NESCAC

[College Soccer Observer]

Midd wins on a goal by Shane Farrell with just over a minute remaining in second OT.

[PaulNewman]

Midd wins on a goal by Shane Farrell with just over a minute remaining in second OT.

Fantastic strike.  Caught it just right and GK had zero chance.

Good game.  I thought Williams played great but just lacks some firepower up front.  And I don't know how Midd doesn't score more with Reid and St Louis.

[College Soccer Observer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgbzXgQr5rc
Williams does a nice job posting highlights on youtube immediately after the match.

[PaulNewman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgbzXgQr5rc
Williams does a nice job posting highlights on youtube immediately after the match.

Watching that goal a few more times I'm struck that it was a pure laser strike but if this makes sense he didn't overhit it.  He used the pass, timing and technique while resisting the instinct from that distance to blast it with the usual result being hitting it a little or a lot over the bar.

[blooter442]

Watching that goal a few more times I'm struck that it was a pure laser strike but if this makes sense he didn't overhit it.  He used the pass, timing and technique while resisting the instinct from that distance to blast it with the usual result being hitting it a little or a lot over the bar.

Fantastic strike. When the ball is moving like that, the biggest thing is to stay over it as well as not "over hit" it like you noted (pardon the pun). The pace on the ball can do most of the work. I never played any more competitively than IM leagues but those were my favorite shots — ball going across the body (left to right) and hit with the right foot laces results in that tiny bit of fade away from the 'keeper. That said, couldn't do it anywhere near as well as that, that was like prime Stevie G — top bins.

[Hopkins92]

Fantastic strike. Played it back on .25 a number of times, as it seems to take a little skip/deflection in there at the 6... Goalie wasn't getting to that regardless.

[Centennial1]

Goal of the year for me so far. Filthy.

[d4_Pace]

Man this whole tieing Bowdoin on a Tuesday then turning around to have to play them in the NESCAC quarters is bringing back some serious PTSD for some of the older Tufts alums.

[jknezek]

Man this whole tieing Bowdoin on a Tuesday then turning around to have to play them in the NESCAC quarters is bringing back some serious PTSD for some of the older Tufts alums.

Luckily the ones playing the game won't have that same baggage. But I could see how that would be uncomfortable!

[Mr.Right]

Quick Recaps:

Conn at Wes----Conn clinches its 1st Nescac Championship in Mens Soccer ever. The Conn Goal came because of the wet conditions. Wes GK #0 Devanny lost control of a slick Soccer ball while on the ground and coughed it up right to a Conn attacker who buried it. Neither team deserved to Win the game as the chances on goal were few and far between. It seemed Conn's objective in the 1st Half was possessing without progressing. Two CB's #5 Cerezo and #24 Kelesoglu were at one point just knocking it back and forth about 10 yards apart for 30 seconds near the 18. Ball kept swinging around the back to either completely bore the viewer or to suck Wesleyan out of its Half and goad them to press. I suppose it sort of worked as Wes sent a few players to press just to move Conn along. What it did do IMO was unnecessarily wear down Wesleyan's key attacking players #9 Harmaty, #8 Rubinstein, #10 Ruehlemann and #21 Texter. Neither team had more than 2 dangerous chances and maybe that was the point but then don't complain when ur own student body doesn't show up to watch that crap. Marcelo Bielsa's risky aggressive vertical futbol it was not.


Midd at Williams---First off, game moved to the turf because it rained the day before. Women's Field was unaffected by rain. What did we do before turf fields? Why did we care if we ripped up the wet grass field if it was the last Home game? Did Grounds Crew get invovled? All questions I will never get answers to....The game was a sped up version of Conn at Wes with neither team able to create more than 5 dangerous chances each on net in 110 minutes. I will say both teams busted all game especially in tough conditions but when both teams first priority is transition defense then well your attack is secondary. Marcelo Bielsa's risky aggressive vertical futbol it was not. Still there were key players for Midd that stepped up. Midd CB #15 McFarlane runs a tidy ship and is a man amongst boys back there. He is a real solid Captain and leader especially for the 3 Frosh surrounding him on his backline. GK #33 Grady maybe had to make 1 or 2 key saves but Williams did not make him sweat once. I thought Midd midfielder #12 Ben Powers played a key role in the game by just suffocating anything Williams tried to do thru the middle of the field. I just think as we start looking ahead Midd will need to create more chances to score goals if they want to keep advancing in the NCAA's. To do that they will need to transition offensively much more vertically and quickly against teams that will be sitting deep. Still an unbelievable finish by #30 Farrell with his right foot in the 109th minute. I saw him do that on the stream last weekend up at Colby but with his left foot and from a few yards further back. He certainly can strike a ball with both feet and he worked his ass off all game while I would guess playing the most minutes of the 6 headed Midd Midfield monster. Can we get that one posted because it is also a good strike. Big Big Win for Midd and now they get another Home game while sticking it to Williams and Wesleyan in the process.

