NESCAC

[Flying Weasel]

I'm not a lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.


From the 2016 and 2017 NCAA Soccer Rules, page 8:

RULE 1

The Field of Play
__________________________________________________________

1.1 Dimensions
1.1.1 The field of play shall be rectangular, with a length of 115-120 yards and
a width of 70-75 yards.
     Facilities used as a college soccer field before 1995 need only to be
     rectangular, the width of which shall not exceed the length. Resurfacing the
     playing field does not change this exemption.
Note 1: The optimum size is 75 by 120 yards.
Note 2: It is the responsibility of the home team to notify the visiting team, before the
date of the game, of any changes in the field dimensions (for example, greater or less
than minimal requirements), playing surface (for example, from grass to artificial or
vice versa) or location of the playing site.
Note 3: A team is not required to play on a field that is not in compliance with the
rules. However, the teams can agree to play the game by mutual consent. A team that
agrees to play on a field that is not in compliance waives the right to protest that issue.
It is recommended that teams agree on any changes in facility issues before confirming
contests or signing game contracts.
PENALTY—The game shall not begin and the referee shall file a report with
the governing sports authority. (See Page 7.)

From the 2017 NCAA Division III Soccer Pre-Championships Manual, page 23:

Section 2•6  Site Selection
____________________________________________________________

CRITERIA
The Division III Championships Committee has prioritized the following site-selection criteria for all championships:
1. Quality and availability of the facility and other necessary accommodations;
2. Geographical location (which may include such factors as rotation of sites, weather, accessibility and transportation
costs);
3. Seeding; and
4. Attendance history and revenue potential, which shall be considered necessary to assure fiscal responsibility.
In addition, the soccer committees include the following site-selection deliberations:
● Hosts for all rounds of the championship must have the ability to charge admission;
● Preference is given to grass/grass-like surfaces;
● Preference is given to playing surfaces 70 yards x 115 yards or larger. The minimum field size is 65 yards x 110 yards;*
● Hosts must be able to establish a barrier to separate the spectators from the field of play; and
● The potential host must have played the majority of its home games on the field it is submitting for consideration.

*Effective September 1, 2018, the preliminary-round hosting language will be adjusted to mirror the language from the NCAA
Soccer Rules Book. Currently, hosts are permitted to use fields with a minimum dimension of 65 yards x 110 yards. NCAA
Soccer Rule 1.1.1 says, "The field of play shall be rectangular, with a length of 115-120 yards and a width of 70-75 yards."
The preference is for fields with the dimensions in the rule book. There is an exception in the rules for facilities in use for
soccer before 1995, that they "need only to be rectangular, the width of which shall not exceed the length."

[cac.aholic1]

Picks for today:

Williams at Bowdoin: Tough one to call. Both teams have struggled a bit towards the end of the season. Bowdoin is 5-1 at home including the 1-0 win over williams, with the only loss coming to Hamilton. Williams is actually pretty good on the road though, at 5-2-1, but none of those results came against teams as good as the Polar Bears. In this rematch of the only quarterfinal game Bowdoin has played in the last 5 years against a team whose name doesn't rhyme with "Lufts Dumbos", I'd expect a physical, defensive oriented game to start things off. Once Bowdoin settles in though, I think they're good enough to nick one. 1-0 Bowdoin

Hamilton at Amherst: I think before every Amherst game this season, I've thought "Amherst isn't really a better team than their opponent". And after the game, I've thought "wow, Amherst really stole that one". And yet they keep winning games, especially against good teams. Hamilton got a good result in Clinton, but Amherst at home is really tough to beat. They're 8-1 with wins over Bowdoin and Tufts, with the only loss coming to Midd. Hamilton should have revenge for last years finals on their mind, as they'll need everything they have to win this one. But Amherst rolls and wins it 1-0.

