NESCAC

[Mr.Right]

Of course Opoku gets a rebound goal off a Merchant rip to get his 1st goal of the year. 1-0 Bates 20 min left

[Ommadawn]

Opoku cannot buy a goal this year..Misses a PK to the goalie's left...Still 0-0

And, just like that, he's got a brace!

[Mr.Right]

LOL...I have had some night...I need to rest my head and start over tomorrow...

[nescac1]

More from the Amherst student paper on the bizarre Rutgers-Newark incident.  Crazy. 

http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2017/10/03/men's-soccer-notches-pair-top-10-victories-face-racial-abuse

[blooter442]

More from the Amherst student paper on the bizarre Rutgers-Newark incident.  Crazy. 

http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2017/10/03/men's-soccer-notches-pair-top-10-victories-face-racial-abuse

Oh wow. Disgraceful that these type of incidents still happen.

[Bobcat1]

More from the Amherst student paper on the bizarre Rutgers-Newark incident.  Crazy. 

http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2017/10/03/men's-soccer-notches-pair-top-10-victories-face-racial-abuse

Oh wow. Disgraceful that these type of incidents still happen.

Absolutely disgraceful.

Back to last night's action, Opoku was overdue. This game was starting to feel a bit like the Bowdoin/Thomas game the night before with Bates controlling the play and racking up shots, but nothing to show for it on the board. I was somewhat surprised Merchant did not take the PK, but perhaps Stew was trying to get Opoku a goal to get him going. Regardless, he now has two goals and Bates will need more from him and Merchant as they have a big weekend ahead.  Both Bates and Bowdoin travel to CT on Saturday before returning to Bates for the head to head match-up late Sunday afternoon. Given the game time of 4:30pm I expect this one will be on the turf and draw a decent crowd. 

Regarding Colby, I'm not surprised at all with their results to date. I saw them play Tufts back at the beginning of the season. It was an even game for about 70-75 minutes. When Tufts went to three in the back, the field tilted. With two up top and what appeared to be a 3-1-4-2 , Tufts was all over Colby and had the the last 7 or 8 shots of the game until the Pk decided it. Since their 1-0 losses to Tufts and Williams, Colby has gone 2-0-1 in the conference and IMO has a decent chance to pick up points at Wesleyan on Saturday. They defend well as a team, so getting the first goal in this game would be huge for them (as it was against Midd last Saturday).

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

I am not overly knowledgeable for this region but it seems that Springfield is being overlooked. 9-0-0, 29GF, 4GA, and nice wins over Gordon, @Stevens, Babson, and @Clark. I know they aren't the powerhouse teams they have beaten but it seems they are taking care of business against a decent schedule. Any insight on how good they actually are? Last season they were 18-2-1 and lost to Tufts in NCAA's 2-0. Clearly that was a difficult draw for the Pride.     

And I know this is the NESCAC thread but figured since it's the busiest thread and they are a New England team I would get a quality response in comparison's to how they might stack up verse a NESCAC side. Thanks in advance! 

[Ommadawn]

I am not overly knowledgeable for this region but it seems that Springfield is being overlooked. 9-0-0, 29GF, 4GA, and nice wins over Gordon, @Stevens, Babson, and @Clark. I know they aren't the powerhouse teams they have beaten but it seems they are taking care of business against a decent schedule. Any insight on how good they actually are? Last season they were 18-2-1 and lost to Tufts in NCAA's 2-0. Clearly that was a difficult draw for the Pride.     

And I know this is the NESCAC thread but figured since it's the busiest thread and they are a New England team I would get a quality response in comparison's to how they might stack up verse a NESCAC side. Thanks in advance! 

Here's what Mr. Right said yesterday on the New England Soccer Discussion thread:

"Springfield is to be quite frank just like another Nescac school. They are athletic, pacey, defensively organized, have no striker, hoof everything in sight and have what looks to be a decent GK. They are a poor man's Amherst. However, they are good enough on the day to beat any Nescac team this year if the chips fall in place so yes they will pose a danger in the NCAA's and most likely in the 2nd Round."

I've seen them play a couple of times, too, and agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Right's assessment.

[Mid-Atlantic Fan]

I am not overly knowledgeable for this region but it seems that Springfield is being overlooked. 9-0-0, 29GF, 4GA, and nice wins over Gordon, @Stevens, Babson, and @Clark. I know they aren't the powerhouse teams they have beaten but it seems they are taking care of business against a decent schedule. Any insight on how good they actually are? Last season they were 18-2-1 and lost to Tufts in NCAA's 2-0. Clearly that was a difficult draw for the Pride.     

