NESCAC

[Ommadawn]

This is a little tangential to NESCAC proper, but a couple of points of trivia.  ACH, Hurlburt at Wheaton (4 year starter), and Nemes and Beatty for WPI all played club together

Weren't Bruce Johnson of Tufts and Steve Kilday of Providence on that club team at one time, too?

[PaulNewman]

This is a little tangential to NESCAC proper, but a couple of points of trivia.  ACH, Hurlburt at Wheaton (4 year starter), and Nemes and Beatty for WPI all played club together

Weren't Bruce Johnson of Tufts and Steve Kilday of Providence on that club team at one time, too?

Sounds right.  Definitely Kilday.

My kid played for McCully with the older Savonen, Robbie Lynch, also a Brandeis 4 year starter and star, and Andrew Sheridan, who was a 4 year starter at right back at Rochester.

[letsGOswans!]

Williams will have to play Wednesday against Skidmore without their best player and top defender Scat Macdonald. This may expose defense and GK as Macdonald makes more than a few goal saving plays each match. Interestingly, I believe that Skidmore may be playing without their top striker who received a red card last game as well.

Lmfao ok Ms/Mrs Macdonald, he is far from the best player on that team.

[NESCAC11]

Williams will have to play Wednesday against Skidmore without their best player and top defender Scat Macdonald. This may expose defense and GK as Macdonald makes more than a few goal saving plays each match. Interestingly, I believe that Skidmore may be playing without their top striker who received a red card last game as well.

Lmfao ok Ms/Mrs Macdonald, he is far from the best player on that team.

LOL. I assure you I'm not related but do see most of the Williams games. I'm not a soccer expert but I don't see who is better than Scat or more valuable to the team. He has broken up numerous chances that would have resulted in great scoring opportunities and he covers for other defenders and the mid-field routinely. His passes which are often long are right on the money. He takes all the direct kicks and hasn't come out of any game yet this season. He also tackles fiercely and has surprising speed. I actually think that one solution to the Williams scoring problem is to give him the green light to take the ball to the goal. When he starts doing that they'll score more. I'm open to suggestion as to who you think is a better or more valuable player this season for the Ephs.

[Mr.Right]

Williams will have to play Wednesday against Skidmore without their best player and top defender Scat Macdonald. This may expose defense and GK as Macdonald makes more than a few goal saving plays each match. Interestingly, I believe that Skidmore may be playing without their top striker who received a red card last game as well.

Lmfao ok Ms/Mrs Macdonald, he is far from the best player on that team.

LOL. I assure you I'm not related but do see most of the Williams games. I'm not a soccer expert but I don't see who is better than Scat or more valuable to the team. He has broken up numerous chances that would have resulted in great scoring opportunities and he covers for other defenders and the mid-field routinely. His passes which are often long are right on the money. He takes all the direct kicks and hasn't come out of any game yet this season. He also tackles fiercely and has surprising speed. I actually think that one solution to the Williams scoring problem is to give him the green light to take the ball to the goal. When he starts doing that they'll score more. I'm open to suggestion as to who you think is a better or more valuable player this season for the Ephs.

The really sad part is he is not far from being the best player on that team. An above average defender who works very hard and gives us fans some old school "crunching tackles". On a normal Williams squad he would be just another productive defender but on this squad it is actually noticed when he is not on the field. He and Muellers are the 2 best defenders on the team but i give the edge to Muellers because he is faster. As far as the BEST player it all depends on what you consider the most valuable. Personally, I consider speed, skill and finishing the most valuable. Williams has no finishers so I have to look for speed and skill. With that I probably would have picked the injured Tom Young who has both but interestingly when healthy last year he barely would get on the field. I think he even picked up a few DNPCD's. That tells me that either the kid had a bad attitude or Sullivan didn't like his lack of toughness which can be bothersome for me but the speed and skill on the flank is more important. I do not NEED him to defend. Anyhow, I really do not have an answer for you. That is how average Williams is right now. I might have to go with a Sean Dory or even Muellers. Possibly the GK Schneiderman. None are choices I would usually make. I really like the Frosh Petrik as he showed very well against Amherst. He has basically unseated the senior Madding as I do not even think he played v Amherst. Petrik has the skill and was taking players on, giving nice thru balls and I believe had a serious crack on a set piece. Now for some reason he does not get many minutes because he should be playing 70 minutes a game at least. Either he has a bad attitude or doesn't defend like Sullivan would want or is not fit because I would be starting that kid.

