NESCAC

[Bobcat1]

I have only seen a handful of games in person, but it certainly appears Conn has a couple guys who can put the ball in the net. And although neither Savonen nor Merchant scored on Saturday, they are a threat to score every game. Bates has only played 4 conference games (one at Hamilton) so its a small sample size. I will also point out that in the biggest non-conference games of the season for NESCAC, Amherst beat RUN 2-1 (less than 24 hours after beating Tufts) and De Sousa is probably one of the best forwards in the country. Also, Tufts beat Brandeis 1-0 therefore shutting down Flahive and Ocel. You are making the assumption that these other top ranked teams around the country will be able to exploit and score against the top teams in NESCAC and so far the top teams in NESCAC have had the better of the bib non-conference matchups. 

[Mr.Right]

It becomes much more realistic when you actually envision a team against possible opponents in Rd of 32 and Sweet 16 games.  Who is going to put them out?  The NEWMAC champ?  Endicott?  Gettysburg?  Once you get past 3-4 and at most 5-6 teams, who would Tufts not be favored against?  And I personally would not bet against versus Chicago, Calvin, Messiah, Rowan, Lycoming, Trinity, etc.  Again, they were predicted to be out by the Sweet 16 LAST YEAR.  Maybe no striker but a lot of guys who can score and certainly a lot of guys who can get them one goal off a set piece or scrum given their physical advantages.

I'll concede a bit and agree on this point BUT they are also more vulnerable in the back and in goal IMO we just have not seen it yet but we will..Promise to quote me when we do see it collapse and I will admit if it doesn't.

[PaulNewman]

It becomes much more realistic when you actually envision a team against possible opponents in Rd of 32 and Sweet 16 games.  Who is going to put them out?  The NEWMAC champ?  Endicott?  Gettysburg?  Once you get past 3-4 and at most 5-6 teams, who would Tufts not be favored against?  And I personally would not bet against versus Chicago, Calvin, Messiah, Rowan, Lycoming, Trinity, etc.  Again, they were predicted to be out by the Sweet 16 LAST YEAR.  Maybe no striker but a lot of guys who can score and certainly a lot of guys who can get them one goal off a set piece or scrum given their physical advantages.

I'll concede a bit and agree on this point BUT they are also more vulnerable in the back and in goal IMO we just have not seen it yet but we will..Promise to quote me when we do see it collapse and I will admit if it doesn't.

LOL.  Believe it or not I respect your opinions and take them seriously.  I've been resisting quoting you from last year.  You said the exact same thing you're saying now about Tufts and the NESCAC in general last year.  I think the compromise is that you are correct about Tufts' weaknesses but not totally factoring in that the competition in D3 is not overwhelming.  Are you saying you wouldn't give them a decent chance to beat Messiah or Chicago or Calvin tomorrow?

[Mr.Right]

I have only seen a handful of games in person, but it certainly appears Conn has a couple guys who can put the ball in the net. And although neither Savonen nor Merchant scored on Saturday, they are a threat to score every game. Bates has only played 4 conference games (one at Hamilton) so its a small sample size. I will also point out that in the biggest non-conference games of the season for NESCAC, Amherst beat RUN 2-1 (less than 24 hours after beating Tufts) and De Sousa is probably one of the best forwards in the country. Also, Tufts beat Brandeis 1-0 therefore shutting down Flahive and Ocel. You are making the assumption that these other top ranked teams around the country will be able to exploit and score against the top teams in NESCAC and so far the top teams in NESCAC have had the better of the bib non-conference matchups.

I might give you Brandeis however this Brandeis side is not last year's side and far from 2014/2015 Brandeis..Again it is all how you evaluate the situation. Conn??? Are u kidding...They cannot score goals against a solid defense neither can Midd,Williams,Trinity,Bates,Colby,Bowdoin etc....Have you noticed the amount of goaless draws this year? How about the 1-0 scoreline? Popping up every weekend. I watch these games and there is not 1 team that can breakdown these solid defenses. Except Bates and Trinity which are 2 defenses that can be broken down except apparently when they play each other to a 0-0 draw.

[Mr.Right]

It becomes much more realistic when you actually envision a team against possible opponents in Rd of 32 and Sweet 16 games.  Who is going to put them out?  The NEWMAC champ?  Endicott?  Gettysburg?  Once you get past 3-4 and at most 5-6 teams, who would Tufts not be favored against?  And I personally would not bet against versus Chicago, Calvin, Messiah, Rowan, Lycoming, Trinity, etc.  Again, they were predicted to be out by the Sweet 16 LAST YEAR.  Maybe no striker but a lot of guys who can score and certainly a lot of guys who can get them one goal off a set piece or scrum given their physical advantages.

I'll concede a bit and agree on this point BUT they are also more vulnerable in the back and in goal IMO we just have not seen it yet but we will..Promise to quote me when we do see it collapse and I will admit if it doesn't.