And I know this is the NESCAC thread but figured since it's the busiest thread and they are a New England team I would get a quality response in comparison's to how they might stack up verse a NESCAC side. Thanks in advance! 

Here's what Mr. Right said yesterday on the New England Soccer Discussion thread:

"Springfield is to be quite frank just like another Nescac school. They are athletic, pacey, defensively organized, have no striker, hoof everything in sight and have what looks to be a decent GK. They are a poor man's Amherst. However, they are good enough on the day to beat any Nescac team this year if the chips fall in place so yes they will pose a danger in the NCAA's and most likely in the 2nd Round."

I've seen them play a couple of times, too, and agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Right's assessment.

Ah thank you! Good to know. I guess I should have checked that thread before posting!!! 

[SoccerMom_5]

More from the Amherst student paper on the bizarre Rutgers-Newark incident.  Crazy. 

http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2017/10/03/men's-soccer-notches-pair-top-10-victories-face-racial-abuse

Oh wow. Disgraceful that these type of incidents still happen.

Absolutely disgraceful.

Back to last night's action, Opoku was overdue. This game was starting to feel a bit like the Bowdoin/Thomas game the night before with Bates controlling the play and racking up shots, but nothing to show for it on the board. I was somewhat surprised Merchant did not take the PK, but perhaps Stew was trying to get Opoku a goal to get him going. Regardless, he now has two goals and Bates will need more from him and Merchant as they have a big weekend ahead.  Both Bates and Bowdoin travel to CT on Saturday before returning to Bates for the head to head match-up late Sunday afternoon. Given the game time of 4:30pm I expect this one will be on the turf and draw a decent crowd. 

Regarding Colby, I'm not surprised at all with their results to date. I saw them play Tufts back at the beginning of the season. It was an even game for about 70-75 minutes. When Tufts went to three in the back, the field tilted. With two up top and what appeared to be a 3-1-4-2 , Tufts was all over Colby and had the the last 7 or 8 shots of the game until the Pk decided it. Since their 1-0 losses to Tufts and Williams, Colby has gone 2-0-1 in the conference and IMO has a decent chance to pick up points at Wesleyan on Saturday. They defend well as a team, so getting the first goal in this game would be huge for them (as it was against Midd last Saturday).

Re: Colby.  How do you think they will do vs. Amherst & Bowdoin?

[Buck O.]

More from the Amherst student paper on the bizarre Rutgers-Newark incident.  Crazy. 

http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2017/10/03/men's-soccer-notches-pair-top-10-victories-face-racial-abuse

Oh wow. Disgraceful that these type of incidents still happen.

Absolutely disgraceful.

Back to last night's action, Opoku was overdue. This game was starting to feel a bit like the Bowdoin/Thomas game the night before with Bates controlling the play and racking up shots, but nothing to show for it on the board. I was somewhat surprised Merchant did not take the PK, but perhaps Stew was trying to get Opoku a goal to get him going. Regardless, he now has two goals and Bates will need more from him and Merchant as they have a big weekend ahead.  Both Bates and Bowdoin travel to CT on Saturday before returning to Bates for the head to head match-up late Sunday afternoon. Given the game time of 4:30pm I expect this one will be on the turf and draw a decent crowd. 

Regarding Colby, I'm not surprised at all with their results to date. I saw them play Tufts back at the beginning of the season. It was an even game for about 70-75 minutes. When Tufts went to three in the back, the field tilted. With two up top and what appeared to be a 3-1-4-2 , Tufts was all over Colby and had the the last 7 or 8 shots of the game until the Pk decided it. Since their 1-0 losses to Tufts and Williams, Colby has gone 2-0-1 in the conference and IMO has a decent chance to pick up points at Wesleyan on Saturday. They defend well as a team, so getting the first goal in this game would be huge for them (as it was against Midd last Saturday).

I was at the game as well, and your description is generally consistent with what I've posted here previously.  But I think that Tufts' move to three in the back opened up things for both Colby and Tufts.   Before that, the only good scoring opportunity for either team was early in the first half, when Tufts' keeper was caught out of the net, but the Colby player failed to find his open teammate as his pass sailed across the goal mouth.  From the 70th minute on, both teams had chances.  Tufts had more opportunities, but Colby very nearly had a game-winning header around the 88th minute or so. 