[NESCAC11]

Williams will have to play Wednesday against Skidmore without their best player and top defender Scat Macdonald. This may expose defense and GK as Macdonald makes more than a few goal saving plays each match. Interestingly, I believe that Skidmore may be playing without their top striker who received a red card last game as well.

Lmfao ok Ms/Mrs Macdonald, he is far from the best player on that team.

LOL. I assure you I'm not related but do see most of the Williams games. I'm not a soccer expert but I don't see who is better than Scat or more valuable to the team. He has broken up numerous chances that would have resulted in great scoring opportunities and he covers for other defenders and the mid-field routinely. His passes which are often long are right on the money. He takes all the direct kicks and hasn't come out of any game yet this season. He also tackles fiercely and has surprising speed. I actually think that one solution to the Williams scoring problem is to give him the green light to take the ball to the goal. When he starts doing that they'll score more. I'm open to suggestion as to who you think is a better or more valuable player this season for the Ephs.

The really sad part is he is not far from being the best player on that team. An above average defender who works very hard and gives us fans some old school "crunching tackles". On a normal Williams squad he would be just another productive defender but on this squad it is actually noticed when he is not on the field. He and Muellers are the 2 best defenders on the team but i give the edge to Muellers because he is faster. As far as the BEST player it all depends on what you consider the most valuable. Personally, I consider speed, skill and finishing the most valuable. Williams has no finishers so I have to look for speed and skill. With that I probably would have picked the injured Tom Young who has both but interestingly when healthy last year he barely would get on the field. I think he even picked up a few DNPCD's. That tells me that either the kid had a bad attitude or Sullivan didn't like his lack of toughness which can be bothersome for me but the speed and skill on the flank is more important. I do not NEED him to defend. Anyhow, I really do not have an answer for you. That is how average Williams is right now. I might have to go with a Sean Dory or even Muellers. Possibly the GK Schneiderman. None are choices I would usually make. I really like the Frosh Petrik as he showed very well against Amherst. He has basically unseated the senior Madding as I do not even think he played v Amherst. Petrik has the skill and was taking players on, giving nice thru balls and I believe had a serious crack on a set piece. Now for some reason he does not get many minutes because he should be playing 70 minutes a game at least. Either he has a bad attitude or doesn't defend like Sullivan would want or is not fit because I would be starting that kid.

Thanks for the analysis. I agree with you across the board. I think I favored Scat because of his toughness and ability to put the ball on a Williams' players chest from 50 yards away. I agree Tom young wasn't getting any playing time last season. Petrik will get more time even up front for Singleton some. I'm not sure Schneiderman has shown that much as the defense is extremely strong. He makes an occasional save but hasn't made the huge save that would make the Williams' lone goal stand up.

[Ommadawn]

I really like the Frosh Petrik as he showed very well against Amherst. He has basically unseated the senior Madding as I do not even think he played v Amherst. Petrik has the skill and was taking players on, giving nice thru balls and I believe had a serious crack on a set piece. Now for some reason he does not get many minutes because he should be playing 70 minutes a game at least. Either he has a bad attitude or doesn't defend like Sullivan would want or is not fit because I would be starting that kid.

I was really surprised to see him on the bench for the end of the second half and both overtimes in the Bates game.  Williams is so much more dynamic when he's on the field.  Along with Opoku of Bates and Martinez-Paiz of Wesleyan, he shows that "little guys" can have a big impact amidst the giants that roam the pitches of NESCAC.