Midd @ Conn: Probably the most entertaining matchup of the week. These are fairly unpredictable teams, especially Midd, who seem to only get blown out or win 1-0. Though I haven't seen them play much, I'm starting to get the impression you don't want to concede the first goal to this team, but if you get the first one, they'll fall apart. O'Grady struggled at the start but has reportedly been playing well, and IMHO should be considered one of the best in the conference. Goulart has everything you could want in an attacker - size, pace, dribbling, finishing. The question is about what's around them. Conn, on the other hand, was great at home, winning all 6 of their matches there until this week, when they drew Bowdoin and lost to Wesleyan. I've been impressed with their hustle and physicality across much of their lineup, which they definitely lacked in previous years. Their keeper is also a massive upgrade - 2nd best in the conference behind Van Siclen, who might only edge him out due to experience. However, their center back's are major question marks and were consistently exposed by balls in behind and poor decisions passing out of the back this week. I don't know if Midd is the team that will take advantage of that weakness, but it'll be tough for them to get past the semis. But going back to Midd's pattern of play, I really only need to bet on who scores first. I'll take the 3rd option and say Conn takes it in PKs, with the freshman GK coming up huge.

Bates at Tufts: Is this the year Tufts finally squashes it's NESCAC tournament demons? They avoid drawing their Kryptonite Bowdoin, and I think Shapiro is probably thankful to be playing the Bobcats rather than the Mules. Colby's size, athleticism and ability to sit deep and absorb pressure are the style of play that tend to trouble the Jumbos. Bates definitely has a bit bit more going forward with Opoku and Merchant, but can they keep Tufts off the score sheet? It seems unlikely, especially with no previous tournament experience for Bates. In this NESCAC quarter-final matchup of Tufts with a Maine school whose name begins with a B, Tufts finally gets the win 2-0.



Well, looks like I predicted every favorite to win. Seems unlikely, but this is the NESCAC - anything can happen. 

[cac.aholic1]

Time for some hot takes to be called out! Back at the beginning of the season, some serious predictions were made with lots on the line for everyone involved... and now we finally get to see how everyone did!

Group 1: The Favourite
Tufts

Group 2: The Contenders
Amherst
Bowdoin

Group 3: The Question Marks
Hamilton
Williams
Middlebury

Group 4: One of These Teams Won't Make Playoffs
Trinity
Welseyan
Conn

Group 5: Relegation Candidates
Bates
Colby

I did pretty well, if I do say so myself. Though I also took the easy way out and predicted by group instead of by number. Breaking it down:

• Nailed the top 3
• Got group 4 almost totally correct, only leaving out Conn (admittedly the best team in the group)
• Really underestimated Conn, who were definitely the biggest surprise for me this year. Team showed a lot of fight and hustle, got solid depth play all around, and picked up a real asset in goal. Imagine if that Pat Devlin kid was still around.
• actually, two of group 4 missed the playoffs. I really overestimated Wesleyan, who have been a real disappointment the last couple years. I still maintain they have enough going forward, and it's usually a good bet that Wheeler's team will be better than the sum of it's parts. That wasn't the case this year. Trinity was just bad, which isn't that surprising. Normally they show up for 3-4 games to sneak into playoffs, and they just didn't do that.
• Group 5 a bit off. My analysis of Colby was pretty good - defensively solid, tough to beat in waterville, but still not quite there in terms of making playoffs. That said, they were definitely better than I expected, and really screwed themselves out of a NESCAC bid. Bates was a surprise, as they managed to be okay defensively and surprisingly competent offensively. Merchant was really impressive - I would guess he put in a lot of work in the offseason, and is reaping the rewards now.

Mr. Right:

1. Bowdoin
2. Tufts
3. Amherst
4. Williams
5. Wesleyan
6. Hamilton
7. Midd
8. Trinity
9. Conn
10. Colby
11. Bates

Mr. Right missed on Bowdoin (though only by about 3 inches when they hit the bar in OT on Tuesday), nailed Tufts and Amherst, and like me overestimated Wesleyan and Trinity while underestimating Conn and Colby. We actually had very similar predictions lol. Call it a tie - I think we both did pretty well.