LOL.  Believe it or not I respect your opinions and take them seriously.  I've been resisting quoting you from last year.  You said the exact same thing you're saying now about Tufts and the NESCAC in general last year.  I think the compromise is that you are correct about Tufts' weaknesses but not totally factoring in that the competition in D3 is not overwhelming.  Are you saying you wouldn't give them a decent chance to beat Messiah or Chicago or Calvin tomorrow?

I have not seen Chicago yet. I have seen Messiah 3 times and Calvin only once and I think they would beat Tufts. Are you telling me that they would fear Weatherbie, Coleman, Jameson, Zinner and Mieth? Even Tufts Nescac opponents do not fear them. Last year I do not remember exactly what I said but I really liked Sullivan and thought he covered up some of Coleman's weaknesses.

[Bobcat1]

Last year there were 2.42 goals per NESCAC game. This year so far its 1.86 goals per NESCAC game. So the goal scoring is down about 1/2 a goal per game this season to date.

[Mr.Right]

Last year there were 2.42 goals per NESCAC game. This year so far its 1.86 goals per NESCAC game. So the goal scoring is down about 1/2 a goal per game this season to date.

Thank you..You made my point for me..In soccer that is a HUGE number...Now lets take 4 games out of that stat and them tell me the goals per Nescac game....Wesleyan 4-2 Bates, Conn 2-2 Colby, Tufts 3-0 Wesleyan and Conn 3-0 Trinity

[SoccerMom_5]

You do not seem to understand that Tufts is racking up shutouts against Nescac teams THAT CANNOT SCORE FRIGGIN GOALS...Give me a legit striker this year?

lol ...     WORD!!!!

[Bobcat1]

Why would you remove the top scoring games without removing the lowest scoring games? Let's see where it all shakes out at the end of the conference season. As you said, NESCAC has a lot of solid defensive teams. As a result, I would expect the scoring to be down.

[SoccerMom_5]

You do not seem to understand that Tufts is racking up shutouts against Nescac teams THAT CANNOT SCORE FRIGGIN GOALS...Give me a legit striker this year?

lol ...     WORD!!!!

Of course... it is mostly an issue because it seems like the teams that win in the NESCAC seem to rely on a big fast/strong front-man to score on break-away plays.  And, the teams who have counted on that guy in the past seem not to have yet identified one this year.   
How will they deal with that? If they get creative, it will be interesting!  Should be way more interesting than wondering how each team might match up with a Majumber, or Becherano, or Ciambella, or Pat Devlin... or whomever...

Looks like Tufts could possibly looking at a way to make adjustments by trying a realignment in the back to move another guy forward, . 
Bowdoin seems to be also experimenting with their backline, as their backs have been doing some overlapping and combining.   
And, I only caught Amherst's first game, plus the Tufts game this weekend, but apparently, with anything else they may or may not be doing to adjust, at least after this weekend, it appears that Amherst plans on using their defensive "long-thrower" on offense... And, at least this weekend that yielded good results for them.

And it looks like Colby is at least 500 and right in the middle of the pack by playing a team-game... with some of the competitive games, including road games, under their belt.

Anyway... if the 2017 iteration of each NESCAC team finds a creative way to compensate for the lack of that front-man, it might make it a pretty interesting season. 

[truenorth]

Good points, SoccerMom.  The dynamics of athletic teams and their performance levels are ever changing rather than static.  Any time we make a sweeping generalization about an entire conference, it is both an overgeneralization and also a static "photo frame" from one moment in a multi-frame two-month-long film.  If Chicago, Messiah or Calvin romp to the NCAA title and the NESCAC can't get beyond the round of 16, then we'll know these early season observations were accurate.

[SoccerMom_5]

It becomes much more realistic when you actually envision a team against possible opponents in Rd of 32 and Sweet 16 games.  Who is going to put them out?  The NEWMAC champ?  Endicott?  Gettysburg?  Once you get past 3-4 and at most 5-6 teams, who would Tufts not be favored against?  And I personally would not bet against versus Chicago, Calvin, Messiah, Rowan, Lycoming, Trinity, etc.  Again, they were predicted to be out by the Sweet 16 LAST YEAR.  Maybe no striker but a lot of guys who can score and certainly a lot of guys who can get them one goal off a set piece or scrum given their physical advantages.

I'll concede a bit and agree on this point BUT they are also more vulnerable in the back and in goal IMO we just have not seen it yet but we will..Promise to quote me when we do see it collapse and I will admit if it doesn't.

Which teams are more vulnerable in the back?  I thought a lot of the really strong defenders were younger last year.  Did someone graduate their back line? (besides Amherst who graduated just about everybody.)

[blooter442]

Bowdoin all over Thomas in the opening 10 minutes. Terriers have hardly gotten the ball out of their own half.

[blooter442]

Off the line! Twice!

[Mr.Right]

?Wonder if Seabrook is scouting Bowdoin at Thomas in Waterville tonight? Bowdoin has already had two chances cleared off the line. Thomas not quite as strong as years past