[nescac1]

Nice article on future Eph:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/winnetka/sports/ct-wtk-new-trier-boys-soccer-will-felitto-tl-0919-20170921-story.html

[Mr.Right]

I really like the Frosh Petrik as he showed very well against Amherst. He has basically unseated the senior Madding as I do not even think he played v Amherst. Petrik has the skill and was taking players on, giving nice thru balls and I believe had a serious crack on a set piece. Now for some reason he does not get many minutes because he should be playing 70 minutes a game at least. Either he has a bad attitude or doesn't defend like Sullivan would want or is not fit because I would be starting that kid.

I was really surprised to see him on the bench for the end of the second half and both overtimes in the Bates game.  Williams is so much more dynamic when he's on the field.  Along with Opoku of Bates and Martinez-Paiz of Wesleyan, he shows that "little guys" can have a big impact amidst the giants that roam the pitches of NESCAC.

Agreed. However, I was surprised that Opoku has not scored yet for Bates even in non-conference action.

[Mr.Right]

Nice article on future Eph:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/winnetka/sports/ct-wtk-new-trier-boys-soccer-will-felitto-tl-0919-20170921-story.html

Now THAT is a kid that Williams could use...A 6'2 physical striker..however my cynical side say's if he was that good why would D1's pass on a kid of his size?  Anyhow with him and Oberg coming next fall that will be something to look for.

As much as I would like to see Trinity/Conn at 4pm I cannot possibly pass up Dortmund/Real Madrid...Will catch the 2nd Half

[BendIt007]

Here are my thoughts on recent Camel games as have seen all their games in-person or video.  Trying to be objective, but have to celebrate a bit as they are on a good unbeaten run.  We'll see what happens today with Trinity today at 4pm.  I'm bummed, as will miss the first half.
•   Middlebury (away) a 1-0 Camel win.  Conn freshman goalie had a great game and was probably the difference.
•   Tufts (away) a 0-0 OT tie.  Camels, as Mr. Right pointed out, holding on for their lives.  Tufts clearly dominated with Conn on defense throughout.  But Tufts didn't get too many really good scoring opportunities and Conn didn't make any big mistakes.
•   Colby (away) 2-2 OT tie.  Close game with Colby playing well scoring first, Conn matching later, then Colby scoring again ... and Conn matching in last 90 seconds.  No score in OT.  Both had  tough games the day before and hard to tell if that had an impact.
•   Swarthmore (home) – 4-0 Camels.  Conn dominated in second-half with 3 goals.
•   Hamilton (home):  1-0 Camels.  Good game with both teams playing hard and excellent speed and control on display.  Conn scored mid-way through first half on follow-up up to a corner.   Then it was pretty much back and forth all day with a few scoring chances for each.  Conn having an overall edge in  control.  The last 12 minutes however was all Hamilton as they played like demons to attempt to tie it up.

[Mr.Right]

Just put on Conn v Trinity and witnessed what looks to be Conn's 2nd goal. Not sure who scored but Trinity looked lackadaisical defensively on the play and the Conn striker turned and buried the shot. Did not see the 1st goal but looks like Conn got a PK. 2-0 Conn and Trinity has really quit on Pilger this year. I cannot believe they are this bad defensively.

[Mr.Right]

Just like me to criticize the two players on Conn as role players and then have them both score. Manoogian gets the PK and Highton got the strikers goal. 2-0 Conn at the half and from what I can see they are playing very well. Some nice crisp passing. Trinity looks lost and dysfunctional as they are hitting one aimless ball after another. Let's see if the Half changes anything.

[Mr.Right]

Trinity really misses Murphy who was a fantastic holding midfielder and as much as I criticized him for being soft Gimand was very skilled and they need that right now. Even Milbury gave them some bite. It really is like their whole spine was ripped out.

[Mr.Right]

Very impressed with Conn's workrate today especially in this heat.