If anyone else made predictions let me know and I'll find them and post with commentary. Did anyone beat top pundits Mr. R and I?

[Mr.Right]

Bowdoin and Williams 0-0 about 10 minutes in..Bowdoin has pushed Ward back into CB and is keeping with Morant at holding with Stenquist. Morant at Holding Mid is just baffling to me as he is not a holding midfielder. Williams starts with Andreou back in the starting lineup for the 1st time in a long time. Should be a bonus if he is fit...

[Mr.Right]

McColl with stellar service and Niang with a nice header that goes inches wide. Schneiderman's feet were stuck in the ground on that one

[Mr.Right]

McColl another fantastic serve off a corner that Morant missed just wide..That is a strength for bowdoin having Morant out there but he is way to slooww to be in midfield IMO

[Mr.Right]

Williams with a great chance off a nicely played corner by Ranieri and Muellers with a fantastic header that also goes just wide..

[Mr.Right]

Amherst gets another break as Amherst homer Ed Shea is in the middle today...That guy should NEVER ref an Amherst game

[Mr.Right]

Williams hits the crossbar off a header off a corner..Halftime Williams and Bowdoin 0-0..

[Mr.Right]

Nice goal by Amherst Derby off a feed from Hlinomaz..This kid Derby is scoring goals like mad the past 2 weeks..1-0 Amherst about 10 minutes in...

[letsGOswans!]

Cac.aholic1, as an ardent Conn supporter, I have to disagree with the "I've been impressed with their hustle and physicality across much of their lineup, which they definitely lacked in previous years." That is absolutely false. This is one of the youngest Conn team's in ages. I think this year's team has the least hustle and physicality in awhile,  especially compared to those Conn teams from 2014 and 2015. Yes, Conn has exceeded my expectations from them but I think we can all agree that this isn't the same league it once was. Murphy's teams have always been known for hustle and physicality, that's one thing that will never change.

[Mr.Right]

Amherst gets another break as Amherst homer Ed Shea is in the middle today...That guy should NEVER ref an Amherst game

LOL...Hamilton scores off a corner as the ball looked to have crossed the line and Amherst homer Eddie Shea makes no call for a goal..Unreal...This guy should NEVER be on the field for an Amherst game let alone a Men's game anymore..Guy is 30 yards behind the play and has a bum knee..Useless..

[Mr.Right]

Cac.aholic1, as an ardent Conn supporter, I have to disagree with the "I've been impressed with their hustle and physicality across much of their lineup, which they definitely lacked in previous years." That is absolutely false. This is one of the youngest Conn team's in ages. I think this year's team has the least hustle and physicality in awhile,  especially compared to those Conn teams from 2014 and 2015. Yes, Conn has exceeded my expectations from them but I think we can all agree that this isn't the same league it once was. Murphy's teams have always been known for hustle and physicality, that's one thing that will never change.

I do not agree as this years Conn team has plenty of hustle or they would not have the record they have as it is..They are young and lack the physicality of 2014 Conn but you cannot say they lack hustle...

[letsGOswans!]

I think the record they have is due to how down the league is in general. I do believe previous  year's teams had more hustle and physicality it's just that wasn't enough to stop the Amherst, Tufts, Middlebury, etc from getting a goal and stealing games. Don't get me wrong, this Conn team probably has the most hustle in the league, I can't really think of another team that works harder, but I genuinely think that if you through this team into a previous year's league that they would struggle to finish top 8 and no one would be describing there hustle as a strength... I think people are just trying to find reasons why Conn has exceeded everyone's expectations and finished top 4 with few losses. The answer IMO is that this league is so fricken down this year. Look at how few goals have been scored.

[Mr.Right]

Yes the league is down I agree but Conn is still winning games they never won in the past...It has to be something...Hustle? Mentality? Getting a goal when they need it? Conn NEVER had great mentality...look at all the kids that would quit every year...