[Mr.Right]

For Saturday:

Bowdoin at Trinity----Bowdoin is 3-1-0 in Nescac with 9 pts and 2 games in hand on almost everyone at the top. If they go clean they would win the league. It is doubtful but not impossible. With Van Siclien and Niang they have two of the leagues best players but they need more from the rest of their line-up. They are not a truly great team because they lack creativity and a player that can beat 2 to 3 guys and feed a striker who can finish. I will say though that Ellsworth has improved but is no Dias-Costa on the flank. I liked the Frosh Byrd on the flank but he must be injured because I have not seen him in a few games. The Frosh McPherron looked decent in midfield. Sam Ward is steady in the back and I liked McColl's service. But eh if they go down a goal to a good team can they tie the game up and even win? Against Thomas they did but the stream went out and I have no idea how CJ Masterson scored both his goals. In the 1st Half he came off the bench and did nothing. Also, Thomas is ok but not a good team. The answer to my question right now is NO they cannot. Morant is a big body but if he is not scoring goals with his head or holding the ball up top then what good is he? He has 2 SOG in 4 league games as a striker. Not gonna cut it. In 4 league games Bowdoin has 16 SOG. An average of 4 SOG a game for a Top 4 side in Nescac is ridicoulous. I do think they are an NCAA team but they just are to thin on the bench and have no firepower to go very far. Oh right this game. Trinity is 1-7-1 after a 4-3 loss to Wheaton mid-week. The one thing they I do forget to mention when I criticize what a train wreck of a season this is for them is that they are very young. Besides Savonen, Bednarek, Brazina and the GK everyone else playing are Frosh and Soph and their backline besides Bednarek is particularly young. Not an excuse as this side should be able to recruit more talented players but I felt the need to put that out there and I have mentioned in the past they did have their whole spine ripped out to graduation last year with the losses of Gimand, Murphy and Milbury. Still they are bad. I am guessing in one of these last Nescac games of Savonen's career he will get 2 goals with a game winner but I cannot predict when or if that will happen. STAT OF THE WEEK---Trinity has 22 SOG in 6 Nescac games. That is like 3.7 SOG a game and they have played some of the weaker teams. Not to beat a dead horse here but out of those 22 SOG in 6 games, Savonen has 12 and a Frosh Matule has 3 with 7 other players having 1 and THAT IS IT. So only 2 players in 6 league games have more than 1 SOG...I cannot begin to tell you how BAD that is. Bowdoin is on a mission and after a wake up call at Thomas they will not take Trinity lightly because Trinity beat Bowdoin last year up in Brunswick in OT 3-2. That loss might have kept Bowdoin from an NCAA bid and if I am correct that might have been Bowdoin's last loss of the year in 2016...Bowdoin playing for Home field and a Pool C...Bowdoin 2-0

Amherst at Hamilton---I like the way Hamilton tries to play futbol and the way they go forward. I like their strikers Wood and Schmidt. Wood is particularly dangerous and pacey but is very right footed. That limits the damage he can do against solid competition. I like Morris and Harrington in midfield and Luke Eckels is a solid player. Is it me or does Hamilton play on the turf when Football is on the road? I am not sure if this game is on grass or the turf but their Football team is away this weekend. I just do not like this match-up for Hamilton. Hamilton is not an overly physical team and they might be the shortest team in Nescac all around. Their backs have pace but they are not physical enough to deal with the bombardment of long throws from Nescac POW Amherst Frosh Bryce Johnson. I actually like their other long thrower better as he throws more of a bullet into the box where Johnson throws these high arcing throws that can be dealt with. Amherst starting to roll now with wins over Tufts and RUN plus New England College in 5 days. This will be their 4th game in 8 days so maybe they will be a bit leg heavy but I think they dictate play and win the game. 1-0 Amherst

Bates at Conn----Conn has a TON to keep playing for. They are 7-0-3 overall and 3-0-3 in Nescac. They most definitely will be regionally ranked in 2 weeks and most likely their highest ranking in school history. This very well could be their best team in school history but Lessig did get them into the NCAA's in the mid 90's and won the ECAC's in 1992 with a solid team. Murphy has never gotten them into the NCAA's and they are very close and can sniff it but not there quite yet. First off they are fighting for league positioning as I do not believe with 3 draws they will win the league but they can get into the Top 3 if they finish strong and get a Pool C. That gets me to my next point. Conn travels to Amherst on Tuesday for a HUGE match. Is it possible they completely under estimate this Bates side? Are they thinking about Amherst already forgetting they have an important game v Bates on Saturday? It is only natural to be thinking about playing the best teams in Nescac. However, from what I have seen of Conn in the 4 games I have watched them is that Murphy has this team focused and working very hard. In fact I will go out on a limb and say they LOOK like the most focused and hard working team in Nescac. They are NOT the most talented team in Nescac and frankly have over achieved by miles this year. They have outperformed everyone's expectations even I am guessing their coach. But he is to good a coach to waste this opportunity. I have been disappointed in Conn's crowd size as their student body has not really supported this team the way they used to 10-20 years ago. It used to be going to Conn was like hell. Without Football they used to draw maybe 400-500 screaming college students and because their field was the college's quad you would  have banners and flags hanging out of the dorm rooms and on and on. While they were not the most talented team the crowd would get them pumped and really motivate them and also get under the skin of their opponent and especially Frosh and Soph and take them out of their game. I really believe if Conn could ever host in the NCAA's that would come back to life even if they switched fields. Conn pushes on. Conn 1-0

