday, Shapiro benches Greenwood for Johnson. Not sure if he is rotating goalies from game to game but it might not be allowing for either one of them to get any rhythm. Tufts looking like since I tuned in to be getting the most of possession but not really creating anything that dangerous. Hamilton has not had a SOG since I have tuned in. Looks like a tale of 2 Halves as this game does not look like it has already had 4 goals in it. Tufts really needs this win even more than Hamilton.

[Mr.Right]

Amherst get a Christopher Martin goal off a rebound to go up 1-0 on Bates. They will most likely cruise in this one.

[blooter442]

Watching the Tufts game, just tuned in, and I've already heard two of my least favorite sounds: the Tufts parent doing the bird call cheer, and the color commentator who I am pretty sure was the color guy for MIT last year. Not sure if he is a grad student at Tufts or a transfer student or what, but I never really took to his commentary – very bland in my humble opinion.  Will be watching the rest of the game on mute. 

[Mr.Right]

Watching the Tufts game, just tuned in, and I've already heard two of my least favorite sounds: the Tufts parent doing the bird call cheer, and the color commentator who I am pretty sure was the color guy for MIT last year. Not sure if he is a grad student at Tufts or a transfer student or what, but I never really took to his commentary – very bland in my humble opinion.  Will be watching the rest of the game o

I agree and also the play by play guy is so monotone he has the capability of putting someone to sleep. Tufts dominating but have not had many really dangerous chances.

[NEPitch62]

I don't understand Shapiro's thinking on the keeper change.  Yes, I agree that Johnson will take over next year when Greenwood graduates and he could use some reps but the Jumbos still have a good season in front of us.  Hamilton is a different team this year and for it to be Johnson's first Nescac game seemed to be ill timed.  I have to believe that the result would have been different with Greenwood in there.  With all the top players back, Shapiro has to field his best side - and IMHO that means Greenwood in net.

[blooter442]

I don't understand Shapiro's thinking on the keeper change.  Yes, I agree that Johnson will take over next year when Greenwood graduates and he could use some reps but the Jumbos still have a good season in front of us.  Hamilton is a different team this year and for it to be Johnson's first Nescac game seemed to be ill timed.  I have to believe that the result would have been different with Greenwood in there.  With all the top players back, Shapiro has to field his best side - and IMHO that means Greenwood in net.

I can see both sides of the coin.

I have watched Greenwood for four years and have often been critical of his inability to command his area, as I've seen a number of occasions where he's simply slapped the ball away when he very well should catch it, and his indecisiveness on set pieces has been evident at times. It could even be argued that Wesleyan's goal on Tuesday could've been prevented if he hadn't waited so long to come for the ball, as by the time he came off his line the shot was already past him, and perhaps would've been saved if he'd stayed home (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt - it was a great ball).

Regardless, while Greenwood is the superior 'keeper all-around, I can understand why Shapiro would have wanted to rotate Johnson in, as he will be taking over between the sticks next year, although I do agree that this probably wasn't the right NESCAC game for it - I might have done it during the Bates game, although hindsight is 20-20 as Tufts was winless at that point and the Bates result was far from guaranteed.

That said, I have also praised him when he has performed well. He is a very good keeper, easily top 5 in New England and I'd have him just behind Sydor and joint-second with Van Siclen in the NESCAC. What is impressive is that he has the intangibles - leadership and confidence - that many don't have. I did not see the goals today, but I did see that at least one was a rebound, and from what I have seen Greenwood is pretty good at not giving up rebounds. Tufts is at a critical juncture in its season, with tests against Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Williams still to come, and if it can go perhaps 2-0-1 in those three matches I think they'll be in great shape for a Pool C bid, particularly given the wins over Amherst and Brandeis. And for those three games, particularly, I think Greenwood should and will be in net.

[NEsoccerfan20]

I don't understand Shapiro's thinking on the keeper change.  Yes, I agree that Johnson will take over next year when Greenwood graduates and he could use some reps but the Jumbos still have a good season in front of us.  Hamilton is a different team this year and for it to be Johnson's first Nescac game seemed to be ill timed.  I have to believe that the result would have been different with Greenwood in there.  With all the top players back, Shapiro has to field his best side - and IMHO that means Greenwood in net.