[hiyasoccer]

Man this whole tieing Bowdoin on a Tuesday then turning around to have to play them in the NESCAC quarters is bringing back some serious PTSD for some of the older Tufts alums.

https://c.tenor.com/w6KhC4AeeYIAAAAC/cackles-star-wars.gif

[Mr.Right]

A point on the Regional Rankings. It seems to me that the splitting of these regions has benefitted only the power conferences. Newmac and Nescac are now their own regions while pumping up RvR to an unrealistic level. Where is the representation of smaller schools in weaker leagues? All this does is promote future Nescac v Newmac regular season battles while excluding Norwich, St.Joe's, RWU, WNEC etc...The weaker leagues should conceivably have more representation over a couple of power conferences. It is up to those representatives to fight not only for their league but other leagues similar. Unless I am totally reading this wrong it looks like the power conferences browbeat the weaker ones.

[Mr.Right]

The past two weekends I have had to stream instead of seeing a live game. It seems NSN has improved from years past as they have cut way down on the glitches of the stream. The PbP and Color have been good for some and nightmarish for others but I am sure they just do not have the bodies. IMO the best PbP and Color is having the camera situated at the 50 without Announcers on the players side of the field. As long as you can hear the sounds of the game you feel like you are there. Same goes for the opposite sideline as long as you are close enough to the field to hear the game. Perfect example was Tufts at Conn this past weekend where Conn did not use announcers but had probably one production guy and one camera guy. It was so well situated that you could not hear any of the benches instead  u got heads, tackles, yelling, sliding.

[maineman]

I am not much of a prognosticator, but should Williams, currently NCAA ranked, lose its 1v8 matchup with Conn College, won't that work to the detriment to all teams seeking a Pool C that have beaten Williams?  That would include Midd, Tufts, Amh and Conn College?  Conversely, won't the same help Wesleyan, Colby and Bowdoin who lost or tied Williams and therefore would have an adverse RvR removed from their calculations.  I guess you could say those that tied could think of a win or a loss as a wash for NCAA ranking purposes.

Midd, Amh and Tufts should all be hoping for Williams to prevail in their quarterfinal matchup for more than just getting Conn College out from the NESCAC tournament, but also for the sake of their RvR winning percentage. 

I don't think that Williams' loss to Midd will alone remove them from next Wednesday's rankings but a follow up loss in the Q finals would surely do it.  The Ephs have to prevail to stick around in the tournament and remain ranked.  Their route to the NCAAs though would almost exclusively come by winning the conference tournament, which is a longshot.

[PaulNewman]

I am not much of a prognosticator, but should Williams, currently NCAA ranked, lose its 1v8 matchup with Conn College, won't that work to the detriment to all teams seeking a Pool C that have beaten Williams.  That would include Midd, Tufts, Amh and Conn College?  Conversely, won't the same help Wesleyan, Colby and Bowdoin who lost or tied Williams and therefore would have an adverse RvR removed from their calculations.  I guess you could say those that tied could think of a win or a loss as a wash for NCAA ranking purposes.

Midd, Amh and Tufts should all be hoping for Williams to prevail in their quarterfinal matchup for more than just getting Conn College out from the NESCAC tournament, but also for the sake of their RvR winning percentage. 

I don't think that Williams' loss to Midd will alone remove them from next Wednesday's rankings but a follow up loss in the Q finals would surely do it.  The Ephs have to prevail to stick around in the tournament and remain ranked.  Their route to the NCAAs though would almost exclusively come by winning the conference tournament, which is a longshot.

Tufts, Amherst and Conn are all in the tournament regardless.  Wes and Midd are probably on the bubble and might need at least one win, and of course they're playing each other.  I think Wesleyan might have a decent shot even if they lose to Midd and not sure the same is true for Midd if lose to Wes.

But it's strange that you just posted this because I was just thinking that Williams is gonna prevail over Conn, even if it's in PKs.