Colby at Wesleyan---Colby is a solid side this year. They have some big wins for the program and most importantly to me their starting 11 is all Jr and Sr except the GK Gibson. As 1970's Nescac player pointed out that 19 Frosh class a couple years ago that really struggled is now showing the experience they have gained. They were the better team at Midd as I caught the 2nd Half last weekend. They allowed Midd nothing going forward and capitalized on their own set pieces. They are a hot team right now in Nescac. They have size to match anyone as we saw against Midd and we will see next weekend against Amherst which I will be interested to see that match-up. They have Clouse the long thrower and they have work horses like Smith. Aoyama is skilled and comes off the bench and causes havoc on the opponents tired starters or weaker bench players. Berolzheimer has really improved and shown some skill. However, this is a different match-up than playing Midd. Wesleyan is more technical and has more skill than Midd IMO. They just have not put it all together yet. They have only played 4 Nescac games and frankly have disappointed going 1-3-0 but they are 5-3-0 overall and are a better side than that Nescac record suggests. Reality tells me Colby is on a roll but my gut say's Wesleyan snags a 1st Half goal and then sits tight and deep defending in a block of 6 in a 4-2-3-1.  1-0 Wesleyan

Midd at Tufts----Midd has a couple pieces to build around especially the Soph Goulart. I like his skill and he is a cagey player. IMO this team needs a total rebuild. Not the retirement party Saward envisioned. However, we all knew this would be a struggle with the graduation of a solid senior class. I am hoping with the new coach Elias in 2018 we see a change in philosophy and he starts recruiting more skill and speed and less size. I would love to see them playing crisp 2 touch futbol on that carpet at home. Elias was hand picked I guess by Saward and the influence he has on the Midd administration becasuse he has no Head Coaching experience and I would of thought they would have opened that job up to outside candidates. I am guessing the young gun will be out on the recruiting trail WAY more than Saward ever was. This will be a good thing as it will most definitely cause more friction within Nescac as Midd will be stealing players from Williams and Amherst that they cannot get in and also from Bowdoin and Tufts because they are a bit of a better school and have the facilities to back it up. Tensions will rise in the recruiting wars and that is always good for competition. Anyhow this game..I have said my piece on Tufts and do believe they are the best team in Nescac today BUT are beatable. Saward has always been good in the under dog roll against better sides. His team will be PUMPED but do they have the talent to hang with Tufts? They have the athleticism but can really only score on set pieces. This limits them as if they cannot break down Colby they certainly will not break down Tufts going forward. They must capitalize on the set pieces Tufts gives them. Sass does have 2 game winners I believe on set pieces this year against Amherst and Hamilton. This game will be won or lost on a GK error, defensive breakdown and a lapse in concentration. I see a goalless draw written all over this game. 0-0

[Bobcat1]

Re: Colby.  How do you think they will do vs. Amherst & Bowdoin?

We are still over a week out from those matchups, but I agree with Mr. Right's assessment of Colby. The other factor is travel/fatigue... Amherst is coming a long way and will have played Conn earlier in the week.  I don't think it will surprise many people if Colby takes a point(s) from this game. The Bowdoin game is a bit of a wild card as they are playing at 2:30 on a Tuesday afternoon. I think these early afternoon midweek games are tough. Are either teams players going to class that day? How much time do the coaches have with the players before wmups? IMO game-day preparation can get rushed which often leads to lapses in concentration and mistakes.  If I had to pick a side, I would go with Bowdoin. They have a significant advantage in goal with Van Siclien (best in the league) and they are at home on the grass where they are 5-0-0 so far this season.

[1970s NESCAC Player]

Mr. Right:  Great post, and the effort and thought you put in are definitely appreciated!

[blooter442]

Curious to see how Bates-Bowdoin shakes out. Bowdoin is probably a slightly more complete side but Bates will be at home and I'm guessing will have a decent crowd for an early-evening kickoff at Garcelon. I think Merchant and co have some good skill and speed and could give Bowdoin some problems, but I am not sure how Bates will hold up defensively, although I have admittedly not watched them that much in recent past. I'll be up visiting the folks for the long weekend, so will probably try to get over and watch. Gut feeling is a score draw, which Mr.Right will probably laugh at, but I think both teams get on the board. 1-1.