I can see both sides of the coin.

I have watched Greenwood for four years and have often been critical of his inability to command his area, as I've seen a number of occasions where he's simply slapped the ball away when he very well should catch it, and his indecisiveness on set pieces has been evident at times. It could even be argued that Wesleyan's goal on Tuesday could've been prevented if he hadn't waited so long to come for the ball, as by the time he came off his line the shot was already past him, and perhaps would've been saved if he'd stayed home (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt - it was a great ball).

Regardless, while Greenwood is the superior 'keeper all-around, I can understand why Shapiro would have wanted to rotate Johnson in, as he will be taking over between the sticks next year, although I do agree that this probably wasn't the right NESCAC game for it - I might have done it during the Bates game, although hindsight is 20-20 as Tufts was winless at that point and the Bates result was far from guaranteed.

That said, I have also praised him when he has performed well. He is a very good keeper, easily top 5 in New England and I'd have him just behind Sydor and joint-second with Van Siclen in the NESCAC. What is impressive is that he has the intangibles - leadership and confidence - that many don't have. I did not see the goals today, but I did see that at least one was a rebound, and from what I have seen Greenwood is pretty good at not giving up rebounds. Tufts is at a critical juncture in its season, with tests against Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Williams still to come, and if it can go perhaps 2-0-1 in those three matches I think they'll be in great shape for a Pool C bid, particularly given the wins over Amherst and Brandeis. And for those three games, particularly, I think Greenwood should and will be in net.

Bloots-
Agree with all of your analysis on Greenwood. The kid has won a national championship so he's doing something right. After shutting out Amherst it doesn't make much sense to make a change for another big game against a stronger than usual Hamilton side.

Sydor is the best goalie in the NESCAC, maybe even the region and one of the top keepers nationally. Van Siclen and Greenwood A1 and A2 I believe.

Who would your top 5 keepers in the New England region be?

[blooter442]

Bloots-
Agree with all of your analysis on Greenwood. The kid has won a national championship so he's doing something right. After shutting out Amherst it doesn't make much sense to make a change for another big game against a stronger than usual Hamilton side.

Sydor is the best goalie in the NESCAC, maybe even the region and one of the top keepers nationally. Van Siclen and Greenwood A1 and A2 I believe.

Who would your top 5 keepers in the New England region be?

That is a very good question. Hmm.

1st: Sydor
2nd-5th (in no particular order): Weinstein, Van Siclen, Greenwood, Woodhouse

I think Sydor is indisputably number one in the region this year.  I don't think I can rank the remaining four goalkeepers in any particular order, but I agree with Van Siclen just edging Greenwood for 2nd in the NESCAC - they are about even, but I think Van Siclen is slightly better all-around. Weinstein of Endicott is also very good, a D1 transfer and I think he is a big reason that Endicott has done as well as they have after losing a ton up top. Finally, I would put Woodhouse of Brandeis in there, as while Brandeis has struggled defensively this year he has made some good stops, and made some huge saves last year en route to Brandeis winning the UAA. 

Honorable mentions: Spoonhour of Gordon and Alcorn of Williams

[Mr.Right]

At 6-2-0 Conn College still has Pool C aspirations but they have a tough schedule remaining. They will have some regionally ranked wins but I suspect Hamilton might be regionally ranked in November so that would be a loss for them. They cannot afford any slip-ups in their next two winnable games at ECONN and at Bates. they need two wins and really need a result v Amherst, even a draw will work. Conn should win today but they need to try and score early and force ECONN to come out of their shell. The longer ECONN hangs around the more problems Conn College will have. I say 1-0 Conn


Midd should beat Plymouth State today 5-0

[maineman]

In Middlebury's 6-0 win against Plymouth State on Tuesday, they picked up a Team Red Card.  Does anyone know what it was for and if it will affect player/coaching strength for the next game against Tufts on Saturday?

[Bucket]

In Middlebury's 6-0 win against Plymouth State on Tuesday, they picked up a Team Red Card.  Does anyone know what it was for and if it will affect player/coaching strength for the next game against Tufts on Saturday?

Where do you see that? The box score says zero red or yellow cards:

http://athletics.middlebury.edu/sports/msoc/2016-17/boxscores/20161004_q0kh.xml